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How have students shaped London over the past 200 years? This lunchtime talk explores the capital as a city of study, activism and community, tracing changing student experiences from the nineteenth century to today through new research, film and archival insights.
Students have formed a significant part of London’s population since the foundation of its first university in 1826. This talk centres their experiences in the city’s history and is based on the book Student London: A New History of Higher Education in the Capital (UCL Press, 2026). The book offers a detailed examination of life at the original London University (known as University College London since 1836) alongside many other institutions that eventually joined with UCL (including the Middlesex Hospital Medical School).
It captures a diverse range of higher education experiences across medical schools, teacher training colleges and specialist institutes that were clustered in London’s student quarter. The book engages in much greater depth with London’s imperial history than earlier studies of higher education. The event will open with a short film that explores the making of Student London, followed by an examination of some of the book’s core themes including students’ everyday lives, fees and funding, collegiate cultures, social and political engagement, physical and mental health, recreation, sports and leisure.
Watch a ten-minute film about the research behind Making London here.
ABOUT
Professor Georgina Brewis
Professor of Social History at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society. She is a social historian of higher education, voluntary action and humanitarianism in Britain and the wider world during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her current research and teaching focus on the history of student life and student culture. Her new co authored book, Student London: A New History of Higher Education in the Capital, will be published in 2026.
She is Director of Generation UCL: 200 Years of Student Life in London, a research and engagement project leading up to UCL’s bicentenary in 2026. The project builds on her earlier revision of UCL’s official history, The World of UCL (UCL Press, 2018). She teaches history modules on the Education, Society and Culture BA and the Public History MA.
Sam Baxland
A historian of modern Britain specialising in education, politics, society, oral history, and the history of universities and students. At UCL, he teaches on the BA Education Studies programme at the IOE and works on a major research project exploring the history of student life in London as part of UCL’s forthcoming bicentenary.
Born and raised in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, he studied History at BA and MA level before completing a fully funded PhD at Swansea University on the Conservative Party in Wales since 1945. He later served as Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer in Modern History at Swansea. He is the author of two books on modern British and Welsh political history, has written widely for academic journals and the media, and is co author, with Professor Georgina Brewis, of Student London, to be published in 2026.
He is a regular media commentator on British politics and current affairs, appearing on BBC television and radio, and speaks frequently at conferences and public events in the UK and internationally.
VENUE HIRE
Accessability
Outside the Chapel, there are two steps, which have a built-in wheelchair lift. The Chapel is wheelchair accessible. The majority is on one level, and there is a ramp that can be used to access the chancel (altar area). We have a fully accessible toilet. View more accessibility information
