Welcome to the latest edition of the Institute’s termly newsletter, which is an update and highlights some of the many excellent activities at the Institute over the past 3 months, some attracting major media attention (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ion/news ).

The New Year bid farewell to the outgoing UCL President & Provost Professor Michael Arthur, and we welcomed our new UCL President & Provost Dr Michael Spence AC. We thank Professor Arthur and wish him all the best for his future endeavours. We welcome Dr Spence on behalf of the entire Institute and look forward to working with him as he begins to shape his vision for a new UCL 5-year strategy. We are delighted Dr Spence has agreed to give the Institute’s Annual Address on 4th November 2021.

We started the New Year in another lockdown, working remotely as much as possible and delivering our teaching online. It has now been a year since the first lockdown started, and most of us have sadly not been able to meet in person for a very long time, but we have very quickly adapted to new ways of working, and kept in touch using the modern technologies available to us all. Compared to March 2020’s lockdown, we also managed to keep essential activities running and our buildings open.

We are thankful for all the help and support every single one of you has provided, which has enabled us to maintain our current level of activities, and support and protect our NHS. So many of you have volunteered to support us and the wider community and NHS, and many of you have become super vaccinators; we are incredibly proud and humbled by this.

The Government’s announcement for a roadmap to easing restrictions and the successful roll-out of the vaccination programme brings hope and light is in sight at the end of tunnel. We do not yet know how a return to “business as usual” and to campus will look like this summer, and it will be subject to the pandemic’s evolution. In the meantime, please complete this very short one-off Future of Work pulse checker (by the 18th April) to help us shape our future return to work. We will be communicating updates to you all as we receive them. As always, do not hesitate to get in touch with either of us or your Head of Research Department or line manager should you have any questions.

Despite the lockdown, we have continued to hold some great events for the Institute and have made significant progress with our EDI agenda, under the leadership of our IoN Deputy Director for EDI, Professor Helene Plun-Favreau. We are committed to listening and learning from all of you on issues and concerns related to EDI in our workplace and have taken the first steps to form a Central IoN EDI committee. We deeply believe in the power of diversity to advance our mission to train students and deeply understand neurological diseases and develop diagnostics and treatments.

We also wanted to understand the pressures imposed by COVID-19 and the national lockdowns; in June 2020 we ran a survey to learn directly from you how you coped with the first months of national lockdown as well as understanding if you thought IoN’s response has been adequate. Read more about the survey results 

We also recently received feedback from the Advance HE review panel on our 2019 successful Athena SWAN Silver Award submission. The review panel has recognised IoN’s commitment to act on previously identified issues and commends our strong evidence of progress. One of the 2021 EDI strategic focus areas is to increase our commitment towards removing barriers to study and career progress experienced by ethnic minorities; we are currently focusing on ways improve access of opportunities to students from underrepresented backgrounds; we will also launch a Student Survey this spring. One of our other priorities is to review our current workload evaluation model; we will continue working to improve the gender balance in leadership positions and capitalise on our successful Academic Mentoring Programme, and the Professional Services mentoring programme, which is Faculty-wide.

Each one of you has contributed to our achievements and kept us going through challenging times; thank you! UCL will be closed from 2nd April through to 11th April inclusive so please take this time as an opportunity to step away from your computer screens, emails and zoom/ MS Teams meetings.

We hope you have an enjoyable break and wish you a happy Easter!

Michael & Hélène

Provost's message of thanks to all UCL staff

The Provost has written a letter of thanks to all UCL staff, both on site and those working from home, after the end of his first month in office. 

Congratulations!

We’re pleased to announce the following recent prizes and awards:

Dr Quentin Huys, from the Division of Psychiatry and the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, has received a Wellcome Investigator Award to study the neurobiology of maladaptive thinking patterns in people with depression, and how they increase



 

We are delighted to announce that Professor Ley Sander (Head of Department of Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) has been appointed Visiting Professor of West China School of Medicine/West China Hospital,

We are really proud to announce that our Medical Director Ley Sander has been named the world's leading epilepsy expert for the ninth year running and Epilepsy Society is part of the top research centre. 

