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12 August 2010 |
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 News
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• LSE
welcomes its first bees to Passfield Hall of Residence
Passfield Hall welcomes some new guests this year - but instead of needing a
room deposit these guests will pay their rent in honey.
Two honey bee hives have been installed at Passfield Hall, making it one
of the first university halls of residence with its own bees. The two hives
were officially welcomed to the hall at the end of July and it
is hoped they will grow to house up to 100,000 bees.
The hives are managed by professional beekeeper Dr Luke Dixon, who is an
expert in rooftop and urban beekeeping and a member of the British
Beekeeping Association. They are housed on the first floor flat roof of
Taviton at Passfield Hall, chosen for its low-wind and sunny position where
the bee flight path is sufficiently out of the way of residents and close
enough to food sources.
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• Seventh
LSE-PKU Summer School begins
The seventh year of the LSE-PKU Summer School commenced in Beijing this
week. The programme will run for two weeks, with students participating in a
total of 36 lecture hours and 12 tutorial hours per course.
The 2010 programme brings together the largest cohort of students yet,
with 277 students registered. Students come from 45 countries and regions
around the world, with over 65 students from China, making up the single
largest contingent from one country.
LSE academics teaching this year include Professor Danny Quah, Department
of Economics; Professor Arne Westad and Professor Michael Cox, co-directors
of LSE IDEAS; Professor Francis Snyder, Department of Law; Dr Fei Qin,
Department of Management; and Dr Xiaoji Lin, Department of Finance.
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• New
film about student
mentoring at LSE
LSE's student mentoring scheme, open to all first year undergraduates,
aims to support new students who are all assigned a student mentor when they
first arrive at the School. The scheme is the focus of the latest Stories
from LSE film, narrated by economics student Jerusha, who has been both a
mentor and mentee.
LSE assigns a student mentor to every new undergraduate when they arrive
at LSE, and each year, around 200 second and third year undergraduates
volunteer to mentor the newest year. In this ten minute film, Jerusha
explains why she became a student mentor and examines what it takes to
become a mentor, and how both mentors and mentees can benefit from the
scheme.
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• LSE
professor to advise on economic governance in Europe
Iain Begg, professorial research fellow in the European Institute at LSE,
has been appointed by the House of Lords European Union Select Committee to
serve as a specialist adviser for an inquiry into the future of economic
governance in Europe.
The inquiry, which is being conducted by the Economic and Financial
Affairs and International Trade Sub-Committee, will explore economic
governance as it applies to the Eurozone, as well as to the EU as a whole.
The aim of the inquiry is to inform the debate on the future of economic
governance in Europe, and to provide an opinion in advance of any proposals
that may be put forward in 2011.
Anyone interested in submitting views to the inquiry, should visit the
UK Parliament website. The deadline for submissions is Friday 24
September.
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• Close calls, near misses and early
warnings
CARR has published a special issue of Risk&Regulation entitled
'Close Calls, Near Misses and Early Warnings'.
This issue of the magazine explores how individuals, organisations and
states deal with often weak and complex signs of possible disaster. The
collection of articles emerged from the Close Calls conference held at CARR
in March 2009.
Topics featured include:
- Why BP ignored close calls at Texas City
- Detecting the dodgy doctor
- Constructing Near-Misses: proximity, distance and the space between
The magazine can be downloaded at
www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CARR/publications/magazine.htm
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• Thank
you and goodbye from Chris Connelley
After 12 and a half years at the controls of the good ship Staff
Development, I am now moving on to navigate still uncharted waters as a
student in the emerging field of community organising.
As I sail off in search of the ‘big society’ - or whatever incarnation
succeeds it - I’d like to take this opportunity to extend my huge thanks to
so many of you for being such brilliant friends and colleagues, for offering
scores of good ideas and constant feedback; and most of all for signing up
to, and so actively supporting, our various staff development adventures
here at the School over the years.
I like to think that all of us in the Staff Development Unit have generated a
pretty diverse and distinctive set of services, and hope we have inspired,
stimulated, challenged and encouraged many along the way, whilst at the same
time only frustrating and annoying relatively few of you.
I have had a brilliant time working here at the School and to steal - and
slightly subvert - a line from that old Deborah Harry song with Iggy Pop,
'what a swell party we had'. I genuinely hope I helped bring just a little
bit more happiness and joy to the working day. I’ll carry so many positive
images with me, and feel so privileged to have worked here.
I am really sorry that I will not have the opportunity to meet with you
all in person before I go, but want to wish you well for the future.
