Contact us

The Global Engagement team, Pro-Vice-Provost (Global Engagement), and networks of Global Strategic Academic Advisors and Vice-Deans (International) work together to help forge connections, collaborations and relationships between people at UCL and other universities, companies and organisations around the world.

Are you a global partner interested in collaborating with UCL? See our regional pages for the latest news from your area, and to contact the relevant Senior Global Engagement Manager. We'd love to hear from you.

Are you a UCL staff member? Contact us for guidance and support with:

Global partnerships and collaborations, from concept and proposal onwards
International delegation visits, both inbound and outbound
Regional advice, expertise and knowledge sharing
Global communications and telling UCL's global story

Vice-Provost (RIGE)

Professor Geraint Rees Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement) Geraint took up the role of UCL Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement) in May 2022, having served as Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences from 2014-2022. He is responsible for providing vision and academic leadership for UCL’s world-leading research, knowledge exchange and global engagement, bringing together a range of functions, services and resources in order to maximise UCL’s impact on the world.

Professor Geraint Rees

Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement)

Geraint took up the role of UCL Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement) in May 2022, having served as Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences from 2014-2022.

He is responsible for providing vision and academic leadership for UCL’s world-leading research, knowledge exchange and global engagement, bringing together a range of functions, services and resources in order to maximise UCL’s impact on the world.

Professor Geraint Rees Vice-Provost RIGE

Pro-Vice-Provost (Global Engagement)

Professor David Coen

Pro-Vice-Provost (Global Engagement)

David Coen is the founding Director of the Institute of Global Governance at UCL. Previously he was Head of Department of Political Science from 2010 to 2018. He has held the Fulbright Distinguished Fellowship at Harvard University and visiting fellowships at Harvard, Boston University, the Max Planck Institute, Koln, Sciences Po Paris, and the European University Institute, Florence.

David helps shape UCL’s strategic approach to global engagement, while providing academic leadership that ensures GE effectively coordinates strategic input from UCL’s networks of Vice-Deans (International) and Global Strategic Academic Advisors.

Global Strategic Academic Advisors

The GSAAs play an important strategic role as a catalyst for UCL’s engagement in their particular region.

They welcome international delegations to UCL and act as ambassadors and advocates for UCL's work internationally.

Dr Uta Staiger Global Strategic Academic Advisor (Europe) Email: u.staiger@ucl.ac.uk Uta Staiger is Executive Director of the UCL European Institute. Her research interests are in mid-20th-century European thought seeking to straddle aesthetics and politics, and the role culture plays for ideas of citizenship in both political theory and European integration. Dr Staiger chairs the Europe Network.
Professor Monica Lakhanpaul Global Strategic Academic Advisor (India) Email: m.lakhanpaul@ucl.ac.uk Professor Lakhanpaul is Professor of Integrated Community Child Health at the UCL GOS Institute of Child Heath. In 2016 she was appointed Head of Population, Policy and Practice. Professor Lakhanpaul’s research promotes citizen science and she particularly focuses on disability, asthma and nutrition as exemplar public health issues in South Asian families. Professor Lakhanpaul chairs the South Asia Network.
Professor Julius Mugwagwa Global Strategic Academic Advisor (Africa) Email: j.mugwagwa@ucl.ac.uk Professor Mugwagwa is Professor of Health Innovation and Public Policy in UCL's Department of Science, Technology Engineering and Public Policy (UCL STEaPP), and currently serves as the Global Health Thematic Director of UCL’s Global Governance Institute. He has worked in veterinary research, pharmaceutical research and development and quality assurance and harmonisation of medicines regulatory systems in Africa.

Dr Uta Staiger

Global Strategic Academic Advisor (Europe)
Email: u.staiger@ucl.ac.uk

Uta Staiger is Executive Director of the UCL European Institute. Her research interests are in mid-20th-century European thought seeking to straddle aesthetics and politics, and the role culture plays for ideas of citizenship in both political theory and European integration.

