In June this year, UCL launched the UCL Walking Tour, a free guided walking tour aimed at inviting members of the public onto campus to learn more about UCL as a university and research institution and embrace its place at the heart of the Bloomsbury community.

This month, host Cerys alongside Ariana Razavi, Molly Rashbash and Chanju Mwanza, delve deeper into three of the tours stops, the Wilkins Building, the Petrie Museum and the Student Centre and discuss the role that these places on campus have on the people who use them every day – students and staff.

While these buildings form key parts of UCL’s history, they are just a small part of the tour, only by taking the full tour can visitors learn about the noble laureates and the famous alumni that have studied or researched at UCL, the mysterious secret tunnels that run under the Cruciform building and the Japanese Garden which stands as a symbol of UCL’s diverse community and international links.

Act 1: The Wilkins Building

The Wilkins Building is the focal point of UCL’s Bloomsbury Campus. It was designed by William Wilkins, perhaps best known for designing the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. At the time it was built, London looked very different and the area resembled a swampy wasteland on the edge of London, with one newspaper calling it a ‘large space of mud and nastiness’.

The foundation stone was laid on 30 April 1827 by The Duke of Sussex, sixth son of George III. However, the remainder of the quad wasn’t fully completed until 1985 when it was opened by Her Majesty the Queen. It was on this visit that the driver of her car actually crashed into one of the bollards in front of the Portico.

Ariana explores the Henry Wilkins Building in greater depth and interviews students on their favourite areas in the main UCL library, which can be found in the building.

Act 2: The Petrie Museum

Flinders Petrie was a pioneering archaeologist whose impact is still felt today. He was the first Egyptology professor in the UK, a role that was established at UCL in 1892 due to a bequest by women’s rights campaigner, writer and Egyptologist Amelia Edwards. She also bequeathed her collection of around a thousand Egyptian objects and her library to UCL. She deliberately chose UCL as it was the first university in the UK to award degrees to women.

Petrie first travelled to Egypt in 1880 and he went on to excavate for forty years in Egypt and the Egyptian authorities allowed him to take his finds to England where many of them ultimately became part of the UCL collection. Petrie was much more scientific and methodical in his approach to archaeological digs compared to what had gone before, and introduced methods similar to those used today.

Act 3: The Student Centre

Opened in 2019 and built to be one of the greenest, the Student Centre is on of the most sustainable buildings in the UK. This was achieved by using highly durable materials, installing automatic windows that naturally ventilate the building, planting a green roof, and adding 250 square metres of electric solar panels.

The Student Centre features the auto-icon of UCL’s spiritual founder, Jeremy Bentham along with a rare piece for Turner Prize winning artist and UCL alum, Rachel Whiteread. The sculpture is a cast of a notice board in the Slade School of Art, and if you look carefully you can see the “ghosts” of messages pinned to the original board inside the resin. It is one of only two permanent public works by the artist in the UK.

In this Act, we speak to the Student Centre manager and the students who use the space every day.

This month, the team has stories from an anthropologist who believes in the power of immersive storytelling, a social researcher trying to improve the health opportunities of young people, and a PhD student whose research is bringing greater access to green spaces.

Act 1

Prof Dinah Lammiman

In Act 1, hear Taqwa Sadiq's converstation with Prof Dinah Lammiman.

Dinah Lammiman is Professor of Immersive Factual Storytelling in UCL Anthropology. She leads UCL’s MA course In Immersive Factual Storytelling. Previously ImFaS was a studio within the Ethnographic Documentary Film making MA. Since the studio was introduced in 2017, many of our alumni have gone on to senior positions in the VR and AR industry.

She is also co founder of immersive storytelling company PastPorte. PastPorte creates stunning and thought-provoking installations bringing to life historic stories for national and international attractions. Clients include Hampton Court Palace, the National Trust for Scotland, ss Great Britain.

From 2017 -2019 she was also part of the team at the BBC VR incubation project producing and distributing award-winning VR content, particularly noted for its compelling narratives and popular appeal. Dinah also led a widescale project to push VR out to over 170 public libraries around the UK, thereby introducing a large new audience to VR and its possibilities. Previously Dinah Lammiman had a long and successful career as a producer and reporter for BBC News and Current Affairs – majoring in parliamentary stories.

