• Common Sense: reflections on the Human Rights Act

LSE professor Francesca Klug has edited and co-authored a new booklet on the Human Rights Act.

• Checking the School’s ICT assets

If you have a School-owned mobile device (such as a laptop or mobile phone), please take it to the IT Help Desk by Friday 23 July.

• Andrea Pechova

Andrea, who works in the Student Services Centre, is quite fond of the sculpture on the NAB but always walks a little quicker every time she passes under it.

• Common Sense: reflections on the Human Rights Act

Professor Francesca Klug, director of the Human Rights Futures Project at LSE Global Governance, has edited and co-authored a new booklet on the Human Rights Act.

Published by Liberty, the booklet brings together ten articles covering the origins and intentions of the Act, how it works in practice and the context behind political debates about its future.

The booklet includes guest contributions by Shami Chakrabarti (director of Liberty), Alan Miller (chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission), Monica McWilliams (chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission) and Helena Kennedy QC (barrister and member of the House of Lords).

It also contains an appendix with selected illustrations of how the HRA has operated in the courts, by Helen Wildbore, research officer for Human Rights Futures.

• Turning off the tap for online personal data - prototype system unveiled by EnCoRe

A prototype system that aims to turn off the deluge of personal data that floods the internet and threatens people's security and identity was unveiled at LSE this week.

At present, people have no way of controlling how their personal information is used or ensuring that it is deleted, when requested, from databases. Often such details are handed to third parties, making the control of personal data even harder.

• Academics abroad

Professor Ricky Burdett, head of LSE Cities in the Department of Sociology, was a speaker at the World Mayors' Forum in Singapore on 30 June 2010, addressing an audience of urban leaders and policymakers from 40 cities on the social, economic and spatial challenges facing cities in the next decades.

Professor Burdett also took part in a panel presentation and discussion on the future of sustainable cities at the World Cities Summit, held in Singapore on 28-30 June 2010.

Professor Thandika Mkandawire, professor of African development at DESTIN, and Dr Francesca Bastagli, research fellow at the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, presented papers at the European Report on Development Research Conference 2010, on 'Experiences and Lessons from Social Protection Programmes across the Developing World: what role for the EU?', at the University Sorbonne in Paris on 17-18 June 2010.

Professor Mkandawire participated in the round table on 'Views on Social Protection: perspectives for Africa'. Dr Bastagli presented a paper entitled Poverty, Inequality and Public Cash Transfers: lessons from Latin America. For more information, visit http://erd.eui.eu/erd-2010/events/paris-17-18-june-2010/

• Stone cleaning and impact on windows

The recent stone cleaning project on Houghton Street has given a much needed facelift to a number of LSE building fronts, and the improvement in the look of the treated buildings along Houghton Street is considerable.

An unavoidable side-effect of the cleaning process is that many of the windows along Houghton Street are covered in a fine layer of dust. The Estates Division has received a number of queries concerning the condition of the windows and requests for the windows to be cleaned.

In order to address staff concerns, this message is to inform staff that the division has always been aware that there would be some impact from the dust generated as a result of the stone cleaning process, and that a window cleaning phase is a scheduled part of the project and will be carried out imminently.

• Checking the School’s ICT assets

If you have a School-owned mobile device (such as a laptop or mobile phone), please take it to the IT Help Desk on the first floor of the Library for an on-the-spot check. This service will operate from Tuesday 22 June and must be completed by Friday 23 July. The Help Desk opening hours are:

• Term time:
  Monday to Friday, 9.30am-8pm
  Saturday and Sunday, 11am – 6pm
• Vacation:
  Monday to Friday, 9.30am-5pm

Why are we doing this?
The School’s Financial Regulations now require IT Services to physically check the School’s ICT assets at least once a year and report the result by 31 July.

What about ICT equipment in my office?
IT Services staff will be visiting all rooms/offices within your department over the next few weeks in order to re-tag and scan all fixed School-owned ICT equipment, such as computers, monitors, printers, telephones. This physical check will ensure that all ICT assets in the School match IT Services records and that assets can be upgraded or replaced when due.

