Progress Report 2018

UCL2034 seeks to support those thinkers now and for the future, creating a supportive home and enabling environment for our academics to excel.

Some of our achievements this year have been high-profile, attracting media headlines, such as the Duchess of Cambridge’s recent visit to developmental neuroscientists in UCL Psychology and Language Sciences. Others have been less prominent, but no less significant in their impact. Either way, they reinforce UCL’s reputation and pave the way for new opportunities.

Our academic achievements in 2018 have ensured that UCL retains its place in the global top 10: we truly are a world-leading university.

UCL President & Provost, Professor Michael Arthur

AI pioneers Deepmind are to establish a Professorship of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence based in UCL’s Department of Computer Science.

Two of Deepmind’s founders, Demis Hassabis and Shane Legg, are UCL alumni and met whilst carrying out postdoctoral research at the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit. Since its formation, Deepmind has become one of the biggest names in AI, coming to prominence when its self-learning programme AlphaGo took on a human grand master of the complex Chinese game Go, and won four games out of five. 

Deepmind’s mission is to “solve intelligence” and the company have maintained close links with UCL, supporting the university with philanthropic funding and looking for new ways to utilise AI. Recently Deepmind Health, with UCL and Moorfields Eye Hospital, developed an AI system that was as successful as an expert clinician at recommending the correct referral decision for over 50 eye diseases.

As well as the Professorship, Deepmind’s gift will also support two post-doctoral research associates and one PhD student, creating new opportunities for discovery and engagement in this transformative and rapidly-evolving sector. The Deepmind Professor is expected to be in post by September 2019.

Image: Demis Hassabis at UCL in March 2018 at a screening of the AlphaGo movie. L-R Professor David Price, Demis Hassabis, Larissa Suzuki, UCL alumna and computer sciences entrepreneur, and Thore Graepel, Professor of Machine Learning at UCL. Image credit: UCL Office of the Vice Provost (Advancement)

Links: UCL Computer Science / Deepmind

A consortium of six top universities, led by Professor Jan Kubik and Dr Richard Mole from the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), has won a Horizon 2020 grant of €3 million to carry out a three-year research project entitled ‘Populist rebellion against modernity in 21st-century Eastern Europe: neo-traditionalism and neo-feudalism’ (POPREBEL).

The aim of POPREBEL is to take stock of the recent rise of populism in its various forms in Central and Eastern Europe. The research teams, comprising experts in subjects ranging from economics to cultural studies, will examine the causes, meanings and consequences of the rise in populism, as well as the potential implications for the continent as a whole.

This is the second large project that the SSEES-led consortium has won, following the award of €3.5 million to fund an Innovative Training Network on ‘Delayed Transformational Fatigue in Central and Eastern Europe: Responding to the Rise of Illiberalism/Populism’ (FATIGUE).

Links: SSEES

The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Wright, has officially opened UCL’s new quantum laboratories.

The new labs and cleanroom facilities are part of the UCL Quantum Science and Technology Institute (UCLQ) and the London Centre for Nanotechnology. The labs will enable research into quantum technologies, offering tools for nano-fabrication and the measurement of quantum devices at ultra-low temperatures.

As well as providing these critical research and fabrication tools, the facilities will be an integral part of UCL’s world-leading quantum technology training programmes.

They will provide a boost to UCL’s world-renowned research into quantum technologies, helping to bring academic and business leaders together to accelerate the translation of quantum technologies into the marketplace and ensuring that the UK remains a world leader in quantum technology markets. UK government investment into quantum technology to date means that industries such as transport, finance, aeronautical and pharmaceutical are starting to consider how quantum computing could revolutionise their businesses.

The labs are funded through a combined investment of £12 million, with support from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the National Quantum Technology Programme.

Image: Professor John Morton shows Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright around UCLQ's new laboratories. Credit: UCLQ

Links: UCLQ

Through the Connected Curriculum, our framework for research-based education, we seek to offer every student the opportunity to carry out research, at every level of study, challenging them to develop independent, critical thinking, as well as the skills they need for their future careers, so that they leave us inspired and ready to take on big challenges.