Dr Staiger chairs the Europe Network.

Professor Monica Lakhanpaul

Global Strategic Academic Advisor (India)
Email: m.lakhanpaul@ucl.ac.uk

Professor Lakhanpaul is Professor of Integrated Community Child Health at the UCL GOS Institute of Child Heath. In 2016 she was appointed Head of Population, Policy and Practice. Professor Lakhanpaul’s research promotes citizen science and she particularly focuses on disability, asthma and nutrition as exemplar public health issues in South Asian families.

Professor Lakhanpaul chairs the South Asia Network.

Professor Julius Mugwagwa

Global Strategic Academic Advisor (Africa)
Email: j.mugwagwa@ucl.ac.uk

Professor Mugwagwa is Professor of Health Innovation and Public Policy in UCL's Department of Science, Technology Engineering and Public Policy (UCL STEaPP), and currently serves as the Global Health Thematic Director of UCL’s Global Governance Institute. He has worked in veterinary research, pharmaceutical research and development and quality assurance and harmonisation of medicines regulatory systems in Africa.

Vice-Deans (International)

The Vice-Deans (International) provide a Faculty focus for UCL's global activities – they help us tell the story of UCL’s global impact by discipline and department.

UCL Global Engagement works closely with the Vice-Deans (International) to facilitate global engagement across UCL.

SLMS

Professor Dr Lasana Harris Vice-Dean (International) for Brain Sciences Email: lasana.harris@ucl.ac.uk Lasana Harris completed post-doctorate research at New York University and held his first appointment as an Assistant Professor at Duke University, USA. He was Assistant Professor at Leiden University, the Netherlands and is now an Associate Professor in Experimental Psychology at UCL. His research explores the neural correlates of person perception and social decision-making.
Professor Jolene Skordis Vice-Dean (International) for Population Health Sciences Email: j.skordis@ucl.ac.uk Jolene Skordis is Director of UCL’s Centre for Global Health Economics, Deputy Director of the Institute for Global Health and Vice Chair of the European Global Health Research Institutes Network. She is an economist, specialising in health and development, and a regular advisor to the WHO and World Bank. Her work has directly influenced government policy in a range of countries.
Professor John Hurst Vice-Dean (International) for Medical Sciences Email: j.hurst@ucl.ac.uk John Hurst is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at UCL and an NIHR Global Research Professor (2024-2029). He is Associate Editor at the European Respiratory Journal and has previously served as the Non-Executive Director of an NHS Trust, Senior Clinical Lead to the UK National Asthma and COPD Audit Programme (NACAP), and Editor-in-Chief of the European Respiratory Monograph.
Professor Tara Keck Vice-Dean (International) for Life Sciences Email: t.keck@ucl.ac.uk Tara Keck is Professor of Neuroscience in the Division of Biosciences, where her research focuses on how experience and external factors shape the brain during adulthood and ageing. She has worked in collaboration with the United Nations and NGOs on projects in a range of countries, examining how communities can be engaged to support mental well-being in underserved populations.