Who will be checking the ICT assets?
Staff undertaking the checks will be wearing IT Services lanyards and their LSE ID cards, and will endeavour to cause as little disruption as possible.

• Developing emotional resilience workshop

Monday 5 July, 10am-1pm, room K105

This workshop will demonstrate how to build personal resilience, enabling participants to better manage periods of high pressure and change. Resilience also provides strong foundations for emotional wellbeing.

The workshop will help you to:

• Understand what resilience means and the benefits it can bring both personally and professionally
• Learn how to identify the signs of stress and take action to minimise its impact
• Discover powerful techniques for managing your emotions
• Learn techniques for building optimism and self-belief, so you’re better equipped to manage challenging times
• Learn how to solve problems creatively, even when under pressure
• Develop a greater sense of being in control, even when faced with change and uncertainty
• Learn how to bring more ‘flow’ moments into your life for greater fulfilment

• LSE-Columbia University funded exchange of teaching faculty

In May 2009, LSE and Columbia University launched a teaching exchange scheme which is now in its second year. These short-term exchanges would occur between (full-time) teaching staff in complementary departments at the respective institutions.

Faculty participating in an exchange are expected to undertake a teaching commitment that enables substantial engagement with undergraduate and/or graduate students at the host institution and that meets a need in the host department. Visits will normally be for a full term at the host institution.

LSE staff visiting Columbia will be funded by LSE up to a level of £5,000 to support travel, accommodation and other essential extra expenses in New York. Please note that neither institution will fund relief cover for teaching staff absent under this scheme.

The deadline for applications for the 2010-11 session is Wednesday 14 July. Please click here for further information on the scheme including application procedures.

• Competition makes NHS hopitals more efficient

Competition in the English NHS improves hospital efficiency and can save the health service significant amounts of money, according to a new study by researchers at LSE.

The study, by LSE's Centre for Economic Performance, finds that hospitals located in areas where patients have a great deal of choice improve their efficiency more quickly than hospitals located in less competitive markets. What's more, the hospitals in competitive markets are able to improve efficiency and save money without any negative impact on patient outcomes.

• Research funding from SSCR

The School for Social Care Research (SSCR), led by Professor Martin Knapp at LSE, is pleased to announce a call for full research proposals.

SSCR is a partnership between six leading academic centres of social care research in England across the Universities of Kent, Manchester, York and King’s College London and was officially established in May 2009. With funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), SSCR has £5.3 million available for research funding over the next four years, and is seeking research proposals with the potential to influence and improve practice in adult social care in England.

The call sets out 18 specific research questions which cover a wide range of topics. For further details and to access the research brief, visit www.lse.ac.uk/collections/NIHRSSCR/research/funding.htm or email sscr@lse.ac.uk.

• Research opportunities

• Research e-Briefing

• Latest opportunities from LSE Enterprise

LSE Enterprise offers you the opportunity to undertake private teaching and consultancy work under the LSE brand. We help with bidding, contracts and other project administration, enabling you to focus on the work itself. To see the latest opportunities click here.

If you would like us to look out for consulting opportunities in your field, email your CV and summary of interests to Rebecca Limer at r.limer@lse.ac.uk

• Podcasts of public lectures and events

Lithuania 2030
Tuesday 22 June, 6.30pm, Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Andrius Kubilius
Click here to listen

Cognitive Surplus
Monday 28 June, 6.30-8pm, Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Clay Shirky
Click here to listen

Nicole wants to hear from you!

Do you have some news, an achievement, or an aspect of LSE life that you would like to share? If so, then I would love to hear from you, contact me at n.gallivan@lse.ac.uk or on ext 7582.

The next edition of Staff News is on Thursday 15 July. Articles for this should be emailed to me by Tuesday 13 July. Staff News is emailed every Thursday during term time and fortnightly during the holidays.