Professor Anthony Smith, UCL Vice-Provost (Education & Student Affairs)

Innovative assessment methods have improved student satisfaction and led to new assessment approaches across the entire Applied Medical Sciences degree programme.

Students on the first-year Functional Anatomy and Medical Imaging module were challenged to create a video documentary, no more than seven minutes in length, about a new imaging technique of their choice and its applicability for the study of human anatomy. As part of the project, students were encouraged to interview UCL researchers and share their findings via YouTube. 

The project developed a range of skills, including researching and synthesizing complex information, presentation skills and public engagement skills. The experience of interviewing leading scientists was exciting and inspirational for the students, leading not only to increased student satisfaction, but also to improved educational outcomes, with the students attaining significantly higher marks than previous cohorts. 

The success of this project has led to a re-think of the assessment approach across the entire programme, with coursework replacing short answer examinations. Activities covering a range of outputs from the traditional (e.g. poster presentations) to electronic outputs such as blogs, podcasts and YouTube videos.

Links: UCL Applied Medical Sciences

A free legal clinic run by UCL is helping vulnerable residents in East London, while also providing valuable professional experience for UCL students. 

The UCL Integrated Legal Advice Clinic (iLAC) in Stratford is run by the Centre for Access to Justice at the UCL Faculty of Laws. It offers local residents free general legal advice on various aspects of social welfare law, including benefits and housing, and was recently awarded a legal aid contract in the categories of housing law and community care law. 

The clinic is staffed by UCL law students working under the close supervision of qualified lawyers and advisers, offering students a rich educational opportunity while also serving the local community. Since the formation of the clinic in January 2016, it has successfully helped clients with a range of issues. Students and advisers have helped severely disabled clients to apply for the welfare benefits they were entitled to and have represented others in welfare benefits tribunals to appeal incorrect decisions.

Additionally, specialist housing advice from iLAC has helped to rehome young single mothers whose accommodation was in such disrepair that it was severely affecting their children’s health, saved several clients from being evicted and ensured that the Council fulfilled its duty to place homeless pensioners in assisted housing.

Image: The Integrated Legal Advice Clinic team at the launch of their new, dedicated community space in Stratford in 2018. Image credit: Robert Chadwick

Links: UCL Laws / Centre for Access to Justice / Integrated Legal Aid Advice Clinic

Students in the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) can now get inspiration and advice from recent alumni, thanks to a collaborative project involving current students, alumni and staff in the Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment.

The leaders of three Master’s programmes (Mathematics MA, Geography MA and Science Education MA) were seeking ways to support students choosing their dissertation topics. After attending a Connected Curriculum innovation meeting, they developed the project in collaboration with the Student Academic Representatives. 

Students writing dissertations on the three programmes were asked for feedback about their experience and what kind of support they could have benefited from when researching and choosing their dissertation topics. Advice and input from those who had already completed their dissertations – ie alumni – was frequently mentioned.

Student reps held focus groups with fellow students to get an idea of what kind of insights would be most helpful. They then invited 12 alumni from the three programmes, all of whom had graduated in the last 4 years, to take part in the project. The alumni were invited to the IOE to record short videos for the students, sharing their advice in the form of interviews.

The project met with an enthusiastic response, with the videos being watched by most of the current cohort. The videos are now a useful resource that can be accessed from anywhere in the world, and the department is already seeking feedback to improve them even further. 

Links: UCL IOE / Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment

As an academic community we value the connections we make: across disciplines, across countries, and across communities. We believe that when we come together we can generate unique insights and world-leading research into complex global problems, which inform and enable evidence-based policymaking.

The challenges we face in the future – from climate change to disease and inequality – will not be confined to one country alone, and cannot be solved in isolation. Through inspiring research leaders and nurturing cross-disciplinary research, including through the Research Domains and Grand Challenges, we will strive to help future generations live fair, healthy and rewarding lives.

