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17 November 2011 |
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 News
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Michaelmas term teaching surveys
Message from Professor
Janet Hartley (pictured), pro-director for teaching and learning.
In teaching weeks eight and nine, the School will be conducting teaching
surveys. Students will be asked to complete a questionnaire in
classes/seminars for half-unit courses, and for any other courses on which
teachers only teach this term (teaching on full-unit courses will mainly be
surveyed in the Lent term).
The questions ask for student views on the course as a whole at this
particular point in time. They also ask for their opinion of their teachers’
performance. The survey covers permanent faculty, GTAs and LSE fellows.
Teachers should conduct surveys during classes/seminars, which should
take no more than ten minutes to complete. Some lecturers might also conduct
a separate survey about lectures (i.e. if they do not teach
classes/seminars). Please ask a student volunteer to collect completed
questionnaires, and to return them in a sealed envelope to a drop box in the
Student Services Centre.
For more information about teaching surveys,
click here. Alternatively, visit the
TQARO’s ‘FAQ’ page.
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Stephen Fry tests LSE’s new life-saving app On Saturday 12
November, a new iPhone app designed to help with crowd safety at major
events, was trialled at the Lord Mayor's Show in the City of London. The app
was developed by LSE, Passau University and ETH Zurich.
During the show Stephen Fry (pictured), who is making a TV film about
London and who is also interested in app technology, interviewed Professor
Eve Mitleton-Kelly, director of the Complexity Group at LSE, about the
research project. Professor Mitleton-Kelly demonstrated the app to Stephen,
which showed anonymous users converging towards the show route and then
showed crowd density as a heat map during the procession.
Professor Mitleton-Kelly and her colleagues were at the show’s control
centre with emergency and other services, who became very interested in
exploring the next trial of the app. For more information about the app,
click here.
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New director of STICERD announced Professor Tim Besley,
director of STICERD, has announced that Professor Oriana Bandiera (pictured)
has been appointed as the new director of STICERD from 1 January 2012.
Professor Bandiera said: ‘It is an honour to be able to build on the
great work done by Professor Besley and the previous STICERD directors. I look
forward to giving my contribution to this outstanding research community.’
Professor Besley added: ‘I am delighted that Professor Bandiera is taking
on this task. STICERD is an important resource for LSE and one of its oldest
research centres; it is good to know that it will be in such capable hands.’
STICERD's previous directors were Professor Michio Morishima, Professor
Sir Tony Atkinson, Professor Lord Nicholas Stern and Professor Howard
Glennerster.
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LSE academic recognised for contribution to the study of British
business history Sir Geoffrey Owen (pictured), senior fellow in the
Department of Management at LSE, has been awarded the 2010 Wadsworth Prize
for Business History by the Business Archives Council (BAC), for his book
The Rise and Fall of Great Companies: Courtaulds and the reshaping of the
man-made fibres industry.
The Wadsworth Prize is awarded annually to an individual judged to have
made an outstanding contribution to the study of British business history in
that year.
The book, which was published in 2010, is about the British company
Courtaulds, which pioneered a major new industry, failed to build on that
success, and ended up being taken over and broken up. By comparing this firm
with its competitors in the same industry, the book sheds light on one of
the hardest of all managerial challenges: what companies can do when their
industry goes through a period of turbulence, forcing them to change
direction, learn new skills, and perhaps abandon businesses on which they
have relied for many years.
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LSE event broadcast on BBC Radio 4 More than 400 people
attended the Department of Management and BBC Radio 4 public conversation, 'The
Darwin Economy: liberty, competition, and the common good', on Thursday
10 November.
At the event Professor Robert Frank, economics professor at Cornell's
Johnson Graduate School of Management, questioned who was the greater
economist - Adam Smith or Charles Darwin.
The event was broadcast on Analysis on BBC
Radio 4
on Monday 14 November. For those who missed it, the broadcast will be repeated at 9.30pm
on Sunday 20 November.
