Featured by UCL: 7 Questions with Robert Vilkelis

1. Why are you interested in this subject and what do you plan to do in the future?

Our thinking influences the language we use; the language we use influences our thinking. When I started studying personal development coaching at 16, I realised how our words are our access to generating personal change. As a curious mind, this really opened a whole new way of relating to the world and connect to people.

I am passionate about exploring all aspects of self-expression, and I have set up my own strategic communication company to coach people who want to be better speakers. A lot of people ask, “What are you gonna do after university?” My response to that is, “Why wait?” The idea of “focusing on your studies” and then proceeding to start a career afterwards is old thinking. You have to take action now!

2. What is the most interesting thing you’ve done, seen or got involved with while at UCL?

I collaborated with the UCL Arena Centre for Research-based Education to evaluate and improve their postgrad and staff teaching pathways, Arena One and Two. As a first year undergraduate, I was chosen to work in partnership with the Arena Centre as a paid student intern. With my amazing Masters student partner, Anoodth, we ran, compiled and submitted findings of focus groups and interviews to continually introduce active student involvement in staff teaching – and from there, we presented at an academic conference in Exeter as part of a UCL team. The Arena experience gave me a deep understanding and appreciation of the complex system that is our 39,000-student institution. Even as a (now second year) undergraduate, I feel that we have the power to be responsible for our UCL experience.

3. Have you discovered any hidden gems during your time at UCL?

Pret a Manger, funny as that may sound! Productivity is mysteriously hard to come by in my dorm room, so whenever I have work to do, Pret is my first point of call. Why? Great spaces all over London, which I can “rent” by waltzing in for a 99p filter coffee – which I sometimes get for free because I love chatting with the staff. Especially during exam session, it’s a great way to spend hours studying without shutting myself in solitary confinement! I’m sure that the medics appreciate me not taking up their space in the Cruciform, too. Pret has also served as a source of continuity that made my move from Ramsay Hall to King’s Cross easier – between venturing out to work living in both places, the only thing that changed is the name of the street preceding the word “Pret”!

4. Give us your top three things to do/see/go to in London:

• The West End – you need to go and see plays and musicals at least once. Even after seeing it years ago, ‘Wicked’ is still my favourite musical of all time. Great stage design, fabulous music, and heartfelt storytelling. I left feeling personally moved. Definitely a must see.

• Near Mornington Crescent, you find an organisation called Landmark Worldwide. Through my participation in their Landmark Forum, I realised how I was making other students responsible for my happiness and making myself feel alone and helpless. I realised just how much I authentically care for people by clearing that up. If you want to make university a life-changing experience, this is the place to go.
• Above King’s Cross Station, you’ll find Granary Square. The area is so open, so clean and so beautiful, it’s almost like you’ve left London completely. It’s a great place to go with friends to chill by the Canal, to enjoy the fountains, or to grab some tea!

5. If you were Provost for the day what one thing would you do?

The biggest issue at UCL is a lack of communication across faculties, between departments, within divisions and amongst individuals. Vertically (faculty to department to division) and horizontally (department to department, faculty to faculty), projects, initiatives and actions are often done in isolation, perpetuating a thinking culture operating in silos. Although conversations do take place, they seem to have a modest impact. It’s difficult to start an authentic and constructive dialogue when we don’t want to look like “bad students”, “bad lecturers”, or a “bad tutors” and when we don’t really commit to making a change and quickly retreat in the comfort of “the old ways, the way things have always been”.

If I were Provost for a day I’d put the foundations in place to facilitate a new way of communicating university-wide: I would start a campaign called “What are you committed to?” Imagine posters, stickers, and brightly-coloured shirts with this question. Imagine starting every conversation with this question. Imagine jump-starting bold dialogues on the role each of us intends to play in making UCL an extraordinary experience for everyone. Moving forward, each student, lecturer, tutor, researcher, admin, Provost and beyond would hold each other accountable on what they committed to do. Just imagine new conversations that start each day with, “How are you fulfilling on your commitment today?” What difference would that make?

6. Who inspires you and why?

My mentors who introduced me into the personal development and coaching world of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP): Robert Dilts, Judy DeLozier and my mother, Ilaria Vilkelis. I studied in Santa Cruz, California, every summer between 2013-16 to learn NLP from Robert and Judy. Robert’s creativity, open heart and language acuity inspired me to create a constructed world, to be curious about people rather than judgemental, and to go on to study over two dozen languages – none of which I saw possible for myself before. Judy’s unbound love for humanity, generosity of spirit and emotional sensitivity inspired me to get in touch with the contribution I wanted to be for the world, to recognise what authentically being “seen” felt like, and how I could deeply appreciate who other people are for me. Above all, though? My mother – because without her unconditional love, far-reaching foresight and deep generosity, I never would have been a part of this, or so attuned with what I care about. Her giving nature inspires me to give back.

7. What would it surprise people to know about you?

Just four years ago, I HATED languages. I studied French for seven years while living in France to no avail, then Spanish for five years, only to discover in my fourth year that “mujer” was the word for “woman”. Today, most people know me as crazily passionate about languages: I have a 1,040+ days of consecutive language practice on Duolingo, I learned to write in (currently) nine writing systems (Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Georgian, Daedric, Glagolitic, Runic Hungarian, Gothic, and recently, Japanese Hiragana), and I constantly look to place names and accents based on my love of phonology and orthography. Nobody would ever suspect that my most die-hard passion emerged from a complete 180° turnaround! We don’t always believe that we can change – but when you follow your curiosity and nurture your passions, you never know what talent will emerge.