Professor David Price, UCL Vice-Provost (Research)

The 2018 Brain Prize was awarded to Professor John Hardy (UCL Institute of Neurology) and Professor Bart De Strooper (UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL) for their research on the genetic and molecular basis of Alzheimer’s Disease.

The €1m prize, the world’s most valuable prize for brain research, recognises one or more international scientists who have made outstanding contributions to neuroscience.  Professors Hardy and De Strooper were among four winners of the 2018 prize, and this marks the second year in a row that UCL researchers have been honoured in this way – an unprecedented achievement.

Professor De Strooper is the Director of the new UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL, and Professor of Molecular Medicine at KU Leuven and VIB, Belgium where he carried out the research that earned him his share of the Brain Prize. Professor John Hardy is Chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at the UCL Institute of Neurology. His work on Alzheimer's disease, other dementias and Parkinson's disease is amongst the most highly cited in neuroscience, and in 2015 he was the first UK winner of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. 

Their pioneering research into genetic factors and mechanisms behind the formation and build-up of abnormal ‘amyloid’ proteins in the brain, which is a precursor to the development of Alzheimers, has paved the way for finding new ways to diagnose, treat and possibly even prevent it and other devastating diseases of the ageing brain.

Links: UK Dementia Research Institute / UCL Institute of Neurology

October 2018 saw the official launch event for the Bartlett Real Estate Institute.

Based at UCL’s campus at Here East on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the new institute has at its heart the mission to rethink the traditional views of real estate, looking beyond real estate as a tradeable commodity and examining the ways in which real estate has other value. 

The new institute will take a multidisciplinary approach to identifying, researching and solving real-world problems. Applications have recently opened for the institute’s MSc programme in Healthcare Facilities, the first programme of its kind in the UK that aims to provide a knowledge of what makes a systemic, sustainable and successful healthcare facility. An MSc in Learning Environments is also due to be launched in the coming months.

A team from the institute has also won a Butterfield Award from the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation to explore spatial policies for people throughout their life in the UK and Japan. The research project ‘Design for Ageing: East Meets West’ will bring together academics from both countries, with the aim of exploring how the built environment can best be utilised to support the health and wellbeing not only of older people, but of those who care for them later in life.

Links: Bartlett Real Estate Institute

A researcher from UCL Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering is helping small-scale farmers to convert their farm waste into renewable fuel and fertiliser.

Solutions for sustainable resource management and agricultural waste recycling tend to be expensive and developed with large-scale operations in mind. Whilst working on his PhD in Mexico, Dr Ilan Adler worked with rural, peri-urban and indigenous communities, teaching and promoting eco-technologies aimed at smaller-scale producers. After completing his PhD at UCL and becoming a full-time academic, he worked with environmental engineering students to apply the same principles to UK smallholdings, successfully installing two prototype biodigesters at Surrey Docks Farm.

After receiving support and mentoring from UCL Innovation & Enterprise, Ilan won a Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowship, which enabled him to launch his business, EcoNomad Solutions Ltd. Ilan and has gone on to develop, refine and start prototyping a suite of technologies including biogas units and rainwater harvesting systems. 

After winning further funding from Santander, Ilan has also installed a solar pump prototype at the CICY research institute in Yucatan, Mexico, in preparation for the eventual roll-out of EcoNomad’s products in the developing world. Ilan's vision is to create appropriately sized, affordable and sustainable solutions that can be replicated in smallholdings across the UK and, eventually, across the EU and developing countries.

Links: UCL Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering / EcoNomad Solutions

Our Public Engagement Unit, within the UCL Culture team, celebrated its 10th anniversary this year and, through its pioneering work, we know that the more diverse the voices that we listen to and engage with, the more we will thrive as a university.

We offer our students an education that helps them to become thoughtful, resilient and engaged citizens. With our help, our student volunteers have set up and run numerous community projects – from teaching British politics and democracy to primary school students to attending asylum hearings in support of unaccompanied young Albanians.