It’s thank you and goodbye from me.
May your uplands be sunny,
May your skies be cloudless and blue,
May your futures be golden.
All the best,
Chris |
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 Notices
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• Department name change
From 1 August, the Operational Research Group (part of the Department of
Management) has been renamed the Management Science Group. The programmes,
courses and course codes will not be renamed for the time being.
If you have any queries, please contact Lucy Underhill at
l.underhill@lse.ac.uk.
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• Finance news
The fifth edition of Finance News, the annual newsletter from
the Finance Division, is now available online.
Articles included cover the fees initiatives, the LSE eshop, financial
regulations road show information, Moodle training, shared services
initiatives, Aptos closure dates, travel insurance, and pensions.
To read the newsletter, click
here.
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• Old
Building re-numbering
The School has commenced with plans to improve signage throughout the
campus. Much research has been devoted to devising a simple system that will
improve campus signage. As part of the strategy the single letter prefixes
for every building e.g. A for Old Building, will all be changed to a three
letter acronym of the building e.g. OLD for Old Building. This will serve to
improve the association between room number and building.
The new system was successfully piloted on the New Academic Building
(NAB) project and recently a contractor has been appointed to manufacture
and install new external signage around campus and replace all internal
signage within the Old Building.
This has also provided LSE with the opportunity to improve the numbering
system within the Old Building by re-numbering all rooms in order to remedy
the existing confusing system.
Teams around the School are working to ensure that the vast majority of
room information will be changed automatically on new publications and on
websites. Estates will, however, require the help of departments and
divisions to manage and update their websites and documents accordingly.
For more information regarding the replacement signage and the new
numbering system, including a change schedule illustrating existing to new,
please visit the
Estates webpage. If you have any queries, please contact Phil Newsham in
Estates at p.newsham@lse.ac.uk.
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• Eyebolt testing
The Estates Department would like to let staff know that eyebolt testing
will be running in all buildings on campus from Friday 13 August for two
weeks.
Eyebolts are fixtures near windows to which window cleaners hook their
harnesses.
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• UK ERC information and proposal writing events
The UK Research Office of the European Research Council (ERC) is holding a
series of information events for researchers who are based in or moving to
the UK and are interested in applying for the ERC Starting Grants.
Each session aims to provide participants with an overview of the ERC in the
Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), focusing on the Starting Grant scheme.
Participants should gain a deeper understanding of the proposal format and
the key issues they are required to address in planning, writing and costing
a Starting Grant proposal.
For more information and to register, please click
here.
Attendance is free of charge.
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• LSE
researchers mapping happiness across the UK
LSE researchers have just launched 'mappiness', an iPhone app enabling them
to map people's happiness across the UK.
George MacKerron and Susana Mourato, of the Department of Geography and
Environment, want to better understand how our feelings are affected by
immediate features of our current environment - including pollution, weather
conditions, noise, trees and green spaces.
The app asks participants to report daily how they are feeling, alongside
some basic control questions: who they are with, where they are and what
they are doing. It uses satellite positioning (GPS) to discover their
location while they answer, and this is linked to environmental quality
variables using a spatial database. In return for taking part, app users
receive charts analysing their own happiness.
More details, real-time UK happiness monitoring, and an invitation to take
part can be found at
www.mappiness.org.uk/ or you can contact George at
g.j.mackerron@lse.ac.uk.
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• Sleep
and stress survey
Des Shortt, a staff member in IT Services who is currently studying for a
MSc in psychotherapy at Goldsmiths College, London, needs your help. As part
of his degree, Des is conducting research into the relationship between
sleep and stress and the consequences of good/poor sleep.
Des would like your help with his research and has created a short
survey. The survey, which can be found at
www.surveygizmo.com/s3/323406/c2247ba61a83, has been approved by the
ethics committee at Goldsmiths College and is completely anonymous. It
should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete.
If you have any questions or for more information, please email Des at
d.shortt@lse.ac.uk. |
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 Research
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• Women's
'double shift' of work and domestic duties a myth finds new research
Feminists are wrong to claim that men should do a larger share of the
housework and childcare because on average, men and women already do the
same number of hours of productive work. In fact, if we consider the hours
spent doing both paid work and unpaid household, care and voluntary work
together, men already do more than their fair share, argues LSE sociologist
Catherine Hakim in a special issue of Renewal: a journal of social
democracy.
