About Us

The Cheese Grater is the student paper at the heart of UCL. Since 2004, we have provided award-winning investigative and satirical journalism and have grown to become Gower Street’s finest source of campus news, satire, and student discourse.

We print three times a year, and whenever else we feel like it. During term time, we run a fortnightly newsletter, the Digestive, packed with the biggest campus headlines, and every Friday evening, we’re on Rare FM for our weekly radio segment, Grater Insight. When there’s breaking news in and around UCL, we’ll always break the story online first. We maintain year-round coverage of the biggest talking points on campus.

The Cheese Grater was twice named the Best Publication in London, most recently in 2025, when it was also named Best Digital and highly commended for Best Print Design. It has also won the title of UCL’s Best Publication 10 times, most recently in 2024. We are proud to be UCL’s largest publication by circulation and have consistently broken impactful stories read by hundreds of students every day.

This paper finds its roots in the depths of Ifor Evans House where, in 2004, classics student René Lavanchy established The Cheese Grater to offer an alternative to the Union mouthpiece, Pi Magazine. Today, we continue to provide the most authentic account of the student experience at UCL and remain deeply committed to public interest journalism, standing up for students’ interests without fear or favour. We hold ourselves to the highest standards, set out by the IPSO Editor’s Code of Practice.

The current editors are Nick Miao and Robert Delaney.

"The Cheese Grater is a diamond in a sea of shit"
Gordon Thompson
Former Editor of Time Out London

Get involved!

The Cheese Grater operates under the umbrella of the homonymous Cheese Grater Magazine Society, a student society affiliated with our publisher, Students’ Union UCL. Together, we publish The Cheese GraterWomen’s Wrongs, and operate a Fringe-worthy sketch comedy group, the Graters. We also run regular meetings, socials, and offer training and guidance to each and every one of our journalists.

The easiest way to get involved with everything the Society has to offer is to turn up to our meetings! No experience is required — all you need is a Society membership, which you can buy here for just £7 (Some pubs charge more for a pint!) Each branch of the Society meets once a week during term time. This includes (for The Cheese Grater), News & Investigations and Humour, Satire, & Graphics on Mondays and Tuesdays, (for Graters) sketch rehearsals on Wednesdays, and (for Women’s Wrongs) a Zine meeting on Thursdays. Check our Instagram for the most up-to-date details.

Our team

It takes a village to run a paper. Here are the wonderful people making the magic happen in 2024/25.

Senior Editorial​

Editors-in-Chief
Nick Miao and Robert Delaney
editor@cheesegratermagazine.org

Section Editors

News and Investigations Editors
Andrea Bidnic & Malvika Murkumbi
investigations@cheesegratermagazine.org

Humour and Satire Editors
Go Kitajima, Holly Turner, & Luke Melendez
humour@cheesegratermagazine.org

Graphics Editor
Jasmine Yiu
humour@cheesegratermagazine.org

Online Editor
Sam Pavey
sam.pavey.21@ucl.ac.uk

Zine and the Graters

Sketch Director
Ben Scanlan
show@cheesegratermagazine.org

Zine Editors
Abby Hunt & Anastasia Afanaseva
zine@cheesegratermagazine.org

Society Officers

President
Lily Park
president@cheesegratermagazine.org

Treasurer
Go Kitajima
go.kitajima.24@ucl.ac.uk

Welfare Officer
Izzie Moull
izzie.moull.22@ucl.ac.uk

Awards

The Cheese Grater is proud to have won the most awards of any UCL publication. Our journalists are some of the best in London and we continue to be recognised locally, regionally, and nationally. Here’s some of what we’ve won in the past.

AwardYearCategoryNomineeResult
Guardian Student Media Awards2006Best Small Budget PublicationThe Cheese GraterWon
2007Best MagazineThe Cheese GraterNominated
Students' Union UCL Arts Awards2006Best PublicationThe Cheese GraterWon
2007Best PublicationThe Cheese GraterWon
2008Best PublicationThe Cheese GraterWon
2009Best PublicationThe Cheese GraterWon
2010Best PublicationThe Cheese GraterNominated
2011Best PublicationThe Cheese GraterWon
2012Best PublicationThe Cheese GraterNominated
2014Best PublicationThe Cheese GraterWon
2014Diversity and InclusionThe Cheese Grater Magazine SocietyWon
2016Most Improved SocietyThe Cheese Grater Magazine SocietyWon
2018Best PublicationThe Cheese GraterWon
2023Best PublicationWomen's WrongsWon
2023Best Media PieceNeil Majithia and Elettra Plati for Chun Buckets Everywhere: How initiation ceremonies ruin the freshers experienceWon
2024Best PublicationThe Cheese GraterWon
2024Best Media PieceMads Brown for TERF out Transphobia: The IOE and “Academic Freedom”Won
2025Best PublicationWomen's WrongsNominated
2025Best Written Media PieceMalvika Murkumbi for UCL support tool did more harm than good, report findsNominated
2025Best Video Media PieceNick Miao for UCL paid for 80% of Union Gym refurbishmentNominated
2025Outstanding Contribution to the MediaAndrea Bidnic, Lily Park, and Robert DelaneyNominated
2025Media Personality of the YearAndrea Bidnic, Lucy Reade, Nick Miao, and Robert DelaneyNominated
Student Publication Association
(London Regional Awards)
2022Best PublicationThe Cheese GraterWon
2025Best PublicationThe Cheese GraterWon
2025Best DigitalThe Cheese GraterWon
2025Best Design (Print)The Cheese GraterHighly commended
2025Best JournalistMalvika MurkumbiWon
2025Best ArticleAndrea Bidnic for A ‘culture of overwork and abuse’: Years after the first complaints, the mistreatment of PGTAs continuesHighly commended
Student Publication Association
(National Awards)
2023Best Media PieceNeil Majithia and Elettra Plati for Chun Buckets Everywhere: How initiation ceremonies ruin the freshers experienceWon
2023Best Creative PieceMathilde Turner for Naked Yoga: A Belligerent Ode to the PussyNominated
2023Billy Dowling-Reid Award for Outstanding CommitmentNandini AgarwalNominated
2024Best NewcomerWomen's WrongsHighly commended
2024Best Creative PieceBen Scanlan for Keir Starmer… A Day in the LifeHighly commended
2025Best Specialist PublicationWomen's WrongsWon
2025Best WebsiteThe Cheese GraterNominated
2025Best ReporterLucy Reade, Robert Delaney, and Nick MiaoNominated
2025Best NewcomerGo KitajimaNominated
2025Best InvestigationMalvika Murkumbi for UCL support tool did more harm than good, report findsNominated
2025Best News StoryAndrea Bidnic for No jobs for graduates if Union bans oil and gas sponsorships, engineers warnNominated
2025Best Comment PieceAndrea Bidnic for What is it with the Provost and ‘Disagreeing Well’?Nominated
2025Best Comment PieceAndrea Bidnic for Jewish Society, wake up!Nominated
2025Best Creative PieceJasmine Yiu for Dear phantom flatmateNominated