Through our continuing outreach work, we will ensure that a UCL education is open to all those who have the talent to study here, irrespective of background.

Simon Cane, Executive Director, UCL Culture

A researcher from UCL Biosciences has won a Health Humanities medal for her work on the role of museums and galleries in health and wellbeing.

The prize, from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in association with the Wellcome Trust, is awarded to people and projects that are helping to improve quality of life, health and wellbeing using arts and humanities research – an inclusive vision of health and wellbeing that goes beyond medical research alone.

Professor Helen Chatterjee received the 'Leadership Award', as well as the overall Health Humanities Medal, in recognition of her research into how museums can be beneficial to health.

Professor Chatterjee is a Professor of Biology and Head of Research and Teaching in UCL Culture. She recently led a three-year collaboration project between UCL, Canterbury Christ Church University and seven museums from central London and Kent, looking at how museums can help those who are lonely and at risk of isolation.

Through her work she has formed partnerships with museums, along with health and social care organisations, to better understand the value of museums as community assets capable of supporting public health.

Links: UCL Biosciences / UCL Culture / Arts and Humanities Research Council

A contemporary sculpture, created by UCL Artist-in-Residence, Kristina Clackson-Bonnington, was chosen by the Palace of Westminster to mark the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which gave the first women the right to vote in the UK.

Part of the university’s year-long Vote 100 programme of events and exhibitions marking this centenary, The House of Doors is an artwork that invites audiences to consider how access to public life has changed since 1918. The centrepiece is an imposing sculpture of a cloaked woman facing a stone ‘door’, inspired by a painting by artist Harriet Halhed, and asks viewers to reflect on the spaces and roles that were once closed to women and have since opened up.

The House of Doors was originally launched in 2015 at UCL, in recognition of our historic commitment to equality and as the first university in England to admit women on the same terms as men. The project has since gone on to tour across the UK.

Alongside the installation of Clackson-Bonnington’s sculpture in Westminster Hall this year, the artist also presented a new exhibition, Female Firsts, as part of the Vote 100 programme. Twelve portraits on display at UCL celebrated women past and present who worked or studied at the university, from leading Bletchley code-breaker Mavis Batey to the UK’s first female doctor Elizabeth Garrett Anderson.

Link: House of Doors

UCL has a commitment to being an open, accessible and publicly engaged university and in light of plans to develop the new UCL East campus the institution is establishing relationships with communities in east London. The UCL Public Engagement Unit has been working in east London for a few years asking organisations: what are your needs and priorities? Voluntary and community sector organisations told us that they needed support to survive and thrive in an increasingly difficult environment. Time and time again we were faced with the question: Can UCL help us to evaluate our work and help us evidence our impact to our funders and stakeholders?

We know there is power in the concept of evaluation as a two-way learning process that can shape service delivery, improve efficiency and effectiveness, and communicate impact. In 2017, we launched Evaluation Exchange, a partnership between Newham-based umbrella organisation Aston-Mansfield and the UCL Public Engagement Unit. The concept was simple: we matched teams of UCL researchers working with six voluntary sector organisations in Newham, east London to tackle an evaluation challenge the organisation was facing, providing training and support to help them improve their evaluation abilities. The aim is to “connect the know-how to the how-to”, giving organisations a chance to build capacity for effective evaluation, and researchers a valuable opportunity to apply and develop research skills in a real world situation while gaining hands-on experience of the voluntary sector.

The six organisations varied in size and establishment, and included a homeless charity, support for migrants, a charity that supports vulnerable women and a heritage and theatre company. The teams came together for a set 6 months, to draw on the collective skills they already have, but were given additional training and resources in evaluation, so that they could collaboratively create a solution to the evaluation challenge. Positive results suggest the programme has improved evaluation capacity, changed service delivery, and boosted service users’ and organisations’ confidence in their activities. UCL’s researchers in turn gained real-world experience of the practical application of their research and evaluation skills, and a broader sense of the social environment in which London’s Global University operates.

