Annual Report 2001/2002 The academic year 2001/2002 confirmed UCL’s position as one of the world’s leading universities, with a dynamic programme of excellent research and teaching serving humanity’s intellectual, social and technological needs. Provost & President’s Outreach Statement UCL’s founding ethos UCL is committed to be was to share the highest as outstanding, liberal, quality research and innovative and welcoming teaching with those who in its teaching, and as could most benefit from internationally renowned it, regardless of their for its research, in the background or 21st century as it has circumstances. been in the previous See page 8 two centuries. See page 2 Achievements UCL’s academics Research & Teaching conducted pioneering UCL continued to work at the forefront challenge the boundaries of their disciplines of knowledge through its during this year. programmes of research, See page 12 while ensuring that the most promising students The UCL Community could benefit from its UCL’s 8,000 staff, intense research-led 17,000 students, teaching environment. 85,000 alumni and See page 4 members of Council form a community which works closely together to achieve the university’s goals. See page 18 Supporting UCL Financial Information UCL pays tribute to UCL’s annual income has those individuals and grown by almost 30% in organisations who the last five years. The have made substantial largest component of this financial contributions income remains research in support of its research grants and contracts. and teaching. See page 24 See page 22 Contacting UCL Developing UCL Join the many current With the help of its and former students and supporters, UCL is staff, friends, businesses, investing in facilities funding councils and fit for the finest research agencies, governments, and teaching in decades foundations, trusts and to come. charities that are See page 23 involved with UCL. See page 25 1 University College London Annual Report 2001-2002 Provost & President’s Statement UCL is committed to be as outstanding, liberal, innovative and welcoming in its teaching, and as internationally renowned for its research, in the 21st century as it has been in the previous two centuries. UCL intends: • to be, and to be acknowledged as, one of the greatest metropolitan universities in the world, serving local, national and international needs • to be, and to be recognised as, a world leader in teaching, scholarship and research across the sciences and arts • to be at the forefront in tackling environmental, communication and health problems • to continue its founders’ pioneering vision by providing educational opportunities of the highest quality to all regardless of background. 2 University College London Annual Report 2001-2002 Sir Derek Roberts Provost & President of UCL Celebration in 2001/2002 of the 175th The past year has been particularly challenging anniversary of UCL’s launch – as the University of for UCL. In common with other comparable London – provides occasion to reflect, illustrating universities we have struggled financially to our commitment to understanding the past. cope with two decades of chronic underfunding of both teaching and research. There are positive As the first university to be founded in England indications that the seriousness of the situation after Oxford and Cambridge, UCL provided a is at last recognised by the government, and progressive alternative to the social exclusivity, even by the Treasury. We can only wait and religious restrictions and academic limitations of see the degree to which words of concern are those institutions. translated into the much-needed hard cash. This principle lives on in UCL’s efforts to raise In addition to sharing these more general awareness of, and aspiration toward, higher concerns, UCL experienced two major events education among those most able to benefit in 2002: the early and unexpected departure from its research-led educational environment, of Provost & President Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, regardless of their personal circumstances. and the discussions with Imperial College about closer collaboration and possible merger. It is for government to ensure that academic merit is more adequately developed across all Merger was not considered appropriate, socio-economic groups, and not to try to solve but working together certainly is. inadequacies and inequalities in school and home by expecting universities like UCL to distort These events have certainly challenged UCL in their admissions procedures in the interest of the present. They have strengthened UCL’s social engineering. capability to shape its future and thus to benefit society in general. From its beginning UCL challenged existing attitudes concerning both who and what should be taught. This commitment to innovation in teaching and research, and in the exploitation of research for the benefit of society, combines our dedication to challenging the present and shaping 1 January 2003 the future. The university strives to share its academic achievements with the world, not simply through publications in books and journals, but also increasingly through such means as policy forums, technology transfer and the creation of ‘spin-out’ companies. 3 University College London Annual Report 2001-2002 Research & Teaching UCL continued to challenge the boundaries of knowledge through its programmes of research, while ensuring that the most promising students could benefit from its intense research-led teaching environment. UCL’s ‘5’ and ‘5*’ departments Anatomy & Developmental Biology Institute of Neurology Anthropology Institute of Nuclear Medicine Institute of Archaeology Obstetrics & Gynaecology Biochemical Engineering Oncology Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Institute of Ophthalmology Biology Institute of Orthopaedics & Musculoskeletal Chemical Engineering Science Chemistry Paediatrics & Child Health Institute of Child Health Pharmacology Civil & Environmental Engineering Philosophy Clinical Neurosciences Phonetics & Linguistics Computer Science Physics & Astronomy Dutch Psychology Earth Sciences Scandinavian Studies Eastman Dental Institute Science & Technology Studies Economics Sexually Transmitted Diseases Electronic & Electrical Engineering Slade School of Fine Art English Language & Literature School of Slavonic & East European Studies French Space & Climate Physics Geography Statistical Science German Surgery Greek & Latin Institute of Urology & Nephrology Haematology Virology Histopathology Reta Lila Weston Institute of Neurological History Studies History of Art Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research Human Communication Science Immunology & Molecular Pathology Italian Institute of Laryngology & Otology with the Ferens Laws Mathematics Mechanical Engineering Medical Microbiology Medical Physics & Bioengineering Medicine 4 University College London Annual Report 2001-2002 In 2001/2002 Research excellence UCL was also allocated more funding through the The excellence of UCL’s research across the Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF) than UCL’s research disciplines was confirmed by the government’s any other university. The university’s allocation – programme received 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). £46.4 million out of a total of £675 million – is These results reflected a major improvement in based on its research excellence and volume a series of UCL’s research standing. Top ratings of ‘5’ and across the sciences, engineering and medicine. much-deserved ‘5*’ were earned by 60 UCL departments, 23 of With the addition of the required matching funds, which had achieved a rating below ‘5’ in the 1996 UCL will be able to invest more than £60 million endorsements, RAE. These 60 departments included more than in improving its scientific infrastructure for ongoing while it continued 1,500 full-time equivalent academic staff entered research and developing new capabilities in as research-active: 88% of all such staff at UCL, emerging disciplines. to enhance the up from 66% in 1996. Nine other departments, student experience. with more than 200 full-time equivalent academic Using £1 million of its SRIF allocation, the staff entered as research-active, achieved the university embarked on a project to enhance its next-highest rating, ‘4’. Research by another electronic infrastructure in support of ‘e-science’. five specialist groups – although included in UCL’s ‘e-scientists’ – one of the largest such RAE submissions which were otherwise rated communities in the UK – work on projects below ‘5’ – was judged of a standard equivalent characterised by requirements for massive to ‘5’ or ‘5*’. computational power, large volumes of data storage and very high-speed communications. Investing in research These needs are being met by the ‘Grid’ – a Success in two national funding competitions in collection of many computers around the globe the previous year enabled UCL to progress some connected together by the internet – which will of its most promising scientific programmes analyse significant volumes of experimental data during 2001/2002. The university is investing in fields as diverse as solar observations, more than £100 million in its research. particle physics and annotation of the proteins in the major genomes. Nine UCL research projects, costing more than £45 million, were successful in the Joint Other confirmations of UCL’s excellence include Infrastructure Fund (JIF) round, a far greater its outstanding success in the first Arts & number of awards than any other university. Humanities