Thank you

We are fortunate to have a strong community of supporters and donors. They are an integral part of the UCL ecosystem, partnering with our research and teaching staff to bring about change and impact in areas that matter to them, to us and to the world at large.  

This year we have seen unprecedented philanthropic income levels, providing funding for exciting new projects that have the potential to transform industries, education and disease landscapes.   

We also celebrate achievements and breakthroughs from this year that have been made possible thanks to gifts made in previous years.  

Philanthropic impact can be a long-game and requires a clear vision. We are always gratified to witness the way that our donors and UCL staff work together to build this shared vision; sharing successes and sometimes setbacks, with an openness to learning from one another’s experiences, ideas and networks.  

This partnership approach is what makes philanthropy at UCL so impactful. Thank you to all those who are part of our philanthropic ecosystem, for your generosity, tenacity and commitment to making the world a better place. 

Sincerely 

Dr Michael Spence, UCL President and Provost

and

Angharad Milenkovic, Vice-President (Advancement)

"Thanks to the generous donation, we are now able to put pedal to the metal... and get therapies that really will make a fundamental difference to every person with dementia."

2019 gift leads to major research breakthrough in Alzheimer’s disease

In April 2023, Dr Catherine Mummery from the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology published the results of a world-first trial showing that a gene-silencing therapy is able to safely and successfully lower levels of the harmful tau protein known to cause Alzheimer’s disease. 

A 2019 gift from the Sigrid Rausing Trust, one of the UK’s largest philanthropic foundations, is supporting Dr Mummery’s work on gene-silencing therapies through the Neurogenetic Therapies Programme. The programme aims to accelerate the development and testing of novel genetics-based therapies for neurodegeneration and dementia. By supporting preclinical and clinical projects, the programme is creating a pipeline of new translational genetic therapies, from concept through to treatments for patients. Dr Mummery’s latest research shows the impact that gifts for neuroscience at UCL have on creating meaningful developments for patients and their families. 

Dr Mummery said: “We need an awful lot of funding to build our clinical research facilities, our teams, our novel therapies and to be able to collaborate with industry. Philanthropy is the way that we meet that gap. Without our donors we would not be where we are: on the brink of new, exciting, innovative therapies. Thanks to the generous donation, we are now able to put a pedal to the metal. We are able to accelerate that work and get therapies that really will make a fundamental difference to every person with dementia.” 

Following publication of the findings from this phase 1 trial, Dr Mummery’s team will need to do further research to understand the extent to which the drug can slow progression of physical symptoms of disease and evaluate the drug in older and larger groups of people and in more diverse populations. 

>> Read more about the work being carried out at UCL to tackle Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.  

Wolfson Foundation’s grant will transform the future of global eye health 

Every day, 250 people in the UK begin to lose their sight. Across the world, major eye diseases are a growing health and economic burden. Philanthropy has a vital role to play in moving the dial of progress in addressing these challenges.  

In January 2023, Oriel, the joint initiative between Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Charity, received a significant grant from UCL’s long-term philanthropic partner the Wolfson Foundation. The award from the Wolfson Foundation will help to fund a dedicated innovation space at the heart of the new building, enabling UCL IoO researchers and Moorfields clinicians to realise the full potential of their already world-leading partnership.   

At the time of the award, Professor Alan Thompson, Dean of the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences, said: “We are delighted that the Wolfson Foundation has made this award to Oriel. At the new centre, researchers will work alongside doctors and patients, for the benefit of patients. Barriers will be eradicated and collaboration will be a part of day-to-day working life. Students will be able to more closely observe and experience clinical settings, and greater patient involvement in research projects will be made possible. We know that the Wolfson Foundation is rigorous in their pursuit of research excellence and the award confirms that this is a project which will transform the research and education landscape in eye health.” 

Support for Oriel from philanthropic partners will mean that discoveries are made more quickly and treatments reach patients sooner, transforming the lives of countless people with sight problems in London, in the UK and globally. 

>> Read the full award announcement. 

"It's incredibly rewarding as a mentor to think you may have done something really useful for someone who can then start from a different position to the one you had to start from."

Alumni mentors support the next generation of UCL students 

UCL alumni mentors play a crucial role in supporting students to develop the transferable skills and global competencies which employers are increasingly looking for. UCL has been running a student-alumni mentoring scheme since 2019 and, in 2022-23, 74 students benefited from the advice and support of those who have graduated before them and want to give back. 

UCL Laws mentor Ravi Aswani mentored a student for the fourth time in 2022-23, inspired by the benefits he received in the late 1990s, thanks to alumni involvement in his student experience. Now, he is keen to support today’s students by sharing learning from his career.  

He explains: “I think everyone has had those eureka moments in their career and thought ‘Wow! If only somebody had taught me this when I first started out!’. UCL mentoring programmes give you the opportunity to take a bit of time and condense those experiences into some tips you can give to someone so they don’t have to make the mistakes that you made. It’s incredibly rewarding as a mentor to think you may have done something really useful for someone who can then start from a different position to the one you had to start from.” 