Link: UCL Public Engagement Unit

We are in London, an integral part of the city physically, architecturally, culturally, economically. We are of London, reflecting its strengths and challenges, with London core to our identity and outlook, and – with staff and students from over 150 countries – global in reach.  

And as a world-leading, comprehensive, research-intensive university we have outstanding opportunities to be 'for' London. Vital is partnership, a great strength of UCL. Working with our many partners from amongst London’s communities, leaders, businesses and organisations, we have the opportunity to unlock outstanding outcomes and overcome challenges for this great city we share.

Dr Celia Caulcott, UCL Vice-Provost (Enterprise & London)

A Camden-based start-up founded by a UCL student is helping young Londoners from low income backgrounds to connect with scientific researchers.

Young people often find it difficult to get work experience and career advice in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), due to a lack of contacts. The non-profit organisation in2scienceUK, the brainchild of Rebecca McKelvey, is working to help open doors for them in these fields.

Rebecca identified the need for such an organisation while studying for a PhD in Neuroscience at the UCL Division of Biosciences. With university researchers in STEM subjects volunteering and being mentors to these students, as well as creating opportunities for young people to experience labs and other practical aspects of STEM, Rebecca imagined more young people would be inspired to study subjects that would maximise their future employability.

Rebecca entered the UCL Bright Ideas Award competition (now the ‘Launch £10,000 programme’) and won the £10,000 prize. Gaining a space at The Hatchery – UCL’s business incubator for startups and new enterprises – and with other support from UCL Innovation & Enterprise, she was able to turn her ideas into reality.

She quickly put her ideas into action in secondary schools across London, providing mentors from universities, science placements and careers guidance to more than 1,000 young people. To date, in2scienceUK has worked with 326 schools and 590 volunteer researchers – of whom 339 are based at UCL – who offer their time to inspire young people. A total of 80% of participants have progressed to university and 75% of have gone on to study STEM subjects. 

The organisation, which is a partner at the Knowledge Quarter (the cluster of world-leading organisations based around King’s Cross, Euston and Bloomsbury), was Highly Commended in the Knowledge Partners Award category at the 2017 Camden Business Awards.

in2ScienceUK has recently won a £250,000 grant from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to continue its work and plans to expand across the UK in the next five years.

Links: in2scienceUK

Coal mining waste is being transformed into ochre pigments for use in fine art paint manufacture, in a multi-disciplinary project devised by a Slade School researcher. 

When Onya McCausland visited a former coalfield in Lancashire, she found both a source of materials for her paintings and a potential business idea. Water treatment plants based at several former coal mines produce clean water for local systems. In the process, they extract and leave behind some 4,000 tonnes of ochre waste a year.

Onya, studying for a PhD at the UCL Slade School of Fine Art, saw the possibility of transforming this waste into ochre pigments for the fine art market; a project that also attracted interest from UCL’s Earth Sciences Department and UCL Culture.

Supported by advice from  UCL Innovation & Enterprise, which also helped her secure funding, Onya developed a feasibility study and business case. This led to the signing of a commercial agreement between UCL and The Coal Authority (TCA).

UCL and the TCA are also developing a public engagement project with the National Coal Mining Museum England and Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield. The intention is to positively alter public perceptions of coal mining waste.

The colours developed from coal mining waste by Onya were displayed at Five Landscapes, an exhibition staged at UCL in April this year. Each colour was developed from mine water from treatment schemes in five former coal mines in Scotland, Lancashire, Yorkshire and South Wales. Meanwhile, Onya has been awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the Slade, allowing her to continue her work for the next three years.

Links: UCL Slade School of Fine Art / Onya McCausland

The UCL Institute of Education is working with the Institute of Physics, the University Council of Modern Languages and King’s College London to challenge gender stereotypes and make sure that no child is held back by societal expectations of their gender. 

