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Since taking up the Chancellorship in 2015, Lemn Sissay MBE has contributed to the University significantly on a local, national and international scale. His poem ‘Making a Difference’, written for the University’s Making a Difference Awards, celebrated our commitment to social responsibility, which is one of our three core goals.

In 2017 he launched the Lemn Sissay Law Bursaries, which aims to address underrepresentation of black males in the legal profession. Further afield, Lemn has helped the University expand our Equity and Merit Scholarships for funded master’s degrees to include prospective Ethiopian students.

Lemn is trustee of The Manchester International Festival, patron of the Letterbox Club. He is a fellow and trustee of the Foundling Museum and was official poet of the London 2012 Olympics. His Landmark Poems are installed throughout Manchester and London.

He has authored books of poetry alongside articles, records, radio documentaries, public art and plays. The BBC documentaries Internal Flight and Child of the State were both broadcast about his life, and his TED talk about childhood has three quarters of a million views. Lemn was the first Black Writers Development Worker in the north of England. In 2010 he was awarded an MBE for services to literature. In 2019, he released his memoir My Name Is Why, which focuses on the hurt and institutional neglect of his time in care.

The Sissay PhD Scholarship for Care Leavers, the first of its kind, has been running for six years. The Lemn Sissay Foundation, established in Manchester, organises Christmas dinners for care leavers in locations across the UK, including here in Manchester Stockport and Wigan.