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25 November 2010 |
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 News
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• In memory of Emeritus Professor David Frisby
The School is very sorry to announce that LSE Emeritus Professor David
Frisby, formerly a long-term professor of sociology at Glasgow, died on
Saturday (20 November) after a long illness.
David published extensively on the sociology of Georg Simmel, social theory
and modernity, German social theory, and aspects of modern urban experience.
Through his extensive archival investigations in Central Europe and the US,
he brought to our attention understandings of modernity offered by Georg
Simmel and Walter Benjamin, elevating the status of Georg Simmel in
particular within the sociological canon.
A number of his major works were translated into several languages.
Alongside his reputation as the intellectual expert of fin-de-siecle social
theory, he was a wonderful and generous colleague who will be greatly
missed.
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• LSE
professor inspires parliamentary rethink on voting reform
The government is being urged to revise its agenda for electoral reform by
MPs and members of the Lords who seized on analysis of the topic by LSE
professor Patrick Dunleavy.
Both Houses of Parliament have heard calls to adopt the 'London
alternative vote system' recommended by Professor Dunleavy if the UK votes
to abandon the existing first-past-the-post method when a national
referendum is held in May.
Professor Dunleavy, from LSE's Department of Government, argues that the
London system, in which voters register their first and second choices
from a list of candidates, is best because it ensures the election of a
candidate with substantial local support. The 'Australian' system of AV,
which would be adopted as things stand, asks voters to rank all candidates
in order of their preference - eliminating the least popular in successive
rounds of voting.
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• Congratulations to the first LSE peer supporters
A group of students from Bankside Residence received certificates and
thanks from staff across the School for becoming the first cohort of LSE
peer supporters.
In a programme initiated by Teaching and Learning Centre staff Peter Finn
and Jane Sedgwick, the students received 30 hours of training in listening
skills, diversity awareness, boundary setting, and crisis responding, to
become ‘supporters’ to fellow students.
LSE student Joshua Still said, ‘It wasn’t always fun and it was
occasionally challenging, but I’m very proud to be part of the group. I’ve
learned so many new skills.’ Fellow student Komal Anwar added: ‘I’ve become
a great listener, and I’m usually such a chatterbox. It means I can help
people much better.’ And Michael Obiri-Darko said that the training had
equipped him with skills for life: ‘I’ve been taught so many things.
Knowledge is power, and Jane and Peter have given us so much knowledge.’
Several staff from support services across the School, including
Residential Services, the Accommodation Office, the Student Services Centre,
and the Student Counselling Service, thanked the students and endorsed the
initiative warmly, saying they hoped it would be replicated elsewhere and
become a permanent feature of the LSE pastoral support network.
For the full report and contact details, see the
peer supporter programme.
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• LSE
professor gives evidence to MPs about cyber security
On Wednesday 17 November Professor Peter Sommer, visiting professor in
the Information Systems and Innovation Group at LSE, gave evidence to the
House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee on cyber security.
Professor Sommer was questioned by MPs on how prepared the government is
to deal with a cyber attack, and also how it should use scientific advice
and evidence to inform policy decisions.
The meeting is available to watch online on the
Parliament website. For more information, visit
Science and Technology Committee.
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• Talking head
Professor Simon Hix, professor of European and comparative politics
at LSE, recently filmed some interviews
on electoral reform for
The Constitution Society, as part of their 'Talking Heads'
series.
The Constitution Society is an independent educational trust, which
promotes public understanding of the British Constitution and works to
encourage informed debate between legislators, academics, and the public
about proposals for constitutional change.
To watch Professor Hix's interviews, visit
The Constitution Society website.
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• Academics
abroad
On Wednesday 17 and Thursday 18 November, Sebastian Balfour, emeritus
professor of contemporary Spanish studies at LSE, spoke at the press launch
and inauguration of Ja Tenim 600!, an exhibition at the Museum of the
History of Barcelona, for which he is acting historical advisor.
The exhibition focuses on the SEAT 600 car as an emblem of the political and
social changes that occurred in Barcelona in the 1950s, a decade which
proved decisive for the city and the relationship between Catalonia and the
Francoist Dictatorship.
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 Notices
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• Send
an LSE e-card this Christmas
Why not save resources this Christmas by sending e-cards? A specially
designed electronic card, together with the LSE logo and the words 'Season’s
Greetings', is now available for all staff to email out.
There is also room to add your own message below the e-card. Please
contact Liz Trumble at
designunit@lse.ac.uk for a copy to forward.
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• Season
ticket order deadline
All staff requiring a season ticket before the Christmas break, should
place their order no later than Thursday 2 December.
Any orders received by
seasontickets@lse.ac.uk after this date will arrive in January 2011.
