UCL News: Engineering

An image created by UCL scientists, which reveals unlabelled microplastics in the body of a live animal for the first time, was one of the Top 25 selections for this year’s Prize and will now form part of a public exhibition at the Francis Crick Institute.

UCL is celebrating a standout year at the 2025 HEIST Awards, with three projects shortlisted and one taking home a top prize – recognising the creativity, collaboration and commitment of staff across the university.

An artificial intelligence (AI) system that enables a four-legged robot to adapt its gait to varied, unfamiliar terrain, just like a real animal, has been developed by researchers at UCL and the University of Leeds.

Writing in The Conversation, Professor Richard Wortley (UCL Security & Crime Science), explores his research into what happens when drinking precedes killing.

UCL is partnering with the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) to launch the UK’s first Global Industrial Technology Cooperation Centre (GITCC).

French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted the importance of Franco-British collaboration in AI during his state visit to the UK this week, where he met with leading UK AI researchers and institutional representatives including UCL’s Professor Geraint Rees.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be made more sustainable by making practical changes, such as reducing the number of decimal places used in AI models, shortening responses, and using smaller AI models, according to research from UCL published in a new UNESCO report.

Professor Mark Miodownik (UCL Mechanical Engineering) has been appointed the new Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science, with a mission to transform our understanding of how we make, use, reuse and recycle products.

Leading chip designer NVIDIA will partner with UCL to help optimise the UK’s national artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, as part of a Europe-wide initiative to help countries develop their own ‘sovereign’ AI systems.

A low-cost, durable, highly sensitive robotic ‘skin’ that enables robots to detect information about their surroundings in a way that’s similar to humans has been developed by researchers from UCL and the University of Cambridge.

UCL hosted Ekaterina Zaharieva, EU Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, and the EU Delegation to the United Kingdom this week, to discuss the vital role universities play in fostering growth.

The UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology has been gifted more than £5 million by the Reta Lila Weston Trust for Medical Research, in support of initiatives to prevent, diagnose and treat a range of neurodegenerative diseases using artificial intelligence (AI).

Eight UCL researchers have been elected Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences in recognition of their ground-breaking research and delivery of new benefits to patients.

Professor Andy Nisbet has been announced as UCL’s new Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences, effective 1 August 2025.

A new technique to extract tiny cellulose strands from cow dung and turn them into manufacturing-grade cellulose, currently used to make everything from surgical masks to food packaging, has been developed by researchers from UCL and Edinburgh Napier University.