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15 May 2014 |
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 News
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LSE ranked as top university in London
The first major university guide of the year has ranked LSE as the third
best university in the UK and London’s leading institution, maintaining its
excellent position from last year.
The Complete University Guide also places LSE in the top ten for eleven
of the twelve subjects it offers, and it is once again rated as the top
place in the UK to study Social Policy.
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Media studio hits primetime
LSE’s new media studio is now connected to the Globelynx network making
it even easier for broadcasters around the world to access the expertise of
our academic community. Both Aljazeera and the Canadian Broadcasting Company
(CBC) have already made use of this excellent new facility interviewing John
Collins of LSE IDEAS last week about the issues raised in the report ‘Ending
the Drug Wars’. See John’s interview on CBC
here.
The media studio’s new ISDN line is also up and running with Dr Heather
Jones giving a down the line interview to BBC Radio Cornwall at the end of
last week discussing the commemoration of the First World War centenary.
If you receive requests for television interviews or for radio interviews
which could be done in the media studio, do get in touch with the Press
Office.
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Library awarded EU funding - FOSTER project
The Library has successfully bid for funding from the FP7 EU-funded
project, FOSTER (Facilitate Open Science Training for European Research) in
partnership with King’s College London and QMUL libraries. FOSTER has
awarded the Library €5,000 to run a joint training event for PhD students
and early career researchers on open practices – from the benefits of making
research freely available via open access to research data management best
practices. The joint event will be hosted in September 2014. If you have any
questions contact Natalia Madjarevic, Research Support Services Manager at
the Library at
N.F.Madjarevic@lse.ac.uk.
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Professor Stephen Jenkins
Stephen Jenkins, Professor of Economic and Social Policy, is the new
Editor-in-Chief of the
Journal
of Economic Inequality. He has also been appointed an Honorary
Professorial Fellow of the Institute for Applied Economic and Social
Research at the University of
Melbourne. He has recently given invited lectures to the UK
Department for Work and Pensions and the European Investment Bank,
Luxembourg, about income mobility and poverty dynamics; to the Economic
Policy series of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW),
Mannheim, about state dependence in labour markets; and to the third
Biannual Assisi Workshop on Economics and Institutions about the
treatment of country-level effects in microeconometric analysis.
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LSE Volunteer of the Year announced Connor Russell, a third
year undergraduate studying Mathematics and Economics has been named the LSE
Volunteer of the Year for his excellent work with
IntoUniversity.
The annual award is presented to an LSE student who has demonstrated
exceptional dedication to volunteering. It was presented to Connor at a
celebratory event held at LSE on Tuesday evening.
Jess Dunning, Volunteer Development Manager at IntoUniversity said, “We
can’t praise Connor enough for his volunteering work with IntoUniversity.
Connor has shown a high level of commitment to our opportunities and ethos
during his three years as a Mentor, Academic Support Tutor, Ambassador and
Buddy, contributing well over 100 volunteering hours. He really has gone
above and beyond as an IntoUniversity volunteer.”
Spires, a South London based
charity that helps hundreds of homeless and disadvantaged people all year
round, was also named a winner, being named LSE Voluntary Organisation of
the Year. Rebecca Sunter, Volunteer Coordinator, accepted the award on
behalf of Spires at last night’s event.
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Professor Simon Roberts
The School is sad to announce the death of Professor Simon Roberts on
Wednesday 30 April. Simon first arrived at the School as an
undergraduate in 1959 and, after a short period lecturing in Malawi in
the early 1960s, from 1964 he forged an academic career of great
distinction here. Simon produced pioneering scholarship in such fields
as anthropology of law, family law, property law and alternative dispute
resolution processes, and he served the School in many ways, including
as Convenor of the Law Department and as Vice-Chair of the School’s
Academic Board. Although Simon formally retired in 2006, he continued to
teach in the Law Department, especially on the anthropology and law
degree programme, the establishment of which was itself Simon’s
initiative.
Simon will be greatly missed by many generations of his students and
colleagues. A celebration of his life will be arranged later this year.
The Department of Law has created a page with messages of condolence
here
- if you would like to add a message email
law.events@lse.ac.uk.