Act 2

Dr Alexandra Albert

In Act 2, Maria Bunyun speaks with Dr Alexandra Albert.

Dr Alexandra Albert is a social researcher based across the Thomas Coram Research Institute, in the Social Research Institute at University College London (UCL), and the Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) research group in the Geography Department at UCL. She is currently a post-doctoral research fellow on the ActEarly UK Preventative Research Programme (UKPRP), supporting the Healthy Livelihoods, Healthy Learning and Co-production and Citizen Science themes, in the London site of the project, in Tower Hamlets. ActEarly seeks to improve the health and opportunities for families in Bradford, West Yorkshire and Tower Hamlets, East London.

Prior to ActEarly, she worked on the EU H2020 funded Coordination and Support Action: Doing It Together Science (DITOS), helping to organise and deliver citizen science activities across Europe. She completed her PhD in citizen social science in 2019, taking a critical investigatory approach to the practices and processes of citizen social science – namely how people can be mobilised to engage in conducting social research, and the challenges and opportunities of using the data generated to tackle social issues. Her research interests include citizen science, participatory inventive methods, public sociology, and inclusive development.

Act 3

Maryam Bandukda

In Act 3, hear Katie Davies' conversation with Maryam Bandukda.

Maryam’s PhD research explores agency and participation of blind and partially sighted people in open space leisure activities and the impact of orientation and mobility training on self-efficacy and participation in leisure activities. She is supervised by Prof. Catherine Holloway, Prof. Nadia Berthouse, and Dr. Aneesha Singh.

Maryam's background is in Human-Computer Interaction and Computer Science. Prior to joining GDI Hub as a PhD student, Maryam has worked as a Business Analyst and Project Manager for over 10 years in the United Kingdom and Pakistan.

This month we’re looking at the invisible... the things you might not usually notice. Cerys and team are looking at city soundscapes, the Antarctica continent and the radio frequency spectrum. We’re looking at these three subjects through a new lens and discussing how we make the invisible, visible.

Hosts: Molly Rasbash, Maria Bunyun, Taqwa Sadiq (UCL Students)
Guests: Andrew Mitchell, Prof Ilan Kellman, Dr Matthew Ritchie (UCL Academics)

Act 1

Andrew Mitchell

In Act 1, hear Molly Rasbash's conversation with Andrew Mitchell.

Andrew Mitchell is a Research Fellow in urban soundscape modelling at University College London (UCL). His research interests include soundscape analysis and visualisation, machine learning, and human perception of complex sounds. Andrew has been awarded two PhD and one Post-doctoral Enrichment Awards from The Alan Turing Institute and spent a month in early 2022 as a visiting research fellow at Stockholm University. His ongoing projects include the Soundscape Indices (SSID) Horizon 2020 project, Soundscapy, Deep Learning Techniques for noise Annoyance detection (DeLTA), AI for Urban Soundscape Enhancement (AI USE), the Catalogue of Soundscape Interventions (CSI), and the Soundscape Attributes Translation Project (SATP).

Andrew is also the host of The Rest is Just Noise, a monthly podcast exploring the relationship between sound and our cities. Each episode, Andrew and his co-hosts and colleagues Dr Francesco Aletta and Dr Tin Oberman speak with researchers and experts from a wide range of backgrounds about their work in urban sounds and sound perception.

Act 2

Ilan Kelman

In Act 2, Maria Bunyun speaks with Prof Ilan Kelman about Antarticness.

Ilan Kelman is a Professor of Disasters and Health at University College London, England and a Professor II at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway. His overall research interest is linking disasters and health, integrating climate change into both. Three main areas are: (i) disaster diplomacy and health diplomacy http://www.disasterdiplomacy.org ; (ii) island sustainability involving safe and healthy communities in isolated locations http://www.islandvulnerability.org ; and (iii) risk education for health and disasters http://www.riskred.org

You can find Ilan at http://www.ilankelman.org and Twitter/Instagram @ILANKELMAN

Antarticness can also be found on the UCL Press website.

