The Latest from the Investigations Team.

The Cheese Grater investigations team spend anywhere between two weeks and six months researching, interviewing, and writing the very best investigations into life at UCL. The section has covered everything from the recent UCL decision to leave Stonewall to sexual harassment and commercialisation.             

If you wish to contact the investigations team, get your story published, or have something you believe is worth investigating contact us via email or the anonymous submissions section.

 

The Aftermath of UCL’s Decision to Reject Stonewall

The Aftermath of UCL’s Decision to Reject Stonewall

Lily Park and Daniel Harding UCL’s refusal to continue working with Stonewall, despite being over a year ago now, still poses ...
Exploitation and Inequality: The Plight of UCL’s Outsourced Security Staff

Exploitation and Inequality: The Plight of UCL’s Outsourced Security Staff

Andrea Bidnic, Mads Brown & Lily Park In a statement made in November, UCL claimed outsourced security staff were “employe...
Nightmare at Gower Street! How Negligence and Administration Errors Pushed One Student to the Brink

Nightmare at Gower Street! How Negligence and Administration Errors Pushed One Student to the Brink

Anna Maria Papaoikonomou & Neil Majithia If you’ve ever had to change your modules, inquire about extenuating circumstance...
Cost of Greed Crisis: UCU’s Persisting Strike Action

Cost of Greed Crisis: UCU’s Persisting Strike Action

Zhenya Robinson & Finley Littlefair On the 24th, 25th and 30th of November, universities saw the biggest strike turnout ...

InEffective UnAltruism Society

Thais Jones & Aniela Bichot The first time a student hears the term “Effective Altruism”, they tend to assume the best. An...
Umair Mehmood, The Underdog Story: How QR Codes Led to Welfare Wednesdays

Umair Mehmood, The Underdog Story: How QR Codes Led to Welfare Wednesdays

Vivianne Zhang Wei Lack of awareness about the Students' Union elections is a persistent problem at UCL, but one candidate in ...
Chun Buckets Everywhere: How Initiation Ceremonies Ruin the Freshers Experience

Chun Buckets Everywhere: How Initiation Ceremonies Ruin the Freshers Experience

Neil Majithia and Elettra Plati Four years ago, the UCL Students’ Union acted on its ban of initiations and disaffiliated Men’...
One Pending Street: Communication Failures Worsen Accommodation Delays at UCL East

One Pending Street: Communication Failures Worsen Accommodation Delays at UCL East

​​Rebekah Wright, Thais Jones, Samir Ismail and Nandini Agarwal To protect anonymity, some names have been replaced with ...
The Bartlett: Architects of Bullying & Intimidation

The Bartlett: Architects of Bullying & Intimidation

Zhenya Robinson and Samir Ismail    UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture (BSA) has consistently ranked amongst...
Open Season on The Student Centre: The Lack of Security & Support at UCL

Open Season on The Student Centre: The Lack of Security & Support at UCL

Samir Ismail, Investigations EditorThe Student Centre is a study spot frequented by most UCL students. It is common knowledge tha...
Student solidarity, or lack thereof? A guide to SU politics

Student solidarity, or lack thereof? A guide to SU politics

On December 1st, thirty-odd students convened in a rented basement room in the Building Centre on Store Street for an open forum w...
The Past, Present and Future of Strike Action

The Past, Present and Future of Strike Action

Do you think your working conditions are adequate? “No! I’m sending this email at 23:59 In February 2018, Jason Murugesu and Pete...
Race To The Bottom: UCL’s Commercialisation Comes At A Cost

Race To The Bottom: UCL’s Commercialisation Comes At A Cost

British universities are in the midst of a transformation. Higher education institutions are competing, like enterprises in consum...
The Cheese Grater Interviews Dr Michael Spence

The Cheese Grater Interviews Dr Michael Spence

In February 2020, Sophia Robinson from The Cheese Grater Magazine interviewed Dr Michael Spence, UCL’s new Provost. Among other th...
UCL’s Role in Human Rights Abuses in the Middle East

UCL’s Role in Human Rights Abuses in the Middle East

In December 2012, the UCL Students’ Union (SU) voted to take steps to cease UCL’s complicity with the occupation of the West Bank,...
Student Support Whilst Studying Abroad: Is UCL Doing Enough?

Student Support Whilst Studying Abroad: Is UCL Doing Enough?

Students on study abroad programmes have always had to deal with a unique set of challenges, such as visa complications, communica...
Academia and air travel: how sustainable is UCL?

Academia and air travel: how sustainable is UCL?

By Juliette Grieve & Riddhi Kanetkar Despite a growing awareness towards tackling the climate crisis, many UK universitie...
Leaked recording highlights UCL’s disability discrimination problem

Leaked recording highlights UCL’s disability discrimination problem

By Rob Davidson & Stephanie Frank “I wasn't expecting just full ableism in front of my face” The member of staff res...
How Effective was UCL’s UberEats Voucher Programme?