Congratulations to group leader, Rickie Patani, who is one of this year’s winners of the Brain Sciences Young Investigator award. The award recognises Rickie’s outstanding contribution to the field of neuroscience.
 

Professor Alan Thompson, Dean of the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences, has been awarded the 2020 Sobek Prize for his research efforts in the field of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Steve Fleming and the Metacognition Team have been awarded an EPSRC Programme Grant as part of a large team of researchers based at UCL and Oxford, led by Ingmar Posner at the Oxford Robotics Institute. This £6M award with multiple industry partners aims to deliver autonomous robot systems which amplify human capacity and potential.

Congratulations to Kirsty Lu at DRC for winning the best postdoc talk for her work looking at the influence of APOE on cognition in the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at 
1946 birth cohort at the MAPP APOE Symposium 2021

Congratulations to all the AD/PD Junior Faculty Awards winners, including Alexander Bampton

Congratulations to Alexander Bampton on his first prize poster winner at Annual Scientific Meeting of the British Neuropathological Society 2021 


 

Congratulations to Professor Eileen Joyce on receiving the BNPA Medal, awarded in recognition of her enormous contribution to advancing neuropsychiatry in the UK. Eileen gave the BNPA2021 Medal Lecture on 11th March, on her clinical trial of DBS for OCD. This interview of Professor Eileen Joyce: in conversation with Dame Barbara Stocking was recorded to mark the occasion.

The CCTU and Stroke Research Centre teams have managed to keep this trial running and recruiting well at around 70 UK hospital sites, despite huge COVID-19 challenges. 

Raj Kalia (IT Services Manager) was joint winner of the Community Spirit award for the Laptops for Schools initiative (see Focus on IT below).

Grants over £500k

MRC

• Professor Eleanor Maguire (Department of Imaging Neuroscience) awarded £715,366 for research into ‘Cortical determinants of human auditory cognition’ from 1st December 2020 for 60 months.
• Professor Dimitri Kullmann (Department of Clinical & Experimental Epilepsy) awarded £507,981.39 for research into ‘Neurotransmitter imaging to understand seizure mechanisms’ starting from 1st January 2021 for 33 months
• Dr Dave Cash (Department of Neurodegenerative Disease) awarded £799,401 for research into ‘Health and Bioscience IDEAS - Imaging, Data structures, gEnetics and Analytical Strategies’ starting from 14th February 2021 for 24 months.

Wellcome Trust

• Professor Henry Houlden (Department of Neuromuscular Diseases) awarded £2,387,230 for research into ‘Understanding non-coding genomic variation in neurological disorders’ starting from 1st April 2021 for 60 months.
• Dr Quentin Huys, from the Division of Psychiatry and the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, has received a Wellcome Investigator Award of £1,124,082 for research into ‘the neurobiology of maladaptive thinking patterns in people with depression and how they increase’ starting from 18 January 2021 for 72 months. 

• Professors Maria Thom/Matthias J Koepp (Department of Clinical & Experimental Epilepsy) awarded £2,367,251.00   for research into ‘Epilepsy and neurodegeneration : disease mechanisms and early detection’ starting from 1st April 2021 for 60 months.

Focus: Education

How students reviewed distance learning programme online

Dr Tim Young, Course Co-Director of ION Clinical Neurology by distance learning, was partnered with students through 'UCL Arena's Peer Dialogue: Option C' to review teaching.


Lindsay Symon award for MSc/MRes Stroke Medicine

Charlotte Howland has been awarded the Lindsay Symon award for the achieving the highest overall mark for the MSc/MRes Stroke Medicine programme in the 2019/20 academic year.

UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology & Cleveland Clinic London MPhil/PhD Neuroscience Fellowship

Cleveland Clinic London (CCL) and ION are working together to develop the next generation of Neurologists and Neurosurgeons in a unique Fellowship programme, under which Fellows will be employed by Cleveland Clinic London (CCL) and study at IoN. 

