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In pictures: HRH The Princess Royal meets students and staff at our UCL East campus at East Bank
27 March 2025
The Princess Royal visited our UCL East campus on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on 20 February, learning about campus life and the UCL teaching and research driving discoveries in areas like ecology, AI, robotics, green transport, manufacturing, creativity and health.
Her Royal Highness enjoyed a tour of the campus led by UCL Vice-Provost for Strategy, Prof Paola Lettieri, with UCL President and Provost Dr Michael Spence and UCL Chair of Council, Victor Chu MBE.
Beginning in our flagship Marshgate building, The Princess Royal saw demonstrations using robotics and AI that explored themes like helping with search and rescue operations, and making sure surgery is safer and more precise.
Her Royal Highness then spoke to staff running the campus and recruited locally as part of UCL’s commitment to creating jobs in east London.
Next The Princess Royal met members of the UCL East Schools Engagement team, along with students and staff from one of UCL’s partner schools, The Urswick School in Hackney.
Continuing the tour, Her Royal Highness was introduced to UCL East Students’ Union Manager, Balraj Dhingra and student sabbatical officer and President of Students’ Union UCL, Goksu Danaci, along with students from the UCL Engineering Foundation Year and successful recipients of the UCL East London Scholarship.
Throughout the tour The Princess Royal learnt about the many UCL East Public Art and Cultural and Community Engagement and partnership initiatives that are happening through collaboration between east London communities and the campus
In the Project Space at Marshgate Her Royal Highness met some members of the UCL East campus’ academic leadership team, before learning about advances being made by UCL in green transport, including the electrification of aircraft.
Next the Princess Royal walked across Thornton Street Bridge where she was introduced to representatives from the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), East Bank partners London College of Fashion, UAL, the BBC and Sadler's Wells, as well as the SHIFT innovation district and Future Foundation for London (FFL).
Continuing to our One Pool Street building, Her Royal Highness was welcomed by UCL Dean of Life Sciences Prof Gail Taylor. Prof Taylor introduced The Princess Royal to researchers and students from the UCL People and Nature Lab who then showcased citizen science and urban engineering initiatives that are helping to create more sustainable relationships between people and nature.
Her Royal Highness then enjoyed a tour of the UCL People and Nature Lab Garden, a living lab integrating technology and ecological research, led by the Lab's director, Professor Kate Jones, having first observed the Garden on screen, via an interactive digital twin illustrating the use of sensor technology.
Back inside, The Princess Royal met a range of students and staff from programmes like our MSc in Ecology and Data Science, one of the first of many new degrees to be launched at UCL East, and explored a range of fascinating demos in the teaching lab, including a virtual coral reef.
The Princess Royal was invited by UCL Chair of Council Victor Chu to unveil a plaque commemorating the visit, specially designed and crafted by colleagues from our UCL Institute of Making out of corten steel remnants from the construction of our Marshgate building.
Her Royal Highness was then presented with a camera trap by PhD student Santiago Martinez Balvanerato, similar to one that The Princess Royal had seen in the UCL People and Nature Lab Garden which can capture images of the movement of creatures of all kinds, both day and night.
Her Royal Highness thanked all those involved in the visit and praised the breadth of research and teaching undertaken by UCL’s vibrant community of staff and students before being escorted to her waiting car by UCL President and Provost Dr Michael Spence and UCL Chair of Council Victor Chu MBE.
Images
- All images credit: UCL / Andrew Parsons / Parsons Media