Please bear this in mind if your ticket expires at the end of December.
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• Call
for papers - LSE Global Governance international conference
LSE Global Governance are calling for papers for an international
conference taking place in June 2011.
The conference, 'Persistent Conflict,' will address issues of conflict
duration, persistence, and recurrence, and aims to shed light on these
understudied and under-theorised dimensions of contemporary conflict.
LSE researchers and academics are invited to submit papers that address
any of the three themes of the conference: conflict duration and the stages
of conflict; drivers of conflict persistence; and external interventions.
To get involved, send a CV and a paper abstract of 300-500 words to Tom
Kirk at t.kirk@lse.ac.uk by Tuesday
4 January. For any other enquiries, contact the convenor Dr Iavor
Rangelov at i.p.rangelov@lse.ac.uk.
Staff may also circulate this to anyone they think maybe interested
outside of LSE.
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• Here to help -
LSE's Staff Counselling Service
The LSE Staff Counselling Service is up and running and aims to
support all staff in their work, whether full or part time.
A number of staff have already accessed and benefitted from the
opportunity to look at personal or work difficulties in a confidential
space. At the moment, the service can offer quick access and a range of
appointment times.
If you would like discuss any issue, complete an online registration
form on the
website, email
staff.counselling@lse.ac.uk, or call 020 7955 6953.
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• Michaelmas
term ITS Newsletter
The termly staff newsletter with all the latest news and information
about IT Services is now available, see
ITS News staff edition.
Articles in this term’s edition include:
- LSE Mobile upgrade - important update for LSE Mobile users
- Contacting your IT support team
- New guides to staying safe online
- LSE Wireless - updated and simplified
Make sure you don’t miss out on future newsletters -
subscribe today.
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• Blind
cleaning and servicing
Blind cleaning and servicing will take place in Connaught House from
Monday 29 November until Friday 3 December.
During this time, blinds will be taken down, taken away, and returned
once cleaning and servicing is finished. To limit any inconvenience, most of
the work will take place between 8am and 9.30am each day.
For more information, contact Richard Allen at
r.allen1@lse.ac.uk or on ext
6544.
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• 20 per cent off for Waterstone's LSE account holders
Waterstone's are offering LSE account holders a 20 per cent discount on
stockpicks and orders made before Friday 31 December. Plus you can get
a £50 Waterstone's vouchers when you spend £1,000 on orders or
stockpicks.
Account holders just need to bring their payroll number
with them when placing an order.
For more information, visit the
Waterstone's Economists' Bookshop or email Sue Tarratt, store
manager, at
manager@economists.waterstones.com.
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 Research
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• Patients
need better, not more, information in choosing a high-quality hospital
Health think-thank the King's Fund has warned against the idea that more
information is always better and suggests the government should be cautious
about patients' ability to make full use of the 'information revolution' in
a new report.
The research, conducted in partnership with LSE and IESE Business School,
used focus groups and online experiments to find out how the design of
information influences which hospitals patients choose. It concluded that
simply allowing all information currently available about the quality of
care to be put into the public domain would not result in people making more
informed choices about their care.
Barbara Fasolo, from LSE's Department of Management, was part of the
research team which found that patients do not have firm or stable
preferences about what is important to them when choosing a hospital. It
also found that despite people's tendency to choose their local hospital
rather than travelling further to a hospital with higher ratings of clinical
quality, it is possible to prompt people to pay more attention to the
importance of clinical quality by re-ordering information and making some
aspects of quality more prominent.
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• Early intervention approaches to mental health services can save
the UK up to £40 million per year
An LSE and King's College London study has shown that by providing an early
intervention service approach rather than standard mental health care for
one cohort of patients with psychosis, the UK could save £40 million per
year in the short term, £33 million in the medium term and £18 million in
the long term.
As with other conditions like cancer and heart disease, Early
Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) reflects a shift to a more responsive
specialist service geared to the early phase of the illness. Apart from
improving speed of access and reducing traumatic hospitalisation in crisis,
the service aims to reduce disruption in other areas of patients' lives,
maintain them in employment, education or training as appropriate, improve
access to treatments and work with the whole family to reduce the burden for
carers.
Research has previously shown that EIP can lead to a decrease in the
frequency and severity of relapses, and faster recovery. It has been shown
to have clinical and social benefits. Cost modelling has also indicated
substantial cost savings within and beyond the NHS. This new series of
models, funded by the Department of Health and commissioned via LSE
Enterprise, additionally considers the cost of lost employment and suicide.
In addition, the long-term impact of EIP is explored.
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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 October 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 November 2010.
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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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• Beyond the Crash - an evening in discussion about the
new book by Gordon Brown
This special LSE event will take place on Tuesday 7 December from
6.30-7.30pm on the LSE campus.
