Past Events

Tuesday 1 November, 6:30-8pm (Recording)

How Change Happens

Venue: Hong Kong Theatre                                                                             Speaker: Duncan Green     
Discussant: Naila Kabeer
Chair: Hugh Cole

About the event: The IGC and the LSE Department of International Development will be jointly hosting a public discussion on 1st November featuring Duncan Green, Senior Strategic Adviser at Oxfam GB and author of the well-known blog “From Poverty to Power: how active citizens and effective states can change the world”.

He will present his new book “How change happens”, focused on how change happens in political systems, power, and institution as well as the role of individuals and organisations in influencing that change. Duncan will also discuss the challenges that ‘systems thinking’ creates for traditional aid practices, and how a ‘power and systems approach’ requires activists, whether in campaigns, companies or governments, to fundamentally rethink the way they understand the world and try to influence it. Naila Kabeer, Professor of Gender and Development at LSE, will be the discussant; Hugh Cole, IGC Country Director, will chair the discussion.

About the speaker:

Duncan Green (@fp2p) is Senior Strategic Adviser at Oxfam GB and author of From Poverty to Power: How Active Citizens and Effective States can Change the World.

Tuesday 31 May, 6:30-8pm (Recording)

Stop Bombing Hospitals: Medecins Sans Frontieres and the protection of medical space

Venue: Old Theatre                                                                                   Speaker: Vickie Hawkins                                                                                         Chair: tbc

About the event:
With attacks on medical personnel and infrastructure an increasing feature of today's conflicts, how do humanitarian organisations uphold the norms of International Humanitarian Law? 

MSF has witnessed first-hand the impact that violations have on the civilian population and infrastructure including their own facilities.  Following the Agenda for Humanity, proposed at the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit, Vickie Hawkins, General Director of MSF UK, will explore the changes that have been proposed to strengthen the laws of war and the challenges that humanitarians face to ensure that hospitals, medical centres and medical staff are protected in times of war.

About the speakers:

After 3 years in the Emergencies Department at Oxfam Vickie joined MSF in 1998, working first as a Financial Coordinator in China and Pakistan.  She went on to do successive missions as Project Coordinator and Head of Mission in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.  Vickie became head of the Programmes Unit in London in 2005, leaving for the field again in 2011 as Deputy Head of Mission in Myanmar.  In May 2014 she started her current role as General Director of MSK UK. 

Wednesday 27 April, 6:30-8pm (Recording)

Today We Drop Bombs, Tomorrow We Build Bridges: how foreign aid became a casualty of war

Venue: Hong Kong Theatre                                                                   Speakers: Peter Gill                                                                                       Chair: Professor Craig Calhoun 

About the event:
In his latest book Peter Gill reveals how the ‘war on terror’ has ravaged the independence and neutrality of humanitarian aid, with serious consequences for relief operations. Focusing on Turkey, Afghanistan, Somalia and Pakistan he explains how western counter-terror laws are restricting humanitarian relief operations and costing lives

About the speakers:

Peter Gill is an experienced foreign correspondent, having covered such events as the violent birth of Bangladesh in 1971, the fall of Saigon in 1975, the Lebanese civil war, and the Afghanistan on the decade-long Soviet war, as well as being the first journalist to reach the epicenter of the Ethiopian famine in 1984.

About the Chair:

Professor Craig Calhoun (@craigjcalhoun) is Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Wednesday 16 March, 6:30-8pm (Recording)

Fraud at polls: can journalists and statisticians check? The Mozambican experience

Venue: Hong Kong Theatre                                                                   Speakers: Dr Johan Ahlback, Dr Joseph Hanlon                             Discussant: Jouni Kuha                                                                                Chair: Wendy Willems

About the event:

In every Mozambican election, the ruling party (Frelimo) won, and the opposition cried fraud. Can we tell who really won? Teams of up to 150 journalists, organized by Joe Hanlon, covered the elections across the country and reported that fraud and misconduct did occur. But did it change the outcome? Mozambique reports results from each polling station (each with fewer than 1000 voters) which allows statistical analysis for ballot box stuffing, invalidating opposition votes, and other misconduct. Johan Ahlback and Joseph Hanlon discuss this unique project to put the journalists and statisticians together - and test the official outcome of five presidential elections.