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LSE professor gives evidence to MPs about cyber-crime On
Wednesday 9 November Professor Peter Sommer (pictured), visiting professor
in the Information Systems and Innovation Group at LSE, gave evidence to the
House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee on malware and
cyber-crime.
Professor Sommer was joined by Dr Richard Clayton, of the University of
Cambridge, and Dr Michael Westmacott, of BCS - The Chartered Institute for
IT.
The meeting is available to watch online on the
Parliament website.
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Academic abroad
On Wednesday 2 November Dr Joachim Wehner, senior lecturer in public
policy, gave a seminar entitled 'Electoral Budget Cycles in the EMU: the
role of fiscal rules and budget transparency' at the Fiscal Affairs
Department of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC.
Based on a study of 15 countries of the Economic and Monetary Union
between 1980 and 2007, the seminar revisited the role of elections in
inducing fiscal indiscipline and considered the potential for fiscal rules
and budget transparency to mitigate electoral cyclicality. |
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 Notices
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Meeting with senior staff Adrian Hall's termly meeting with
senior staff will take place on Wednesday 23 November at 11am in the
Vera Anstey Room, Old Building.
The following topics will be on the agenda:
- Adrian Hall: review of current issues
(If colleagues have questions they would like Adrian to answer, please
send these in advance to
y.caramba-coker@lse.ac.uk)
- Adrian Ellison: information security and forthcoming password
changes
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LSE Photo Prize Exhibition 2012: overcoming hurdles LSE Photo
Prize is an annual competition run by LSE Arts and supported by LSE Annual
Fund. The competition is open to all students and staff and is now open for
submissions.
This year’s theme is ‘Overcoming Hurdles’. Winning photos will be
selected by a panel of art professionals and LSE staff, and will be
printed and showcased in an exhibition in the Atrium Gallery, Old Building
from February to April 2012.
For more information on how to enter, visit
LSE Photo Prize 2012.
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Work-life balance - for
everyone! The second webinar for managers, entitled 'Work-life
balance - for everyone!', will be held at 10am on Wednesday 23 November.
This webinar will explore work-life balance: what it is, why it is
important and how flexible working can help to design a team that meets the
needs of the manager, the organisation and employees. The webinar will be
presented by Liz Morris of Working Families.
If you wish to register, visit
www1.gotomeeting.com/register/783933633.
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Staff accommodation - property to let LSE is now offering a
self-contained refurbished bungalow in Berrylands, South West London. Lets
are available for up to a year from Wednesday 30 November.
Overlooking the LSE Sportsground, this property offers:
- Three double bedrooms
- Family bathroom
- Lounge
- Kitchen
- Large gardens
- Ideal for families or those looking for a little more space
For more information about staff accommodation, contact Samantha Da-Costa
on ext 7023, or visit
Accommodation for staff and visitors.
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Are you researching ICTs and development? LSE’s Information
System and Innovation Group is starting a cross-departmental, informal,
monthly meeting for staff/research students working on this topic (e.g.
mobile phones and street traders in Africa, social media and the Arab
Spring, public internet access points in India).
The next meeting will take place on Thursday 1 December from 1-2pm
in room 4.21, New Academic Building. For more information, email Savita
Bailur at s.bailur@lse.ac.uk.
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An invitation to all international staff to take part in a survey by
the Equality Challenge Unit The Equality
Challenge Unit (ECU) works to further and support equality and
diversity for staff and students in higher education across all four nations
of the UK, and in further education in Scotland. This is done by working
closely with colleges and universities.
The ECU is undertaking a survey of international staff working in higher
education across the UK to identify the issues that international staff
members face within the sector, and the key areas where further support
would be most beneficial. The survey responses will be anonymised and no
individuals or individual institutions will be identified.
If you would like to take part in the survey, visit
www.surveymonkey.com/s/supporting_international_staff. The survey will
be open until Thursday 22 December.
Please email Claire Herbert at
claire.herbert@ecu.ac.uk if you have anything to contribute and/or if
you have any questions or queries about this project. The results of the
survey and the good practice case studies will be published by ECU in 2012.
