Enabling change

Projects linked to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and the UCL200 bicentenary demonstrate LCCOS teams' expert engagement with UCL strategic goals.

Case studies

• EDI Action Plan supported by updated statement of commitment
• UCL Art Museum moves collections in complex relocation project

EDI Action Plan supported by updated statement of commitment

In 2025 we refreshed our public statement of commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), originally published in 2016.

LCCOS is committed to championing fairness, equity and inclusive practice that will lead to positive and cultural change across our diverse internal and external communities. To enable this endeavour, we set ourselves challenging objectives, invest in development and support for our staff, and communicate the steps we are taking to our stakeholders and the wider public.

This year the statement was brought fully up-to-date with our present-day aims and priorities, and aligned to UCL’s wider goals, through collaborative work involving staff at all levels.

The new statement addresses physical and digital environments, resources, research and collections, recruitment and training, celebration and culture, and equitable decision-making, among other key themes.

To foster a greater sense of openness and collaboration we have also introduced a new EDI email inbox to allow anyone to engage directly with us about the statement and its ambitions.

This public-facing work is supported by a dynamic programme of internal EDI activity built around the LCCOS EDI Action Plan, which identifies priorities for local action across a 12-18 month planning horizon and is maintained by the EDI Committee.

UCL Art Museum moves collections in complex relocation project

In August 2024, UCL Art Museum closed its long-term home in the Strang Print Room in the Wilkins Building to move to a new location in the South Wing. The move was required due to the refurbishment of the Wilkins Cloisters as part of the UCL200 Physical Legacy project and had to be planned and delivered in a very tight timeframe.

In parallel, the Museums and Cultural Programmes (MCP) team was also tasked with removing artworks in the collections from the Cloisters to enable the building works to go ahead, creating a complex and sensitive project that used all the diverse skills and experience of the team to deliver successfully.

The project required packing and moving all the collections housed in UCL Art Museum, along with the curatorial office and all the associated material that allows the museum to support teaching, research and public access. Two new spaces in the South Wing (G17 and Room 7) had to be fitted out for the museum’s use before more than 10,000 prints and drawings could be moved, ensuring these were housed safely and accessibly. Working in a historic, listed building brought many challenges, and plans had to be responsive and flexible to accommodate issues such as access restrictions and limited floor loading capacity.

The team worked hard, supported by Estates colleagues, to fit out the new spaces to resemble the museum’s previous home, including its characteristic “print room yellow” walls. The wall mounted display of the museum’s notable collection of John Flaxman plaster casts was removed and put into temporary storage for the duration of the building works. From 2026, some of these plasters will feature in a revamped Flaxman Gallery in the Main Library, and others will return to the new G17 Prints & Drawings Room, where they will continue to be used to support teaching.

Andrea Fredericksen and Lucy Waitt from the Art Museum, supported by all the MCP Collections Management team, did an extraordinary job in moving all collections safely, while maintaining as much public engagement as possible. While closed to the public in 2024-25, they managed a total of 85 teaching sessions, with 1,003 students taught using the art collections. They also supported research by the wider academic community. Highlights include a Liberating the Collections Fellowship on disability and mental health in the art school context; the ongoing "Not Just Words" project with the UCL School of European Languages, Culture, and Society (SELCS) promoting language awareness and multilingualism; and practice-led research by Holly Davey, artist and Slade PhD Candidate, focusing on marginalised women artists. Davey’s research on Slade alumna Frances Jennings became the museum’s first pop-up display in Term One 2025-26 after reopening to the public.

In the new space, the Art Museum team will continue to build and develop their innovative teaching with the collections, support researchers within and beyond UCL, and develop new temporary displays and events for visitors.