PGR update 

Research students are working hard to keep up with their research with many having to adjust their projects and some being redeployed to the NHS due to the COVID pandemic. With the continuous support of supervisors, local departments and IoN administration, many PGR students have maintained access to their labs and other UCL resources to allow continuation of their research meaning that the majority are on track to complete their degree to an exceptional standard.

During this unprecedented time, we have found new methods to maintain engagement and keep students informed including the newly launched IoN PGR news bulletin and a series of online workshops conducted due to popular demand and student feedback. Going forward, we are thinking about the many final year students who will be finishing soon and the new students who will be joining us in 2021/22.

Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2021

We really appreciate your feedback so that we can continue improving on the student experience. Therefore, please participate in the UCL PRES via the link received in your email inboxes. The more students that take part, the more meaningful the data. For every 10 PGR students who participate, one tree will be planted in collaboration with the World Land Trust. The survey will close on 16 April 2021 so please find time to complete the survey prior to this date.

Ignite App

As part of a PhD project, we are looking for healthy volunteers to test an iPad-based cognitive assessment, that has been designed to detect early signs of dementia. The "Ignite" app has been designed to test people’s thinking more easily than standard psychology tests, particularly in the early detection of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). 

If you would like to help us validate this promising tool, that could help to detect early signs of dementia in the future, then please download "IGNITE App" from the App Store onto an iPad and complete the fun games. Your contribution would be hugely appreciated! 

Please contact Rhian rhian.convery.16@ucl.ac.uk for further information.

Active Bystander training for ION PGRs

Over recent months the Students’ Union has been offering training for IoN students that helps to tackle bullying, harassment and other unacceptable behaviour. This training is part of the Active Bystander Programme. To date over 90 IoN PGR students have engaged with the training programme.

To complete the training students need to:

• Review the online training material
• Attend a live online workshop. The next session will take place on 29 April at 11:00am- Sign up now.

UCL education conference 14th April
ION Education Team and students have submitted several abstracts to this year's conference whose focus will be on "Bringing us all together: Connected Learning, connected learners, and learning through collaboration"

Virtual: 1st Faculty of Brain Sciences PGR Student Conference 27th May 2021 

• Please register here to attend on the day and we will send you a message nearer the time to keep you up to date: 
• Please submit this form if you are interested in presenting your research (deadline 11th April 2021)
• Contact: javier.bautista.16@ucl.ac.uk 

Alumni abstracts 
The following Alumni have had abstracts accepted at recent and upcoming conferences:

Jas Sachdeva (MSc-CN-DL): BNPA 11th March 2021 
Jacob Roelofs (MSc Clinical Neuroscience) 

Functional Neurological symptoms: Optimising the efficacy of inpatient treatment using a combination of psychotherapeutic and CBT approaches as part of an internet-based preparatory program - the Queen Square Guided Self Help (QGSH).

Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy Annual Conference 2021: Wednesday 21 to Friday 23 April 2021 

Focus: Health, Safety & Lab Operations

Covid-19 safety reminders:

• Occupancy rates in IoN buildings have not changed. All staff must keep 2 meter social distancing at all times and wear face coverings inside buildings and around campus. If you are exempt from wearing masks please see further information on the sunflower lanyard scheme for staff with hidden disabilities.
• Safety services and the HSE have published guidance on First Aid practices during Covid-19. All first aiders should familiarize themselves with the Guidance for returning First Aiders
• For useful wellbeing tips and resources for staff and student support please have a look at UCL workplace health or the COVID-19 wellbeing support pages

Estates:

Please remember to report any estates and building related issues by raising a service request through the UCL estates website  

In addition to this please inform LOM Steffy Czieso (s.czieso@ucl.ac.uk) about any infrastructure related problems such as water, power, heating and ventilation.

Focus on: Covid-19

A reminder to heads and all those with line manager responsibilities: as team leaders you should maintain efforts to regularly adjust and review expectations within your teams, providing the vital support students and staff need who are facing increased pressures. Now is the time for compassionate leadership.

To help you in these times ION has outlined a Code of Conduct for all IoN departments, divisions, teams and managers while we are still facing COVID-19 related restrictions.