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Want to participate in a film? LSE's Neurodiversity Service is
collaborating with film studies students from The Sixth Form College,
Farnborough, to make a short film aimed at promoting LSE to prospective
students who have dyslexia or other specific learning difficulties, or a
disability.
Do you have a success story about such a student? Would you be willing to
do a film interview about it?
Filming will take place on Wednesday 25 January. If you are
interested, email Sheila Blankfield at
s.blankfield@lse.ac.uk.
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More for less - take advantage of special offers for LSE staff
This week's offer is for RUSH Hair Salon Aldwych which is offering
LSE staff the ultimate salon experience with their premier gift package.
The package includes the following services, across three separate
visits:
- Visit one: A cut and blow dry, a personal style and colour
consultation, a shampoo, conditioning and indulgent head massage.
- Visit two: fashion slice highlights (15 foils) or a full head
semi-permanent colour, a colour consultation, shampoo, conditioning,
head massage and blow dry.
- Visit three: second cut and blow dry with a follow-up style and
colour consultation, shampoo, conditioning and indulgent head massage.
Normally valued at over £200, RUSH Hair are inviting you to enjoy all of
this for just £49.95. To purchase the package or for more information,
contact Amanda or Hannah on 0845 686 0185.
If you know of any deals that you think may be of interest to Staff
News readers, email Margaret Newson, purchasing manager, at
m.newson@lse.ac.uk. |
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 LSE
in pictures
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This week's picture features Brian Moore, former England rugby player
turned journalist and media commentator, who gave a public lecture at
LSE on Tuesday 15 November, entitled
The Wit and Wisdom of Brian Moore. After the talk, Brian signed
copies of his book More Thoughts of Chairman Moore.
For more images like this, visit the
Photography Unit.
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 Research
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Hong Kong tops global health index Hong Kong, Osaka, Tokyo and
Singapore - all high-income Asian cities - come out on top of a new study of
129 world metropolitan regions.
The study by LSE Cities is part of new research being launched this week
at the Urban Age Hong Kong ‘Cities, Health and Well-being’ conference,
organised by LSE and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society, in
partnership with the University of Hong Kong.
Combining data from the UN and other sources usually only available at
national level, the study gives a snapshot of how health, education and
wealth vary in 129 city regions across five continents totalling 1.2 billion
people. Taking into account life expectancy and child mortality, and other
health indicators, the study reveals that western European cities like
Stockholm, Paris and Berlin fare better than North American counterparts,
but lag behind cities in developed Asian regions.
More
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New paper investigates students’ perception of maths and statistics
Meena Kotecha (pictured), a teacher in the Department of Mathematics and
Department of Statistics at LSE, has published a paper entitled Enhancing
Students’ Engagement Through Effective Feedback, Assessment and Engaging
Activities.
The paper, which Meena presented at the CETL MSOR 2010 annual conference,
looks at students’ perceptions of mathematics and statistics and their
impact on students’ engagement, enthusiasm and academic self-efficacy.
Meena discusses the strategies that she has developed to improve learning
and teaching in statistics and mathematics service course classes,
consisting of 15 students each, some of which also worked extremely well in
her lectures to large audiences of about 350 students. She argues that such
an approach could not only enhance students’ perceptions of the subjects and
their engagement in classes/lectures but also promote critical thinking,
independent learning, reasoning and several transferable skills associated
with university education.
A copy of the paper can be found at
http://mathstore.ac.uk/headocs/Kotecha.pdf. |
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 Events
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New events announced....
Repositioning Bangladesh in the Western Imagination
On: Monday 5 December from 6.30-8pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre,
New Academic Building
Speaker: Professor David Lewis (pictured), professor of social
policy and development at LSE.
Discussants: Professor Ramachandra Guha, Philippe Roman Chair in
history and international affairs for the 2011-12 academic year at LSE,
and Professor Naila Kabeer, professor of development studies at
SOAS.
