Pensions auto enrolment: what does it mean for LSE

Staff may be aware of the government’s plans to introduce a minimum level of workplace pension provision, known as auto enrolment.

LSE Chill

LSE Chill is back for its final show of the academic year on Friday 24 May from 6pm in the 4th Floor Café, Old Building.

Dr Sadie Wearing

Dr Wearing, a lecturer in the Gender Institute, once dreamt that she had to cook dinner for Marx and Freud at her mum’s house.

Auto enrolment means that nearly 100,000 people working in higher education will be made a member of a pension scheme over the course of 2013. This is to address government concerns that millions of people are not saving enough to provide the income they will need in retirement. Automatic enrolment is meant to overcome this by requiring employers to put all eligible employees into a pension scheme automatically rather than requiring them to choose to join. Eligible employees are those that earn over £787 a month, are over the age of 22 and are under the state pension age.

Starting with the biggest companies, employers will gradually enrol all eligible workers into workplace pensions between 2012 and 2018. In March of this year the process was extended to higher education, with the largest universities going first. For LSE the process starts in July. All staff will be notified of any changes in their pay packet in a communication due to go out in July and the auto enrolment will start to take effect at the end of July, or 1 July onwards for new staff members.

At LSE, nine out of ten of all salaried staff are in the Universities Superannuation Scheme (this covers staff from band six upwards) and nearly eight out of ten are in the SAUL pension scheme (this covers staff from bands one-five). This means the majority of people will be unaffected, and will simply receive a written communication confirming that they are a member of a qualifying scheme.

However, the School estimates that the process will affect around 1,000 staff, mainly those working on hourly contracts such as hourly paid teaching assistants who have traditionally not opted to join the USS or SAUL pension schemes.

For more information visit the School's website, lse.ac.uk/pensionsAutoEnrolment. There will also be drop in sessions and presentations, details of which are available on the website and will be advertised in Staff News.
 

LSE’s annual Celebration of Sustainability was held on Friday 10 May.

The top scoring Green Impact team this year was the Grantham Research Institute, with Green Impact Excellence Awards going the Department of Mathematics, ODAR, LSE Estates Division and LSE Catering. A full list of results can be found on the Celebration webpage.

Student Switch Off was won for the first time by Sidney Webb House. Students in LSE Halls made average savings of 6 per cent in their energy use - an equivalent of 76 tonnes of carbon.

Special recognition goes to staff members David Scott and Dr Kira Matus, and to students Robin Ray and Margaux Wehr for making outstanding contributions to sustainability this year.

The hotly contested Recycling League was topped by three departments who achieved 100 per cent correctly sorted waste at the audits in March. These were the Gender Institute, the Department of Statistics and the Department of Mathematics. A full league table can be seen here.

This year’s Sustainable Projects Fund awarded funding to seven outstanding projects. A full list can be seen on the Sustainable Futures Society webpage.

LSE professor calls for London to have a greater say over its taxes

The London Finance Commission, chaired by LSE’s Professor Tony Travers (pictured), has released a new report calling for greater financial freedoms for the capital, giving London government the autonomy to invest in its own vital infrastructure as its population and economy grow, and bring London in line with competitor global cities.

The London Finance Commission’s report outlines a comprehensive package of devolution measures to give Londoners a more direct say over a greater proportion of taxes raised in their city. It concludes that London government could better promote its own economic development by devolving financial and fiscal control rather than relying on the current formula of majority Government grant. The Commission has established there is a broad consensus amongst the capital’s key organisations in support of reform.

Professor Tony Travers said: 'London needs greater financial autonomy to drive growth and deliver better infrastructure. Wales and, in particular, Scotland are moving towards far greater discretion over taxes. London should be treated similarly. Indeed, other cities in England could follow London down the route to greater financial accountability and self-determination. England is far too centralised and the London Finance Commission’s pragmatic proposals would be a first step towards a more sensitive and popular democracy.' More
 

LSE academic appointed to University of Gothenburg

Professor Sylvia Chant (pictured), professor of development geography in the Department of Geography and Environment, has been appointed Adlerbertska visiting professor of sustainable development at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 2013-2015.

