Supporting you to integrate UCL Grand Challenges in the Curriculum Review

UCL Grand Challenges will be offering resources and workshops to support departments and module leaders in their PEP2 development work.

Working with UCL HEDS we will provide toolkits ahead of the Review to help embed the UCL Grand Challenges, and a challenge-led, interdisciplinary way of working into the curriculum in support of the Curriculum Design Principle 1: Cutting edge content.

Our goal is to equip students with the skills and knowledge increasingly demanded by employers to help address complex societal problems beyond UCL.

We will offer toolkits on this comprehensive educational approach, as well as support on integrating each of the evolved Grand Challenges into the curriculum. Initially, we will focus on the three launched themes: Climate Crisis, Data-Empowered Societies and Mental Health and Wellbeing. The two remaining themes, Intercultural Communications and Inequalities, will be included once they are launched.

New Grand Challenge Elective module

UCL Grand Challenges is also piloting a new elective module in 2026-27, open to students from all departments and disciplines. We are encouraging all departments to consider offering this module to their students in relevant programme diets.

It will offer students the opportunity to engage in real-world challenges faced internally and by external organisations, working with peers from across different disciplines. It will play a vital role in enhancing the student experience at UCL, giving students the opportunity to create positive societal impact and gain valuable skills and experience for their future careers.

The module will encourage interdisciplinary ways of working, which can be taken forward in the development of new educational offers. The module will contribute towards UCL’s position as a leader on tackling the world’s most pressing problems through interdisciplinary approaches.