LSE launches two new research centres

The Centre for Macroeconomics and the Systemic Risk Centre will look at different aspects of the global economic crisis.

#askthedirector

LSE Director, Professor Craig Calhoun, will be taking questions live on Twitter on Tuesday 22 January. Ask him a question in advance using the #askthedirector hashtag.

Christian Thiel

Christian, who is LSE Enterprise business development manager, believes that teamwork is more important than superpowers.

Two new research centres launched at LSE

Two new ESRC-funded research centres have been launched at LSE.

The Centre for Macroeconomics will bring together a group of world class experts to carry out pioneering research on the global economic crisis and help design policies to alleviate it.

Chaired by LSE’s Nobel Prize-winning economics professor, Christopher Pissarides, the new Centre will encompass experts from LSE, UCL, University of Cambridge, the Bank of England, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, and other leading global institutions.

The Systemic Risk Centre will study the risks that could trigger the next financial crisis.

New LSE Network Economy blog launched

The LSE Network Economy Blog, run by the Network Economy Forum which is based in the Department of Management, disseminates research and aims to foster debate about telecommunications and internet policy research.

The team is looking for submissions of posts relating to contemporary telecom and internet policy in Europe (including technical and regulatory issues) and aspects of telecom and internet policy in international perspective.

The Women’s Library and its staff have joined LSE after the transfer of ownership from London Metropolitan University on 1 January 2013.

LSE will now run The Women’s Library service at Aldgate whilst the project to bring it to its new home at the LSE Library in May continues.

The Women’s Library is Europe’s largest collection of material relating to the lives of women, as well as being a key part of British heritage. Objects within the collection related to the suffrage movement are already internationally recognised and the LSE Library is committed to further raising the profile of this exceptional collection. We have ambitious plans to digitise the collections which will ensure they are accessible to global audiences in a digital world.

First executive education programme for ITAM

Simon Flemington, CEO of LSE Enterprise, and Professor Alejandro Hernández, provost of the research university Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a customised executive education programme between the two institutions.

The International Political Economy Programme will commence in summer 2013, with a group of students from ITAM visiting LSE to receive a mixture of specialist lectures, private seminars, and corporate visits during the three weeks in London.

The programme has been designed by LSE Enterprise specifically for ITAM. It will provide students with a thorough understanding of key trends in global political economy and encourage leadership based on high-quality evidence and rigorous debate.

Simon Flemington said: ‘I am delighted to be working with one of the foremost higher education institutions in Mexico, as part of our increasing Hispano American activity. I look forward to welcoming our first ITAM students to LSE later this year and hope that the programme will benefit both them and their region.’
 

LSE Staff Survey update

The LSE Staff Survey closed at the end of last term. Thank you to all who responded; there was a 68.5 per cent response rate, which is fantastic especially when compared to the 2009 response rate of just 38 per cent. It is also higher than ORC International’s (our external provider) benchmark average for Russell Group Universities, which is 63 per cent.

The next stage for 2013 is the action planning phase and, for this, HR needs your help. If you are in an area of the School which does not yet have a Staff Survey contact, please consider volunteering.

In a recent Staff News '60 second interview', Dr Ellen Helsper explained why she decided to become a Staff Survey contact: 'I thought it was a fantastic opportunity to help LSE improve what is already a good working environment'.

Judges announced and deadline extended for LSE Research Festival

Several high profile LSE figures, including pro-director for research and external relations Professor Stuart Corbridge; Professor Sylvia Chant, professor of development geography; dean of graduate studies Dr Sunil Kumar; and vice chair of the School’s Court of Governors Anne Lapping, will be among the judges for LSE’s Research Festival.

Submissions, in the form of posters, films, apps or photographs, are welcome from academic and research staff across the School, and the deadline has just been extended to Friday 25 January. Prizes will be awarded in each category at an awards celebration in March.

In December 2012, Professor Danny Quah (pictured), Kuwait Professor of Economics and International Development at LSE, was given the Hanban’s Confucius Institute Individual Performance Excellence Award of the Year, at a ceremony in Beijing.

The award recognises Professor Quah’s work on ‘promoting greater understanding of China’s place in the world, by insightfully analysing and effectively communicating to general audiences worldwide the effects of shifts in the global economy and of the rise of the east.’

LSE student Dr Mahaveer Golechha (pictured) has been selected for the prestigious Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s (ADDF) 'Young Investigator Scholarship Award'.