About the speakers:

Johan Ahlback is a PhD student in the LSE Government Department who is undertaking statistical analysis of Mozambique elections.

Joseph Hanlon is a visiting fellow in the LSE International Development Department who has organized reporting on all Mozambique's elections.

Jouni Kuha is an Associate Professor of Statistics and Research Methodology in the Department of Statistics at the LSE

About the Chair:

Wendy Willems is an Associate Professor in the Media & Communications Department at the LSE

Thursday 4 February, 6:30-8pm (Recording)

Going beyond 'dangerous' climate change

Venue: Old Theatre
Speakers: Professor Kevin Anderson
Chair: Professor Tim Dyson

About the event:

Despite high-level statements to the contrary, there is little to no chance of maintaining the global mean surface temperature increase at or below 2 degrees Celsius. Moreover, the impacts associated with 2°C have been revised upward sufficiently so that 2°C now more appropriately represents the threshold between 'dangerous' and 'extremely dangerous' climate change. 

About the speakers:

Kevin Anderson is Professor of Energy and Climate Change at the University of Manchester, leads Tyndall Manchester’s energy and climate change research programme and is deputy director of the Tyndall Centre. He is research active with recent publications in Royal Society journals, Nature and Energy Policy, and engages widely across all tiers of government.

Tim Dyson is Professor of Population Studies in the Department of International Development at LSE

Wednesday 3 February 2016, 6.30-8pm (Recording)

One Second of Light

Venue: Hong Kong Theatre
Speakers: Giles Duley
Chair: Stuart Gordon

About the event:

One Second of Light is Duley’s latest book, covering his work on the effects of conflict and humanitarian disaster over the last decade. Duley’s work has mostly been in partnership with NGO’s and charities, such as EMERGENCY UK. Duley will talk about the relationship and the role of photography in advocacy and raising awareness.

About the speakers:

Giles Duley (@gilesduley) was born in 1971 in London. After 10 years as an editorial photographer in the fashion and music industries in both the US and Europe, Duley now focuses his work on humanitarian projects. Although documenting challenging, and at times, horrific situations, Duley captures the strength of those who fight their adversity rather than succumb. His photographs draw the viewer to the subject, creating intimacy and empathy for lives differing from ours only in circumstance. In 2011, while working in Afghanistan, Duley stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED). He was severely injured, losing both legs and an arm. 

Stuart Gordon is an Assistant Professor in Managing Humanitarianism within the Department of International Development  at LSE. He is also Programme Director for the MSc in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies.

The podcast of Giles' talk is available here.

Tuesday 26 January 2016, 6.30-8pm

Building Houses on Sand:Social Protection Systems and Precarious Labour Markets in Developing Countries

Venue: Wolfson Theatre
Speakers: Kirsten Sehnbruch
Chair: Jean-Paul Faguet

About the event:

Changes to the segmentation of labour markets in developing countries has led to strains on the social protection systems in place to regulate them. Kirsten Sehnbruch looks at why social protection systems in developing countries underperform when they are linked to highly precarious formal labour markets, using the example of the Chilean unemployment insurance savings account (UISA) system to illustrate the faults in the systems. 

About the speakers:

Kirsten Sehnbruch is an associate professor of public policy at the Universidad Diego Portales and an associate researcher and founding board member of the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion with responsibility for the Centre’s International Relations.

Jean-Paul Faguet is Professor of the Political Economy of Development at LSE. He is also Chair of the Decentralization Task Force at Columbia University's Initiative for Policy Dialogue.