University College London Reviews

I have been working at University College London full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Excellent networking possibilities
Sociable postgraduates
Staff are approachable and often world leaders
Facilities are very good

Cons – Labs are mostly underground (Currently undergoing a building move to improve this)
Can be hard to get postdoc help.
No real social space for students (again will hopefully change with the move)

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at University College London full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great work life, flexibility etc

Cons – Temporary contracts, pay can be low

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at University College London full-time for less than a year

Pros – Central London location
Good access to modern facilities

Cons – Permanent staff treat contract staff as disposable
Jobs advertised at post-doctoral level are in fact technician posts
UCL requires employees to file false VAT declarations to avoid tax on purchases

Advice to Senior Management – Offer fewer, longer term positions. UCL hires about twice as many people as there are viable projects. This causes a high rate of turnover of qualified people. Many post-docs and PhDs leave before the end of their contract or studies due to the tangible lack of support and commitment to their projects from management; resources are focused unequally across PhD students and post-docs, with clear favourites (golden children) and pariahs selected by management.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at University College London full-time for more than a year

Pros – As long as you make your research progress, working hours are pretty much flexible.

Cons – Relatively lower salary compared to financial industry

Advice to Senior Management – None

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at University College London part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Contributing to students learning. Good pay. Informal environment. Good communication system setup (moodle)

Cons – Work can be sometimes sparse and repetitive.

Advice to Senior Management – In class student performance/participation reviews should be better monitored.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at University College London full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great research going on, lots of talented scientists and students, good seminar series enabling one to keep track of work in other fields.

Cons – Labs feel isolated from each other, often long hours and working at weekends. Things take a very long time to get done

Advice to Senior Management – Do more to make individual labs feel part of the same department

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at University College London full-time for less than a year

Pros – Friendly environment, good connection to companies, great science

Cons – salary, sometimes the environment is too friendly

I have been working at University College London full-time for more than a year

Pros – to gather work experience and for the betterment of students

Cons – it is too far away

Advice to Senior Management – better public relation leads to a better management

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at University College London full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Easy going, well paid, lots of training on offer, very understanding of needs, managers were generally good people

Cons – For me there didn't seem to be any kind of structure or career path, while simultaneously no opportunities to make own decisions, apply for grants, begin own work. Always seemed to be wandering from one project to another, without any capacity to decide own future or knowledge of what the next one might be. Meant few first author publications possible

Advice to Senior Management – Involve more staff in decision making at all stages

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at University College London full-time for more than a year

Pros – If you know what you want, and why you're in academia - it's a great place to work. London as a city is unbeatable. But make sure you work with the right people, who can get you places...

Cons – The cons are more related to post-doc life in general. Long hours, not enough recognition, hard to move up the ladder.

Advice to Senior Management – Post-docs, research associates, what ever you call them are the work horses of any research-centric institution. Treat them and reward them accordingly!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company