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Academics abroad
Dr Lucia Garcia
Unemployment is continually portrayed as the current EU ‘illness’ in
need of a social and institutional cure. It is especially acute in
regions like southern Spain where youth unemployment has reached 66 per
cent, leading to an increase in poverty, in mental health problems, and
in institutional distrust. An EU research team that includes the
Department of Social Psychology's Dr Lucia Garcia has been researching
the social and psychological processes surrounding the high unemployment
levels in southern Europe over the last 18 months. The research aims to
look beyond the 'unemployed condition' though, to explore the creative
ways the unemployed are responding to pressures created by lack of jobs;
from organising protest movements reclaiming housing, to local community
support to developing daily tactics that outline an alternative vision
of what it means to be unemployed.
Dr Chaloka Beyani
Dr Chaloka Beyani, Associate Professor in the Law Department, has just
completed an official UN mission to Kenya in his capacity as United
Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced
persons. He examined the issue of durable solutions for internally
displaced persons as well as peace building initiatives among
displacement affected communities in northern Kenya. He also addressed
the Legal and Human Rights Affairs Committees of the Senate and County
Assemblies on their roles under the new constitution.
Dr Ernestina Coast
Dr Ernestina Coast of Social Policy will be an invited participant at an
international workshop in Kenya on 'Decision-making regarding abortion'
from 3 - 5 June. She will present findings from an ESRC/DFID-funded
research project 'Pregnancy termination trajectories in Zambia: the
social and economic consequences for women'. This presentation will be
the first output of a new ESRC-funded grant for Impact Maximisation from
ESRC/DFID’s Poverty Alleviation Research programme.
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 Notices
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British Embassy offers sponsorship for Colombian roadshow in August
In order to build partnerships between UK and Colombian institutions and
strengthen understanding of Colombia’s market in research and innovation,
the British Council Colombia and the British Embassy, with TECNNOVA and
University of Antioquia, are recruiting for the Research Groups and Building
Partnerships Roadshow around TECNNOVA’s 'Innovation and Business Roundtables
2014: connecting challenges, opportunities and solution' which will be held
in August.
The British Embassy in Colombia and the University of Antioquia will sponsor
the cost of accommodation and return travel from the UK for three academics
who will form part of the event’s formal proceedings. The academics must be
experts in big data, agriculture technologies and renewable energy.
To apply email Edwin Carmona at
Edwin.Carmona@britishcouncil.org.co
by Saturday 17 May giving:
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your name, institution and job title
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a document (two page limit) stating the area of research knowledge, best
practice or new developments in your area of work that you could present
during the seminars and why you are interested in coming to Colombia.
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a CV, including details of your experience in tech transfer
ventures/commercialisation of research.
Further details can be found
here.
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Call for submissions – LSE Perspectives
Taken some artistic photos you’d like to share? Send them to
Lseperspectives@lse.ac.uk
before Thursday 22 May and your photos could feature in the June
edition of Perspectives.
See the
website for more information about submitting your images, or the
previous galleries can be found on the Perspectives
homepage. |
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 LSE
in pictures
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This week's picture features.....
For more images like this, visit the
Photography Unit.
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 Research
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Voting – what's the alternative?
Ahead of the European Parliament election, members of the public are invited
to take part in a unique online voting experiment which aims to understand
the effects of different electoral systems on politics.
Via the EUROVOTE+ project’s website,
people will be able to test different voting system by casting their
fictitious vote for the MEPs according to three different techniques
currently used in Europe – the
closed
list system, which is used in the UK, an
open list
system and a
‘Panachage and Cumulation’ system.
The project is run by an international group of social scientists, including
Dr Rafael Hortala-Vallve from LSE’s Department of Government.
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 Events
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'The Towers Debate: Does London need more tall buildings?' - on
Monday 2 June at 6.30pm in the Peacock Theatre with Nicholas Boys
Smith, Paul Finch, Piers Gough, Simon Jenkins, Rowan Moore, Tony
Travers, Nicky Gavron and Riz Lateef
There are now proposals for over 230 new tall buildings to be built in
London over the next decade, 80 per cent of which are residential. As
London’s population continues to expand, is this high-rise vision of
London's future the right one for our city and its people?
Tickets will be available from Thursday 22 May for LSE staff and
students.
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'Risk Savvy: how to make good decisions' - on Wednesday 21 May
at 6.30-8pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building with Professor Gerd
Gigerenzer (pictured) and Professor Jason Alexander
Remember the volcanic ash cloud over Iceland? The subprime disaster?