ADAPTS IN PERU STUDY
ADAPTS (Artificial intelligence Diagnostic And Prognostic Tools for Sonography) enables health care professionals undertake lung ultrasound scans & diagnose Covid-19 in real-time & decrease mortality. The objective of this project is to introduce Point-of-Care Ultrasound to improve Covid-19 diagnosis in the remote region of Loreto in Peru.

See also IoN media coverage and COVID-19 research at UCL

Focus: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)

EDI governance at the IoN
In December of 2020 the Institute of Neurology has appointed our first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Deputy Director, Professor Helene Plun-Favreau. Professor Plun-Favreau has been committed to listening and learning from many of our community members on issues and concerns related to equity and inclusion in our workplace.

As part of her commitment to expand the discussion on how to eradicate barriers to equality of opportunity for our students and staff, Professor Plun-Favreau has taken the first steps to form a Central EDI committee. This committee will be a visible representative body that will support institutional policy reviews and revisions in a data-driven manner, promote educational initiatives, and address and implement proactive strategies to mitigate concerns regarding human rights (i.e., religion, age, disability) and discrimination (i.e., racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc). Furthermore, to promote discussion and action at a local level, each Research Department within the Institute of Neurology has been invited to assemble a Departmental EDI committee and selected a representative to sit at the Institute’s Central EDI committee.

If you are interested in learning more about the work we are currently doing, and would be interested in joining one of our EDI committees, please contact the relevant representative:

• Central Administration: Dr. Ana Faro (a.faro@ucl.ac.uk)
• Brain Repair and Rehabilitation: Dr. Harpreet Hyare (h.hyare@ucl.ac.uk)
• Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy: Ms Charlotte Burt (c.burt@ucl.ac.uk)
• Imaging Neuroscience: Ms Cassandra Hugill (c.hugill@ucl.ac.uk)
• Clinical and Movement Neuroscience: Professor Rohan de Silva (r.desilva@ucl.ac.uk)
• Neurodegenerative Disease: Professor Adrian Isaacs (a.isaacs@ucl.ac.uk)
• Neuroinflammation: Professor Ahmed Toosy (a.toosy@ucl.ac.uk)
• Neuromuscular Disease: Dr. Gita Ramdharry (g.ramdharry@ucl.ac.uk)

UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology has reinforced its commitment to promoting equity and inclusion by signing up to an international declaration which aims to provide fair and equal opportunities for underrepresented groups in brain sciences.

Faculty of Brain Sciences celebrates International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2021

To mark International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2021, staff and students from across the Faculty of Brain Sciences discuss what inspires them and what advice they have for women interested in a scientific career.


Interview with Professor Lashley 
Tweet on giving a virtual assembly at a girls' school




 

In2Science
 

Mentor up to three young people and empower them to achieve their potential in STEM
 
In2scienceUK works with passionate STEM professionals to support disadvantaged young people to pursue degrees, apprenticeships and careers in STEM. Through an inspirational programme of research, skills workshops, mentoring and in-person experiences over the summer, In2scienceUK gives Year 12 students the opportunities they need to overcome the barriers in their way of becoming the next generation of STEM innovators and pioneers.
 
It’s easy to support In2scienceUK’s mission by becoming a mentor. Make a difference to the prospects of these young people by sharing your own expertise and insights through online mentoring and a one-day workplace visit (Covid-19 restrictions permitting). Sign up and provide underrepresented students with invaluable support to help them succeed on their journey into STEM.
 
More information can be found here or by contacting Jo Maniscalco at jo@in2scienceuk.org  



      

Cultural Awareness in the Workplace Monday 22nd March 2021

This two-hour online workshop was hosted by Dr Caroline Selai, UCL Dignity Advisor and Co-Director of UCL Cultural Consultation Service (CCS), established in Nov, 2011. This workshop was part of the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging’s EDI training series.