The role will involve making annual visits to present lectures and to engage in research and publication mentoring with development geographers within the institution. Professor Chant's first trip takes place this month. More
 

LSE senior lecturer to advise International AIDS Society

Dr Hakan Seckinelgin (pictured), senior lecturer in the Department of Social Policy, has been appointed as co-chair of the Social and Political Research Advisory Group of the International AIDS Society (IAS).

The advisory group, which Dr Seckinelgin will chair alongside Dr Judy Auerbach, will provide strategic advice and technical input for the development and implementation of an IAS policy area dedicated to social and political research.
 

Copy formatting fast using the Format Painter

The Format Painter is a quick way to copy formatting from one item (text, tables, headings, etc) to others. It’s found in all Microsoft Office 2010 applications such as Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. Try this:

1. Select the item or text that has the format you want to use elsewhere.
2. On the Home tab, double click the Format Painter (paint brush) icon. As you move your mouse pointer back onto the file, a small paintbrush follows the pointer.
3. Click on or select text to change its format.
4. When you have applied the format everywhere needed, click the Format Painter again to turn it off. Or just press Esc on the keyboard.

If you have an IT question, check out our online guides and FAQs, attend a Software Surgery, or sign up for a one-to-one IT Training session, or contact IT.Training@lse.ac.uk to book a consultation with a training specialist.

LSE runs two programmes each summer with our partner universities: the LSE-Peking University Summer School in Beijing each August since 2003, and, from 2013, the LSE-University of Cape Town July School. Each course on the programmes is taught intensively over two weeks, with 36 hours of lectures and formal assessment.

Proposals are invited for courses to join the programmes in 2014. All courses should be relevant to the continent on which they are delivered, and be sufficiently distinct from other courses already included. Whilst a major expansion of the programmes is not expected, all proposals will be considered.

Course leaders receive a fee based on student numbers, and flights and accommodation are provided. Teaching on the programmes provides an opportunity to engage with one of LSE’s partner institutions, both leaders in their regions, and with the host country and continent more broadly, building new or developing existing links.

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

Ma’Jon Hairdressers is offering LSE staff and students 20 per cent off all its services.

Ma'Jon's is a modern salon offering quality service in a relaxed and professional environment. Jon and his team are dedicated to offering the very latest cutting and colouring techniques and are passionate about fulfilling your every hair need.

This week's picture features the London Eye on the South Bank. Just one of the stock images of London that you can find in the Image Bank.

For more images like this, visit the Photography Unit.

LSE Research Online most downloaded

Most downloaded items in LSE Research Online in April 2013:

1. Livingstone, Sonia (2008) Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: teenagers' use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression. New media & society, 10 (3). pp. 393-411. ISSN 1461-4448 (1342 downloads).
2. Anheier, Helmut K. (2000) Managing non-profit organisations: towards a new approach. Civil Society Working Paper series, 1. Centre for Civil Society, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. ISBN 0753013436 (1123 downloads).
3. Bowling, Ben and Phillips, Coretta (2003) Policing ethnic minority communities. In: Newburn, Tim, (ed.) Handbook of policing. Willan Publishing, Devon, UK, pp. 528-555. ISBN 9781843920199 (965 downloads).
4. Livingstone, Sonia (1998) Relationships between media and audiences: prospects for audience reception studies. In: Liebes, Tamar and Curran, James, (eds.) Media, ritual and identity. Routledge, London, UK, pp. 237-255. ISBN 041515992X (762 downloads).
5. Marsden, David and Richardson, Ray (1992) Motivation and performance related pay in the public sector: a case study of the Inland Revenue. CEP discussion paper, 75. Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. (702 downloads).

Forthcoming LSE events include....

Anthropology and Emotion
On: Thursday 16 May at 6pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Dr Andrew Beatty, author of A Shadow Falls: in the heart of Java and a forthcoming ethnographic narrative After the Ancestors.

Progressive Capitalism
On: Monday 20 May at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Lord Sainsbury (pictured), chancellor of the University of Cambridge.

Cooking as a Political Act
On: Thursday 30 May at 6.30pm in the New Theatre, East Building
Speaker: Professor Michael Pollan, professor of journalism at Berkeley.

On: Thursday 16 May from 6.30-8pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Dr James Hansen (pictured), adjunct professor of earth sciences at Columbia University's Earth Institute.

The unfolding human-made climate crisis seems almost surrealistic from a scientific perspective. As knowledge of a climate emergency improves, policies change in ways that exacerbate rather than mitigate the situation. The tragedy is that actions needed to stabilise climate, rather than being painful to society, would have multiple benefits, including stronger economies, more good jobs, and more equitable opportunities for individuals.

If our governments continue to fail to advance effective policy, thus causing continued extraction of every fossil fuel that can be found, today's children, future generations, and nature will bear the consequences through no fault of their own. A variety of options for making governments do their job will be discussed.

On: Wednesday 22 May from 6-7pm at the Waterstones Economists' Bookshop, Clare Market.

This event will launch the new book by Morten Jerven, senior visiting fellow with the Department of Economic History, entitled Poor Numbers: how we are misled by African development statistics and what to do about it.

Poor Numbers presents a ground-breaking a study of the production and use of African economic development statistics and sets out the extent of our knowledge problem in African economic development. One of the most urgent challenges in African economic development is to devise a strategy for improving statistical capacity. Poor numbers are too important to be dismissed as just that.

On: Thursday 23 May from 6.30-8pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Professor Daniel Dennett (pictured), University Professor and Austin B Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, and co-director of the Centre for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University.

In this lecture, one of the world's most original thinkers will show how he designs, uses, and dismantles the thinking tools that have illuminated his theories of meaning, mind, and evolution. The big difference between human minds and the minds of other animals is our equipping ourselves with literally hundreds of thinking tools - cultural software that we install in our brains much the way we download Java applets to our laptops and smart phones. Some of these tools are as simple as labels or metaphors, and others are sophisticated intuition pumps - persuasion-machines that can delude us if we're not careful.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. More
 

LSE Chill is back for its final show of the academic year on Friday 24 May from 6pm in the 4th Floor Café, Old Building.

The session is open to all and will feature some dynamic acts, so why not take a break from studying and chill. LSE Chill is now generously sponsored by Peer Support.

The line-up for the evening is as follows:

6-6.30pm Monika and Jon
Monika and Jon are two LSE graduates bringing some music into their hectic student lives. They will be playing acoustic covers (vocals and guitars) of their favourite songs.

6.45-7.15pm The Inheritors
The Inheritors, in their various incarnations, have been playing a mixture of original, melodic pop for about two years. They will be performing songs from their two, soon-to-be released albums.

7.30-8pm Sneha Sundaram and Ed Bayes
Sneha and Ed will play some of their favourite, folksy songs and some originals.

On: Monday 3 June from 6.30-8pm in the Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Professor Roberto Franzosi (pictured), professor of sociology and linguistics at Emory University.

This talk will illustrate the power of Quantitative Narrative Analysis, a quantitative social science approach to texts developed by the speaker using data collected from newspapers on the rise of Italian fascism and lynchings in the American 'Deep South'. It will show how narrative data lend themselves to cutting-edge tools of data visualisation and analysis as dynamic network graphs and maps in Google Earth and other GIS software, and how QNA data provide the basis for fascinating digital humanities projects.

On: Monday 20 May at 4.30pm at The Greenwood Theatre, King’s College London, 55 Weston Street, London, SE1.

LSE staff and students are invited to this event with Archbishop Desmond Tutu (pictured) and a panel of distinguished academic and religious figures who will be discussing the question - what is the essence of being human?