The financial crisis has held the world firmly in its grip since it began
in 2007. In his three years in office, the former prime minister was at the
centre of the world’s response to the crisis.
In his new book Beyond the Crash, Brown will offer an insight into
the events that led to the financial downward spiral and the reactions of
world leaders as they took steps to avoid further disaster. Long admired for
his grasp of economic issues, Brown offers measures he believes should be
adopted to secure jobs and justice.
Beyond the Crash offers a unique perspective on the financial
crisis as well as innovative ideas that will help create a sound economic
future and will help readers understand what really has happened to our
economy.
More information about the event, including how to request a ticket, can
be found on the
event web page.
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• Upcoming events include....
Are the New Conservatives Conservative?
On: Friday 26 November at 6.30pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New
Academic Building
Speaker: Daniel Finkelstein, executive editor and chief leader
writer at The Times, and Professor Roger Scruton, resident
researcher at the American Enterprise Institute and visiting professor
in philosophy, Oxford University.
The Sixth Crisis: Iran, Israel, America, and the rumors of war
On: Monday 29 November at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Dr Dana H Allin, editor of Survival and senior fellow
for US foreign policy and transatlantic affairs at the International
Institute for Strategic Studies, London.
Africa and the World: the view from Washington
On: Tuesday 30 November at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Howard Wolpe, former special envoy to the Great Lakes Region
for president Barack Obama.
War in the Borderlands
On: Wednesday 1 December at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Professor Derek Gregory, professor of geography at the
University of British Columbia.
What Europe Means to Me
On: Monday 6 December at 4.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speakers: Jerzy Buzek, president of the European Parliament and
former prime minister of Poland, and Professor Norman Davies, author
of Europe: a history and God's Playground: a history of Poland.
This event is free and open to all however a ticket is required. One ticket
per person can be requested from 10am on Tuesday 30 November.
Economic Sciences as Mostly a Procrustean Bed
On: Tuesday 7 December at 6.30pm. The venue will be confirmed to
ticketholders.
Speaker: Professor Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Distinguished Professor of
Risk Engineering at NYU.
This event is free and open to all however a ticket is required. One ticket
per person can be requested from 10am on Monday 29 November.
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• Centre
for the Study of Human Rights - Cambodia series film screening
'Que je vive en paix' and 'Life in the Open Prison'
Thursday 25 November, 6.30pm, Wolfson Theatre, NAB
'Que je vive en paix' (May I live in peace) is a short animated film in
which the voices of victims of genocide are heard behind a father’s
explanation of his need to acknowledge his own experience and share his
memories. The young Cambodian director Paul Tom is a member of the Montreal
Life stories project, in Quebec. His piece has received the prize for best
animated film at the Montreal Film Festival in 2010.
'Life in the Open Prison' (33 minutes) is a documentary produced by high
school students from Montreal, Quebec. Using life story interviews to
understand more about the Cambodian genocide, the film explores what it
takes to overcome extreme circumstances. Survivors describe their
experiences and illustrate not only the impacts of war, but the resilience
of the human spirit.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Vanaka Chhem-Kieth, who
worked with the Montreal Life Stories Project and the students who produced
'Life in the Open Prison'. Vanaka Chhem-Kieth is a Canadian of
Cambodian origins and is studying LSE's MSc Human Rights. His own
documentary film is showing alongside the 'Cambodia: reflections of the
Khmer Rouge' exhibition in the Atrium Gallery.
More
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• Risk, the State and the Public: theorising the politics of
‘shared responsibility’
Tuesday 30 November, 1-2.30pm, Graham Wallas Room AGWR, 5th
floor, Old Building
Speakers: Dr Vibeke Schou Tjalve and Dr Karen Lund Petersen,
Centre for Advanced Security Theory, University of Copenhagen
This seminar examines the state-society relationship in an era of risk.
What happens when private citizens are mobilised to anticipate and
shoulder elusive security responsibilities in the face of uncertainty?
What kind of state is created, what kind of security governance is
exercised, and what historical practices of security governance are
appropriated or transformed in the process?
For more information, visit the
CARR website.
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• Knowledge transfer panel discussion
Wednesday 1 December, 12-1.30pm, NAB.2.14
With the academic year in full gear, the Teaching and Learning Centre
(TLC) is starting up its second year of knowledge transfer training
activities.
This policy panel discussion will consist of a mixture of structured
advice about presenting academic research in language of advocacy, and about
how to go about lobbying Parliament with personal anecdotes about how
academics might approach a parallel career in policy-making.
The three panellists are LSE professor Nick Barr, Stephen Webster from
the National Centre for Social Research, and Jen Goldstein, parliamentary
lobbying advisor.
