The Vice-Provost (Strategy) team leads the development and delivery of UCL’s institutional strategy and strategic plans, providing insight and data to inform and align institutional decisions.
Additionally, the team:
- monitors the delivery of institutional strategic plans and prioritiy projects
- advises, supports, and challenges Vice-Provosts, Vice-Presidents, Deans and Service Directors as they develop plans and strategies
- ensures that there are strong links between UCL’s overall strategy, key institutional strategies, major projects and plans, as well as between short, medium and long term planning
- provides high quality management information and insight to inform strategic planning activities across the organisation for better decision-making
- ensures that the UCL East Campus is managed and governed in line with the academic vision for the campus and commitments and obligations within East London
- oversees the development of future phases of the UCL East Campus in line with institutional strategies and priorities and the Estates 2050 Vision.
Contact us about
- Strategic planning
- Student Number Planning
- Tableau dashboards and management information
- UCL East Campus management
- UCL East campus development
Our People

Professor Paola Lettieri | Vice-Provost (Strategy) | Academic Profile | p.lettieri@ucl.ac.uk
Professor Paola Lettieri FREng FIChemE, is Vice-Provost (Strategy). She and her team support the Provost and the University Management Committee (UMC) by developing the institutional strategy and coordinating the processes that ensure that UCL’s overarching strategic objectives are reflected in planning at all levels of the organisation.
As Pro-Provost of UCL East, Professor Lettieri directed the development of the academic vision for UCL's new Campus on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, working with academics from across eight Faculties at UCL. She led the delivery of the UCL East campus which opened in September 2023, working with professional service staff from across UCL, including Estates, Finance, Operations, Admissions and Marketing, and the Students’ Union.
Paola is Professor of Chemical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences at UCL. She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. Paola is an international expert in fluidisation and life cycle assessment. Her pioneering research on the effect of process conditions on fluidised beds reactors has enabled the development and scale up of new industrial processes and resolved significant operational problems in complex industrial plants - she led a major project with the National Nuclear Laboratory delivering technical contingency to the Magnox nuclear fuel reprocessing facility at Sellafield. Her work in life cycle assessment has influenced waste management strategies from the treatment of nuclear waste to disposable facemasks and the Royal British Legion’s yearly poppies.
Administration

Helen Fisher | Director of Operations |
h.fisher@ucl.ac.uk

Loraine Daly | Personal Assistant/Administrator |
loraine.daly@ucl.ac.uk

Malika Barakat | Administration Support Officer | she/her | m.barakat@ucl.ac.uk
I am responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the office and the processes it oversees.
Ask me about:
- scheduling meetings
- departmental finance
- staff recruitment and inductions
I am the first point of contact for solving any other queries in the Department.
Academic strategy development

Katherine Fletcher | Director of Academic Strategy Development (interim) |
k.fletcher@ucl.ac.uk

Marion Atkinson | Strategy Development Lead (Academic Ambition) |
marion.atkinson@ucl.ac.uk

Natasha (Tash) Newton | Programme Officer (Academic Ambition) | natasha.newton@ucl.ac.ukc.uk
Data and insight

Martin Howells | Director of Data and Insight | he/him | dataandinsight@ucl.ac.uk
I direct development of UCL's data warehouse, and act as sponsor to the D&I Community of Practice. I am also responsible for leading UCL's data strategy, which aims to enable the strategic delivery of data in support of decision-making, student and staff experience, and security and compliance.

Rob Strick | Head of Data and Insight (until March 2025) | dataandinsight@ucl.ac.uk
Along with my colleagues, I’m responsible for developing and maintaining UCL’s suite of strategic dashboards via Tableau. I have built a range of dashboards in various data domains, including research, sector benchmarking, and staff. I am currently developing my skills in the coding language Python to enable more advanced insight generation.

Rebecca Allen | Head of Data and Insight | dataandinsight@ucl.ac.uk
I oversee the creation and maintenance of strategic dashboards on our Tableau site and lead our small team of data analysts. I have built a number of dashboards in the staff and student domains, and have significant professional expertise in the field of survey design, execution and analysis. I also lead on communications and engagement for the team.

Craig Arnold |Senior Data and Insight Analyst | dataandinsight@ucl.ac.uk
Along with my colleagues, I am responsible for developing and maintaining UCL’s suite of strategic dashboards. I have a particular interest in how new tools and techniques can be incorporated to improve the insights that can be drawn from the data available. My earlier career was in academia, researching visual attention and memory, followed by analytical roles in both the private and public sector, before returning to higher education and joining UCL in late 2022.

Bettina Baumann | Senior Data and Insight Analyst | dataandinsight@ucl.ac.uk
Along with my colleagues, I’m responsible for developing and maintaining UCL’s suite of strategic dashboards via Tableau. I have developed a significant number of dashboards for the student domain. My main interest is effective data visualisation and I have co-led the Data & Insight Community of Practice on projects promoting best practice. I have established the D&I digital badges award system supporting data literacy and knowledge sharing at UCL.

