Amad Uddin is commited to providing high-quality, round-the-clock support and services to the thousands of students and staff that pass through the doors of the UCL Student Centre.
Amad came to UCL in 2016 as Library Manager, initially working nights before taking on weekend and daytime shifts. He worked for the Science Libraries, Cruciform Libraries and Senate House, gaining an intimate understanding of the university’s spaces and the people who use them.
A career-defining moment came in 2019 when he became Manager of the newly built Student Centre; a purpose-built space for students and staff that he helped to establish from the ground up. With no staff and only two weeks’ notice before handover, he and his director, Peter Dennison, ran the building themselves for months, establishing the 24/7 service and support model that now defines the space.
He takes immense pride and joy in working for UCL, and it has even become a family affair, with his nieces working in Mechanical Engineering and UCL Careers, and two of his brothers in Library Services.
Every day I wake up and I want to come to work. The student determination and work ethic rubs off on me, so I need to up my game!
Amad was born and raised on Caledonian Road, a stone’s throw from UCL. He worked various jobs in retail before undertaking a management degree and going into a full-time management programme at WHSmith: “Retail is tough and not easy for a family person”. He later worked at a job centre and in a college library in Hackey for 10 years before coming to UCL, where he now leads a varied and dedicated team.
Students see us every day and we help with everything - providing student support and wellbeing services, advice and information, pastoral services, catering. No other library does that, which makes it a place for everyone.
In the future, Amad would like for UCL to focus on creating new learning spaces and investing more in library services to be able to keep up with the growth in student intake.
The service that we offer is always improving and we want to innovate. I encourage that in my staff as well: they're the ones on the ground so they know more than anyone what is needed.
Amad also does a lot of social work within his local community, supporting Muslim young people to gain employment and expand education opportunities.
I hope people think of me as someone who has tried to be the best person they can be. I've given back to my community, and hopefully they have benefitted from that.
