Meet Abbie Scrimgeour, Senior Communications Manager in UCL’s VPEE Communications Team. She turns complex change into engaging stories, helping colleagues connect with transformation. She co-leads the Internal Communications COP and enjoys scuba diving and the occasional bad pun!
What is your role and what does it involve?
I’m a Senior Communications Manager in the VPEE Communications Team, but my focus is all’about storytelling - bringing to life the transformation happening across UCL. I create engaging, lively communications for the Strategic Change Team, helping people understand the ’why’ and ’how’ behind change.
My main projects are:
Services Simplification - exploring the set of initiatives focused on improving and aligning the experiences of people delivering and using UCL’s services (think EASE, HR, Finance, Shared Services, Marketing and Comms Programme, and more).
Strategic Change - showcasing and promoting our brilliant teams in Change Management, Programme Management, Service Designers and Business Analysts, their work as well as how change happens at UCL.
I’m also a Co-Lead for our Internal Communications Community of Practice... join us! We are an active group of 700 members strong. We are an informal network, welcoming anyone who creates communications as part of their role (not just people with comms in their job title). We have some sessions on AI and brand coming up, so, if it sounds like it’s up your street, do join our network.
How long have you been at UCL and what was your previous role?
I’ve been at UCL since June 2023, working across student communications and teaching and learning comms, and I started my role in Strategic Change in May this year... it seems like I’m making my way around the institution!
I’ve also worked for a local authority and back in my ol’ student days I was selling ciggys at Tesco (legitimately).
The most fun I’ve had in a job was hands down at Beano Studios - I got to write jokes, design pages in the comic, run ’game-jams’ and I even voiced Minnie the Minx once (she’s 14 years old - hard to pull that off!)
What working achievement or initiative are you most proud of?
I’m genuinely proud of the work I’m doing on Services Simplification. It’s a complex and ambitious programme, exactly the kind of challenge that keeps me engaged and motivated.
The initiatives within it are far-reaching and deeply impactful, shaping how UCL delivers services and ultimately helping us achieve our institutional priorities. Knowing that my work contributes to something bigger than myself gives me a real sense of purpose at work.
What makes this even more rewarding is the people I get to work with. I have the privilege of collaborating with some of the most talented professionals in communications and change. Their expertise and creativity push me to continually hone my craft and think differently about how we tell stories of transformation in, what can sometimes be, a challenging and complex environment.
Tell us about a project you are working on now which is top of your to-do list
See above.
What is your favourite album, film and novel?
Album - Hozier, by Hozier
Film - There are too many! Coraline, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, anything by Hayao Miyazaki, The Call, Finding Nemo.
Novel - I like to say Room by Emma Donoghue but actually I’m extremely basic... by Harper Lee.
What is your favourite joke (pre-watershed)?
I was walking past my fridge last night and thought I heard two onions singing a Bee Gees song. But when I opened the door, it was just chives talking.
Who would be your dream dinner guests?
Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, James Acaster, Keanu Reeves, Louis Theroux, Lou Sanders, Bob Mortimer, and my Mum.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t worry about figuring the next five, ten years out - just figure out what you want to do next and take it from there.
What would it surprise people to know about you?
I scuba dive in Scotland - I love lots of different types of water sports though and have done a fair bit of kayaking and gorge walking.
What is your favourite place?
In a jacuzzi, on a boat, with a spicy marg, overlooking the Amalfi Coast.
I’ve only had the opportunity once, but I think about it a lot - it’s my Roman Empire.
- University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT (0) 20 7679 2000
