UCL AND THE RELOCATION OF NIMR

  This memorandum has been prepared in response to a request from the Clerk of the Committee in relation to its review of progress on the reorganisation of the National Institute for Medical Research, currently based at Mill Hill. We are requested to explain (1) the advantages to UCL of co-location with the NIMR on the site of the former National Temperance Hospital; and (2) the financial contribution the university is making towards this project.

  It is important to emphasise from the outset that what is involved is a partnership between the MRC and UCL, with mutual benefits to both partners but with the overall goal of advancing the UK's strengths in biomedical science. UCL is one of the UK's leading multi-faculty universities. It has world-class strengths in the arts, social sciences, physical and biological sciences, engineering, architecture and medicine. It is unique in having all of these disciplines tightly co-located, in central London, not only alongside each other, but also alongside—and closely integrated with—its primary partner hospitals, the UCL Hospital, the National Neurological Hospital in Queen Square and Great Ormond Street Hospital. It also has strong specialist research facilities embedded at the Royal Free, Moorfields, Stanmore and the Whittington. UCL's strong basic biological and medical sciences is reflected in its clear leadership in the UK for the most highly cited publications in translational medical science over the last decade. UCL believes that the vision that the MRC has developed for the new NIMR complements UCL's strengths and will enable UCL and NIMR to develop a partnership that will ensure that NIMR is a truly effective national centre for medical research.

  The relocation of NIMR to a site adjacent to UCL and its key partner hospitals provides an opportunity to create the most powerful multidisciplinary biomedical research environment, certainly in the UK and probably within Europe. It will enable NIMR to develop from an internationally recognised centre of excellence in basic medical science to one which has the critical mass and diversity of skills to translate the results of this research into tangible benefits for the health and wealth of the population. Through its association with UCL, a full multi-disciplinary university, it will also be in a position to translate the outcomes of physical, chemical and engineering sciences into advances in biomedical research and technologies. Moreover, it will be in a position to build upon existing relationships with other university-hospital biomedical centres and the broader health economy of London NHS to provide an innovative and responsive network that will be positioned to interact constructively with pharma and other knowledge-based industries. The broad multidisciplinary base of UCL will enhance the societal and economic potential of the new research centre based around a new and dynamic NIMR.

  For UCL, the move of NIMR will build upon a strong existing research relationship between the two institutions, but also open up exciting new research possibilities across new disciplines. UCL and NIMR together will provide the UK with the possibility of leading Europe's efforts to match the USA's investments and achievements in medical research; and also create the opportunity for the training of a new generation of clinical academics, who will be able to undertake research alongside basic medical scientists in innovative interdisciplinary postgraduate research programmes. This will build on the broad programmes of post-graduate biomedical training that have been developed at UCL under the aegis of its Graduate School. UCL is one of only three institutions in the UK to have an MB/PhD programme and is developing graduate programmes for clinicians in training to ensure that Britain has the scientifically trained clinicians who can contribute not only to direct health care but also to the development of new therapies and advanced treatments.

  The NIMR move is an MRC initiative, but UCL's commitment to the partnership is reflected in a significant financial contribution. UCL proposes to take laboratory space in the building to be erected on the National Temperance site and also to contribute to other associated infrastructure costs, with a total cost of up to £45 million according to the space acquired and the extent of the MRC's own contribution. In addition, it is proposing to provide scientific co-location opportunities within the existing UCL estate, to agree strategic co-investment in infrastructure and facilities and to promote not merely co-location to a single site but a more sophisticated mix of integration and cross-disciplinary combination that will open up immediacy of access for NIMR to areas where UCL has invested heavily in the past to create centres of outstanding research, such as in chemistry, mathematics, physics, engineering and nanotechnology.

January 2007