SLASH

Dr Gracia Marín Durán Vice-Dean (International) for Laws Email: gracia.marin-duran@ucl.ac.uk Dr Gracia Marín Durán is an Associate Professor in International Economic Law at the University College London Faculty of Laws. Her areas of teaching and research expertise are in the fields of EU/international trade law and policy and EU/international environmental law and policy. She has widely published on the relationship between international trade and environmental protection. She has also extensive experience in providing legal consultancy and pro bono legal advice on trade and trade-related matters to governmental institutions, international organisations and NGOs.
Dr Pushpa Arabindoo Vice Dean (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement) for Social and Historical Sciences Email: p.arabindoo@ucl.ac.uk Dr Pushpa Arabindoo is Associate Professor of Urban Studies at UCL. Her expertise lies at the intersection of architecture, urban design and planning, grounded in critical urban studies. The subjects of her work include middle-class politics, subaltern activism and ecological challenges, with a sustained, embedded focus on Chennai; she uses this lens to speak to—and push beyond—frames such as “Southern urbanism” toward a genuinely global urban studies. Her professional background spans an undergraduate degree in Architecture (Chennai), an MS in Urban Design (Pratt Institute, New York), nearly a decade in practice, and a PhD in Planning (Department of Geography, LSE).
Professor Florian Mussgnug Vice-Dean (International) for Arts and Humanities Email: f.mussgnug@ucl.ac.uk Florian Mussgnug is Professor of Comparative Literature and Italian Studies in SELCS. He has held visiting and honorary positions at Rome Sapienza University, the Universities of Siena, Roma Tre, Oxford and Cagliari, and the British School at Rome. From 2018-2021, he served as the first academic director of the UCL Cities Partnerships Programme, enabling the organisation of more than forty UCL-led international conferences and symposia in Rome.

Dr Gracia Marín Durán

Vice-Dean (International) for Laws

Email: gracia.marin-duran@ucl.ac.uk

Dr Gracia Marín Durán is an Associate Professor in International Economic Law at the University College London Faculty of Laws. Her areas of teaching and research expertise are in the fields of EU/international trade law and policy and EU/international environmental law and policy. She has widely published on the relationship between international trade and environmental protection. She has also extensive experience in providing legal consultancy and pro bono legal advice on trade and trade-related matters to governmental institutions, international organisations and NGOs.

Dr Pushpa Arabindoo

Vice Dean (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement) for Social and Historical Sciences

Email: p.arabindoo@ucl.ac.uk

Dr Pushpa Arabindoo is Associate Professor of Urban Studies at UCL. Her expertise lies at the intersection of architecture, urban design and planning, grounded in critical urban studies. The subjects of her work include middle-class politics, subaltern activism and ecological challenges, with a sustained, embedded focus on Chennai; she uses this lens to speak to—and push beyond—frames such as “Southern urbanism” toward a genuinely global urban studies. Her professional background spans an undergraduate degree in Architecture (Chennai), an MS in Urban Design (Pratt Institute, New York), nearly a decade in practice, and a PhD in Planning (Department of Geography, LSE).

Professor Florian Mussgnug

Vice-Dean (International) for Arts and Humanities

Email: f.mussgnug@ucl.ac.uk

Florian Mussgnug is Professor of Comparative Literature and Italian Studies in SELCS. He has held visiting and honorary positions at Rome Sapienza University, the Universities of Siena, Roma Tre, Oxford and Cagliari, and the British School at Rome. From 2018-2021, he served as the first academic director of the UCL Cities Partnerships Programme, enabling the organisation of more than forty UCL-led international conferences and symposia in Rome.

BEAMS

Professor Priti Parikh Vice-Dean (International) for the Bartlett Email: priti.parikh@ucl.ac.uk Professor Priti Parikh is Director of the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction at UCL and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (Council Member). Her expertise lies at the intersection of sustainable construction, infrastructure planning and international development, with a focus on climate resilience in resource-constrained settings. The subjects of her work include infrastructure finance and governance, delivery at city and community scale across South Asia, Africa and the UK, and the societal impacts of built environment interventions. She founded and leads UCL’s Engineering for International Development Research Centre and serves on the boards of Engineers Against Poverty and the Happold Foundation.
Professor Tao Cheng Vice-Dean (International) for Engineering Email: tao.cheng@ucl.ac.uk Tao Cheng, PhD, HDR, FRGS, CEng, FICE, FAcSS, AFRIN, is Professor of GeoInformatics in UCL’s Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering and Vice-Dean (International) of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences. A former Turing Fellow and Theme Lead for Mobility at the Alan Turing Institute and member of the UK Department for Transport’s College of Experts, she is also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, the Institution of Civil Engineers, and the Royal Geographical Society. Her research spans AI, Big Data, GISci, and Smart Cities, with pioneering work in spatiotemporal modelling and SpaceTimeAI applied to transport, public health, safety, security, and beyond. She founded the UCL SpaceTimeLab in 2012, has published over 350 refereed papers, been named among Stanford University’s Top 2% Scientists (2021, 2023, 2024), and secured over £27m in research funding while building influential collaborations with partners including TfL, the Metropolitan Police, Public Health England, Arup, and BT.
Professor Ofer Lahav Vice-Dean (International) for MAPS Email: o.lahav@ucl.ac.uk Ofer Lahav is Perren Chair of Astronomy in the Astrophysics Group at UCL. He is also co-Director of the STFC-funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Intensive Science at UCL, established in 2017. Ofer's research area is observational cosmology, in particular probing and characterising dark matter and dark energy. His work involves advanced statistical methods e.g., machine learning for big data.