Pip Johnson | Senior Data and Insight Analyst | dataandinsight@ucl.ac.uk
Along with my colleagues, I’m responsible for developing and maintaining UCL’s suite of strategic dashboards via Tableau. My main interests are developing a high-quality user experience and supporting UCL to use data for strategic decision-making. I joined UCL in 2022, after ten years working in a variety of analytical roles, focussed on environmental and social justice causes.

Clare Fox | Senior Data and Insight Analyst | dataandinsight@ucl.ac.uk
Along with my colleagues, I’m responsible for developing and maintaining UCL’s suite of strategic dashboards via Tableau. Prior to joining UCL in 2024, I spent over five years as an analytics consultant, collaborating with a diverse range of organisations—from large-scale retailers to small charities. My background in the arts has cultivated a strong appreciation for visual communication, which continues to influence my approach to data presentation. I focus on using design elements to transform complex information into clear, accessible insights, ensuring better understanding and experience for users.

Along with my colleagues, I’m responsible for developing and maintaining UCL’s suite of strategic dashboards via Tableau. My background is in student surveys and experiences. My main interest is helping colleagues to get the most out of their data. I am also a co-lead for the Data and Insight Community of Practice.
Data governance

Alison Amatsah | Data Governance Manager | data-governance@ucl.ac.uk
It is my job to identify the roles accountable for our structured data across the organisation and put in place policies and processes to make sure it is managed well. My work supports the Data Strategy by aiming to make good quality, well-defined data available to analysts and decision makers in a compliant and secure way.

Jonathan Mudhoo | Data Governance Officer | he/him | data-governance@ucl.ac.uk
I support the Data Governance Manager in acting as a point of coordination for data governance and data quality management matters. By working closely with data owners, data stewards and data producers, we aim to improve the quality and value of core data assets.
Strategy engagement

Sarah-Louise Earl | Head of Portfolio Management | she/her | sarah.earl@ucl.ac.uk
I work with colleagues across UCL to implement the university’s Strategic Delivery Framework, incorporating a strategic portfolio management function (put simply, a model to help UCL make good decisions about what large initiatives to invest in and to understand how they contribute to our overall strategy). I also co-lead UCL’s PPM Community of Practice. Before joining UCL, I worked as a language teacher, and then in local government on urban regeneration programmes. I joined UCL in 2008 as a Teaching Fellow in the Bartlett, before moving to Professional Services in 2016.

Katie Price | Director of Strategy Engagement | she/her | kat.price@ucl.ac.uk
I work with the team of the Vice-Provost (Strategy) and the Vice-Provost (Faculties) to engage all UCL stakeholders with UCL’s institutional strategy and strategic plans.
Ask me about:
- engaging the UCL community at any stage in your change initiative;
- developing your narrative and giving strategic context to your comms;
- stakeholder mapping.
Strategic planning

Clare Foyle | Director of Strategic Planning | she/her | c.foyle@ucl.ac.uk
I lead on strategic planning, and I am overseeing the implementation of a new, integrated planning framework. This will link UCL strategy and ambition to planning at all levels of the institution.
Ask me about:
- integrated planning
- student number planning
- the tuition fee setting process
- new programme initiation
I re-joined UCL in January 2021, having previously worked at the University on a maternity cover post in 2018. Prior to working at UCL I worked in many different higher education institutions, bringing over 15 years of experience in strategic planning roles.

Jessica Sims | Head of Strategic Planning Partnering | Faculties of Brain Sciences, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, Population Health Sciences | she/her | j.sims@ucl.ac.uk
Ask me about:
- student number planning;
- the annual strategic planning cycle;
- the tuition fee setting process
- new programme initiation
I have worked at UCL since 2014, previously co-leading a national biobanking infrastructure project to harmonise sample and data storage, access and use across academic and NHS biobanks. One of my areas of interest is equality and inclusion. While at UCL I have been member of Athena Swan self-assessment committees on both the departmental and institutional level, and a Fair Recruitment Specialist.

Steve Williams | Strategic Planning Partner | Faculties of Built Environment (Bartlett), Engineering, Maths & Physical Sciences (MAPS) | s.f.williams@ucl.ac.uk
Ask me about:
- student number planning;
- the annual strategic planning cycle;
- the tuition fee setting process
- new programme initiation
Prior to working in OVPS I worked in VPESE, managing projects and providing strategic advice to faculties and departments. Before joining UCL, I worked in commercial and professional services roles at a number of other universities, as well as FE colleges, online education companies, and independent training providers.

Rupa Lakhani | Strategic Planning Partner | Faculties of Arts & Humanities, Education & Society (IOE), Laws, Social and Historical Sciences | r.lakhani@ucl.ac.uk
Ask me about:
- student number planning;
- the annual strategic planning cycle;
- the tuition fee setting process
- new programme initiation