Travel and maps

The conference venue is the University of Manchester Innovation Centre (UMIC).

Note that this is a change from previous years: we are no longer allowed to use Hulme Hall.

This page should contain all the information that you'll need in order to find UMIC.

If you have any queries, contact Patrick Honeybone (patrick.honeybone@ed.ac.uk). 

To help you plan your travel by air or rail, this page contains links to local airports and to rail information.

If you'd like to find out more about Manchester in general, and about what there is do to in the city (apart from phonology...), click here.
 

How to get to UMIC

UMIC is located just south of Manchester city centre. It forms part of the main university campus, and is just off Oxford Road (which is a good road to orient yourself towards). UMIC is about 20 minutes' walk to the south of the city centre.

Its address is: 46-48 Grafton Street, Manchester, M13 9XX.

Here it is on google maps.

This city centre map may be useful: you could use it to reach the main campus of the University of Manchester on Oxford Road (marked in blue on the map), and UMIC is just at the edge of that, on Grafton Street. 

You could easily catch a bus along Oxford Road from the city centre - there are hundreds, running every few minutes. Transport for Greater Manchester organises public transport in the area. Its website is here, and it has a free app (called 'My TfGM', which should be downloadable from app-downloading-places) which you should be able to use to plan bus travel.

Registration for the mfm will be in UMIC, and there will be posters to indicate where you need to go.
 

Air, rail and bus travel to Manchester

Travel by air
If you're flying into Britain for the conference, it's definitely worth trying to get a ticket to Manchester Airport (or possibly to Liverpool Airport, as Liverpool is close to Manchester and there are frequent train services connecting the two cities, but if possible, go to Manchester Airport). This may not be possible from some places, in which case you'll most likely want to fly into one of the London airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted or Luton), or another European airport, and either get a connecting flight to Manchester (which should be easy as Manchester Airport is large), or take the train or bus from London to Manchester.
 

Manchester Airport
Manchester airport has direct flights from lost of places and connecting flights to the London airports (and other airports in Britain). There is a direct train service from Manchester Airport to Manchester Piccadilly train station in central Manchester (see the 'Travel by train' section below for information about Manchester train stations). You should be able to find details of flights into Manchester from the airport's website: Manchester Airport.
 

Liverpool John Lennon Airport
If you're travelling from Europe, it may be cheaper to fly to Liverpool Airport using low-cost airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair and then take the train to Manchester - you can sometimes get some very cheap tickets with airlines flying into Liverpool. You can easily get to Manchester from Liverpool Airport (although it will probably take at least an hour and a half). You could take the (regular) bus to from Liverpool airport to Liverpool Lime Street train station, then the train to Manchester (trains run from Liverpool to Manchester every 30 minutes or so and the journey lasts about 45 minutes).

Travel by train
It's easy to get to Manchester by train from anywhere in Britain, including the main airports. If your journey involves travel by train, it's worth noting that there are several train stations in Manchester. The main station in central Manchester, where intercity trains normally terminate, is called Manchester Piccadilly Station. There is also a station to the north, where some trains from Liverpool and Lancashire and other parts of the north of England terminate, called Victoria station. The closest station to the University and Hulme Hall is called Oxford Road station. Some trains from Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds and other cities stop at Oxford Road as well as at Piccadilly, and it may be worth getting off your train here, although Oxford Road station is much smaller that Piccadilly and it's easier to get a taxi from Piccadilly. All of these stations are marked on the City Centre map which can be downloaded as indicated here.

If you take the train from London, you'll probably need to get to Euston Station, which is the big London station for trains to the North-West of England (and certain other destinations). It's easy to get to Euston by the London Underground railway (also known as 'the Tube'). This site also contains other information about travel in London.

You can find out details of train services to all of the Manchester stations at the National Rail travel information site and you can buy train tickets online by following the links there. It's also easy to buy tickets on the day of travel at any train station - you can just walk up to the counter - but you can normally get (sometimes much) cheaper tickets if you buy them in advance (and you can arrange to pick up pre-ordered tickets from the machines at train stations).

Travel by bus/coach
There is also a comprehensive national bus (='coach') network in Britain (organised under the name 'National Express' in England) and it can be cheaper to travel by bus than by train. It always takes longer by bus, however, and trains are normally more comfortable. Manchester is well served by the bus network, and buses arrive right in the centre of Manchester. Full details of services to Manchester from just about anywhere in Britain can be found at this site: www.nationalexpress.com. You can also buy tickets online at that site.