Why more academic space is needed
Demand for mathematics, statistics, data science, artificial intelligence and computational health has grown significantly since the original scheme was developed.
The academic use of Plots 2 and 3 is not new. Under the original permission, it was already intended that the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences would occupy some or all of the academic accommodation across Plots 2 and 3. The updated proposals retain this principle while responding to UCL’s current and future academic needs.
The departments that would form UCL’s proposed Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences are currently spread across six separate buildings, while other relevant teams are based in older, non-specialist accommodation across Bloomsbury. This fragmentation limits opportunities for collaboration, affects the student experience and makes public engagement more difficult.
The updated proposals would bring the proposed Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences and the proposed Computational Health Institute together in purpose-designed facilities at Gray’s Inn Road, alongside the new neurology and dementia research facility on Plot 1.
The additional space would provide modern teaching and research accommodation, including computer clusters, seminar rooms, collaborative teaching spaces and a large lecture theatre. It would support related teams in sharing methods, data and ideas more easily, while helping to free up existing UCL buildings in Bloomsbury for other uses.
The site is also close to UCL’s Bloomsbury campus and major academic, clinical and research partners within the Knowledge Quarter.
Why collaboration matters: health and research
Many of the hardest challenges in medicine can no longer be addressed by one discipline working alone. Progress depends on clinicians and health researchers working alongside mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, engineers and data experts.
The following examples demonstrate the value of this interdisciplinary approach and illustrate the type of closer working that the purpose-designed facilities at Gray’s Inn Road are intended to support.
Interdisciplinary research in action
UCL researchers are already demonstrating what can happen when expertise in health, artificial intelligence, data science and computer modelling is brought together.
The film below explores how UCL is using artificial intelligence to improve understanding of neurodegenerative conditions. It includes work by Dr Alex Young and Dr Neil Oxtoby from the UCL Hawkes Institute and UCL Computer Science on SuStaIn, an AI algorithm that can identify different disease subtypes and model how they may progress.
It also explores a collaboration between the Queen Square Brain Bank, UCL Computer Science and the UCL Hawkes Institute. Researchers are developing an AI platform to analyse clinical, genetic and pathological information from 2,500 donated human brain and spinal-cord tissue samples.
Making dementia scans faster
Researchers from the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology worked with colleagues from the UCL Hawkes Institute and UCL’s Advanced Research Computing Centre to test faster diagnostic MRI scans for dementia.
The study reduced the time spent in the scanner by 63%, while the accelerated scans remained as reliable as standard scans for diagnosis and visual assessment. Shorter scans could be more comfortable for patients, reduce costs and enable more people to be scanned each day.
Using artificial intelligence to support eye care
UCL Institute of Ophthalmology researchers have also worked with Moorfields Eye Hospital and Google DeepMind to develop artificial intelligence for analysing retinal images.
The research demonstrated that AI could match human experts in identifying more than 50 eye diseases. It provides another example of how clinical knowledge, health data and computer science can be combined to support earlier diagnosis and more effective patient care.
What our proposals can support
The proposals are intended to support:
Closer working between mathematics, statistics, data science, artificial intelligence, health research and clinical expertise
Modern teaching, research, seminar, computer-cluster and collaboration spaces
Closer working with the neuroscience and dementia research facility on Plot 1
A location close to UCL’s major academic, clinical and research partners within the Knowledge Quarter
More opportunities for students and researchers to collaborate, and for the public to engage with UCL’s academic work.
By bringing related disciplines closer together, the proposals would help create an environment in which methods, data, knowledge and ideas can be shared more easily and new collaborations can develop.