Image: The exterior of Manchester Museum (Manchester Museum)
University of Manchester’s museum wins EMYA 2025 for community engagement, co-curation initiatives and £15m transformation.
Manchester Museum has been awarded the European Museum of the Year Award 2025, becoming the first university museum to receive the accolade. The award was presented on Saturday 25 May during the EMYA2025 Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony at the Sybir Memorial Museum in Białystok, Poland.
The museum, part of The University of Manchester, won the main prize against competition from 41 other shortlisted museums across the continent. The annual prize is operated by the European Museum Forum and is recognised as one of the most prestigious museum awards globally.
Judges recognised Manchester Museum for balancing globally-significant academic research with community engagement and social responsibility. The award citation praised how the museum has “reimagined its mission, acknowledging and addressing its complex history by redefining the role of its collections and public programmes.”
The museum’s approach to co-curation formed a key part of the recognition, particularly its work with local and diasporic communities to bring new perspectives to collections and challenge traditional narratives. The South Asia Gallery, developed as a British Museum partnership, exemplifies this approach through co-curation with 30 community members from across the South Asian diaspora.
Judges also highlighted the museum’s “thoughtful, informed, and impactful community engagement, creating a truly inclusive space where all individuals, regardless of identity or background, can see themselves reflected and represented.” This includes the Manchester Museum Celebrates programme, created in collaboration with charities, faith organisations and community activists to build understanding between cultures through events marking Lunar New Year, Vaisakhi, Africa Day and Iftar.
Esme Ward, director of Manchester Museum, said: “Museums have the power to be empathy machines, bringing generations and communities together to build understanding, while confronting the past with honesty and transparency. More than ever before, we need museums that are values-led, imaginative and confident about what they stand for.”
The European Museum of the Year Award’s previous winners include Sámi Museum Siida in Northern Lapland, Finland, Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, Netherlands, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, The Design Museum in London, and Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
Manchester Museum was one of two UK museum shortlisted, which also included the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich.
