As UCL starts the countdown to its bicentenary in 2026, a new research and engagement project puts students and alumni at the heart of the history of UCL.
‘Generation UCL’ explores 200 years of student life in London, turning institutional history upside down to suggest that the first students of 1828 should be seen as the real ‘founders’ of UCL. Generation UCL will establish the first major collection of oral history interviews with UCL alumni and support the deposit of students’ union archive material with UCL Special Collections.
Planned project outputs include an open access book with UCL Press, an Octagon exhibition and a programme of impact and engagement activities to involve the whole UCL community.
The project builds on the revised and updated The World of UCL (UCL Press, 2018) and a now outdated account of the students’ union, which celebrates 130 years in 2023.
Generation UCL is led by Professor Georgina Brewis (IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society) and John Dubber (Students’ Union UCL), with Dr Sam Blaxland as Generation UCL Research Fellow. The project is a partnership between the International Centre for Historical Research in Education at IOE, Students’ Union UCL and the Office of the Vice-President (Advancement).
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UCL has shaped the lives of generations of students, and in turn those generations of students have shaped UCL, London and the wider world. Students have played an important role throughout UCL's history and the ‘Generation UCL’ project will help uncover the enormous impact of student culture at UCL through the stories that connect us all.
Osman Teklies, Students’ Union UCL Union Affairs Officer