Granada University of Manchester

The poet Lemn Sissay has been announced as the next Chancellor of the University of Manchester.

He fought off competition from former Labour cabinet minister Lord Peter Mandelson and Halle Music Director Sir Mark Elder to win.

Sissay will take up the mostly ceremonial post at the beginning of August from current Chancellor Tom Bloxham MBE.

He said:

Two medics from our region are co-ordinating a dangerous mission to West Africa to combat the threat of the disease.

The World Health Organisation, says the virus has claimed more than 4,000 lives, largely in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The experts run a charity based in Manchester called UK Med which recruits NHS workers from all over the country to help out in emergencies overseas.

They'll soon be flying to Sierra Leone.

Our correspondent Ashley Derricott reports:

Dr Amy Hughes told ITV News she knows there is a "worry" but all humanitarian work carries risk.

A medic based at the University of Manchester has completed an induction session as she prepares to travel to West Africa to help the fight against Ebola.

Dr Amy Hughes, who works as a Clinical Academic Lecturer in Emergency Response at the University attended the session at the Department of Health in London along with other health professionals who have expressed an interest in traveling to Sierra Leone.

As part of her work within the University’s Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, Dr Hughes is an experienced volunteer to international emergencies, having previously travelled to Sri Lanka to help with the recovery from the aftermath of the conflict there and to the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan.