A Royal opening for LSE's newest landmark building

HRH The Princess Royal has officially opened LSE's newest building, 32 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, previously known as the Land Registry building.

The Future of London within the UK

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will discuss the role and future of London within the Union at this event on Wednesday 22 May.

Jayne, head of governance at LSE, loves marmite and regularly gives thanks for the existence of The Daily Grind, the coffee shop in the Towers reception area.

Many thanks to everyone who completed our newsletter survey last term. I will be working through all of your comments and feedback to see what improvements I can make to the newsletter, in time for the next academic year.

We are also always looking for members of staff to take part in our '60 second interview' slot, so if you would like to nominate a colleague or even put yourself forward, email me at n.gallivan@lse.ac.uk.

Best wishes,

On Monday 29 April, HRH The Princess Royal (pictured) officially opened the newest landmark building of LSE, 32 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, previously known as the Land Registry building.

LSE is only the second owner of the Grade II listed building, which was built in 1903 as the Land Registry’s head office and is located on the largest garden square in London. It was purchased by LSE in 2010 for £37.7 million and renamed as 32 Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

The fourth call for contributions to the Strategic Review has now gone out and we hope staff will be as active and constructive in their responses as they have been for the previous three.

The question now set is 'Which three big issues facing the world do you think the School should seek to solve?' As before please reply to strategy@lse.ac.uk. The deadline is Friday 17 May.

The results of the third call for contributions will go up on the website on Friday but here are some of the headlines: 58 per cent of respondents said the lecture had not had its day, 27 per cent thought it depended on the type and quality of the lecture, and 15 per cent that the lecture had indeed had its day.

We are also moving to organise focused discussion groups looking at a number of the key questions emerging from the Review. The first session took place before Easter and looked at the structure and composition of the School. Others will follow over the course of this term.

The latest university rankings have rated LSE as the best university in London.

Using a variety of measures such as research quality, graduate prospects and student satisfaction, The Complete University Guide 2014 has ranked LSE as the top university in the capital and third best UK university overall, behind Oxford and Cambridge.

In terms of subjects, the Guide rates the School as the best place in the UK to study social policy and joint-best for economics and philosophy. All subjects offered by LSE were ranked in the top ten and most were in the top five.

The Guide also ranks LSE as the joint-top institution in the UK in terms of research quality.

Professor Craig Calhoun, Director of LSE, said: 'Producing excellent research and teaching is central to the School’s mission but we are also pleased that, as these rankings indicate, so many of our students go on to fulfilling careers. Of course, there is more to a university than what can be captured in a league table, but it is always nice to have the hard work of our staff and students recognised.'

Professor Judy Wajcman (pictured) of the Department of Sociology has been selected as the 2013 recipient of the CITASA (Communications and Information Technologies Section of the American Sociological Association) William F. Ogburn Career Achievement Award.

This award recognises a sustained body of research that has provided an outstanding contribution to the advancement of knowledge in the area of sociology of communications or the sociology of information technology.

Library Services have begun a new archive project to catalogue, digitise and promote the papers of Lionel Robbins (pictured).

The project, 'The Economist and the Wider World: the papers of Lionel Robbins (1898 - 1984)’, will cover a wide range of subjects, including his work at LSE, as a trustee for the National Gallery, director of the Royal Opera House, writing the 1963 Robbins Report on Higher Education and heading the economic section of the War Cabinet.

Highlights uncovered so far include his American diaries with records of the Bretton Woods conference, letters from public figures including Henry Moore and Harold Wilson, correspondence with other eminent figures at LSE including Karl Popper, James Meade and Nicholas Kaldor, and poems reflecting on his experiences during World War One.

Lionel Robbins was closely connected with LSE for over 50 years as student, professor, chair of the Department of Economics, and chairman of the Court of Governors during his career as an economist, public servant and patron of the arts.

Twenty seven students from LSE, the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and Sciences Po in Paris, are collaborating on a project that addresses three pressing issues facing Europe and European governance today.

Based on an idea by Hertie School students, ‘Europe 2025’ is about bringing international public policy students together with policy-makers from across Europe to infuse the debate on Europe with a fresh international perspective and political imagination.

The students are tasked with engaging their European peers using a web-based dialogue, analysing their findings, and then drawing up policy briefings that capture the political imagination, cultural currents and authentic beliefs of their peers on three distinct topics:

• The Founding Narrative: towards a new raison d’être of the European Union
• Redesigning Europe: towards a new European Union
• Governance Innovations: towards better governance in Europe

The students will submit and present their papers at the upcoming Berggruen Symposium in Paris on Tuesday 28 May. The audience will include the French president, François Hollande, as well as a long list of prominent European policymakers, past and present.

LSE academics give evidence to European Parliament Committee

On Monday 22 April, Dr Roger Levy (pictured) and Professor Michael Barzelay of the Department of Management gave evidence at a hearing of the European Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee held in Brussels.

The event was live streamed on the Parliament's website and throughout the European institutions. Based on research on financial control policies in the European Commission, the findings now go forward as part of the Committee's report to further strengthen the financial management of European Union spending programmes.
 

LSE Enterprise’s latest conference was held in Santiago. It was opened by the Spanish ambassador to Chile and featured a talk by the Chilean minister for transport and telecommunications as well as two LSE academics.

Dr Luca Taschini explored Chile’s energy challenges, discussing the public policies that might reduce carbon emissions in Chile’s key sectors and considering how an Emission Trading Scheme could work for Chile.

We would like to inform all staff of the access arrangements on the main School campus for the public holidays in May 2013.

The Library will be open as follows:

• Monday 6 May: 24 hour opening - staffed services 11am-6pm
• Monday 27 May: 24 hour opening - staffed services 11am-6pm

There will be limited LSE ID card access to campus buildings for staff, based on their current level of access, as stated below:

• Monday 6 May: 8am-5pm
• Monday 27 May: 8am-5pm

Staff should only attend for work if absolutely necessary on the public holidays.

LSE staff working in Aldwych House will need to give the building security staff advance notice if they wish to attend for work on Saturday 4, Sunday 5, Monday 6, Saturday 25, Sunday 26 and Monday 27 May.

Halls of Residence are open throughout, with staff cover as normal. Normal term time arrangements for the halls will apply.

Emergencies will be dealt with by a team of Security staff on duty at the Old Building reception desk in Houghton Street. They can also be contacted, in an emergency, by telephone on 020 7955 6555.

LSE is committed to high standards among its staff, and to ensuring their achievements are recognised and rewarded.

Consideration procedures:

• Academic Support Staff Contribution process (ASSC)
  All academic support staff (bands 1-10)
• Non-Professorial Contribution Committee (NPCC)
  Academic staff (bands 7-9), research staff (bands 6-9), teaching only staff (bands 5-8) e.g. course tutors, language teachers, and LSE fellows (bands 5-6)
• Recommendations to the Remuneration Committee are made by the Senior Staff Contribution Committee (SSCC), excluding those reporting directly to the Remuneration Committee
  Academic staff (band 10 - professors)

Current deadlines are:

• Tuesday 30 April: SSCC
  Individual contribution statements sent for review to the relevant head of Department/Centre/Institute
• Tuesday 7 May: ASSC
  All recommendations submitted to Human Resources by group heads
• Friday 10 May: SSCC
  Received from heads of Department/Centre/Institute by Human Resources:
  - All individual contribution statements
  - Summary of contribution award recommendations
  - Heads of Department/Centre/Institute personal contribution statement
• Friday 17 May: NPCC submissions deadline

New governance structure for equality and diversity

As part of a fresh approach to the governance of equality and diversity in the School, a new Equality and Diversity Executive Working Group has been set up.

The group comprises a diverse range of representatives from services across the School who have operational responsibilities for equality and diversity in their areas of work. The representatives are designated as Equality and Diversity Ambassadors and the group is chaired by Susan Scholefield, School Secretary, as the overall School Equality and Diversity Ambassador.

For more information, see Equality and Diversity Executive Working Group.
 

Work with LSE Enterprise

Visit lse.ac.uk/privatework for information about undertaking consulting or teaching for external organisations with LSE Enterprise.

This month, join us to bid for consulting projects for the European Commission, European Parliament and USAID.
 

To help reduce the negative environmental impact of using disposable cups, LSE Catering is selling new environmentally friendly smart mugs.

The mugs are retailing at £8.50 (including a free tea, coffee or hot chocolate).

Smart mugs are sold and accepted in:

• LSE Garrick
• 4th Floor Café Bar
• Café 54
• Mezzanine Café
• The Bean Counter
• SDR Café Bar (members only)

Using Outlook signatures for standard email replies

Many Outlook users create email ‘signatures’ to automatically add their name, title, organisation and contact details at the bottom of messages.

Signatures also are the quickest way to send out standard messages or standard responses. They can be as long or as short as you wish, and include web links, photos and formatting if required. Typically, they are a complete message, ending with the name and contact details of the sender. Standard message ‘signatures’ are created and used just like any other signature, the only difference is in the amount of text they contain. You can create as many different signatures as you need. To learn how, see this handy guide.

If you have an IT question, check out our online guides and FAQs or attend our weekly Software Surgeries. Alternately, staff and PhD students are invited to enrol for a 1-2-1 IT Training session or contact IT.Training@lse.ac.uk to book a consultation with a training specialist.

Senior Common Room Annual Dinner

Any member of staff may attend the Senior Common Room Annual Dinner on Thursday 30 May.

The guest of honour and speaker this year is the Rt Hon Margaret Hodge, MP. Booking information is on the SCR website.
 

Applications are invited from LSE PhD students for mobility bursaries to visit one of the School's institutional partners (Columbia University, New York; the National University of Singapore (NUS); Peking University, Beijing; Sciences Po, Paris; or the University of Cape Town) in order to work informally with an advisor on their PhD thesis, research and/or on related publications and presentations, and to introduce them to the academic culture, professional contacts and employment opportunities of another country/region.

For 2013-14, up to ten bursaries are on offer to visit one of the above listed five partner institutions. For any one partner institution, up to two flat rate bursaries of £2,500 are available.

Students registered for PhD studies at any LSE department and who have already been upgraded to full doctoral student status are eligible to apply. Each visit should be a minimum of two months and a maximum of three months in duration.

Equality and Diversity Summer term flyer

Among the many events on offer for staff this term are a working lunch discussion on compliant marking, workshops on developing resilience, and advice for new mums and dads on balancing work and childcare.

There’s also a special School-wide Learning at Work Day in May.

For more information and details of the events, download the Summer term flyer [PDF].
 

Knitting and craft groups at LSE

Do you want 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 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.
 

Tuesdays (term time) at 12.10-12.50pm in LSE Chaplaincy, 20 Kingsway

Meditation is something that many of us have talked about doing. But what does it really mean? What is one meant to do whilst sitting silently? It is often understood as tuning out the endless chatter. But in fact meditation is about tuning into a deeper, quieter part within yourself. Being more fully present to what is.

Meditation allows us to settle into a space where we can connect with our true intentions, and mindfulness allows us to remember those intentions every day.

No previous experience of meditation is needed, a brief introduction will be provided followed by a silent sit.

Skip fit lessons

Security officer and former boxer Daniel Beckley is running skip fit lessons for all staff and students at LSE. Build up your fitness, burn calories and increase your stamina, all within an hour.

The next lessons will take place from 1-2pm at the Badminton Court, Old Building, on Tuesday 14 May, Tuesday 21 May, Tuesday 4 June, Tuesday 11 June, and Tuesday 25 June.

Just turn up on any of these dates with your own skipping rope. All lessons are free.

For more information, email Daniel at d.beckley@lse.ac.uk.
 

Join Wendy on Wednesday 15 May from 12.45-1.30pm in room TW2.1.02 for a chair-based 'Yoga for Wellness' session. This 45 minute lunchtime treat is designed to relax, restore, and cleanse the body and mind.

In the session you will be guided through easy-to-follow stretches to relieve neck, shoulder, back and hip strain that can develop from long hours of sitting and working at a desk.

This month's theme is spring cleanse - in addition to addressing the whole body, extra attention will be given to twists to help support your body's natural detoxification process. You'll leave this session feeling lighter, more alert and with a fresh spring in your step. All are welcome; no previous experience, special attire or equipment is needed.

The session costs £7 for early bird bookings (by Wednesday 8 May), £8 regular, and £9 walk-in without reservation. To book and for more information, visit www.kimhuyoga.com/lse.

Room to rent in N16 (Stoke Newington/ Stamford Hill)

Spacious room to rent in quiet Victorian house, sharing with owner and one other.

There is a pretty, sunny garden and the usual conveniences (central heating, wi-fi internet, etc). Also near good transport links, including links to LSE (Piccadilly line from Manor House).

Would suit responsible, independent, quiet person. Room available from early May to end of June (six to eight weeks). Rent £150 per week, including gas and electricity.

Taken at the official opening of 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, this week's picture shows HRH The Princess Royal meeting Vic Finnigan, porters team leader. Claire Sanders, head of communications and public affairs, and Barbara Gilbert, assistant to the director of external relations, who had also been presented to The Princess Royal, are seen smiling in the background.
For more images like this, visit the Photography Unit.

Couples tend to save significantly more as the risk of divorce increases according to new research published in the latest edition of The Journal of Human Resources.

The research by Dr Berkay Ӧzcan from LSE and Dr Libertad González from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona found that for every ten per cent increase in the risk of divorce, families increase their savings, as a proportion of household income, by two percentage points.

The cost implications of the UK government’s recent plans to reform the funding system for care and support in England are analysed in a new research paper, which also considers the effects of options to give more help to lower income care home residents.

The paper, by LSE and the University of East Anglia, provides detailed estimates of the public expenditure costs of the government’s plans. It projects that the government’s current proposals, with a cap of £75,000, would add £2 billion (2010 prices) to public expenditure by 2030. This is in contrast to a projected extra £3.3 billion cost of the Dilnot Commission’s proposals, which had recommended a cap of £35,000.

Open deadline

Support for visits by LSE academic staff and PhD students to universities and other organisations in the Santander Universidades Network.

The Hellenic Observatory invites researchers with a recognised interest in contemporary Greece to submit an application for funding to carry out a project on one of three themes: Reform of Public Administration in Greece; Social Insurance Provisions in Greece; Foreign Policy.

Research e-Briefing

Click here to read the April edition of the Research Division newsletter.

To sign up for research news, recent 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 May 2013. More

New Event - The Future of London within the UK

On: Wednesday 22 May at 6.30pm. Venue will be confirmed to ticketholders.
Speaker: Boris Johnson (pictured), Mayor of London.

'The 'State Of The Union' series has seen people from Alex Salmond to Martin McGuiness and Michael Heseltine discuss the future of the United Kingdom and one part within the greater whole.

In this event Boris Johnson will discuss the role and future of London within the Union.

LSE staff can request one ticket via the online ticket request form which will be live after 6pm on Tuesday 14 May until at least 12noon on Wednesday 15 May. More
 

The Philosophy of Mental Illness
On: Tuesday 7 May in the 6.30pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speakers: Dr Matthew Broome, associate clinical professor of psychiatry and consultant psychiatrist in early intervention in the Division of Mental Health and Wellbeing at the University of Warwick Medical School, Dr Bonnie Evans, researcher in the Centre for the Humanities and Health at King’s College London, and Professor Tim Thornton, professor of philosophy and mental health at the University of Central Lancashire.

Trafficking Networks and Threats to Security in West Africa: the case of Mali
On: Wednesday 8 May at 6.30pm in the New Theatre, East Building
Speaker: Dr Kwesi Aning (pictured), head of academic affairs at the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Centre in Accra.

On: Friday 3 May from 12-1.30pm on the LSE campus. Room will be confirmed on booking.
Speakers: Trish Hiddleston (pictured), Dr Jenny Kuper, and Dr Géraldine André

In this guest practitioner seminar Trish Hiddleston, Dr Kuper and Dr André will review the international legal framework around child rights and how this is implemented at regional and national levels.

'Bottom-up' approaches from social sciences, especially from anthropology, towards children's rights will be discussed and examples of research on child labour in Sub-Saharan Africa will be presented. How child rights are applied internationally and nationally will be addressed through illustrations of work within the child rights legal framework and related research.

The Battle For Universal Jurisdiction: impunity v. justice

On: Tuesday 7 May from 6.15-7.45pm on the LSE campus
Speakers: Hugo Relva, legal adviser at Amnesty International, and Christopher Keith Hall, senior legal adviser at Amnesty International.

This guest practitioner seminar is part of a series developed in partnership with Amnesty International (AI) to consider the role of civil society in developing international human rights law.

In this seminar, two experts will talk about how AI used the arrest of former President Augusto Pinochet to strengthen the use of universal jurisdiction as a tool for international justice and how it has addressed the numerous attacks on this rule of international law.

The speakers will trace the development of universal jurisdiction from the drafting of the Convention Against Torture, through to the present day and the conceptual shift occurring at national level. This is a unique opportunity to hear from expert practitioners about the role of civil society in the development and operation of international human rights law.

The seminar is organised by the Centre for the Study of Human Rights. Email Sara Ulfsparre at s.ulfsparre@lse.ac.uk to indicate your intention to attend. You will be notified of the location on the morning of Tuesday 7 May.
 

On: Wednesday 8 May from 1-2pm in the Alumni Theatre, NAB LG.09, New Academic Building
Speakers: David Coombe, director of Research Division, Martin Reid, head of Academic Services in the Library, and Jane Tinkler, Impact of Social Sciences project in Public Policy Group.

The government plans to ensure that all publicly-funded research is made available via open access, that is freely available online, over the next five years. Following the Finch Report’s recommendations, they have stated a preference for a ‘gold’ open access model whereby universities pay ‘article processing charges’ up front to have an article published rather than readers paying subscription charges to access the research.

So recent Research Councils UK guidance says that academics who have received public funding must publish their work on journals that are compliant with the RCUK Policy on Open Access. LSE, as many other universities, has a preference for green open access, where there is often an embargo period before publications become open access and subscription charges are still in operation.

The seminar seeks to help LSE colleagues understand the current situation for open access in the UK and the School’s position on these issues. It will also cover how you can increase access to your research in the short term using the School’s online repository and social media platforms.

The Art of Thinking Clearly: better thinking, better decisions
Speaker: Rolf Dobelli
Recorded: Thursday 11 April, approx. 72 minutes
Click here to listen

In conversation with Nancy Pelosi
Speaker: Nancy Pelosi
Recorded: Friday 19 April, approximately 91 minutes
Click here to listen

Training and development opportunities for staff

Courses scheduled for next week include:

• Copyright, the Internet and Teaching Online

• Apple Hour

• First Aid at Work

• Introduction to Twitter

These are just some of the events running next week. To receive a monthly list of all events, subscribe to the staff training and development email by clicking here. To find out more about training and development across the School and for links to booking pages, see lse.ac.uk/training.
 

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

• Academic or school resident (Lilian Knowles House), Residential and Catering Services Division
• Careers consultants (two posts), LSE Careers Service
• Communications officer, Library: resources and innovation
• Country programme director, International Growth Centre
• Data administrator, ODAR: operations
• Department manager (temporary cover), Mathematics
• Evaluation and communications director, International Growth Centre
• Executive director, International Growth Centre
• Financial administrator, Estates Division
• Front of house officer, Northumberland House
• Head of infrastructure, Information Management and Technology
• Country economists, International Growth Centre
• Economists (London), International Growth Centre
• LSE fellow (population and development), International Development
• LSE fellow in economics, Economics
• LSE fellow in international political economy, International Relations
• LSE fellows, LSE100 The LSE Course
• LSE fellows in law (four posts), Law
• Class teacher (GTA), LSE100 The LSE Course
• Lecturer in political science and philosophy, Philosophy
• Post-doctoral research assistant (economic history), Grantham Research Institute
• Project archivist (Swords into Ploughshares), Library: archives services
• Research officer, PSSRU
• Research officer, International Development
• Residence assistant, Residential and Catering Services Division
• Senior accounts payable clerk, Finance Division
• Stewardship officer, ODAR: communications
• Support officer (student support), Information Management and Technology
• The Mellon Fellowship Programme at LSE in cities and the humanities, LSE Cities
• User experience architect, Library: resources and innovation
• Warden (Sidney Webb House), Residential and Catering Services Division

Champa rode 300 miles over four days and has already raised a fantastic £1,840 for the charity.

It involved a 94-mile cycle from London to the New Forest on Saturday, camping overnight in near freezing temperatures, and then cycling a further 44-miles round the New Forest the next day, a grand total of 138-miles for the weekend. Or 146 if you count cycling to and from the start in Kingston!

All of this was to raise money for Friends of the Earth, and you can still sponsor Dave here.

Dave said: 'It was a great weekend, for a great cause. We were only battered by hailstones four times, and the course was only 13 miles longer than we’d originally been told. And a brilliant night’s sleep was guaranteed in a freezing tent assailed from all sides by the snoring of strangers.'

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 9 May. Articles for this should be emailed to me by Tuesday 7 May. Staff News is emailed every Thursday during term time and fortnightly during the holidays.