Finding an advisor before applying?

[super mutant]

I'm looking at University College London. Before applying to their PhD program, you should already have found an advisor and agreed on at least a broad area of research. This seems to be common practice for a fair number of schools over seas. I'm not sure how to go about getting myself an advisor without actually being part of the school yet, so I was hoping there was some one out there that had some advice on the subject. Is anyone else looking at research programs in Europe?

[CalmLogic]

Do they have faculty pages available that list research interests, publications, etc?

In one of the programs I am interested in -- the HCI program at Iowa State (Interested in HCI? Automatic partial funding for MS students.) -- the school helps with finding an advisor but there is still input required from the student. For that program, as a condition for admisssion, there must be a professor willing to be one's advisor. Specifically, they want me to list three potential advisors based on my research interests. It is suggested that I contact these professors if it would facilitate the process. So my recommendation to you is to do the same, if possible. Review the faculty webpages and see which professors are closest to your research interests and then contact them.