The forum is being organised in connection with the Templeton Prize which is being presented to Archbishop Tutu the following day.

The Archbishop will bring his long experience as an opponent of apartheid and as a champion of human rights to the discussion, which is designed to shed light on the very essence of being human and humanity’s uniqueness. The moderator will be a former Templeton Prize winner, George FR Ellis and panellists will include Malcolm Jeeves, Ian Tattersall, Anthony C Thiselton, Alan J Torrance and Adam Zeman.

Podcasts of public lectures and events

Global Power in a Shifting International Order: the west and the rest
Speaker: Professor Joseph Nye
Recorded: Wednesday 8 May, approx. 79 minutes
Click here to listen

The Lost Continent: Europe's darkest hour since the Second World War
Speaker: Gavin Hewitt
Recorded: Wednesday 8 May, approx. 72 minutes
Click here to listen

The Bankers' New Clothes: what's wrong with banking and what to do about it
Speaker: Professor Anat Admati
Recorded: Wednesday 8 May, approx. 89 minutes
Click here to listen

Training and development opportunities for staff

Courses scheduled for next week include:

• Writing for Blogs

• Residential Life and Inclusivity; theories, practice and more practice

• Citing, Referencing and Creating a Bibliography

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.
 

Next week is Adult Learners Week (20-24 May) and LSE's Learning and Development Group is promoting a range of exciting events around the theme ‘many ways to learn’.

All the events running are bookable via the training and development system. To see what is running, visit the Learning and Development Group website.

The highlight of the week is a drop-in Learning Café which will be held on Learning at Work Day on Thursday 23 May. It will take place in Kinta Alley on the mezzanine floor of The Bean Counter café in 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields. The event will run from 3-4.30pm, feel free to drop in between these times.

Voice and presentation skills for lecturers

The Teaching and Learning Centre is running a day-long event on Tuesday 4 June for staff who lecture primarily in qualitative subjects.

The event will raise awareness of how the voice works and how it can be looked after, and will include practical exercises for making best use of your voice and presentation style to keep students engaged and motivated.

For more information and booking, see Voice and presentation skills for lecturers.
 

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

• Assistant space planning manager, Estates: planning
• Corporate relations manager (maternity cover), Research Division: corporate relations unit
• LSE postdoctoral fellowship in political science, Government
• LSE fellow in economic geography, Geography and Environment
• LSE fellow in economics, Economics
• LSE fellow in human geography, Geography and Environment
• Lecturer in political science and philosophy (fixed-term for three years), Philosophy
• MSc and external relations assistant (part-time), European Institute
• Marketing and recruitment manager, Summer School and Executive Programmes
• Postdoctoral research assistant (empirical analysis of climate change policies), Grantham Research Institute
• Postdoctoral research assistant (trade and competiveness), Grantham Research Institute
• Purchasing officer, Information Management and Technology
• Research officer, Statistics
• Senior library assistant (cataloguing and metadata), Library: collections services
• Senior library assistant (digital library), Library: collections services
• Senior subwarden (Bankside House), Residential and Catering Services Division
• Subwarden (multiple vacancies, various locations), Residential and Catering Services Division

After her trek, Corina plans on visiting and volunteering at the children’s home, which is located in Moshi at the base of the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Amani, named after the Swahili word for ‘peace’, provides primary care, counselling and outreach options to the region’s most vulnerable street children. Their numbers have rapidly increased in the last few years due to poverty and the effects of HIV/AIDS. Amani offers them a safe environment, where they can grow, learn, and be treated for various psychological or physical afflictions.

Corina’s target is to ‘sell’ the 5,895 metres that she will trek to Kilimanjaro’s peak, for £1 each. Any donation stands to have a huge impact, considering that £16 is enough to feed one child at Amani for a month, while £230 covers a child’s care, including education, for a year.

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 23 May. Articles for this should be emailed to me by Tuesday 21 May. Staff News is emailed every Thursday during term time and fortnightly during the holidays.