ASRA Awards Winner Spotlight 2026: Creating Community Through Discord at UoM

By Jordan Meates • 12 May 2026

Following their success at the ASRA Awards 2026, we caught up with Emma Kelly, Communications and Marketing Officer for University of Manchester Accommodation and Sport Services, to learn more about the award-winning Discord project supporting incoming students.

University of Manchester

Accommodation Team

University of Manchester

Accommodation Team

Winners of The ASRA INNOVATION OF THE YEAR Award 2026, sponsored by dominus

Congratulations on winning an ASRA Award! Can you tell us a bit about your role and your organisation?

I look after Communications and Marketing for Accommodation at the University of Manchester. My role covers the full breadth of the student journey, from when students first start looking at accommodation options, through inductions and arrivals, and then to when they move out of our halls. Manchester is one of the largest universities in the UK, with just over 8,000 beds across around 20 halls of residence.

How did it feel to hear your name announced as a winner at the ASRA Awards 2026?

I was really surprised! I know it’s an absolute cliché, but I was just really excited to have been nominated, so winning was a complete delight.

Tell us about the project, initiative or work that led to your nomination. What inspired it?

The project was a Discord server that we ran for students moving into our halls. The inspiration came from wanting to create a space where students could connect with each other, as well as somewhere we could communicate with them and support their transition to university life.

The server ran for around three weeks, from when students received their offer through to when they moved into halls. The feedback from students was phenomenal, with 95% saying they felt more prepared for university. From our perspective, it was also hugely helpful, we were able to identify areas where our inductions could be clearer, as well as topics students wanted more information about.

Who would you like to thank or acknowledge as part of your success?

I’d like to thank the whole team who helped make this happen, I couldn’t have done it without their support and expertise. They were able to answer so many varied questions that I wouldn’t have been able to cover on my own. In particular, thank you to Christian, Dave, Georgina, Heidi, Tabea, Vickie and Mandi.

A special thank you to Mandi for supporting the Discord idea. It was a bit of a leap of faith, as we didn’t know how much engagement it would get (it turns out, a lot!), so I really appreciated her trust in me to make it work.

How do you plan to build on this success in the future?

We’re already planning this year’s server and looking at ways to make it even better. Throughout the project, I kept a live document capturing feedback and ideas for improving the arrivals experience, from small changes, such as making links clearer, to larger improvements. We had around 35,000 messages sent so it is a really rich dataset.

We’re also planning to work more closely with colleagues across the University. The aim is to create a comprehensive FAQ covering the questions incoming students are most likely to have. We’re also looking to run takeovers from different teams across the University, allowing students to ask questions and get support in real time.

How has your initiative or work improved the student experience?

We know from our annual surveys that if students are able to settle in well, they are much more likely to have a positive university experience. Our aim with this project was to support that settling-in process, helping students feel more prepared when they moved in and reducing any worries they might have had.

Feedback showed that we achieved this, with students reporting that they felt more prepared for university and had been able to connect with others before arriving.

Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you think the sector could benefit from?

There are two key things I took away from this project:

Meet students where they are. One of the reasons I chose Discord was because of its popularity with our incoming age group. This was reflected in the data with many of the students who joined already active on Discord.

Students want a way to ask questions. One piece of feedback we received was that students wouldn’t have asked their questions if it hadn’t been for the Discord - either because they didn’t feel it justified an email, or because they didn’t know who to ask. Providing an accessible, informal space for questions proved incredibly valuable.

With plans to expand the project even further, this ASRA Award winning work highlights the impact that thoughtful, student led communication can have in helping students feel connected and confident as they begin university life