A recording is available on IoN intranet

Faculty of Brain Sciences: Whiteness and White Fragility training
Following huge Faculty-level interest and high demand for the Racialised Implicit Bias training held in 2020, Dom Jackson-Cole, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Trainer from SOAS University of London, is returning to the Faculty to deliver 12 more sessions, with his colleague Joris Lechene.
The training session will focus on sociological aspects that drive our thinking behind racism, ‘race’ and whiteness, and intersectionality. It will also help understand how we can all be allies in building an anti-racist culture.
If you interested, secure a place in one of the following training sessions. Capacity is limited so please register as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
 
April 27th, 10:00-12:30 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/136597405517
April 29th, 10:00-12:30 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/136597455667
May 25th, 10:00-12:30 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/136597738513
May 27th, 10:00-12:30 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/136612791537
June 22nd, 10:00-12:30 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/136784828103
June 24th, 10:00-12:30 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/136785455981

 Please contact fbs.edi@ucl.ac.uk with any queries.

1. IoN’s commitment to supporting students’ experience which has led to improved gender distribution. Some of the initiatives commended were:
   • Implementation of Thesis committees following student feedback requesting more support during their PhDs. Thesis committees were implemented in 2019 and provide additional oversight, broadening support and increasing pastoral care.
   • Postgraduate courses offered in a wide range of modalities, e.g. part-time and distance learning, noting that the study mode flexibility appears to have positively impacted gender inclusivity.  
   • Outreach initiatives to widen interest and participation in Neurosciences amongst students from underrepresented backgrounds. Of note was IoN collaboration with the In2Science programme, a social enterprise founded by an IoN alumnus that focus on giving work-experience opportunities to A-level students from low-income background.

2.  IoN’s efforts to supporting career progression for women. The success of our Academic Mentoring Programme and the increases in female academic leadership from 22% to 56% and in promotion success rates (from 10% to 53% over past 4 years) were pointed out as evidence of progress.

IoN ECR and Teaching staff Promotions workshop 30th March 2021

An info session and workshop on ECR and Teaching staff promotions at IoN, delivered by Professor Helene Plun-Favreau. Aimed at all Early Career Research and Teaching staff interested in finding out more about promotions (to Grades 7 and 8).   It is NOT just for those planning to go for promotion this round. Also suitable for those managing/mentoring ECRs and Teaching staff.

A recording will be available on IoN intranet

Institute of Ophthalmology career talk for all UCL staff and students, 15th June, 11-12:00.

This event will focus on the variety of paths to managing core facilities, labs and clinical trials.

Speakers will include Steffy Czieso (Laboratory Operations Manager, UCL Institute of Neurology), Laura Farrelly (Trials Group Lead at Cancer Research UK and UCL Cancer Trials Centre) and Lauren Leitch-Devlin (Clinical Research Operations Manager at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust).

Registration link

Dementia Research Careers Festival 1-6th March 

Careers in Dementia Research – Scientists & Lab Based Researchers: learn about their work and careers, hoping to inspire you to follow in their footsteps including Dr Christina Toomey 

Academic Careers Office Online!

#ADAPTtoThrive- Our ADAPT to Thrive social media campaign is continuing apace with our latest content drop! Check out Professor Geraint Rees chatting about times during his career that he failed and lived to tell the tale! His video is live on our website;  . Make sure you follow the ACO on twitter for more updates;   and feel free to share your experiences of failing by tweeting and using the hashtag #ADAPTtoThrive so that we can get the conversation going!

#Thatsnotideal
The ACO podcast ‘That’s not Ideal’ is out for everyone to listen to and enjoy. Our first episode focuses on Networking and how to navigate building working relationships with your peers. Featuring guest speakers Colby Benari from the Academic Careers Office, and Dr Hiba Khan from Medics.Academy. listen to the first episode. Feel free to let us know your experiences of networking via twitter using the hashtag #Thatsnotideal

The purpose of the Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Plan 2020-2021 (SMHWP) is to outline UCL’s vision and the steps to improve the psychological health and wellbeing of our staff community.  This plan replaces the existing wellbeing strategy, Wellbeing at UCL launched in 2017 and includes longer term aims and interventions beyond 2021. 