What about mad cow disease? Each new crisis makes us worry until we
start worrying about the next one. When something goes wrong, we are
told that the way to prevent further crises is through better
technology, more laws, and bigger `bureaucracy. How to protect ourselves
from the threat of terrorism? Homeland security, full body scanners,
further sacrifice of individual freedom. How to counteract exploding
costs in health care? Tax hikes, rationalization, better genetic
markers. One idea is absent from these lists: risk-savvy citizens.
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'An Economy of Temporary Possession' - on Thursday 22 May at
6-7pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building with Dr Rebecca Empson
In this lecture Dr Empson outlines an economy based on the temporary,
rather than outright possession of resources and commodities.
Ethnographic evidence shows that such transient forms of possession can
come to shape the very financial forms we might have assumed were
incompatible with them. Mongolians located at the periphery of financial
centres thereby come to shape wider economic practices that impact upon
what we have understood capitalism to be.
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'The Social Conditions for Innovation: dissonance for discovery'
- on Thursday 22 May at 6.30-8pm in the New Theatre, East Building
with Professor David Stark
Professor Stark discusses the conditions for innovation; analysis of
dissonance, including the necessity of a healthy critical social science
and humanities to innovation.
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'Poverty, Justice and Development' - on Thursday 22 May at
6.30pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, NAB with Professor David Hulme,
Professor Thomas Pogge (pictured)
What do we owe to the global poor? David Hulme and Thomas Pogge will
discuss questions of global poverty from the point of view of
development studies and political philosophy.
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'The Macroeconomics of the Gulf' - on
Thursday 15 May at 4.30-6pm in Room G.03, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields
with Raphael Espinoza, IMF
Raphael Espinoza's talk will analyse the challenges created by the
changing economies of the Gulf states over the last decade, spurred by
high oil prices and ambitious diversification plans. This event is free
and open to all on a first come first served basis.
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'Oman's Foreign Policy Under Sultan Qaboos: independent, but to what
extent?' - on
Thursday 22 May at 4.30-6pm in the Alumni Theatre, NAB with Dr
Marc Valeri
Oman’s foreign policy under Qaboos is usually considered to be pragmatic
and independent, epitomised by its announcement that it would not join a
hypothetical Gulf union. Dr Valeri will explore how this widely view
should not obscure the fact that the perpetuation of this foreign policy
has necessitated an unquestioned political and economic dependence
towards London and Washington. This event is free and open to all on a
first come first served basis.
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'Fixing Europe Dialogues' series double book launch - on
Tuesday 27 May at 6.30-8pm with authors John Peet and Hugo Dixon in the
Old Theatre, Old Building
John Peet and Hugo Dixon will present and discuss the themes of
their two new books, respectively titled Unhappy Union: how the Euro
Crisis- and Europe - can be fixed and The In/Out Question - why
Britain should stay in the EU and make it better.
The event is free and open to all with no ticket required and entry on a
first come, first served basis.
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'Forty Years after the Collapse of the Greek Junta: reflections on
its historical significance' - on Wednesday 28 May at 6.30pm in the
Wolfson Theatre, NAB with Professor Richard Clogg, Professor Evanthis
Hatzivassiliou, Professor Constantinos Tsoukalas and Professor Kevin
Featherstone
2014 marks the 40th anniversary of the collapse of the Greek Junta and its
democratic transition. July 1974 and the events that followed were a pivotal
moment for modern Greece - the inclusiveness of its political system; the
return of many from the diaspora; the creation of new political parties; a
shift in its foreign policy; and a path towards Europe. The panel will
explore the issues and legacies that marked the end of the Colonels' regime
and relate them to recent events.
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Equality and Diversity events
The end of the academic year is
approaching but there’s still plenty to get involved in with the
Equality and Diversity team. There is an exciting films programme on
offer, the Gender Institute is celebrating its 20th anniversary with
public lectures and discussions, the Department of Management is holding
a conference on diversity and, as usual, there are networking
opportunities, workshops and sessions for staff and students.
