Pros
- Positive and productive research environment. - Great people and atmosphere in labs and offices. - State of the art equipment, although the older labs are quite messy. - Good location, close to two tube stations, with a green. - Plenty of international seminars, etc.
Cons
- Poor admin including useless paperwork, timewasting courses and very inefficient delivery system, so many parcels, samples, etc. end up lost. - Poor management of most labs too, since lab managers spend most of their time focused on admin. - More emphasis on collaborations is needed, very few projects are run in collaboration with Imperial, UCL or the Crick. - Management rarely cares about the well being or future career of students and staff. - Money is mostly spent on the welcome packages of big names, while social events (summer & christmas parties) are scrapped and core services are made more and more expensive. - Salaries are not high except for the top positions; student stipends are laughable. - Perhaps the worst thing about BCI is the building itself, which is structurally inadequate for its use, causing constant problems with water, electricity, temperature, ventilation... even legionella. - Office space is limited, so it often feels crammed. - Finally, Queen Mary is still not a recognizable , top-tier university, so careerwise there are better options in London and elsewhere. BCI has done little to improve its branding apart from revamping its website, which is rather useless given their nonexistent SEO.