Faces of UCL

Episode 6: Who needs bureaucracy anyway?

Dr Dan Honig, Associate Professor of Public Policy at UCL and Georgetown University, explores with Dr Michael Spence how organisational systems can empower or frustrate people trying to do good work. Even mission driven organisations can fall into a regulations trap. It can feel like we're drowning in regulations, yet we keep creating more. The same people complaining about red tape often suggest adding new policies when problems arise. Could it be that the solution isn't eliminating rules and b...

Episode 5: The neuroscience rockstar

UCL President and Provost Michael Spence meets Professor Sir John Hardy, whose groundbreaking genetics research at UCL has revolutionised treatment for Alzheimer's. John always dreamed of working at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, the world's leading neurological research centre. But he was rejected for his current position in 1992 and had to wait 15 years before finally getting the job in 2007. Working with Alzheimer's families, he discovered mutations in the gene for the amyloid prote...

Episode 4: London to India and beyond: a life shaped by UCL

In this episode, UCL President and Provost Michael Spence speaks with Achala Moulik, a remarkable alumna who chose the university in 1959, about her extraordinary journey from being an economics student to Secretary of Elementary Education and Literacy for India. Achala was one of only four women in a class of 35 studying economics at what was then called simply University College. Her entrance interview made a mark when, as an opinionated 17-year-old, she told professors that India was poor bec...

Episode 3: The voice of 50,000 students

UCL President and Provost Michael Spence speaks to Goksu Danaci, who was President of UCL’s Students' Union during the academic year 2024/2025, about student leadership, democracy, and community. Goksu oversaw a huge operation – from student representation and campus services to clubs, societies, and welfare support. Working alongside her sabbatical team, she had to get used to what leadership in action can mean, with some people agreeing with her and others disagreeing. She had to balance being...

Episode 2: Questioning assumptions in life and the lab

In this episode of Faces of UCL, UCL President and Provost Dr Michael Spence chats with Dr Michael Sulu, UCL Associate Professor in Biochemical Engineering and UCL's Envoy for Race Equality. Michael did his first degree at UCL and came back following a Master’s at York University and a PhD and post-doc at the University of Birmingham, after discovering a love for teaching during his PhD in using bacteria to produce hydrogen as a fuel. He combines biochemical engineering with brewing: UCL is buil...

Episode 1: Ordinary objects, extraordinary stories

UCL President and Provost Michael Spence meets Catriona Wilson, Head of the Petrie Collection of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology and Dr Anna Garnett, the Curator of the Petrie Collection. The museum’s extraordinary collection has more than 80,000 objects. Unlike other museums focused on grand monuments, the Petrie celebrates everyday life through "ordinary objects that tell extraordinary stories": 5,000-year-old knitted socks, loaves of bread, love letters, and the world's oldest complete wove...

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