Research shows that children’s career choices begin to be fixed from as early as age four, contributing to gender disparities right across the curriculum, with around 40% more boys taking STEM subjects for A Level, and 98% of those working in the early years sector being female. 

The Gender Action schools award programme, announced at the Greater London Authority (GLA) by the Deputy Mayor for Education and Childcare, is based on a decade’s worth of research and provides the practical support schools need to put gender equality at the heart of everything they do. The programme will support schools to put in place systems, structures and behaviours that allow students to reach their full potential, free from the limitations created by gender stereotyping. 

Funding from the GLA, as part of the Mayor of London’s #behindeverygreatcity campaign, has enabled Gender Action to undertake a Phase 1 roll-out in London schools. This will be followed by a national rollout in 2020.

Registration is open to education settings from nurseries through to further education colleges, as well as special schools and pupil referral units. The award programme provides tools to benchmark each school’s current policies and practices against national best practice, and a framework to ensure continued development.

Links: UCL Institute of Education / Gender Action

We recognise that no one institution, no matter how prestigious, can solve these problems alone. 

Through our Global Engagement Strategy, we’ve been building and strengthening our international partnerships. We believe that by sharing our expertise and working together, UCL academics, staff, students and their global partners can have the greatest impact. 

An example of this is our collaboration with Mexico’s £7.8 million sustainable energy research programme. This initiative is the largest bilateral cooperation with the UK in this field. 

We have also developed a transcontinental partnership that will bring together partners from India, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa and Zambia to advance genetic diagnosis and therapy for neuromuscular diseases, which affect at least 17 million children and adults globally.

With Brexit on the horizon, we are consolidating existing partnerships with European universities and launching a new initiative called the Cities partnerships Programme in Rome and Paris, and stepping up our support for EU research collaboration. 

The further examples below are a sample of the world-class, creative and interdisciplinary work taking place across UCL, which we are delighted to facilitate and support. 

Dame Nicola Brewer, UCL Vice-Provost (International)

An interdisciplinary UCL collaboration is working with global partners to provide community-led solutions to the problem of child malnutrition in rural India.

Professor Monica Lakhanpaul used a Global Engagement Office-led visit to India to make new connections both within, and beyond, UCL. She and Professor Marie Lall (UCL Institute of Education) and Dr Priti Parikh (UCL Engineering) established an initiative with a variety of partners in India to develop new, community-led solutions to the problem of child malnutrition in rural areas.

Their HEEE (Heath Education, Engineering and Environment) platform aims to address development issues in a holistic way, working with local companies, universities and NGOs who have specialist knowledge of local policies and customs. In this way, the team are able to work within communities, translating their research into field activities in order to reach those who will benefit the most.

An initial focus is on infant feeding practices, using local schools as hubs in which to bring people together to raise awareness around nutrition. Professor Lakhanpaul has also used GEO seed funding to make connections with the Mumbai-based Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action (SNEHA), to help inform her research both in India and the UK.

Link: HEEE

UCL Professors Nick Greene and Andrew Copp have teamed up with colleagues at Peking University (PKU) in a bid to prevent one of the world’s most common birth defects – spina bifida.

Worldwide, neural tube defects (NTDs) such as spina bifida are estimated to affect around one in every 1,000 pregnancies. More than 260,000 babies are born every year with spina bifida, a severely disabling malformation of the spinal cord. Women are advised to supplement their diet with folic acid before and during early pregnancy to reduce the risk of an affected pregnancy. Despite this, some babies still develop the birth defect. 

The team, from UCL’s Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Comprehensive Clinical Trials Unit, worked on identifying possible ways to prevent ‘folic acid resistant’ spina bifida. Their initial research suggested that supplementing the diet with inositol (vitamin B8) alongside folic acid was successful at preventing spina bifida. They are now proposing a £5m study of up to 9,000 women in China to confirm their initial findings.