A lecture by Kristalina Georgieva
On: Tuesday 6 December from 1-2pm. The venue will be confirmed
shortly.
Speaker: Kristalina Georgieva (pictured), European commissioner for
international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response.
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Other events include....
The Global Value of the Commonwealth
On: Monday 21 November at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth secretary general.
Role of the Chinese Diaspora
On: Wednesday 23 November at 6.30pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement
House
Speaker: Lord Nat Wei, the youngest and only ethnic Chinese peer in
the House of Lords.
Social Movements in the Age of the Internet
On: Thursday 24 November at 6.30pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New
Academic Building
Speaker: Professor Manuel Castells, University Professor and the
Wallis Annenberg Chair in communication technology and society at the
University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
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What are you doing at LSE? On:
Monday 21 November at 6.30pm in the Wolfson Theatre, New Academic
Building
Speakers: Paulina Bozek (pictured), CEO and LSE alumna,
Vyacheslav Polonski, LSE Stelios scholar and BSc management 2012, and
Christina Kerr, Barclays Capital recruiter and LSE alumna.
Paulina Bozek, Vyacheslav Polonski and Christina Kerr will give the first
public talk of the 2011/12 World Stage Student and Alumni Lecture Series.
The event is designed to inspire students about the possibilities offered
by an LSE education, and to encourage students to reflect on how they can
gain the utmost from their experience at the School.
This lecture series and reception is a unique event which brings together
current LSE students, staff and alumni, and provides an informal forum in
which they can meet, network and exchange perspectives on how to make the
most of the LSE experience both now and in the future.
For more information or to register your interest, visit
lse.ac.uk/worldstage.
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Ralph Miliband and Parliamentary Socialism -
50th anniversary conference On: Friday 25 November
from 1-5.30pm in the Morishima Conference Room, Lionel Robbins Building
Ralph Miliband’s Parliamentary Socialism shaped a generation of
activists and scholars. But what are its lessons today? Must parliamentary
politics undermine extra-parliamentary movements? And can Labour ever move
us beyond capitalism?
Speakers will include:
- Tariq Ali
- Robin Archer
- Robin Blackburn
- Hilary Wainwright
The conference is open to staff, researchers and research students but
places are limited. To find out more or to book a place, email
sociology.events@lse.ac.uk.
The conference will be followed by a public lecture which is free and
open to all:
Whatever Happened to Parliamentary Socialism: taking Ralph Miliband
seriously today
On: Friday 25 November from
6.30-8pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speaker: Professor Leo Panitch, Distinguished Research Professor at
York University, Canada
For more information, visit the
event web listing.
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The Future of Feminism - EVENT CANCELLED
On: Monday 21 November at 6.30pm in the New Theatre, East Building
Speaker: Professor Sylvia Walby (pictured), UNESCO chair in gender
research and professor of sociology, Lancaster University
This event has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.
More
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Podcasts of public lectures and events
Doing Business with China: problems, challenges and opportunities
Speaker: Stephen Perry
Recorded: Tuesday 8 November, approx 88 minutes
Click here to listen
The City of London
Speaker: Professor David Kynaston
Recorded: Wednesday 9 November, approx 74 minutes
Click here to listen
Crisis in the EU and Eurozone - Austria's response
Speaker: Dr Michael Spindelegger
Recorded: Thursday 10 November, approx 50 minutes
Click here to listen |
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 60
second interview
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with..... Ed Fay
I'm the Digital Library manager
at LSE. I started working in
libraries by accident and spend most
of my time plotting the digital
revolution.
On Wednesday 23 November, a reception is
being held to mark the 10th
anniversary of the Library in its
current form and also the 115th
anniversary of its foundation. What
will this entail?
The reception is intended to
celebrate our past and to look to
the future, with the launch of a
new Library vision and strategy, as
written by our senior managers,
which sets the context for the
development of Library services over
the next three years. Also featuring
in the celebrations is the launch of
the new LSE Digital Library, which
is a key part of these developments.