The current situation with regards to Covid-19 is understandably stressful and upsetting for many of us, as our attention is drawn to our own physical health, and that of those around us, it is also important to remember to care for our mental health and wellbeing at this time. Self-isolation and quarantine can also have a significant impact on our mental health.

Resources to support you 

• 5 ways to well being campaign  
• Remote, not Distant at UCL
• Leading Wellbeing Conversations course which is accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
• Mixed Mental Arts | Self-paced series to suit your schedule | Enrol here
• Working Smarter | Self-paced series to suit your schedule | Enrol here

ION yoga: online sessions

ION continue to organise online yoga sessions. Please see IoN Intranet wellbeing pages for further information.

Mental Health Awareness Week 10 -16 May 2021

The theme chosen is nature and the environment. The evidence is clear that access to nature is crucial for our mental health and millions of people re-discovered that during lockdowns this year. However, this was not the same for all of us. We want to explore what the barriers are and ensure everyone is able to share in the natural world and experience the mental health benefits. The week will be an opportunity to open our eyes to the power of nature.

For further information: Mental Health Awareness Week 2021

UCL aims for University Mental Health Charter Award
UCL to apply for a new accreditation recognising universities that promote good mental health and demonstrate evidence-based practice.

New wellbeing champions at Queen Square
We are delighted to introduce two new additions to the Queen Square wellbeing team, Catherine Hills and Nadine Dijkstra, see below for their introductions

   Catherine works at
   the Biological Services at
   ION as a Facility Manager,
   she recently joined the
   Wellbeing team after
   completing a Mental First
   Aid refresher course and
  meeting Jacky through the
  course. Catherine has always had a love for animals and adopted 3 cats from the Celia Hammond Trust last year which gave her a much needed boost through lockdown.  She also enjoys DIY doing most of the renovations in the house with her partner, trying new recipes (not sure her partner likes that!) Her goal for this year is to get back into fitness of Areolatino and Ceroc dancing.
 
  Nadine is a
  postdoctoral fellow    at the Wellcome
  Centre for Human
  Neuroimaging
  where she
  investigates how
  the brain can
  dissociate reality from imagination. Nadine moved to London at the end of 2019 but, since Covid, has been mostly back in the Netherlands with her partner and working remotely. She is very much looking forward to things opening again so that she can properly explore London!

Nadine decided to become a Wellbeing Champion after reading a report on the mental health of UK academics in early 2020. She is passionate about promoting mental health and general wellbeing in academia and strongly believes that good wellbeing leads to better science.”

If you’re doing something that you’d like to share, we want to hear about it!

• IoN wellbeing Teams is a space to chat with colleagues, take a break and share tips and photographs, including Pets Corner.
• or write to Sandra Porteous s.porteous@ucl.ac.uk or tweet and tag us @UCLIoN

Please keep an eye on IoN Intranet wellbeing pages for updates, as well as the list of resources from UCL Health and Wellbeing Human Resources  including the Your Wellbeing survey     

Focus: Sustainability

Welcome to the new Green Office reps, who are listed on the IoN intranet. The office workbook has been launched, for submission in May 2021 .Please contact  sarah.lawson@ucl.ac.uk if you would like to join the ION Green Office team.

Lab sustainability 
UCL sustainability have released the new green labs awards submission form LEAF and all IoN departments have appointed a representative or team to participate in this.

The IoN Lab green team is meeting monthly and if you are interested in joining please get in touch with Steffy Czieso.

Further information on ION activities is on the IoN website and intranet

Sustainability at UCL

Easter switch off : As in previous years, the Institute pledges to switch off for EASTER! 

28 Days of Sustainability: Time for a fairer, greener future 

Recording of panel discussion on climate justice and female leadership 

SOS free Green Impact Webinar Series including Sustainable Travel and Single-use plastics.

Focus: IT

UCL Laptops for Schools initiative.

We’d like UCL staff and departments to send in their old (but working) laptops so ISD can test them, wipe the data and distribute them to schools that need them to support home schooling. In terms of which schools, we’re asking for nominations – staff can use this form to send us details of schools they know of which could benefit, or to let us know they have an old laptop we could use.



