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ARC News and Updates
The latest news and updates from ARC, highlighting our collaborative research efforts, institutional developments, and key announcements. This page provides insight into the ongoing work and impact of ARC’s partnerships, projects, and contributions across the research community.
Expressions of Interest are now open for UCL researchers and digital research professionals to represent UCL at SuperComputing 2026 (15-20 Nov, Chicago,IL) - the worlds leading HPC conference. Find out how to apply.
James Hetherington, Director of UCL's Advanced Research Computing, delivered his inaugural lecture at UCL Computer Science on the 30th April at UCL East.
As part of his celebratory lecture, James offered an exploration of how computational science, data, and software engineering are transforming the way research is carried out. Drawing on his career across academia, government, and industry, he reflected on the evolving role of Advanced Research Computing (ARC), from enabling large-scale simulations to supporting reproducible and trustworthy science. A central theme was how researchers can be better equipped with the tools, infrastructure, and skills needed to make science more transparent, scalable, and impactful.
UCL’s Advanced Research Computing (ARC) has secured funding totalling £19.5m from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to build a new National Compute Centre, which will be established as “Charger”. These new computing resources are a major step in delivering the UK Compute Roadmap, the national plan launched by the Government in July 2025 to make the UK a global leader in high-tech research. With access to this facility being scheduled for researchers later this year.
The funding supports specialist staff and compute infrastructure provided by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and data centre services being delivered in partnership with DataVita in Scotland leading towards a carbon saving of approximately 465 tonnes of CO₂e per year.
Formed in August 2021 as an evolution of the Research IT Services unit within UCL’s Information Services Division (ISD), we are now an explicitly hybrid independent department, with both professional services (PS) and academic missions. We provide advanced, reliable, and secure digital research infrastructure – including hardware, software, data, and skills – to researchers in UCL and beyond. We are also a laboratory for research, teaching, and innovation in compute, data, and software-intensive research methods.
The time to carry out diagnostic MRI scans for dementia can be cut to one third of their standard length, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.
We are pleased to announce that UCL Advanced Research Computing (ARC) is a partner in TREvolution, a £6.2 million programme supported by £4.94 million from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the DARE UK (Phase 2) Transformational Programme.