Professor Priti Parikh

Vice-Dean (International) for the Bartlett

Email: priti.parikh@ucl.ac.uk

Professor Priti Parikh is Director of the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction at UCL and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (Council Member). Her expertise lies at the intersection of sustainable construction, infrastructure planning and international development, with a focus on climate resilience in resource-constrained settings. The subjects of her work include infrastructure finance and governance, delivery at city and community scale across South Asia, Africa and the UK, and the societal impacts of built environment interventions. She founded and leads UCL’s Engineering for International Development Research Centre and serves on the boards of Engineers Against Poverty and the Happold Foundation.

Professor Tao Cheng

Vice-Dean (International) for Engineering

Email: tao.cheng@ucl.ac.uk

Tao Cheng, PhD, HDR, FRGS, CEng, FICE, FAcSS, AFRIN, is Professor of GeoInformatics in UCL’s Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering and Vice-Dean (International) of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences. A former Turing Fellow and Theme Lead for Mobility at the Alan Turing Institute and member of the UK Department for Transport’s College of Experts, she is also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, the Institution of Civil Engineers, and the Royal Geographical Society. Her research spans AI, Big Data, GISci, and Smart Cities, with pioneering work in spatiotemporal modelling and SpaceTimeAI applied to transport, public health, safety, security, and beyond. She founded the UCL SpaceTimeLab in 2012, has published over 350 refereed papers, been named among Stanford University’s Top 2% Scientists (2021, 2023, 2024), and secured over £27m in research funding while building influential collaborations with partners including TfL, the Metropolitan Police, Public Health England, Arup, and BT.

Professor Ofer Lahav

Vice-Dean (International) for MAPS

Email: o.lahav@ucl.ac.uk

Ofer Lahav is Perren Chair of Astronomy in the Astrophysics Group at UCL. He is also co-Director of the STFC-funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Intensive Science at UCL, established in 2017. Ofer's research area is observational cosmology, in particular probing and characterising dark matter and dark energy. His work involves advanced statistical methods e.g., machine learning for big data.

IOE

Professor Tristan McCowan Vice-Dean (International) for IOE Email: t.mccowan@ucl.ac.uk Tristan McCowan is Professor of International Education at the Institute of Education, University College London. His work focuses on higher education in the international context, including issues of access, curriculum, alternative models and sustainability. His books include Higher Education for and beyond the Sustainable Development Goals (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), Education as a Human Right (Bloomsbury, 2013) and Rethinking Citizenship Education (Continuum, 2009). From 2015-2021 he was editor of Compare – a Journal of International and Comparative Education, and from 2020-2024 led the multi-country research project Climate-U (Transforming Universities for a Changing Climate).