If you have anything lurking in your own department that could be put to better use than idling in a cupboard, please let us know via laptopsforschools@ucl.ac.uk

Raj Kalia (IT Services Manager) was shortlisted as a finalist for a One UCL Award 2021 for Community Spirit for the initiative.

Focus: HR

Exit interviews
ION HR have developed an exit questionnaire which they will send to leavers; a quarterly analysis will be conducted so that the report can be used for Athena SWAN. Please encourage leavers to complete the questionnaire.

New Starters and staffing news   

Emeritus Professor Louis Lim

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Emeritus Professor Louis Lim. Professor Louis Lim was appointed to a lectureship in the then new Department of Neurochemistry in 1971, retiring from the department in 2005Louis Lim was an insightful scientist, a dedicated researcher, enthusiastic in his support of young scientists and a charismatic leader with a unique sense of humour. He will be fondly remembered by many scientists around the world. We send our sincere condolences to his wife and family.

Dr Conceição Bettencourt 

Selina Wray is Professor of Molecular Neuroscience and Alzheimer’s Research UK Senior Research Fellow at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. We caught up with Professor Wray to ask her about her research, what excites her most about her work and what advice she would give her younger self.

Professor Dimitri Kullmann steps down as Editor of Brain 

    Thank you to Dimitri Kullmann and his Editorial Board for leading BRAIN and
     taking the journal from strength to strength over the past 7 years. 

Dr Gavin Winston
As today is the last day for my UK research lab, I thought it would be good to review 15 years at Epilepsy Society and ION with my first infographic! 

IoN intranet   

Recent Queen Square events

The Institute held its first Green Day Symposium on 25th January 2021, building on its success in recent UCL Sustainability awards, and celebrating initiatives at UCL and beyond. The virtual event was joined by nearly 120 UCL staff and students. 

Queen Square Inaugural Lectures 9th March 2021



We are delighted to announce our first virtual inaugural lectures of 2021, held on 9th March 2021

• Professor Rickie Patani (Professor of Human Stem Cells and Regenerative Neurology) ”ALS: Quo Vadis?”
• Professor Rohan de Silva (Professor of  Molecular Neuroscience) “The yin and yang of neurodegeneration – A tauist’s meanderings”
• ION news item

Virtual: Neurology 2021: leading edge neurology for the practising clinician: 18th-19th March 2021

The course is designed for Consultants and senior trainees in neurology and other neuroscience specialties, from the UK, Europe and worldwide, and aims to provide a practical update on the hospital management of neurological diseases.

Virtual: Neuromuscular Translational Research Conference 25-26th March 2021

2021 saw the conference move online for the first time. Attracting in excess of 200  basic scientists and clinical scientists involved in neuromuscular disease research, this event is designed as a scientific meeting to promote and share cutting edge clinical and scientific advances in the neuromuscular field, and to encourage new research and collaborations.

Virtual: Neuro-ophthalmology: A festschrift for Dr Gordon Plant 25-26th March 2021

This 2-part webinar series of Dr Gordon Plant’s Festschrift brought together possibly the most prestigious line-up of world-renowned neuro-ophthalmologists ever assembled, providing a unique opportunity to learn from the expertise of the international neuro-ophthalmic community and improve individual practice in this area.

• FitzPatrick lecture 2021: Soulful neurology Professor Andrew Lees, 
• Samuel Gee lecture 2021 Humans: the ultimate animal model Professor Mary Reilly,  

Upcoming Queen Square events

Queen Square Inaugural Lectures 2021

We are delighted to announce our inaugural lecture series 2021. 

• First lecture at 5pm and the second at 6pm.
• Lectures will take place via Zoom.
• Please RSVP to qsioneventsrsvp@ucl.ac.uk

• Professor Andrea Malaspina (Professor of Clinical Neurology). "A life in MND research: understanding the pace of ageing and neurodegeneration"

25 May 2021

• Professor Antonella Spinazzola (Dept. of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences);
• Professor Rosaline Quinlivan (Dept. of Neuromuscular Diseases).