The award is presented by the ADDF to 30 'Outstanding Young Investigators' throughout the world who are working in the area of Alzheimer's disease drug discovery. It recognises the early achievements of these young investigators and seeks to encourage the career development of the next generation of research scientists.

Mahaveer, who is pursuing a master's in health policy, planning and financing from both LSE and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is being given this honour for his research on 'Naringin', a bioflavonoid. He investigated the neuroprotective properties of naringin, a bioflavonoid found in grapefruits and citrus fruits, and discovered that naringin possesses significant anti-Alzheimer activity.

Mahaveer said: 'It’s an honour to be acknowledged by the ADDF and ranked among other brilliant young researchers. I hope this award creates further avenues for budding scientists at LSE and my country, to be recognised for their work and facilitated to follow their dreams.'

#askthedirector - open Twitter session

LSE Director, Professor Craig Calhoun, will be taking questions live on Twitter from 3-4pm on Tuesday 22 January.

A4 internal envelopes

The Post Room kindly ask staff to return all internal A4 envelopes to them in room KGS.03, King's Chambers.

The envelopes are recycled and stocks are running low.
 

'Flipping' the lecture is an approach that has been gaining popularity in UK education recently. It means providing students with a video recording in lieu of an actual lecture, and then using the timetabled lecture period to do something more interactive with students.

One pioneer of this approach is Carl Gombrich, director of the Arts and Sciences programme at UCL. In his words, 'it is a no-brainer to me that generally students get more than double the benefit by seeing your lecture on a video ... and then have a full hour in which to discuss their thoughts on the video.' Carl's reflections on a year of flipped lectures can be read here.

The LSE India Observatory/Asia Research Centre is able to support small grants for India-related:

• research projects
• travel grants
• workshop related costs

LSE staff and PhD students are invited to send applications to arc@lse.ac.uk mentioning this grant in the subject line. Applications should include a statement of no more than two sides of A4 outlining the proposed research, the period of anticipated travel or workshop, and an estimate of costs.

PhD students should submit a brief statement in support of the application from their academic supervisor. Candidates under consideration for the grant will be invited to discuss their application further with the co-director of the India Observatory.

Tell us what you think - Staff News feedback survey 2013

The Press Office has put together a short survey for you to let us know how you feel about Staff News. It will be an important way for us to find out how we can improve the newsletter for you.

The survey is open to all staff and should take no more than five minutes to complete. To take part, visit www.survey.bris.ac.uk/lsewebsite/staff_news_2013.

LSE Perspectives

January's LSE Perspectives gallery is now online. You can view the gallery online here.

The gallery features 12 striking images submitted by LSE staff and students. Each image reflects a unique perspective on a particular scene.

If you have taken any artistic images on your travels, in your home town, or even just here in London, why not submit them for LSE Perspectives so that they can be shared with the LSE community.

Knitting and craft groups at LSE

Is your new year’s resolution to learn a new skill? Do you have craft projects that you have not quite got around to finishing? LSE has two lunch time groups that may be able to help.

Knitting Group meets every Wednesday from 12.30-1.30pm in the SCR, or the SCR terrace when the weather is warm. The group contains knitters of all abilities and beginners are welcome. Email Justine Rose at j.rose1@lse.ac.uk for more information.

Craft Group meets every other Tuesday from 1-2pm at various locations (depending on what rooms are available). Crafters include patchwork, beading, embroidery, knitting, crochet and any portable crafts. Email Gizelle Regis at g.regis@lse.ac.uk to be added to the mailing list for room location information.
 

Yoga with Rachel

Stretch, balance, and strengthen your whole system. Yoga with Rachel takes place every Thursday from 1-2pm in the Parish Hall, Sheffield Street.

More for less - take advantage of special offers for LSE staff

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.

This week's image features a student pictured between two brightly coloured walls on the first floor of LSE's New Academic Building (NAB).

For more images like this, visit the Photography Unit.

New research published today exposes the true scale of the Government’s social care crisis for disabled people, which has left thousands without access to basic care to help them eat, wash properly and leave their homes.

The report, The Other Care Crisis, is published by Scope, Mencap, The National Autistic Society, Sense and Leonard Cheshire Disability. It brings together a number of strands of analysis, including economic modelling from Dr Jose-Luis Fernandes, deputy director of the Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) at LSE.

Close the gap between the no frills learning that too often happens in school and the interactive, hands on learning that usually takes place out of school. Take advantage of the internet's ability to help youth develop knowledge, expertise, skills and important new literacies. Use digital technology to combat the increasing reality of the haves and have-nots in education.

