UCL was established in 1826 to open up education in England for the first time to students of any race, class or religion. Its founding principles of academic excellence and research aimed at addressing real-world problems, inform the university’s ethos to this day.
More than 6,000 academic and research staff are dedicated to research and teaching of the highest standards. Nobel Prizes have been awarded to 29 former academics and graduates and UCL ranks consistently amongst the most-cited universities in the world.
As London’s Global University, UCL has the opportunity and the obligation to use the breadth of its intellectual expertise to help resolve some of the world’s major problems. We are seizing this opportunity to develop an innovative cross-disciplinary research agenda, which will enable us to understand and address significant issues in their full complexity. Our vision extends beyond the common understanding of what a university is; we aim not just to generate knowledge, but to deliver a culture of wisdom – that is, an academic environment committed to the judicious application of knowledge for the good of humanity.
While people cheating on their partners is frowned upon in modern society, monogamy among mammals is something of an evolutionary puzzle. Some stick to one sexual partner for a lifetime. That is why the…
A commitment to building a new wave of high-speed rail networks has emerged, such as HS2 in Britain. But given how costly they are, their wider impact has been under-investigated. It is little wonder that…
Is it time for Australia to embrace nuclear energy? Many in Australia would say the answer is a resounding “No!”. After all, Australia is richly endowed with non-nuclear energy resources. But it really…
A survey mapping Europe’s social, political and moral fabric has brought to attention issues of homophobia, sexism, and a collapse of trust in political systems. The [European Social Survey (ESS)](http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=966&Itemid=80…
In 1994, a crypt containing 242 bodies was discovered in Vác, Hungary. Many of the bodies were naturally mummified, including the remains of a woman, Terézia Hausmann, who died apparently from tuberculosis…
I lost my job in 2010 after raising concerns about staff shortages and patient safety in the NHS. But despite the NHS Chief Executive’s promise to intervene for whistleblowers and a tribunal in my favour…
A study of 11,000 alumni from the University of Oxford has shown that humanities graduates went on to work in the UK’s major growth sectors. The Oxford study can’t tell us much about the fate of graduates…
The combination of both heavy drinking and smoking in midlife can accelerate cognitive decline. Problems with cognitive function affects mental abilities such as thinking, knowing, judging and remembering…
When we think of cutting-edge innovation, we tend to think of big corporations and their latest wheezes: Google Glass, Sony flat screens or Airbus’s newest plane. But small businesses play key roles in…
The rise of student numbers in Australian universities that followed the lifting of a cap on enrolment quotas last year is concerning, newly-minted Higher Education Minister Kim Carr said today. Under…
Transport megaprojects tend to make rather gloomy reading. The prevailing opinion, at least among social scientists, is that all big infrastructure projects share three characteristics: they take longer…
A report published today by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reveals the scope of forced labour within the UK. The study shows that millions are vulnerable to illegal exploitation in the workplace. It also…
Breastfeeding children boosts their chances of climbing up the social ladder – and makes it less likely they’ll slip back down. The number of new mothers attempting to breastfeed has fallen in England…
The open access movement is forcing publishers to take down paywalls, making publicly funded research available to the public for free. But beyond that a more important development is pacing in the wings…
As in Istanbul, recent protests in Sofia began with a single, specific issue. In Bulgaria, it was the appointment of Delyan Peevski as head of the country’s national security agency. At just 32 years of…
When Isaac Newton produced his Laws of Motion in 1687, it led to speculation that his new gravitational force could explain the social forces between people. Thinkers put forward various arguments for…
The closest many of us in the developed world get to leprosy these days might be a viewing of Ben Hur or the Life of Brian. But the disease isn’t confined to the history books and still affects up to a…
Amid the “cash for causes” scandal currently unfolding in parliament, and the criticism of David Cameron’s “chumocracy” of elites at number 10, it’s worth remembering that degree to which politics is dominated…
Schizophrenia is a serious psychiatric illness which occurs throughout the world and affects one in 100 people, often appearing in adolescence or early adult life. Medication that targets the symptoms…
There are many qualities that have been suggested that separate human beings from other living species. These include tool making, an ability to dream and especially the development of highly sophisticated…