29 June 2021

• Professor Helene Plun-Favreau  (Dept. of Neurodegenerative Diseases);
• Professor Pietro Fratta (Dept of Neuromuscular Diseases).

7 September  2021

• Professor Martina Callaghan (Imaging Neuroscience);
• Professor Vincenzo Libri (Neuromuscular Diseases).

21 September  2021

• Professors Ahmed Toosy & Jennifer Pocock (Neuroinflammation)

5 October 2021       

• Professors Tammaryn Lashley & Selina Wray  (Neurodegenerative Disease)

2021 will see our conference move online for the first time. This 2-day course is designed for paediatric and adult specialists with an interest in neuromuscular diseases.

Institute Annual address 4th November 2021

UCL Technology Fund welcomes two new team members
UCL Technology Fund (UCLTF) is delighted to announce that Leigh Brody, PhD and Dominik Leisi have joined the fund’s life sciences investment team.

Leigh has 10 years’ experience within life sciences and joins the fund from UCL spinout, Quell Therapeutics where until recently she was an Executive Director of Platform Strategy. Dominik is a welcome addition to the UCLTF team as part of a one-year secondment from UCL Business (UCLB), where he has spent the past six years, most recently carrying out the role of Senior Business Manager. Leigh and Dominik look forward to working with their colleagues across AlbionVC, UCLB and UCL to support commercialisation opportunities arising from UCL’s world-class research base

If you would like to discuss your research project or the practicalities of moving from academia to business please contact them: Leigh Brody: lbrody@albion.vc Dominik Leisi: dleisi@albion.vc

UCLTF invests in intellectual property (IP) commercialisation opportunities arising from UCL’s world-class research base. It is managed by AlbionVC in collaboration with UCLB. UCLB is the commercialisation company of UCL and is part of UCL Innovation & Enterprise.

UCL Office for Open Science & Scholarship news

• Update from the Head of the Office for Open Science & Scholarship
• Community voice – Data for Policy: building a global community of interest with open science principles as default
• Special Feature – UCL Research Data Storage Service now open to external collaborators

UCL Record of Processing Activities (ROPA)

The GDPR and UK Data Protection Act (2018) require that each controller must maintain a record of processing activities (ROPA) under its responsibility. UCL as a data controller is therefore required to complete a ROPA to ensure its compliance with data protection law. 

 UCLs ROPA is now live. We have prepared updated guidance with more examples to help you with the completion of the ROPA.

If you have any questions please contact gdpr@ucl.ac.uk

Research Services’ newly-developed Research Support Induction is now available on Research Services’ website

The Research Support Induction is an introductory online learning resource designed primarily to provide new research support staff working within academic departments with an understanding of the key tasks they will need to undertake across the research lifecycle, and with an overview of the key UCL teams, systems and policies that underpin sponsored research activity and support at UCL.  

We also encourage existing research support staff to make use of this resource, and hope that it will also be of value to academic colleagues. 

UCL COVID-19 support and resources

• Return to UCL Roadshows

Following on from the recent announcement of the phased easing of lockdown, and potential for more activity on campus, we are keen to ensure that staff have opportunities to talk about UCL’s response to the announcement, and what this means for them.

• The future of work at UCL – tell us your views 

what has worked about working from home and what hasn’t? What activities do you feel are best carried out on site and what type of flexibility would you prefer around how we work in the future? What you tell us now will help us decide what areas we should invest in for our future, what changes we should make to how we work and how we can optimise our workspaces to deliver UCL’s ambitions for years to come.

Please take two minutes to complete the Future of Work pulse checker. This one-off survey contains seven questions and you have until 18 April 2021 to have your say.

• UCL's coronavirus information hub, including: FAQs for UCL staff and UCL students
• The Keeping Safe on Campus webpages provide information about what we’re doing to protect our staff and students and how you can help keep campus as safe as possible.
• UCL Connect to Protect reporting tool and a step-by-step guide on how to report or respond to potential cases.
• Please see also IoN wellbeing and H&S sections above.