Until recently, unpaid work such as childcare and domestic work has been
hard to quantify and so mostly ignored by social scientists and policy
makers. The development of Time Use Surveys across the European Union,
however, has provided data on exactly how much time we spend carrying out
both paid and unpaid productive activities. The findings show that on
average women and men across Europe do the same total number of productive
work hours once paid jobs and unpaid household duties are added together -
roughly eight hours a day.
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• US
study finds first-year maternal employment has no ill effects on child's
development
New research from the United States provides good news to parents on a
question that has drawn a lot of attention from researchers and the media -
do children fare worse if their mums work in the first year of life?
The answer, according to a landmark study, is a resounding no. The
findings from researchers at Teacher's College and the Columbia University
School of Social Work, were published this week by the Society for Research
in Child Development.
Why did this study find no ill effects of early employment when so many
others have? Authors Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Wen-Jui Han, and visiting professor
at LSE, Jane Waldfogel, attribute their striking findings to two main
factors. First, they had exceptionally rich data not just on parental
employment, but also on parent-child interactions, family income, child
care, and other factors that affect child development. Second, they applied
an analytic method that allowed them to calculate the total effect of
maternal employment as it actually occurs - that is, taking into account all
the knock-on effects of employment on other factors like income, parenting,
and child care. In doing so, they discovered that while early maternal
employment has some downsides, it also offers some advantages - increasing
mothers’ income, and making it more likely that children attend high-quality
child care.
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• Powerful
leaders make worse decisions by dominating their colleagues into silence
says new LSE study
Strong leaders may also be worse managers a new study has found because they
give off such an impression of power that their colleagues' opinions are
stifled.
While it is important for leaders to exude authority and competence, the
evidence suggests that appearing too powerful will inhibit their team
members from expressing an opinion. This harms the ability to make good
decisions by excluding arguments and evidence from the decision-making
process.
The study's authors point out that to dominate the decision-making process
may be damaging in a business world loaded with specialist and technical
information where team members often know more about a specific subject than
their leader and where participative decision-making is accepted as more
effective.
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• Research opportunities
Candidates interested in applying for any research opportunities should
contact Michael Oliver in the
Research Division at
m.oliver@lse.ac.uk or call ext 7962.
The Research Division maintains a regularly updated list of
research funding opportunities for academic colleagues on their website.
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• Research e-Briefing
Click
here
to read the Summer edition of the Research Division newsletter. To sign up for
research news, recent research funding opportunities, research awards that
are about to start, and examples of research outcomes, click
here. The next issue is out
at the end of October 2010.
More
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• 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 or visit
http://twitter.com/lseenterprise.
If you would like us to look out for consulting opportunities in your
field, email your CV and summary of interests to
lseenterprise.consulting@lse.ac.uk
Email exec.ed@lse.ac.uk to be
added to our Executive Education database. |
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 Events
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• Upcoming LSE events include....
The Case of the Pope: Vatican accountability for human rights abuse
On: Wednesday 8 September at 6.30-8pm in the Sheikh Zayed
Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Geoffrey Robertson QC, founder and head of Doughty
Street Chambers.
The Future of IT in India
On: Tuesday 14 September at 6.30-7.30pm in the Sheikh Zayed
Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: S.D. Shibulal, one of the co-founders and member of the
Board of Directors of Infosys Technologies Limited.
A Call for Judgment: sensible finance for a dynamic economy
On: Tuesday 12 October at 5.15-6.15pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre,
New Academic Building
Speaker: Professor Amar Bhide, Schmidheiny Professor at the Fletcher
School, a founding member of the Center on Capitalism and Society.
The Great Brain Race: rise of the global education marketplace
On: Thursday 21 October at 6.30-8pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement
House
Speaker: Ben Wildavsky, senior fellow in research and policy at the
Kauffman Foundation.
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• Podcasts of public lectures and events
LSE Summer School 2010 -
Contemporary Developments in International Law and the Role of the
International Court of Justice
Thursday 29 July, 5.30-7pm, Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic
Building
Speaker: Sir Christopher Greenwood
Click here to listen
The Quest for Meaning
Monday 2 August, 6.30-8pm, Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic
Building
Speaker: Professor Tariq Ramadan
Click here to listen |
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 60
Second Interview
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• with..... Bill Abraham
I live in Sevenoaks with my wife
and daughter. I joined ODAR (Office of Development and
Alumni Relations) in 2002 and am
proud to have been involved in
raising over £100 million for the
School. Some colleagues and friends
believe that all my job consists of
is taking people for lunches and
dinner and generally being a social
secretary - but if that doesn't work
I just pester them until they give
in and write a cheque to LSE! I
enjoy travel and am fortunate that I
get to do some with my job. I
genuinely have a list of 50 places
to visit before I die and was able
to tick off #26 (Great Wall of
China) whilst in Bejing for the Asia
Forum in March. I am hoping to do
#27 (Great Barrier Reef) this August
while on holiday with my family.