What exactly is the LSE Digital
Library?
The Digital Library is a number
of interconnected services - it is
our capacity for long-term
preservation of digital content and
also our ability to provide access
to that digital content, for example
by publishing on the open web, which
we do under a creative commons
licence where possible. The Digital
Library is the sum of new staff
skills, changing working practices
and cutting-edge technical
infrastructure.
The Digital Library is a bit like
an iceberg - the most visible part
of it will be the public point of
access (http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/) but there is a whole lot more
going on underneath the surface.
There are many challenges to
preserving digital content
indefinitely - ensuring that we can
always retrieve information
regardless of when it was created
and with what combination of
hardware, software and, as can be
the case, ingenuity or obscurity!
Examples of the collections that
will be in the Digital Library are
the outputs from our digitisation
programme, unique born-digital
archives - institutional records and
personal digital artefacts - and
other content such as PhD theses and
selected official publications. In
the future this will include any
digital material that the Library is
responsible for preserving but not
material that we only license access
to, such as e-journals or e-books.
How do we rate against other
universities in this field?
Digital preservation has been an
active research area for over ten
years and many theoretical and
practical solutions have been
developed. But institutions which
have successfully implemented active
preservation systems tend to be
large organisations, such as the
British Library or National
Archives. Compared to other
institutions who are working at a
similar scale, we are one of the
leading universities in implementing
actual, working solutions.
Forget about daily complaints and
little frustrations, what do you
love about LSE and what
would make it an even better and
more unique institution?
I love the ambition of the
institution and the people who work
here - we strive to be world leaders
and that makes it an inspiring place
to work. Having come from outside
London, one thing which could make
it better would be more green space; that would certainly be unique in
central London, but short of
acquiring more buildings just to
turn them into landscaped parks I’m
not sure how that could happen.
What book are you currently
reading and which have you enjoyed
most in the past?
I'm currently reading the
biography of Steve Jobs, a man who
was very influential but who was
famous amongst the relative unknowns
who actually built our modern world
. Amongst the books which I have
enjoyed the most are The Unbearable
Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)
and An Introduction to Zen Buddhism
(D T Suzuki). I have also enjoyed
reading various works by Haruki
Murakami, Aldous Huxley, Martin
Heidegger and Nagarjuna.
Name three things you cannot do
without.
My smartphone: mobile computing
and connectivity are only starting
to revolutionise the world; the
internet and the networked services
that connect us to people and
information; and my fiancée Liz
(who is number one, really).
What is the best advice you have
ever been given?
Be true to your own beliefs,
trust in your own being and practise
every day to improve yourself and
your actions, which is my attempt
at summarising what various martial
arts teachers have told me over the
years. |
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 Training
and jobs
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Training for staff Courses scheduled for next week include:
- Video conferencing for teaching and meetings
- Excel 2010: presenting and printing data
- Excel 2010: data analysis
- One-to-one IT training
- Writing for the media
- Career development for research staff
- First aid at work
- Introduction to Twitter
For a full listing of what is available and further details, including
booking information, see
www.lse.ac.uk/training.
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Jobs at LSE Below are some of the vacancies currently being
advertised to internal candidates only, as well as those being advertised
externally.
- Foundation partnerships manager, ODAR: major gift fundraising
- HR adviser/PA to the HR director, HR Services
- HR consultant (organisational lifelong learning), HR
Specialists
- HR partner, HR Partners
- Head of finance, Residential and Catering Services Division
- LSE fellow in risk and regulation, Centre for Analysis of
Risk and Regulation
- Lecturer in economics, Economics
- Lecturer in environment, Geography and Environment
- Lectureship in finance, Finance
- Principal research fellow, Centre for Economic Performance
- Research officer, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion
- Research programme administrator, Government
- TLC administrator, Teaching and Learning Centre
- Tenure-track lecturer in political theory, Government
For more information, visit
Jobs at LSE and login via the instructions under the 'Internal
vacancies' heading. |
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