News

A major new study by UCL researchers has revealed the challenges faced by London’s 1.3m night workers.

UCL’s long-forgotten archive of maps reveals stories of war, science, empire and climate change, rediscovered through the eyes of a modern cartographer.

UCL launched a seminar series at HMP Belmarsh, extending learning to incarcerated students and reinforcing its commitment to widening participation beyond traditional education settings.

UCL’s Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences launches a consultancy initiative offering innovative, research-backed solutions for public, government, and private sector organisations

As part of the UCL Cartography and Visualisation module in the Department of Geography, led by Social Data Institute Director James Cheshire, the students put together a series of sophisticated maps. A selection of these maps are shown below.

Vivien Lee is studying a BA in Geography with Social Data Science in the UCL Department of Geography & reflects on her experience giving a presentation on 'Connecting London: The Impact of the Elizabeth Line on Job Accessibility and Spatial Equity' at the GISRUK 2025 Conference.

The recent workshop held at UCL, and organised by the Social Data Institute, explored how interactive, web-enabled applications can bring data stories to life—and we were delighted to welcome professionals from research, policy, finance, and academia to learn with us.

Jade Baker reflects on her Social Data Institute internship in her blog post 'Nightlights and shocks: Understanding disaster recovery pathways using night light data' for Save the Children UK.

The Atlas of Finance, a book publication co-authored by Director of the Social Data Institute Professor James Cheshire, has won multiple awards.

Sarah Lim is a 3rd year undergraduate student at UCL, studying Geography (International) with Social Data Science. She recently attended the American Association of Geographers conference in Detroit, Michigan from 24-28 March 2025 and details her experience below. 

Applications are now open for the UCL Social Data Institute Paid Summer Internships. This scheme is exclusive to students in the SHS Faculty and the Social Research Institute.

On Wednesday 26 February 2025 James Cheshire, Director of the Social Data Institute, delivered a talk on ‘The Power of Maps’ to a group of A Level students at the Royal Geographic Society in London.

On Wednesday 26 February 2025 the Social Data Institute organised a panel discussion which showcased women from diverse areas within data science—spanning academia, industry, and beyond.