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LONDON OFFICE UPDATE

In this issue of the London Office update I am delighted to share our recent campaign, amplifying key impact messages for Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ in London. These messages, collated over the past year, are a culmination of research and London-focussed initiatives led by the London Office as well as teams across Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾. They span reputational research carried out by opinion consultancy Deltapoll, as well as findings from Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾'s London's Economics Report and Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2022.

The research entailed qualitative and quantitative in-depth interviews with our core partners in London, followed by fieldwork amongst 1,251 adults living in London, to understand perceptions of Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ in London. Core themes of the research included:

• How stakeholders understand the university and what it offers to individuals, organisations and the community;
• What impact does Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ have in and around London;
• Awareness and understanding of Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ in London to Londoner.

London is an exceptional capital city; a population of nearly 9 million people with 270,000 of these people living in the London Borough of Camden alone, the home of Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøվ’s Bloomsbury campus. Furthermore, over 350,000 people reside in Newham, the home of Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøվ’s new campus, Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ East. London is a city of brilliance, enterprise and diversity, not just in terms of its communities, workforce and visitors but also in its health service, culture, heritage and economy.Ìý

It comes as no surprise that students and staff want to live, study and work in such an inspiring place and Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ contributes some 16,400 staff, 41,800 students and 150,000 London-based alumni to its foundations. These component parts enhance Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøվ’s Mission to be London’s Global University.

From Bloomsbury to Newham, Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ is well positioned to bring together, with is partners, its purpose, people and place in order to create impact and real change in London. The attached impact messages consolidate our findings from partners, local people, economic activity, research and knowledge exchange to demonstrate our value and place in the capital city.

You can follow the full campaign on our , which will conclude on Wednesday 16 November when the full set of messages will be published on our website.

I hope you enjoy reading just some of our impact in London, and please do get in touch with the London Office if you'd like to discuss more!

Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ EAST UPDATE

We are looking forward to welcoming visitors to our new One Pool Street building on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the first site to open on our new Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ East campus at East Bank, London's new culture, education, innovation and entertainment district. Students are settling into brand new degrees in cutting-edge Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ research centres tackling some of the biggest challenges facing cities around the world. Collaboration is designed into everything we will be doing at Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ East, as we work together with partners on solutions to local issues that will have a global impact.

Following the opening of the City Mill Skate, the Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ East Engagement team have launched three funds to support further collaborative research projects between students, staff and local residents.

The Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ East Schools Engagement team will begin hosting groups of year 9, 10 & 11 students at an Art & Design Club as part of the National Saturdays Club initiative. Sessions will be held at One Pool Street and will continue through to the summer months to inspire students to consider further study in the creative sector beyond school.

We are delighted to welcome Simon Magness to the team as Partnership Manager for Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ East. If you have any questions regarding further work with partners in East London and the East Bank Development please email Simon (s.magness@ucl.ac.uk).Ìý

CELEBRATING HIGHLIGHTS OF Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾'S ART PROGRAMMING

In this months feature, Sam Wilkinson, Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøվ’s Head of Public Art, shares with us some of the highlights of the current arts programming that contributes to Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøվ’s capital developments and campus experience in Bloomsbury, at Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ East, and at the IoN/DRI.

The IoN/DRI is a partnership development with Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ Queen Square Institute of Neurology, the UK Dementia Research Institute and Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾H National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. As part of this development a programme of contemporary arts commissioning is underway; to date five artists have been selected to create works for the new space.Ìý

Since 2020, Annie Cattrell has been working with Hawkins Brown Architects and the academic communities at the QSIoN, to develop a series of works: two which will welcome visitors to the building; an installation will animate the most public facing elevation of the new building; and an uplifting work will grace the archway entrance of the Alexandra Wing. Freya Gabie has been researching the history of the site and has developed a body of work under the title Underflow which plays with the ideas of treating the building itself as a patient, in finding the connections between the techniques used by neuroscientists and building constructors on site. Harun Morrison is working with the Calthorpe Community Garden, using his arts practice to further build relationships with local community. Krystal Patel has been welcomed into the Plum Favreau Lab as artist in residence.

Unique to this project is our provision of studio spaces at the old Eastman Dental Hospital where all our artists and their collaborators can create, collaborate, and feel inspired by the building’s history, people, and legacy as well as its vision for the future. The studio provision plays an important part in how we will deliver our newest programme of work, launched in July this year, Trellis Arbor. In October we held a mixer event where 15 neuroscientists and 15 artists met and explored potential partnership activities. Following a two-stage application process a number of applicants will take forward their collaborative projects and work together until the end of 2023.

The Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ East programme office has championed an expansive and innovative programme of public art and cultural engagement over the last 5 years: from the establishment of a Slade Student Artist in Residence programme to the Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ East Provost Prize, this work has seen us collect over 20 artworks from Slade graduates for permanent exhibition at Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ East, as well as the commissioning of two significant public artworks to be unveiled during 2023.
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Other highlights include City Mill Skate, now launched at Pool Street, this skate environment is open and free to use. CMS is a 4-year research project lead by Sam Wilkinson, Dr Esther Sayers, (artist, researcher, lecturer, skateboarder) and Sam Griffiths, (skateboarder, and Slade Alumni) with support and guidance from Professor Iain Borden. This exciting community engagement project has delivered lessons and engagement activities to communities’ from 8yrs to 65yrs old, including 3 summer schools, leading to the creation of design for ‘Skate Dots’, skateable architecture. Please view the gallery on the

The Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ Trellis programme has now run for three successful years during which we have worked with 30 artist 31 researchers and a diversity of east London communities including those with lived experience of the UK’s hostile environment immigration policy, D/deaf east Londoners, young autistic people, through to works with people with experience of cancer. There is an extensive list of delivered projects available on the following website.

I am pleased to announce that the Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ East Cultural and Community Engagement team have been successful in securing funding from the Foundation for Future London and the EPSRC to continue the valuable work of Trellis for two more rounds of the programme over three years.

On a final note, watch out for a new work by Abi Ola who was selected as one of the Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ East Artists in Residence and subsequently awarded the Paola Lettieri Art Prize and has created a wallpaper which will be hung in both of Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ East’s new buildings.Ìý

Annie Cattrell Concept Proposal for IoN/DRI

Trellis Arbor Mixer Event. Photo Credit: K Holst

City Mill Skate at Pool Street. Photo Credit:ÌýRafal Wojnowski

IN OTHER Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ NEWS

Community Research Initiative Showcase 2022

The Community Research Initiative, led through Students' Union Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾, have released a video celebrating students and local community partners who spent the summer collaborating on a research project. These cross-sector collaborations have contributed to student's dissertations, as well as to communities partners own workstreams. View theÌý.Ìý