LSE GROUPS 2016
Students were tasked to research aspects of Poverty and inequality in London, and there were impressive presentations at the closing conference on gentrification and defensive architecture in Tower Hamlets, community engagement in tackling fuel poverty, analysis of income and disability in London transport, and many other topics. Awards were made in various categories, and the winning presentation and winning paper will also be put forward to the British Conference of Undergraduate Research for consideration for its national conference.
You can read a blog post and download a brief report. We also commissioned a short film to document the intensive fortnight of research, featuring input from many of the students and staff involved. We also commissioned a film to document the experience of GROUPS 2016.
You can also have a look at the conference programme, and the groups' abstracts, by clicking the link below.
Download the 2016 Conference programme here.
LSE GROUPS 2016 conference papers
Click the groups' pictures below to download their full research papers!
Group 1 and 4 (combined project)
Pools, pilates and people: an ethnography of Harrow Leisure Centre
Group 2
Displacement and disenchantment: a longitudinal analysis of social housing provision in Earl’s Court
Group 3
Overcoming educational inequality: An examination of the perceptions of Teach First
Group 5 - WINNER - BEST PRESENTATION and POPULAR PRIZE
Hipsters and spikes: mapping gentrification and defensive architecture inTower Hamlets
Group 6 - WINNER - BEST RESEARCH PAPER (TIED)
Coming in from the cold: A case study of community engagement in tackling fuel poverty
Group 7
Degrees: the key to social mobility? The role of credential inflation in reinforcing inequality through employment
Group 8
Can money buy access? Intersectional analysis of income and disability inLondon transport
Group 9
Inequality in elite places: The experience of routine workers at the LSE
Group 10 - WINNER - BEST RESEARCH PAPER (TIED)
“On the fringes of LSE society?” – The impact of socioeconomic factors on student experience at the LSE
Group 11
Benefit or burden? How Londoners view immigration
LSE/Imperial GROUPS 2015
LSE/Imperial GROUPS 2015 was the inaugural collaboration on the GROUPS project between the two London institutions. The theme was 'Social change in London'.
The Best Research Paper Prize was won by GROUP 12 (Huynh Son Do, Indrishka Grewal, Jaume Vives, Amna Samar Askari, TsangTin Chak, Lang Xu) for
Asking for help: How do British and international students differ in their use of mental health services offered at LSE and Imperial?
The Best Presentation Prize was awarded to GROUP 3 (Darren Hilliard, Alexander Howells, Julia Schmidt, Amal Niaz Shaikh, Klas Wetterberg) for
The competitive university: How does the neoliberalisation of UK universities affect LSE/Imperial academics’ research and well-being?
The Popular Prize was taken by GROUP 7 (Farid Hamka, Yvonne Xueyu He, Danting Ni, David Goldsmith, Elise Donaldson) for
Love for share: The relationship between the usage of geo-social networking applications and attitudes to consensual non-monogamy and marriage
Search #GROUPS2015 on Twitter for photographs, comments and insights from the event's attendees, and have a look at the event programme (complete with each group's abstract) here.
LSE GROUPS 2014
The LSE GROUPS 2014 conference saw 70 undergraduate students presenting their research into identity and place.
The best paper award was given to Adrian Kwan, Rebecca Fisher, Sidonie Edey, Manav Chaudhary, Vinit Agrawal and Emily Wolff, for 'Seeing' London: Evaluating identification with place among visually impaired individuals.
The award for best presentation was given to Esma Akkilic, Mark Farragher, Bingfeng Hu, Oleg Kurochka and Jack Winterton, for The Hunger Games in the University of London: To what extent does the branding of UoL institutions entail an identity of difference between them?
The abstracts for all the papers and presentations can be found in the LSE GROUPS 2014 conference programme (PDF).
LSE GROUPS 2013
Left: Best Conference Paper 2013: Evaluating the effectiveness of The Big Issue in combatting the social exclusion of homeless people in central London (Vincent Harrold, Nabilah Karim, Jonathan Koh, Muriel Levy, Kullanit Nitiwarangkul, with supervisor Marina Franchi)
Right: Best Conference Presentation 2013: The impact of social networks: moving on from homelessness (Shan Yi Bong, Rachel Gregory, Dominic Hung, Jiahui Ren, with supervisor Ceren Yalcin)
Community was the theme for LSE GROUPS 2013 and the students' projects ranged from the social and economic impact of the Brixton Pound to the sense of community experienced by London's houseboat dwellers. Abstracts of all the research papers can be found in the conference programme (PDF).
LSE GROUPS 2012
A short film was made at the final day's research conference
The LSE GROUPS 2012 theme was diversity, and the six projects ranged from a study of how ethnicity affects parents’ occupational aspirations for their children, to whether gender is a factor in motivations for volunteering.
LSE GROUPS 2012 Best Conference Presentation: To what extent does content diversity of student newspapers reflect student diversity? A case study examination of The Beaver, 1960-2012
LSE GROUPS 2012 Best Conference Paper: The diversity of LSE students' consumer behaviour and its potential explanations (Word)
Some of the 2012 projects were published on the LSE Equality and Diversity blog. See this post on the political engagement of ethnic minorities in Tower Hamlets.
LSE GROUPS 2011
Students representing the winning groups presented their papers at the British Conference of Undergraduate Research at the University of Warwick in March 2012
The 2011 theme was sustainability and again the six groups presented some very impressive research. Projects ranged from an inquiry into how sustainable the Royal Wedding had been to whether the choice of bus as a mode of transport in Westminster is influenced by environmental concern or other factors.
LSE GROUPS 2011 Best Conference Presentation: Determinants of successful implementation of environmental policies across London universities: the role of information, education and incentives (PDF)
LSE GROUPS 2011 Best Conference Paper: The sustainability of communities: reconception and measurement (Word)