Professor Tristan McCowan

Vice-Dean (International) for IOE

Email: t.mccowan@ucl.ac.uk

Tristan McCowan is Professor of International Education at the Institute of Education, University College London. His work focuses on higher education in the international context, including issues of access, curriculum, alternative models and sustainability. His books include Higher Education for and beyond the Sustainable Development Goals (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), Education as a Human Right (Bloomsbury, 2013) and Rethinking Citizenship Education (Continuum, 2009). From 2015-2021 he was editor of Compare – a Journal of International and Comparative Education, and from 2020-2024 led the multi-country research project Climate-U (Transforming Universities for a Changing Climate).

Global Engagement team

View members of the Global Engagement team by function:

GE Directorate

Ciaran Moynihan, Director of UCL Global Engagement
ciaran.moynihan@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 7777 / internal 5777

Lorna Carsley, Executive Assistant to Director of Global Engagement
lorna.carsley@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 8055 / internal 58055

Global Partnerships

Conor Rickford, Deputy Director of Global Engagement
c.rickford@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 7785 / internal 57785

Adam Walker, Associate Director of Global Engagement
adam.p.walker@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 7682 / internal 57682

Jennifer Luan, Associate Director (Global Operations)
jennifer.luan@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)2031081383 / internal 51383

Siobhan O'Brien, Senior Global Engagement Manager (Americas & Australasia)
siobhan.o’brien@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 5509 / internal 55509

Amanda Chukwudozie, Senior Global Engagement Manager (Africa & Middle East)
a.chukwudozie@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 7504 5291 / internal 15291

Dan Li, Senior Global Engagement Manager (East Asia)
li.dan@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 9044 / internal 59044

Dr Amit Khandelwal, Senior Global Engagement Manager (South & South East Asia)
amit.khandelwal@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 7811 / internal 57811

Rebecca Holt, Senior Global Engagement Manager (Europe)
rebecca.holt.ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 5588 / internal 55588

Dr Yuchun Chiang Mathews, Strategic Global Initiatives Manager
y.mathews@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 7679 8071 / internal 08071

Christian Jowers, Strategic Global Initiatives Manager
c.jowers@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3987 2607/ internal 02607

Bryan Taylor, Senior Programme Manager (Global Opportunities)
bryan.taylor@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 7780 / internal 57780

Abel Dorantes (On Secondment), Global Engagement Manager
abel.dorantes@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 5507 / internal 55507

Zhou Kuang, Global Engagement Manager
zhou.kuang@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 7679 9741 / internal 09741

Keiko Tsunekawa, Global Engagement Manager
k.tsunekawa@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 5508 / internal 55508

Siham Oukhrid, Global Engagement Manager
s.oukhrid@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 31089185 / internal 59185

Elena Mendez-Piedra Paredes, Global Engagement Manager
e.paredes@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 7679 2573 / internal 32573

Annie Brown, Global Engagement Officer
a.m.brown@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 7575 / internal 57575

Holly Cuthbert, Global Engagement Officer
holly.cuthbert@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 5431 / internal 5431

Programme Management

Chris Cook, Senior Global Programme Manager
c.cook@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 7566 / internal 57566

Sophia Hilt, Global Programme Manager
s.hilt@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 7566 / internal 57795

Toni Blunden, Team & Programme Co-ordinator
t.blunden@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 7818 / internal 57818

Communications

Sophie Vinter, Senior Global Engagement Communications Manager
s.vinter@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 7787 / internal 57787

Shuyue Ren, Communications Officer
shuyue.r@ucl.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 3108 1701 / internal 59842

Contact us

Professor Geraint Rees

Professor David Coen

Dr Uta Staiger

Professor Monica Lakhanpaul

Professor Julius Mugwagwa

SLMS

Professor Dr Lasana Harris

Professor Jolene Skordis

Professor John Hurst

Professor Tara Keck

SLASH

Dr Gracia Marín Durán

Dr Pushpa Arabindoo

Professor Florian Mussgnug

BEAMS

Professor Priti Parikh

Professor Tao Cheng

Professor Ofer Lahav

IOE

Professor Tristan McCowan

GE Directorate

Global Partnerships

Programme Management

Communications

UCL Global Engagement

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