Exploring the ‘Public’ Role of the University: Developing a UCL Perspective

Jointly run by the Institute of Advanced Studies and the Bartlett, this day-workshop will gather colleagues from across UCL to help shape actionable proposals for buttressing UCL’s public-oriented mission.

The initiative builds on Bartlett Publics: Pluralising, a webinar series held in 2022-23, to enable cross-learning on the principles and practices of international engagement best able to catalyse universities’ public role and societal relevance. It builds on further schemes, such as UCL’s application to become a University of Sanctuary, an initiative by the IAS based Refuge in A Moving World network. In January 2025, a brainstorming session jointly run by the IAS and the Bartlett brought colleagues from wider UCL disciplines into the conversation.

We see the timely relevance of collective reflection such as this, in a context of intensifying multifaceted crises - from growing inequalities, to the climate emergency, including pandemic risks, the as-yet unknown impacts of rapidly developing AI and increasingly volatile/polarised domestic and international political environments. Questioning the public role of the university and its potential positive contribution is equally pertinent in the current juncture marked by important strains in the UK (and international) higher education system. Such strains are manifest externally in the querying of the relevance and legitimacy of science; and internally, through issues as wide-ranging as financial viability and the spaces for contention. In this context, we recognise the need for interdisciplinary discussions within our UCL community, to help sharpen and review what defines our public role across the core functions of the university - education, research, public engagement and operations.

We very much hope you can join us on 9^th June and are excited at the prospect of engaging with you!

Please register for catering purposes: https://public-role-of-university.eventbrite.co.uk

With inputs from:

• Mona Fawaz, Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, American University of Beirut, Co-Founder of the Beirut Urban Lab
• Jaideep Gupte, Director of Research, Strategy, Innovation at the Arts and Humanities Research Council
• Graham Hart, Professor of Sexual Health & HIV Research, Co-Director of UCL’s Health of the Public
• David Osrin, Professor of Global Health, Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow, Honorary Consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
• Christina Pagel, Professor of Operational Research, Member of Independent SAGE
• Alison Phipps, Professor of Languages and Intercultural Studies, UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts, University of Glasgow
• Neha Sami, Associate Dean, School of Environment and Sustainability, Senior Lead, Academics and Research, Indian Institute of Human Settlements
• Tristram Wyatt, Honorary Research Fellow, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research (CBER)