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Reinforcing UCL’s European connections

4 June 2024

UCL’s Vice-Provost Research, Innovation & Global Engagement, Professor Geraint Rees, led a delegation visit to mainland Europe to reconnect with UCL’s community of partners, alumni, and policymakers through a series of meetings and events.

The UCL delegation at the 2024 Paris alumni reception held at the British Council

Joining him were Professor Alan Thompson, UCL’s Dean for Brain Sciences; Dr Uta Staiger, Director of UCL’s European Institute and Global Strategic Academic Advisor for Europe; Professor Eloise Scotford, Dean of UCL Laws; Professor Anna David, Director of the Elizabeth Garrett Institute for Women’s Health; Professor Maria Chait, Director of UCL's Dual Masters in Brain and Mind Sciences, and Patrick Haggard, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience.

As well as launching new initiatives with longstanding partners, UCL reconnected with European alumni in five cities over five days and celebrated the work of its network of alumni volunteers.

Innovative collaborations

UCL and KU Leuven officially launched a new institutional double PhD framework, marking a significant step forward in their ongoing partnership. A first programme in women’s health, beginning in September, will build on many years of co-operation between clinical and academic teams at UCL EGA Institute for Women’s Health, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and KU Leuven. 

UCL Laws launched a new Research Visiting Fellowship Scheme with the Max Planck Law (MPL) network. It will enable up to two UCL Laws academic staff members to undertake research visits of one to three months at any of MPL’s institutes across Germany – the first time UCL has collaborated with all nine institutes. UCL has also recently signed a trilateral agreement with the European Union Intellectual Property Office and European Patent Office, which will give UCL law graduates access to the prestigious Pan-European Seal Professional Traineeship Programme. 

The delegation also enjoyed a successful meeting with colleagues at École Normale Supérieure (ENS) and Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), exploring new opportunities to collaborate in neuroscience building on the longstanding Dual degree in Brain and Mind Sciences and the UCL-PSL doctoral research internship programme. 

They met with colleagues at Inria, France's national Institute for Digital Science and Technology, with whom UCL agreed a roadmap to launch a Joint Centre on Artificial Intelligence later this year, and also advanced discussions with Sciences Po, with a view to strengthening collaboration between the two institutions to foster skills, creative practice and innovation.

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Shaping European policy

The visit also included a day and a half in Brussels coordinated by UCL European Institute, providing UCL senior leadership with an opportunity to engage directly with EU research and higher education policymakers on topics including maximising UK participation in Horizon Europe and the 10th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation that is currently in development.
 
The delegation met with colleagues from the European Commission, the UK Mission to the European Union and the Swiss Mission to the EU, highlighting the importance of international research collaboration and the relevance of UCL’s expertise, for tackling shared challenges and reinforcing European security, sustainability and resilience.
 
The same week, UCL President & Provost Dr Michael Spence joined a Rector’s Assembly  of the League of European Research Universities (LERU).  UCL has been an active member in LERU since 2006, to support world-class education, research and innovation across the European continent.
 

Thanking our alumni

During the week, 180 alumni attended one of five events hosted by UCL’s Office of the Vice-President (Advancement), in Amsterdam, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, and Berlin. These provided alumni with an opportunity to meet fellow graduates, expand their professional networks and hear the latest news from UCL.  

Home to more than 42,000 alumni and eight alumni groups, mainland Europe forms an integral part of UCL’s global alumni community. As UCL begins the countdown to its bicentennial in 2026, the events provided an invaluable opportunity for alumni to engage in conversations about the university’s future, learn about the upcoming bicentennial celebrations and share their ideas on how the university can support our European alumni community in the future.  

In France, alumni were welcomed to a drinks reception at the British Council with views over the Parisian cityscape. Guests were joined by the Global Engagement delegation, hearing from staff on the importance of UCL’s European alumni community and the university’s longstanding partnerships across the continent.

The trip also provided a valuable opportunity to develop our fundraising pipeline by growing our networks and better understanding the philanthropic potential across Europe. We will be building upon this work in the coming years in preparation for the launch of UCL’s most ambitious fundraising and engagement campaign. 

Professor Geraint Rees said: “At UCL we are lucky enough to have more than 3,000 European staff, 4,000 European students, and 42,000 European alumni as part of our global community, and our academics continue to excel at securing EU research and innovation funding. As we approach UCL’s 200th year our unwavering commitment to achieving great things with our European partners and alumni continues, opening up exciting new opportunities for staff and students.”

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