The prevalence of spina bifida in Northern China, where the study will be carried out, is among the highest in the world. China’s systematic collection of data on pregnancy outcomes also means that it will be possible to identify suitable women to take part in the trial.

A bid to fund the clinical trial is currently being considered.

Links: Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health / Comprehensive Clinical Trials Unit

Professor Claudia Mauri (Vice-Dean International, Medical Sciences) used a Global Engagement Office-led visit to Japan to deepen her faculty’s research collaborations with Osaka University’s world-leading immunology department.

Professor Mauri heads up a team conducting research into rheumatological diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Their focus is on regulatory B cells, a type of white blood cell forming part of the human immune system. 

Whilst in Japan, Professor Mauri met with Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, Professor of Immunology and Head of Immunology at Osaka University, who is recognised for his pioneering work on white blood cells. They quickly identified the complementary strengths of the two institutions; UCL has a wealth of patients with a variety of immunological disorders and Osaka’s strength lies in quickly translating findings to the clinic. 

Professor Mauri’s visit to Japan was followed by a visit from Professor Sakaguchi to UCL, where he was invited to give a keynote at UCL’s Division of Infection and Immunity’s annual showcase meeting by Professor Hans Stauss. This, in turn, paved the way for the establishment of a mutually beneficial partnership, with an exchange of PhD students and personnel between UCL and Osaka. In this way researchers from both institutions are able to experience new aspects of research in the field of translational immunology.

Links: UCL Infection and Immunity

Each September, UCL welcomes more than 20,000 new students. Given the size of UCL and the number of orientation and welcome events on offer, it’s not surprising that the business of induction can be overwhelming.

UCL Student Support and Wellbeing (SSW) launched a ‘Welcome to UCL’ app to help new arrivals settle in and organise their first few weeks. The app provides checklists of key induction tasks, essential information about support services and student opportunities, maps and social features.

The app’s key feature, however, is a collated schedule of academic and non-academic induction events. For the first time, students can see all events in one place, and can tag these in order to make up their own personalised calendar of sessions – giving them a single, comprehensive view of their induction timetable and helping them organise their first few weeks.

For the start of the 2018 academic year, the app has been a huge success, with over 15,000 downloads (or over 72% of new students). The app was accessed over 417,000 times between 6 August and 30 September, with the busiest day, Sunday 23 September, seeing 37,250 opens.

Over 1,400 events were hosted in the app schedule, with 86% of eligible departments contributing events, as well as Students’ Union UCL, SSW, Library Services and the Doctoral School. 81% of app users gave it 4 or 5 stars out of 5. Next year, SSW plans to make the app an even more useful resource by making sure every induction and welcome event is included. 

Find out more

• UCL Student Support and Wellbeing

UCL is a huge and sometimes bafflingly complex organisation – so to make new staff feel like part of the UCL community from day one, the Organisational Development (OD) team have a vision for a new kind of staff orientation event.

Until very recently, staff were welcomed at the termly ‘Provost’s Welcome’ event. The format of the Provost’s Welcome hadn’t changed very much in the last decade; it was too infrequent, delivered to too many members of staff en masse and, with less than 13% of new staff attending a welcome event during their probation period, wasn’t reaching its intended audience. 

UCL welcomes, on average, 2,400 new staff each year. OD’s eventual aim is to give each and every one the perfect start and a warm welcome to their career at UCL, making them feel informed and supported from their very first day on the job with more regular, smaller and more informal induction events. To this end, the first new-look UCL Staff Welcome event took place on 16 October 2018, with the aim of facilitating both the practical and social aspects of starting at UCL.

At the event, existing staff members shared their experiences and answered questions, a “UCL 101” section covered the practicalities, and the Provost gave an overview of the 2034 strategy. The aim was to give new starters a much more effective and personalised experience, fostering a real sense of belonging and recognising that our strength as a university comes from the calibre and commitment of our staff.