Ravi’s relationship with each of his student mentees has continued well beyond the period of formal mentorship and each of them continues to keep him updated on their career progression and to seek his advice, which he is happy to share with them. 

UCL runs three mentoring schemes: UCL Careers Extra skills mentoring, which has benefited 50 students from under-represented backgrounds in 2022-23; Bartlett Promise Scholars mentoring, for students under-represented in the field of the built environment; and the Laws mentoring programme. 

"The gift will have a real and important impact on the learning experience of our students."

Donated equipment enhances Engineering students’ learning at UCL East 

A generous donation of equipment from Keysight Technologies will support Engineering students at UCL East. The equipment, which will be housed in the UCL Innovation Lab at Marshgate, will be used by students at undergraduate and postgraduate level across a variety of courses, in particular students who are participating on UCL’s new and exciting Engineering Foundation Year. 

The Engineering Foundation Year is a new initiative at UCL, aligned with our strategy for improving equality, diversity and inclusion, which is aimed at students capable of succeeding in engineering but who may have faced obstacles or disruption to their education and learning. On successful completion of the Foundation Year, our hope is that these students will progress onto one of our undergraduate engineering BEng/BSc or MEng courses.  

The gift will ensure that our students have access to state-of-the-art equipment, which will enhance their learning. The work benches which Keysight have helped fund include oscilloscopes, that graphically display electrical signals and shows how those signals change over time. Oscilloscopes are an important piece of equipment used by Chemical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineers as well as those on the new Robotics and Autonomous Systems Programme that launches in 2023 at UCL East. The equipment forms an important part of the practical activities undertaken by our Foundation Year students as they decide which of our undergraduate degrees to pursue. 

Professor John Mitchell, Co-Lead for the Engineering Foundation Year said: “At UCL we want to ensure that all of our students receive the best possible education and have access to the best equipment. We’re extremely grateful to Keysight Technologies for the donation of this equipment for UCL Innovation Lab. Their gift will have a real and important impact on the learning experience of our students.” 

"The strategy contains several elements that can be directly connected back to papers, submissions and arguments that the funding enabled Dr Smith and his team to develop and deploy."

Gift supports decarbonisation of international shipping sector

International shipping creates one gigaton of global greenhouse gas emissions per year – the same as the emissions created by Germany.  

Dr Tristan Smith in The Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources, supported by a donation from Quadrature Climate Foundation, is playing a decisive role in the decarbonisation of the industry. His research focuses on the development and implementation of technologies and operational practices and effective policy for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. Thanks to the funding, Dr Smith has been able to work with the UN’s International Maritime Organization and with ambitious companies and governments at regional and national level, to maximise the climate ambition of the IMO’s multilateral policy.  

The funding has supported Dr Smith and his team to disseminate and deploy their work in the policy arena and with industry, and to build and sustain a global profile.  

In July 2023, the IMO adopted a highly ambitious strategy for reducing the sector’s emissions to zero by 2050, or as close to that date as possible. The strategy contains several elements that can be directly connected back to papers, submissions and arguments that the funding enabled Dr Smith and his team to develop and deploy.  

Of working with philanthropic partners Dr Smith says: “The work we have delivered through this grant was developed in a truly collaborative process that ensured that our academic work was tailored and made accessible to the forums where it could be used by decision makers.” 

This work has helped us to attract the attention of other funders in the area and we have had further funding conversations with a number of organisations. The support is having a truly catalytic effect, with the potential to multiply the gift’s impact further still.” 

"It is an honour to tell the compelling human story of Walter Werner Johannes and to help young people in schools across the country learn more about the difficulties, opportunities, and experiences of the 10,000 children who came to Britain in the late 1930s."

Alumnus’ gift will honour his father’s story as a Kindertransport refugee

This year, a new donation from a UCL alumnus will enable staff at the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education to build on the work of their successful Beacon Schools programme and develop a programme centred on the story of the Kindertransport. The Kindertransport was an operation to rescue primarily Jewish children from Nazi-controlled territory between 1938 and 1939, prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. Almost 10,000 children were brought to the UK under the programme.  

The new programme being developed by the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education has been funded in memory of Walter Werner Johannes, who travelled to England on a Kindertransport in 1938 and made this country his home. It will be the first programme in the country to bridge primary and secondary Holocaust education. 

Professor Stuart Foster, Executive Director of the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education, said: “It is an honour to tell the compelling human story of Walter Werner Johannes and to help young people in schools across the country learn more about the difficulties, opportunities, and experiences of the 10,000 children who came to Britain in the late 1930s.  

“Securing funding for new and innovative education projects is difficult and we are delighted to have the support of our generous donor to enable us to deliver this important work.”