How Effective was UCL’s UberEats Voucher Programme?

For first year students in accommodation, self-isolation has been a fundamental part of the freshers’ experience. While some have ...
Workers demand furlough after being compelled to work in non-essential buildings at UCL

Workers demand furlough after being compelled to work in non-essential buildings at UCL

Although Sadiq Khan declared COVID-19 to be a ‘major incident’ in London, many workers are still being compelled to provide cleani...
University of London rent strikers voice their concerns 

University of London rent strikers voice their concerns 

By Riddhi Kanetkar  In December 2020, amidst growing cases of COVID-19, students across UK universities started organising ...
Decolonising the divided: how anti-racist is UCL?

Decolonising the divided: how anti-racist is UCL?

In January 2018, it was discovered that the (now) ex-Honorary UCL Professor, James Thompson, was holding the controversial London ...
The ethics behind the endowment: UCL’s relationship with the Sackler Trust

The ethics behind the endowment: UCL’s relationship with the Sackler Trust

Sophia Robinson Additional Reporting by: Min Jing and Stephanie Frank. In 2019, UCL launched the new Institute of ...
Module mayhem marks the start of another academic year

Module mayhem marks the start of another academic year

“I was rejected from a module because it was “full”, despite having already attended a seminar on the first day.” 2020 marks the ...
Victory for University of London workers after years of protests

Victory for University of London workers after years of protests

Outsourced cleaners working at the University of London had been long embroiled in protests to secure better labour rights. Outsou...
Why we need the 93% Club at UCL

Why we need the 93% Club at UCL

It is no secret that state-school students have faced, and continue to face, significant barriers when accessing higher education ...
The ‘high risk’ of working in UCL Halls of Residence during the spread of COVID-19

The ‘high risk’ of working in UCL Halls of Residence during the spread of COVID-19

Recently, UCL students received an email that condemned a case of ‘exceptionally poor behaviour’ in Schafer House, which resulted ...
“If it weren’t for my parents, I would have dropped out.” Deaf first year student left with little support from UCL

“If it weren’t for my parents, I would have dropped out.” Deaf first year student left with little support from UCL

Daniel is a deaf first year student who  started studying at UCL in September, however by the end of first term he was already clo...
UCL Cares? Disabled Students’ Network report reveals bleak treatment of  students

UCL Cares? Disabled Students’ Network report reveals bleak treatment of students

On January 20th, UCL Disabled Students’ Network published a report detailing the issues surrounding disabilities at UCL, containin...
Open Letter From the Disabled Students’ Network

Open Letter From the Disabled Students’ Network

Dear Provost, Six weeks ago the UCL Disabled Students’ Network released a report based on the testimonies of 33 d...
What exactly is the Not Cool Club? In conversation with the club’s president

What exactly is the Not Cool Club? In conversation with the club’s president

The Not Cool Club at UCL has gained a lot of traction. All around campus the walls are covered in black and yellow posters promoti...
Administrative Globetrotting

Administrative Globetrotting

Our internship provider friends at Come On Out Japan (COOJ) have been at it again. COOJ have been promoting their Global English C...
UCL Has Lost The Goodwill of Its Staff

UCL Has Lost The Goodwill of Its Staff

The Cheese Grater in conversation with Josh Hollands The Cheese Grater Magazine has spoken with Josh Hollands, a UCL Teaching fel...
UCU Academics Strike Explained

UCU Academics Strike Explained

At the end of October, a majority of UCU (University and College Union) members voted in favour of strike actions, which have begu...
The burden of Late Summer Assessments on students

The burden of Late Summer Assessments on students

Summer 2019 marked the second year in which UCL conducted Late Summer Assessments (LSAs) - the stated aim of them being “...to imp...
“The risk of internalising your own inferiority”: In conversation with two black female academics at UCL

“The risk of internalising your own inferiority”: In conversation with two black female academics at UCL

As of 2016-17, only twenty five black women were documented to be working as professors in the UK. In light of a report published ...
Strikes to end outsourcing of UCL cleaners, porters, and security workers

Strikes to end outsourcing of UCL cleaners, porters, and security workers

Despite being one of the wealthiest universities in the country, UCL implements some of the worst terms and conditions for its out...
UCL’s ambiguous approach to Disabled Students’ Allowance

UCL’s ambiguous approach to Disabled Students’ Allowance

In 2014 the minister for Universities and Science, David Willets, announced changes to the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) whic...
Students with disabilities excluded from UCL libraries

Students with disabilities excluded from UCL libraries

It is a commonly acknowledged fact amongst UCL’s student population that library facilities leave a lot to be desired. But, whilst...
Will the Eugenics Inquiry learn from past mistakes?

Will the Eugenics Inquiry learn from past mistakes?

At a town hall meeting on 1 March, students and staff came together to debate and testify to UCL’s complex relationship with eugen...