UCL News

UCL and The British School in New Delhi have extended their partnership to deliver the UCL India Summer School for a further three years.    The programme, based at the state-of-the-art campus of The British School in New Delhi, has already welcomed 180 students since its inception in 2024, and will now continue from 2027 to 2029.    The agreement was recently signed in Mumbai by Professor Jennie Shaw, Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience) and Vanita Uppal OBE, Director of The British School.    Professor Shaw said the UCL India Summer School “is an opportunity for high school students from across India who are looking to apply to world-leading universities to be exposed to high-level critical thinking and research-led teaching delivered by UCL staff”.   Professor Michael Collins (UCL History), who has been the Director of the UCL India Summer School since its inauguration in June 2024, said: “The success of the UCL India Summer School has been built on the inspirational teaching of colleagues from across 10 different UCL faculties over the last three years.”   The continuing success of the UCL India Summer School reflects the shared commitment of UCL and The British School New Delhi to expand access to exceptional educational opportunities, nurturing the next generation of globally engaged learners and leaders.    Read more: https://lnkd.in/etZf4HfK   UCL Global Engagement

The first use of artificial intelligence to support a neurosurgeon in real time during live surgery has protected the sight of a man having a brain tumour removed, in a UCL-UCLH collaboration. The operation was carried out at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, as part of a clinical trial using AI technology developed in-house at UCL and funded by the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research). Rhys Hibbert, 48, is the first patient to have surgery in this way. Without surgery, Rhys’s tumour would have continued to threaten his sight and could ultimately have led to blindness. The operation successfully removed the tumour and protected his vision. During his operation, the UCL-developed AI analysed the live surgical video feed in real time, rather than using pre-surgery scans, to help the surgical team make more precise decisions by highlighting critical structures at the base of the brain. In this part of the brain, the pituitary gland (the size of a marble), blood vessels and nerves controlling vision are tightly packed together, and going a millimetre wrong can make a critical difference and lead to death, blindness or stroke. The AI supported the surgical team helping identify risky areas to avoid while removing as much tumour as safely possible. Mr Hani Marcus, professor of neurosurgery at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and consultant neurosurgeon at the NHNN, performed this first AI assisted surgery alongside Mr Danyal Khan, a UCL PhD candidate and UCL/UCLH neurosurgical resident leading the work. The AI system was developed at the UCL Hawkes Institute, a multidisciplinary research group at UCL focused on advancing healthcare technologies. Researchers led by Dr Sophia Bano of UCL Computer Science trained and evaluated the system using a large collection of annotated endoscopic pituitary surgery videos from previous operations. The technology has previously been evaluated and used as a training tool for surgeons carrying out this procedure. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eH68bYGX UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL Engineering

"Education can no longer simply prepare students for a single profession. It must prepare them to navigate volatility, ambiguity, and continuous change. The ability to think across disciplines is not an academic luxury, but the defining educational requirement of the coming years."   Writing for The Times Of India, UCL President & Provost Dr Michael Spence argues that interdisciplinary thinkers will be best placed to tackle complex global challenges and navigate rapid technological change.   He explores why education must evolve to help students combine expertise, creativity and adaptability in the age of AI, creating environments where students are encouraged to move between intellectual worlds, rather than remain confined within one.   https://lnkd.in/ewvXQwkR   #HigherEducation #AI #UCLGrandChallenges

“It was a delight to meet Andy, my former student, again after all these years. We chatted about what he studied as a student, including his enthusiasm for Chaucer, and about how his time studying English has shaped him." Professor John Mullan (UCL Arts and Humanities) surprised Prime Minister Andy Burnham during a visit to 10 Downing Street this hashtag hashtag #ALevelResultsDay, before the two reminisced about his university experience, and discussed the education and training pathways available to young people. Professor Mullan continued: “Congratulations to those who have secured their place to study at UCL! Our university is a place where minds are broadened and innovation flourishes. We’re looking forward to welcoming you soon.” 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eEjdgEbd

Globally, two-thirds of people diagnosed with TB are men, but the reasons for this disparity have been unclear. A new study, published in eClinicalMedicine – The Lancet Discovery Science, analysed data from more than 22,000 people across 11 prospective cohort studies in 14 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. The team concluded that the main reason more men have TB is because they are more likely to catch the infection in the first place, rather than because they are more likely to become ill once infected. Co-first author Dr Yohhei Hamada (UCL Institute for Global Health) said: “Our findings improve our understanding of why TB disproportionately affects men and suggest that reducing inequalities in TB exposure among men may have a greater impact on narrowing the sex gap in TB burden than interventions focused solely on progression from infection to disease.” Co-first author Sujen Surenthirarajah, who completed the study as part of an MSc at UCL, added: “We hope that our research will help inform future research into the biological and social mechanisms underlying sex differences in TB.” News story: https://lnkd.in/es3SgKRB The paper: https://lnkd.in/efCZsYfv

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s World at One, Dr John J Mitchell (UCL Surgery and Interventional Science) explained that even short bursts of exercise, like running for the bus or playing with children, could reduce your risk of cancer. “We know this isn’t a quick fix – this isn’t today, or tomorrow, or even this month, this manifests over years and decades – but if we can add in a few minutes of exercise in our in our day, this may add up to mitigate our risk.” The findings from a new study, led by UCL and based on data from the UK Biobank, indicated that people who were more active had a lower risk of cancer, and suggested that replacing 15 minutes of sleep or sedentary behaviour with 15 minutes of movement was linked to a two percent reduction in cancer risk. Listen to the full interview here (from 35:16): https://lnkd.in/e_3w5XcW UCL Faculty of Medical Sciences

Has the definition of autism become too broad? UCL Professor Dame Uta Frith explores how definitions of autism have evolved and the implications this could have for diagnosis and understanding today. 🔗 Read more: https://lnkd.in/eXimS36D UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences

One in six UK hospital beds is currently occupied by a person with dementia, at a cost to the taxpayer of £2.8 billion annually, with this number set to increase to one in four by 2040, according to a new report by UCL Division of Psychiatry researchers. In the most comprehensive review of dementia hospitalisations ever undertaken in the UK, the researchers outline how delayed discharges, lack of NHS staff communication and hospital environments unsuitable for dementia patients are keeping people in hospital unnecessarily, eroding dignity and exacerbating frailty. Those with dementia are five times more likely to remain in hospital despite being medically fit to leave, with delayed discharges alone costing £328 million annually to the taxpayer. The landmark report, released today by UCL with support from the Geller Commission, Dementia UK and the Alzheimer's Society, and backed by an umbrella review article published in Alzheimer's and Dementia, draws on evidence from 77 papers and 1.48 million participants to identify the human, social and financial costs of unnecessary hospitalisations: - People with dementia have a 42% increased risk of admission to acute care, up to 35% increased risk of readmission and, once admitted, stay seven times longer their peers. - Delayed discharges and long stays see frontline workers struggling in environments unfit for long-term dementia care: 87% of hospital workers say caring for dementia is challenging due to poor resource. - Families work 100+ hours unpaid a week, the equivalent of two and a half unpaid jobs, at great cost to their mental health and careers. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e9KdRMVj UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences

People who live by the coast in midlife are more likely to have worse health, according to a new study by Professor Stephen Jivraj (UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care). More disadvantaged people live in coastal communities and those who move away before 42 tended to have better health than those who moved to or stayed in coastal areas. “Poorer health in coastal communities is not simply due to coastal living itself. Instead, it reflects a combination of higher deprivation and selective migration, where people with worse health are more likely to remain in or move to coastal areas." 🔗 Read more: https://lnkd.in/esyw6m7T