Act 3

Dr Matthew Ritchie

In Act 3, hear Taqwa Sadiq's conversation with Dr Matthew Ritchie about Radio Frequencies.

Dr Matthew Ritchie received an MSci degree in physics from The University of Nottingham, in 2008. Following this, he completed an Eng.D degree at University College London (UCL), in association with Thales U.K., in 2013. He continued at UCL as a postdoctoral research associate focusing on machine learning applied to multi-static radar for micro-Doppler classification.

In 2017 Dr Ritchie took a Senior Radar Scientist position at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratories (Dstl) which also involved working as the Team Leader for the Radar Sensing group in the Cyber and Information Systems Division. During his time at Dstl he worked on a broad range of cutting-edge RF sensing challenges collaborating with both industry and academia.

As of 2018 he has now taken a lectureship role at UCL within the Radar Sensing group. Currently, he serves as the Chair of the IEEE Aerospace and System Society (AESS) for the United Kingdom & Ireland, is a Subject Editor-in-Chief for the IET Electronics Letters journal and a Senior Member of the IEEE. He was awarded the 2017 IET RSN best paper award as well as the Bob Hill Award at the 2015 IEEE International Radar Conference.

This month we’re looking at Direction For Change. Cerys, Katie, Ariana and Chanju are here to tell you three different stories of change, from new technology for mapping cities, to changing demand for teachers, and finally the ever-changing future of cars. Listen now as our hosts discuss different directions for change with interesting voices from across the UCL community.

Act 1

Alison Kitson is programme director for UCL’s new Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education (CCCSE) and also works in initial teacher education. Alison joined the Institute of Education in 2008 as a lecturer in education and has worked across a number of roles including Subject Leader for History, Deputy Programme Leader for the secondary PGCE and Faculty Director of Initial Teacher Education.

Act 2

Polly Hudson is a Senior Research Fellow at The Alan Turing Institute and project lead for the Colouring Cities Research Programme. She is also a senior research fellow at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL where she developed the Colouring Cities concept as part of her PhD. Polly trained as an architectural historian and cabinet maker, working initially in historic building restoration, slide library design and community planning. In 1991 she directed and designed the Building of Bath Museum and in 1996 set up The Building Exploratory charitable trust in London as a prototype for free, hand-on centres providing joined-up information about the local building stock, built by and for local communities. Here she also began to test designs for public facing GIS platforms able to collate and visualise current, and historical, building attribute data. Since this time she has continued to develop physical and digital educational tools to increase public information about the building stock, and to promote multisector collaboration across the humanities, science, and the arts. Polly has held public appointments at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, English Heritage, The Royal Institute of British Architects, and The National Lottery.

Polly is part of the Computer Vision and Digital Heritage SIG, and the Facilitating Participation in Data Science SIG at Turing. She is also a member of the Digital Twin Hub Community Council.

Act 3

Robin Ramphal started working for the UCL Department of Chemical Engineering in January 2018 as a temporary Departmental Manager, which lasted just over a year. The role involved having an oversight of all activities within the department, e.g. Staff, Finance and Safety. After that, he secured a position within the same department as a Strategic Alliances Manager/Director, lasting 3 years. Within the scope of the role, he worked with Academic and industry on collaboration, funding studentships and building networks and relationship.

Currently, he is Project Integrator for the UCL Hydrogen Innovation Network, within the Electrochemical Innovation Lab, working to develop high-impact network within the Hydrogen sector, so engaging with industry and government bodies. Essentially, his role is to organise, chair and host hydrogen events and workshops to discuss the H2 landscape, knowledge exchange, building relationships, which leads to collaboration on R&D projects, with a view of UCL leading on developing a London’s first Hydrogen Park

Alex Rettie is a Lecturer in Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage at University College London (UCL) Chemical Engineering since January 2019. His interests span batteries, green hydrogen production and use. Prior to joining UCL, he was a post-doc at Argonne National Laboratory where he focused on materials design and total scattering techniques. He received his Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering) from the University of Texas at Austin in 2015, investigating metal oxide photoelectrodes and his M.Eng. degree (Chemical Engineering) from the University of Edinburgh.