If you were to rewrite the
School's motto, what would it be?
If I was being serious it would
be Scientia Potentia Est ('For also
knowledge itself is power') - Sir
Francis Bacon.
If I was being flippant,
something along the lines of
'because I'm worth it.'
What is the riskiest thing you
have ever done?
Physically - voluntarily jumping
out of a plane for a charity
parachute jump. I completely forgot
how to steer, and caused chaos at
the airfield by landing in a big
heap on the runway.
Emotionally - proposing to my now
wife after staggering home blind
drunk following my LSE office Xmas
party a few years ago. Thankfully I
remembered the next morning……..
Is there anything you cannot
do and would like to learn?
Alchemy. Failing that, if someone
could explain to me the rules of
German grammar so that they make
some kind of sense, I would be very
grateful.
What, or who, makes you laugh?
People who take themselves too
seriously. Also, a bit of
exaggerated violence - who doesn't
love Tom and Jerry, Laurel and Hardy
or Reeves and Mortimer?
What would you do if you were
LSE director for a day?
I'd have a charity 'wear your
team sports shirt' day (whether it's
rugby, football etc) for the LSE
Annual Fund - but anyone daring to
come in Manchester United colours
would be rounded up and made to
stand in stocks on Houghton Street.
I'd also have on the spot fines
for anyone taking an LSE lift from
the ground floor to the first floor.
Describe yourself in three words.
Sarcastic, disobedient,
self-deprecating. |
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 Training
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• Summer School for staff
There are still many courses, workshops and events that maybe of interest
to you as part of this years Summer School programme for staff.
To see the full listing,
please visit
Summer School 2010. Some of the activities that are offer include:
Equality and diversity for managers
Thursday 19 August, 2-5pm
At the end of this equality and diversity session, managers will be able to
identify discriminatory practices within employment and service areas;
describe and use the LSE's equality policy and procedures; refer to the key
principles of the current anti-discrimination legislation and take practical
steps in order to implement equality and diversity policies with their team.
Equality and diversity training for non-managers
Friday 20 August, 2-5pm
The aim of this three hour equality and diversity training for non-managers
workshop is to provide staff with an overview of these key issues, so that
they are able to recognise discriminatory practices within the workplace and
are better equipped to promote good practice within the School.
Hiking with Hackshall: Seaford to Eastbourne (12 miles)
Thursday 19 August, 9.30am-4.30pm
To celebrate the long days of the English summer, Claire Hackshall leads a
bracing clifftop walk which has been organised for LSE staff, starting from
Seaford and finishing in Eastbourne, on the south coast. This is a classic
walk (one of the finest in England) and will include fantastic views of the
Seven Sisters and Beachy Head.
Drama workshop
Friday 13, Monday 16, and Friday 20 August, 12.30-1.30pm
One hour drama workshops, with Steve Bond, designed to help build confidence
in presenting yourself in front of an audience and should also be a lot of
fun. The workshops will include drama games and improvisation exercises and
you will learn different techniques each session. Suitable for beginners and
for those with some experience.
If you would like to book your place on any of these, please email
hr.staffdevelopment@lse.ac.uk |
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 Media
bites
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• Times Higher Education (12 August 2010)
So clichéd
Mary Evans laments the growing use of 'university-speak' in the academy
- otherwise known as a part of the 'knowledge economy'.
Article by Mary Evans, visiting fellow at the Gender Institute, LSE.
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• CNN
(10 August 2010)
Why Pakistan plays a double game
'There is more to the relationship between Pakistan and the West than the
simple dichotomy of "either/or."'
Article by Fawaz A Gerges, a professor of Middle Eastern politics and
international relations at LSE.
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• Financial Times (9 August 2010)
Improve banks’ survival with living wills
'In the aftermath of the financial crisis, there has been much concern about
the massive bail-out costs. We believe that the authorities, under the
exceptional circumstances in late 2008, had no choice but to support the
financial system. But, if anything, the handling of the current financial
crisis has reinforced too big to fail doctrine. So how can one reduce moral
hazard and reduce expectations of future bail-outs?'
Article co-authored by Charles Goodhart, emeritus professor of banking and
finance at LSE.
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