Our mission
Our mission is to translate neuroscience discovery research into treatments for patients with neurological diseases
Our aims
- a leading translational neuroscience centre in the world translating discovery into experimental studies in patients to deliver new diagnostics and new therapies;
- an excellent student destination for educational programmes embedded in translational neuroscience research;
- overcome fragmentation as a centre for connecting industry, commercial partners, academics and patients to accelerate translate research, internationally.
The Institute is an amazing place and it is my privilege to be the Director. Our aim is to discover how the brain and nervous system works and to use this knowledge to find better treatments and ways to improve the lives of patients with neurological and brain diseases. We prioritise training the next generation and work to drive partnerships and collaborations in a culture that fully embraces the power of diversity. I hope you enjoy finding out more about our world-leading teaching and research
ION Code of Conduct
Our research departments
We have eight departments covering clinical and basic research, spanning areas that range from brain rehabilitation to neuromuscular diseases.
Our research centres
These include the MRC International Centre for Genomic Medicine in Neuromuscular Diseases.
Our clinical divisions
Alongside our departments, we have divisions representing professional affiliations and providing a forum for those with similar specialist training.
Our Institute in numbers
- Over 780 staff, including 154 principal investigators, and just under 300 honorary and visiting staff
- 282 PhD students and over 360 MSc/MRes/BSc students
- 711 active research projects, totalling £390 million with an annual turnover of over £110 million
Our unique academic health science partnerships provide us with access to a patient population of over six million, including the longest continually running major birth cohort study in the world. Our strong clinical partnership with the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery gives us a privileged understanding of how to bring a truly patient-focused approach to research, innovation and education.
In 2018, UCL was chosen as the hub of the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI), the single biggest investment the UK has ever made in dementia thanks to £290 million from founding funders the Medical Research Council, Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK. The UK DRI research team are based within our Institute.
Our History
Find out more
The UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology was established in 1950 and merged with UCL in 1997.
Our partnerships
- UCLH Biomedical Research Centre
- Brain Research UK
- National Brain Appeal
- UCLPartners
- UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences
- UCL Life and Medical Sciences
- UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
- Epilepsy Society
- UK Dementia Research Institute
- National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (UCLH)
- UCL Office of the Vice-Provost (Advancement)
- Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour
- Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit
- UCL Institute of Prion Diseases
- Brain and Spine Institute (ICM, Paris)
- Francis Crick Institute
- UCL Centre for Neurorehabilitation
Annual Review
Read our Annual Review
We're delighted to launch the 2024-25 Annual Review of the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology which provides an overview of the activity and achievements of the Institute in the past year.