More
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Podcasts of public lectures and events
Scaling Up Excellence
Speaker: Professor Robert Sutton
Recorded: Tuesday 06 May, approx. 88 minutes
The Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy
Speakers: Mauricio Lopez Bonilla, Professor Mark Kleiman, Dr Kasia
Malinowska-Sempruch
Recorded: Wednesday 07 May, approx. 82 minutes
Imagining Global Health with Justice
Speakers: Professor Richard Ashcroft, Professor Lawrence Gostin
Recorded: Thursday 08 May, approx. 57 minutes
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 60
second interview
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with....Joy Whyte
I’ve worked at LSE since 2002, and joined the Law Department in 2006, where I’m now the Department Manager for Strategy and Resources. I’m also one of the three co-chairs of the Academic Managers’ Forum, a role I really enjoy. Outside work, I have two small children, and alternate days at LSE with days drawing, swimming, and pottering around London’s parks and museums.
What would you do if you were LSE Director for a day?
Make the most of it! I’d start by doing three things:
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ask
everyone to think about how to
communicate in a way that
addresses the needs of our
audiences, rather than
ourselves.
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invest heavily in the
development of a centralised
means of recording information
that means we could ask people
only once for particular data,
and then share that knowledge
across the School.
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encourage people simply to talk
to each other more, because so
much valuable information is
shared through informal
interactions and connections.
If I had more than a day, I would
go about establishing better
mechanisms for sharing good
practice.
If you weren’t at LSE, at what
other institution would you like to
work?
I’m a huge fan of microfinance, and
would love to work at Kiva, an
amazing organisation that has so far
facilitated loans worth almost $560
million via various global
partnerships. Each lender
contributes only $25 per loan, and
the repayment rate is almost 99 per
cent. It’s a great way to develop
global connections, and to give
others the chance to take control of
their own futures. Contact me at
j.m.whyte@lse.ac.uk if you’d
like a ‘free’ introductory loan.
What book are you currently
reading and which have you enjoyed
most in the past?
I normally have at least three books
on the go at any one time. Donna
Tartt’s The Goldfinch is so
far my book of the year, and I
hugely enjoyed Chris Hadfield’s book
An astronaut’s guide to life on
earth.
What has been the greatest
coincidence you have experienced so
far?
Half way up Kilimanjaro in 2006, I
discovered that one of my fellow
walkers, the Head of Forestry in
Brazil, had worked with – and was a
lifelong fan of – Professor Peter
Townsend, who interviewed me for my
first job at LSE. LSE has a very
long reach!
If you were offered the trip of a
lifetime, where would you like to go
and why?
Somewhere with mountains. Once my
children are old enough to withstand
altitude, I’d love to take them to
Nepal. In the meantime, I’ll happily
stick with the wilder parts of
Scotland, such as Glen Coe and the
Isle of Skye.
What role(s) did you have in your
school play(s)?
A cat, a morris dancer, an ancient
Egyptian, and Sebastian in 'Twelfth
Night'. I got the last part only
because another redhead played
Olivia. She’s now a drama teacher,
whilst I’ve recognised that my
skills lie in appreciating theatre,
rather than participating in it.
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 Training
and jobs
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'Connecting and Collaborating: developing working relationships at
LSE' - on Tuesday 20 May at 1-2.30pm
As part of Learning at Work Week (19-25 May), this workshop will offer a
networking and learning opportunity professional services staff.
Department and centre administrators from across the School are welcome
to join Central Services staff to learn about peers' professional roles,
skills, interests and challenges. Lunch will be provided. Book
here by Friday 16 May.
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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.
- Administrative Assistant, European Institute
- Development Executive, Advancement
- HR Partner, HR
- Head of Major Gifts, Advancement
- India at LSE blog editor, Communications
- Fellow in Gender and Cultural Studies, Gender Institute
- Personal Assistant, Systemic Risk Centre
- Residential Services Manager, RCSD Office
For more information, visit
Jobs at LSE and login via the instructions under the 'Internal
vacancies' heading. |
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 Get
in touch!
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If you have some news, an achievement, or an aspect of LSE life that you
would like to share, I would love to hear from you. Do get in touch
at m.wall@lse.ac.uk
or on ext 7582. The next edition of Staff News is on Thursday 22
May. Articles for this should be emailed to me by
Tuesday 20 May. Staff
News is emailed every Thursday during term time and fortnightly during
the holidays.
Thanks, Maddy
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