To book your place at this event, visit
http://tlcevents.lse.ac.uk/. Staff
can bring lunch with them if they wish.
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• Podcasts of public lectures and events
Restoring Growth
Speaker: Professor John Van Reenen
Recorded: Tuesday 16 November, approx 84 minutes
Click here to listen
The Verdict: did Labour change Britain?
Speakers: Polly Toynbee and David Walker
Recorded: Tuesday 16 November, approx 71 minutes
Click here to listen
Balkans 2020: the ministerial debate
Speakers: Vuk Jeremić and Nickolay Mladenov
Recorded: Thursday 18 November, approx 92 minutes
Click here to listen |
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 60
Second Interview
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• with..... Helen Craig
I'm the new greener living
assistant with the Sustainability
Team and I'll be at LSE until the
end of March 2011. I will be working
in the office on Monday, Tuesday and
half day Wednesday and will be
looking after the Green Impact
project that Fei Conteh kicked off
last year.
The other part of the week, I work
for a healthcare recruitment agency
on database management.
I’m originally from the Midlands
but now I live in Wallington, near
Croydon. My last job was at the
London Borough of Newham working as
a domestic energy efficiency
officer.
Green Impact is part of a larger
project called Degrees Cooler which
is funded by DEFRA (the Department
of Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs) at 20 Universities across
England. The main aim of Degrees
Cooler is to promote sustainable
living to staff and students and
reduce the environmental impact of
universities.
There are over 30 teams
participating this year and there is
still time to join in. Any member of
staff can join Green Impact, as long
as they form a team (of any size)
and are supported by senior staff to
make any improvements they identify.
It is free to join, could save your
department money, and is excellent
for team building within your
office.
It seems that there are about
ten more teams than last year
participating in the Green Impact
project. How do you intend to
recruit even more?
The feedback from last year was
excellent and I'm really glad most
of those teams are participating
again this year to try and build on
their success. Any department,
office, or colleagues who share a building
are welcome to
participate and we are signing up
the last teams now so email me as
soon as possible if you still want
to join in.
Which one measure has proved
particularly effective in producing
a noticeable result overall at LSE?
All the changes are small and
simple to carry out but collectively
they have made a big difference to
all the departments taking part. 100
per cent of the teams from last year
now recycle printer cartridges and
many of the measures are being
rolled out across LSE to all
departments, like the default duplex
printer settings.
Have you always been
interested in environmental matters?
I grew up watching a lot of David
Attenborough programmes and so I’ve
always been interested in wildlife,
and the effect human populations
have on the environment. I really
gained a passion for all things
'green' whilst studying
environmental biogeoscience at the
University of Leeds. The subject is
so broad and links in with
everything we do.
Do you have, or have you ever
had, any pets?
I have a rescue dog called
Shelley, but she still lives with my
Mum now I have moved away. She is
very cute, thinks she is a human,
and looks like Basil Brush.
Where did you go on your last
holiday?
In February, I went on a five
month trip travelling across Russia,
Mongolia, China, Thailand, Laos, and
Australia. I tried to use mostly
overland routes, the longest of
which was on the trans-Mongolian
express from Moscow to Beijing - it
was brilliant and I highly recommend
it, even in winter.
What is the best advice you
have ever been given?
My Nan always told me to 'live
for today with an eye on the
future...' |
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 Training
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• Training
for staff and research students at LSE
Staff courses scheduled for next week include:
- Excel 2010: pivot tables
- Get started with EndNote
- One-to-one voice coaching
- Facebook myths and facts
- Moodle next steps training
For a full schedule and further details, including booking information,
please see www.lse.ac.uk/training. |
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 Media
bites
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• The
Wall Street Journal (Europe) (24 November 2010)
Spain officials speak out to soothe contagion fears
Spanish officials have attempted to dismiss fears that the near-collapse
of the Greek and Irish economies will soon spread to Portugal and Spain.
Luis Garicano, a professor of economics and strategy at LSE, is referred
to as having said that, 'The government needs to swiftly pass
legislation to overhaul the country's generous pension system.'
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• Financial
Times (23 November 2010)
A valuable lesson in quiet leadership
Article by Sir Geoffrey Owen, senior fellow in LSE's Department of
Management, on the success of Trevor Holdsworth and GKN, which changed
from a steelmaker to aerospace and car parts manufacturer.
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• The
Guardian (22 November 2010)
Cities struggle to raise cash on twitchy markets
A report on the struggle of cities and regions to raise money on the
markets, where Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, professor of economic geography at
LSE, mentions that: 'Spanish cities' and regions' debt is too big,
unjustified by their capacity to generate income. Many cities won't be
able to meet payments.'
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