Open call for ideas: UCL200 – Marking UCL’s Bicentenary

2 October 2024

We are actively looking for ideas and contributions from all staff and post-doctoral students to create an exhilarating programme to celebrate UCL’s 200th year.

What is UCL200?

2026 is the year in which we mark 200 years since UCL’s establishment as the first University in London and we want to work with you to shape and create UCL200, an exciting and varied programme of activities and events. The ambition of the bicentenary is to celebrate and reinforce UCL’s founding values, to highlight the excellence and impact of UCL’s groundbreaking work, and to present an ambitious and inspiring portrait of our future.  

The UCL200 programme is being co-produced and co-delivered with our internal community of staff and students to show an ambitious portrait of UCL’s future, a groundbreaking present and a fearless past. 

When is UCL’s Bicentenary?

The programme will run throughout the calendar year of 2026, officially beginning on 11 February (the date UCL’s title deeds of settlement were signed) and finishing in December 2026. We are eager to work with the wider UCL community to shape an exciting programme and create a memorable UCL200 which is why we want to hear from you now.

Who can get involved in shaping the programme?

This call is open to all UCL academic and professional services staff and post-doctoral students. There will be a separate process, in collaboration with the Students’ Union, for UCL students to submit their own ideas and contributions. However, we would encourage you to consider, where possible, involving students in your planning and development of bicentennial ideas.

What sort of ideas are we looking for?

There are no restrictions on the type of bicentennial activities, but it is important that the proposed activity has a clear purpose and is impactful. Activities might include signature high-profile public lectures and panel debates, networking opportunities for staff and students, careers inspiration, symposiums, creative outputs, localised exhibitions, community volunteering opportunities and outreach activities for the public including lab tours/research demonstrations.

To provide some broad organising structure for academic and other activity during 2026, the UCL200 Programme Board has agreed eight ‘academic strands’ that will provide a framework for inspiring individuals and teams to come together to create UCL’s most diverse and creative year yet. These strands will run throughout the entirety of 2026 to allow staff and students the freedom to engage at a time that is most effective and practicable for them.

UCL200 Framework for Bicentennial Activities

Now live, the framework is a helpful guide, designed to support the delivery of a timely, high-quality, and impactful programme across 2026 and support the UCL community in strategically planning bicentennial activity.

Outlining UCL200 core objectives, a broad organising structure across eight academic strands, four institutional lenses for consideration and an overview of process and support available, the framework is a great starting point to get you thinking about how you can be involved in the programme’s development. The framework also contains further detail on signature UCL200 activity already being developed.

Each faculty has a designated Faculty Champion who is helping to align faculty activity, please do contact your Champion to understand any internal faculty processes in place for bicentennial planning.

Timeline:

Dates	Activity and deadlines
September 2024 – December 2024	Faculties, VP portfolios, central teams, staff networks or community of practices plan activities for 2026.
Tuesday 17 December 2024	Deadline for top line activities and events proposed. All proposed activities and events shared with the UCL200 team via this form.
January – March 2025	UCL200 to consolidate all proposed planned activities for 2026. Highlighting signature activities, ensuring there is not significant overlap on output or significant date clashes. The core team will also help connect colleague where collaboration between bicentennial outputs might be possible.
Spring/Summer 2025	Confirmed outputs that have been shared with the UCL200 team can be incorporated in the wider UCL200 Programme calendar.

Next steps

Find out more by visiting the UCL200 Community Hub to view the framework and supporting materials, discover who your Faculty Champion is and book a slot at an upcoming UCL200 drop-in session.

If you are part of a faculty, please discuss your idea with your Faculty Champion who will be able to advise on any internal processes to decide on which proposals will be prioritised by your faculty.

If you are part of a VP portfolio, central team, staff network or community of practice, please liaise internally with your relevant leadership teams and colleagues to ensure proposals can be resourced.

Submit your idea via this form by Tuesday 17 December 2024.

Please contact the UCL200 core team with any queries UCL200@ucl.ac.uk.