Children who find it difficult to manage their emotions, conduct and social behaviour in ‘the offline world’ are more likely to be upset in ‘the online world’, according to the latest report from EU Kids Online.

Most children do not feel bothered when confronted with online risks but children with psychological problems are less resilient; online risks upset them more often and more intensely. Moreover they tend to be passive instead of actively trying to solve the problems they face.

Nationalism and Transnational History

On: Wednesday 13 March at 6.30pm in Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speaker: Professor John Breuilly (pictured), professor of nationalism and ethnicity at LSE, Dr Faisal Devji, reader in Indian history at St Antony's College, University of Oxford, and Dr Mark Hewitson, senior lecturer in German history and politics in the Department of German at University College London.

This discussion will mark the launch of The Oxford Handbook of the History of Nationalism edited by Professor John Breuilly. More
 

Other forthcoming LSE events include....

Digital Reality - Life in Two Worlds: the physical world we inhabit and the digital universe we create
On: Monday 21 January at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Ping Fu, founder and CEO of Geomagic, a global company providing 3D technology for digital reality.

The Foreign Policy Dilemmas of the US Administration in the Next Four Years
On: Tuesday 22 January at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Professor John Coatsworth (pictured), provost and professor of international and public affairs and of history at Columbia University.

Eurozone Deadlock - Finding a Path Out of the Crisis
On: Wednesday 23 January at 6.30pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Professor Luis Garicano, professor and head of the Managerial Economics and Strategy Group in LSE’s Department of Management.

On: Tuesday 22 January from 6.30-8.30pm in the Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building

Spanish in Motion and the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies present Dying for dreams by Clemente Bernad (Morir de sueños, 30´, In Spanish with English subtitles).

This shortfilm is part of a project 'Where memory dwells' by the Spanish photographer, Clemente Bernad, which also includes a book, Kept awake, and a multimedia exhibition.

After the coup d´état in Spain in July of 1936, an uncontrolled, cruel and systematic repression on the part of the Fascists broke out that led to the death of some 150,000 people. The bodies of those people were left in ditches or in common graves throughout the fields and mountains of the country.

This is a story full of cruelty, violence, death, and hatred. But above all it is a story full of love: the love of those determined not to forget, determined to cry and to fight for the memory of all those whose lives had been taken from them with impunity.

After the film, Clemente Bernad will present the project 'Where memory dwells' and there will be also a panel discussion. Both presentation and panel discussion will take place in Spanish.

Podcasts of public lectures and events

The podcasts below were amongst the most popular in 2012:

Together: the rituals, pleasures and politics of co-operation
Speaker: Professor Richard Sennett
Recorded: Monday 6 February, approx. 90 minutes
Click here to listen

Can the Next US President Make America 'Great' Again?
Speaker: Professor Mick Cox
Recorded: Thursday 2 August, approx. 84 minutes
Click here to listen

Training for staff

Courses scheduled for next week include:

• Mental Health First Aid

• Presentation Skills

• Strategic Thinking

• Introductory Course for Health and Safety Coordinators and Line Managers

• Using Blogs, Wikis and Other Social Media for Teaching

• Using Online Communication Tools

• Blogging, Press, Web Presence and Social Media

• PowerPoint 2010: finishing touches

• Getting Started with Online Information Resources at LSE

For full listings and further details, including booking information, see www.lse.ac.uk/training.
 

Below are some of the vacancies currently being advertised to internal candidates only, as well as those being advertised externally.

• Administrative assistant, Government
• Alumni relations officer, ODAR: alumni relations
• BSc and PhD programme manager, Accounting
• Centre manager, LSE Cities
• Lecturer in statistics, Statistics
• Lectureship in mathematics, Mathematics
• Principal or senior research fellow (climate policy), Grantham Research Institute
• Professor in organisational behaviour, Management
• Programme administrator, Management
• Reader in statistics, Statistics
• Research assistant, Government
• TRIUM programme coordinator, TRIUM

Inspired by the fundraising activities of members of LSE’s Green Impact teams, sustainability assistant Louise Laker (pictured), is cycling from London to Paris in 24 hours in aid of Scope, a UK charity working towards a vision of the world where disabled people have the same opportunities as everyone else.

Louise hopes to raise a huge £1,200 in total. Louise said: 'The support of LSE staff will be invaluable in helping me to reach my fundraising target. I hope you can help by donating at www.justgiving.com/Louise-Laker.'

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 24 January. Articles for this should be emailed to me by Tuesday 22 January. Staff News is emailed every Thursday during term time and fortnightly during the holidays.