Sam Balch took up the post of Director of Grand Challenges on 19 February 2024.

The UCL Grand Challenges programme was established in 2008, with the aim of bringing a cross-disciplinary, thematic approach to tackling some of the most pressing social problems. The UCL Strategic Plan 2022–2027 sets out the university’s commitment to grow the scope and scale of the programme, covering not only research and knowledge exchange but also UCL’s approach to education and its institutional operations. The programme will develop an integral approach to how UCL understands and responds to the biggest issues facing humanity, inform and enable our partnerships, and offer context and critique for how universities can make a positive impact on the world.
The Strategic Plan identifies five new Grand Challenges Themes: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Climate Crisis, Data-Empowered Societies, Inequalities and Intercultural Communication, to be launched sequentially over the next four years.