This academic year has been one of new and renewed connections for the Master of Landscape Architecture. For the first time the MLA has become part of the MSA Joint Agreement, meaning that all our students now graduate from both Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Manchester.

Returning to campus has also been cause for celebration this year, enabling staff and students to take advantage of all that both academic institutions and the city have to offer. As I write, our students are preparing to construct the first physical exhibition at MSA for two years. Four new members of staff have also been welcomed to complement our dedicated teaching team and they’ve made excellent contributions to the course.

Congratulations also to our colleague Dr Luca Csepely-Knorr, who has recently begun a prestigious Arts and Humanities Research Council supported project called ‘Women of the Welfare Landscape’ commemorating the network of women and their collaborators who had a major impact on shaping the post-war designed landscapes of the British Welfare State. We look forward to seeing the project further informing our research-led teaching, and to welcoming more new staff to cover Luca’s teaching.

We continue to develop our course, and as part of a wider review of our MLA Part 1 (postgraduate conversion year) for this year we’ve revised two humanities units focussed on the climate crisis and a decolonised history of landscape architecture, plus renewed studio and technology briefs. Our MLA Part 2 students (one-year postgraduate) continue to work on innovative landscape studio and research projects including collaborations with Master of Architecture students and staff, and in our MSA ateliers. You can see the results in this online exhibition.

Our largest ever network of landscape practitioners, academics and external partners have made generous and insightful contributions to our courses through lectures, guest tutorials, practitioner reviews and visits. We’d like to thank everyone who has engaged with us and our fantastic students, and we’re looking forward to what next year brings.