Just two years after publicly launching in September 2016, the It’s All Academic campaign to raise £600m in philanthropic income for UCL had hit a total of £480m for priorities including student support, major capital projects including the New Student Centre, research areas such as cancer and neuroscience, and emerging cross-disciplinary opportunities like artificial intelligence and UCL’s new Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose. 

The Campaign has so far raised £117m to support UCL’s neuroscience research alone, with recent major donations including a £2m award from the Wolfson Foundation and £3m donated by Hong Kong based alumna Cathy Lee – one of UCL’s biggest single donations from Asia to date.

Other vital areas of UCL’s strategy supported by the Campaign include student support and experience, with significant funds raised for scholarships such as the new UCL Research Opportunity Scholarships, designed to support doctoral level students from BME groups that are underrepresented in academia. 

It’s All Academic is a cross-UCL fundraising campaign that brings the unique leverage of philanthropy to bear on some of UCL’s biggest long-term ambitions and catalyse the novel and disruptive thinking that traditional funding sources struggle to reach. The Campaign is also growing and engaging UCL’s active world-wide alumni community, with a target of reaching 250,000 volunteering hours – representing alumni giving their time to support UCL, current students and each other.

Find out more

• UCL Campaign

The process of timetabling and booking rooms for teaching and meeting has been made significantly easier with the introduction, in August 2018, of CMIS Go. 

CMIS Go is an interface to CMIS – UCL's timetabling and central room booking software – which has replaced the former web-based booking interface. The new system is much improved, with a user-friendly and intuitive system that requires six simple steps in order to secure a room. The availability of space is displayed in real time, and when a request is made the space is provisionally reserved – which means no more clashes in booking requests. Confirmation of bookings is also sent much more quickly. 

The system is currently being rolled out to departments, with around 80% already onboard. This new and consistent approach, using a single system, provides improved visibility of usage of the bookable estate. It also provides both staff and students with a single, integrated timetable for all of their taught classes, wherever they are taking place.

Visitors to Gordon Street will have noticed that the new Student Centre is emerging from its coverings – it’s due to open its doors in early 2019.

The Student Centre is one of the flagship buildings of the £1.2billion Transforming UCL project, and the embodiment of UCL’s aspirations towards a sustainable estate. Not only does it represent the very best of environmentally-conscious building, but it’s also a benchmark of excellence for future projects, with the student experience at the very heart of its design and function.

With an extra 1,000 ‘study seats’, as well as flexible spaces designed to facilitate collaborative and research-based learning, and green spaces including a roof terrace, the new Student Centre will provide new ways for our students to work, discover and learn for generations to come. Efficient power, water and heating systems, and a focus on healthier study spaces designed to optimise natural light and indoor air quality, mean that the design of the building has already received an “Outstanding” certification from BREEM. It is also on track to gain an “Outstanding” rating for its construction, making it one of the most sustainable buildings in the UK.

We all know that great things happen every day at UCL. But how do we know?

The chances are that the UCL News website is your main source of information about UCL’s discoveries, achievements and accolades. The site is run by the UCL Media Relations team, based in the Division of Communications and Marketing. In 2018, the team published around 170 stories on the UCL News website, highlighting UCL’s position as a research leader and policy influencer with a global impact.

Media Relations also works to connect experts at UCL with the media, meaning that our academics provide comment, context and analysis on some of the world’s most important events. In 2018 Media Relations fielded around 580 media requests for experts, and introduced ‘proactive’ expert advisories, resulting in over 30 top tier broadcast appearances for UCL academics.

We’ve also had nearly 900 pieces of ‘top tier’ media coverage, with our experts appearing in outlets worldwide including the BBC, ITV, Al Jazeera, the Financial Times, the Daily Mail and the Huffington Post. They’ve lent their expertise and opinions on everything from politics (Brexit, the US midterm elections) to healthcare (the role of AI), history (the 100th anniversary of the Armistice) to science (the launch of space probes to study the Sun) and climate change (the UN report on climate change) to culture (the historical context of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels) – and even on toilet design through the ages!

Find out more

• UCL News