Review of the year
Professor Hanna thanked the ION leadership and Professional Services team for their contributions over the past year, and acknowledged support from the Faculty and Divisions, and all our external partnerships and supporters.
He paid specific thanks to staff who had left ION in 2023, including David Blundred and Caroline Selai, and welcomed new staff including Professor Fiona Ducotterd as the new Chief Scientific Officer of the ARUK Drug Discovery Institute, and the appointment of Professor Siddharthan Chandran as the new UK DRI director, based at the UK DRI HQ at UCL.
Professor Hanna highlighted the significant progress made over the past year. The ION published over 1900 peer-reviewed articles, and had its most successful year in terms of grant income, securing over £50m in new grants and currently holding over £350m in active grant funding. He emphasised the teams' global influence, presenting findings at major international conferences and collaborating locally, nationally, and internationally.
He showcased wide-ranging examples of ION's research impact and initiatives including the use of AI in improving safety in neurosurgery, trials in Huntington's Disease, ALS disease mechanisms, functional anatomy of the visual cortex, tissue hypoxia and biomarkers in MS, the new MND Research Institute and the EJS ACT-PD platform.
Professor Hanna highlighted our Translation and Enterprise activities, including the work of LWENC and the first gene-silencing drug in Alzheimer’s disease, leadership in translational genomics, including the establishment of a new Genetic Therapies Accelerator Group, led by Professor Francesco Muntoni, and UCL Spinout AstronauTx with Alzheimer's Research UK UCL Drug Discovery Institute (UCL DDI). He also highlighted the new Neuroscience, Cancer and Hearing Advanced Therapy Research Pharmacy due to launch in 2024. He also gave an update on the £281m translational neuroscience facility on Grays Inn Road which will open in the 24/25 academic year, including the Topping Out ceremony.
These achievements were complemented by many individual ION researchers' awards and appointments, including the MRC Millennium medal, new Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and AES awards, alongside 100% success in 2023 senior and early career promotions.
Professor Hanna also highlighted ION-wide EDI initiatives, as well as Educational achievements, including the new iBSc and Human Neuroscience BSc, and ION's sustainability initiatives, including the Hot Brain Conference.
All these achievements are covered in the ION Annual Review which was launched at the event.
He concluded by looking back at the innovation and impact of the ION in the 46 years since Queen Square House was opened, including thrombolysis treatment, diagnostic neurogenetics, amyloid hypothesis, pioneering MRI and DBS and epilepsy surgery. He highlighted the success factors which will be realised in the future at the translational neuroscience facility on Gray’s Inn Road.
Professor Hanna ended by congratulating Queen Square Essay Prize award winners Dr Oliver Ziff and Dr Angelo Dawson, before introducing Sir Patrick Vallance's Annual Address.
Dr Oliver Ziff receiving the Queen Square Essay Prize award from Professor Michael Hanna
Annual Address
We were delighted to welcome as the guest speaker Sir Patrick Vallance, Chairman of the Natural History Museum, formerly Government Chief Scientific Adviser. “Why governments need science”.
Sir Patrick Vallance (a UCL Alumni) gave a thoughtful and wide ranging commentary, starting with emphasising how science underpins all aspects of government policy, from food to town planning, before assessing the strengths and weaknesses of science in academia, government and industry in the UK. He showed how each plays a pivotal role in times of emergency, exemplified by the COVID pandemic and the climate crisis.
Sir Patrick ended with examples from his current role at the Natural History Museum, and the future work of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency. He closed by emphasising the importance of diversity in recruitment and teams in delivering science
Vote of Thanks
Closing remarks were given by Professor Michael Hanna, following the vote of thanks by Dr Michael Spence AC, UCL President & Provost. Dr Spence highlighted the need for effective scientific communicators and synthetic intelligence, as exemplified in the Annual Address.
Image (left to right): Dr Michael Spence AC, Sir Patrick Vallance, Professor Michael Hanna.
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