Join Cerys and our student hosts as they discuss how we navigate the arts. This month we’re covering the prevalence of eating disorders in musicians, how an art installation in Rye, Sussex is helping fight climate change, and the fascinating neuroscience behind how we combine emotions and logic to interact with spaces.

Act 1

Dr Marianna Kapsetaki is a medical doctor, neuroscientist, and classical pianist. Following her Medical Degree (1st Hons), she obtained a MSc (Distinction) in Performing Arts Medicine from University College London, a PhD in Neuroscience from Imperial College London, and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow position at UCL. She has been presented with over 100 awards and scholarships in science and music such as being included in the Forbes '30 Under 30' Europe list, 1st prize in 12 international/national competitions, UNESCO Medal, Rotary Club Honorary Award, Citizen of Honor Award, Onassis Foundation PhD scholarship, and ‘World in Harmony’ Association scholarship after performing in the presence of HRH Princess Irene. Marianna has performed over 160 concerts appearing at major venues throughout Europe such as Cadogan Hall (London), St John’s Smith Square (London), St George’s (Bristol), and has performed as a soloist with many orchestras under prominent conductors. She has been invited to give over 60 talks/presentations, including at Harvard University, University of Oxford, Fifteen Seconds Festival, and TEDx. Marianna (or her research) has been featured in international media outlets including BBC News, The Guardian, and Classic FM. She enjoys regular invitations from radio and television where her three CD recordings with her twin sister are played.

Act 2

Dr Dzmitry Suslau is a lecturer at UCL's School of Slavonic and East European Studies. One of the modules he teaches (SEEE0014) explores cultural practices that emerged across Central and Eastern Europe and Russia after 1989, taking into account transnational subjectivities and dynamics of spectatorship. A specialist in public art, he has contributed to exhibition research at the V&A and other cultural institutions. His current research focuses on human ecology, critical issues in public art and the interconnection between culture and environmental change.

In 2020, with his friend, Evgeniya Ravtsova, Dzmitry founded Climate Art, an interdisciplinary public art platform that brings together community groups, artists, and researchers in joint action against the climate crisis. Their first three-month residency and exhibition took place in Rye, East Sussex and featured the work of three multidisciplinary practitioners alongside projects by the Bartlett students (UG2, BSc Architecture Unit).

Act 3

Lara Gregorians is a PhD student in the Spiers Spatial Cognition Lab at UCL. She is part of the Leverhulme Doctoral Training Programme in the Ecological Study of the Brain, which aims to explore brain and behaviour in the real world. Her research focuses on exploring human experiences in the built environment, bringing the worlds of Architecture and Neuroscience together to explore brain and body responses to different architectural environments with the development of a video database of affect-laden first-person journeys through built environments. Lara has an interdisciplinary background, holding a MSc in Health, Wellbeing and Sustainable Buildings from the Bartlett, and a BASc in Arts and Sciences.

Welcome back to series three of Made at UCL! Cerys Bradley is our producer-turned-host this year alongside six new UCL student hosts.

Join Cerys, Taqwa Sadiq, Chanju Mwanza and Katie Davies for this months episode: Data Moves. We’re looking at the impact of data, the absence of data and how data can be utilised across three of our incredible REF case studies.

For more information on Made At UCL and to access the transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/made-at-ucl/

For more information on each case study check out the REF hub: www.ucl.ac.uk/impact/research-excellence-framework-2021

Welcome back for season three of #MadeAtUCL. We're mixing things up this season with six new student hosts joining Cerys Bradley our producer-turned-host from last season! We will be continuing to share stories from our community, bringing to life the research and work being done at UCL.

UCL's award-winning campaign, Disruptive Thinking Since 1826 and hashtag #MadeAtUCL, has been phenomenal in its scope with hoardings at UCL East in London, graphics and animations on our website; a festival, podcast series, and involvement of the wider public to vote for their favourite breakthrough UCL research.

Listen to a new episode every first Monday of the month.