UK’s first academic Centre on Women, Peace and Security to be based at LSE

The School hosted Secretary of State William Hague and UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie Pitt to launch the Centre.

LGBT History Month

Check out the events that LSE Spectrum, the School's network for LGBT staff, has coming up to celebrate the lives and achievements of the LGBT community.

Vyvyan Evans

Vyvyan is trying to learn the bagpipes and dreams of being an explorer, living in a bothie somewhere in the Hebrides or Northern Norway with no signal or WiFi.

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What were the collateral damages of the West’s counter-terrorism operations in Africa? Will 2015 be Europe’s most important year since World War II? Can India recapture regulatory sovereignty over pharmaceutical innovation?

We asked some of LSE’s expert academics to pose and answer what they thought were one of the most important questions we face in 2015.

Read their answers here.
 

LSE, this week, hosted First Secretary of State William Hague and UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie Pitt to launch the UK’s first academic Centre on Women, Peace and Security, to be based at the School.

Mr Hague and Ms Jolie Pitt announced the establishment of the ground-breaking initiative to students and academic colleagues with LSE Director Professor Craig Calhoun and Professor Christine Chinkin, who will lead the new centre. It will focus on the participation of women in conflict-related processes and on enhancing accountability and ending impunity for rape and sexual violence in war.

The Centre marks a collaboration between LSE, Mr Hague, Ms Jolie Pitt and the UK Government. It will support the aims of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI), co-founded in 2012 by Mr Hague and Ms Jolie Pitt, by bringing academic expertise to bear on preventing crimes of sexual violence, holding perpetrators to account and protecting the rights of survivors. From 2016 the Centre will provide a post-graduate teaching programme in Women, Peace and Security, leading to an MSc degree.

New Gearty Grilling online

A new Gearty Grilling video, part of the series of short video debates between Conor Gearty, director of the IPA and professor of human rights law, and leading researchers at LSE, is now online.

This week Sonia Livingstone (pictured), Professor of Social Psychology, discusses the challenges of internet safety for children. More
 

Celebrating 120 years of LSE

Did you know? Malcolm X spoke at LSE on 11 February 1965.

Find out more at lse.ac.uk/lse120 #LSE120.
 

On Thursday 5 February, the Student Wellbeing Service ran another Wellbeing Stall focussing on how to be kind to ourselves.

Visitors were asked to complete leaflets with ideas of things they were planning to do to be kind to themselves. Ideas ranged from doing something relaxing every day, spoiling themselves once in a while, not comparing themselves to others, accepting compliments, getting enough sleep, and not worrying about getting an internship/job.

The aim of the activity was to increase awareness of the relevance of kindness, both towards yourself and others, as a way of increasing resilience and improving performance.

The stall also promoted the "Time to Change" campaign that aims to end mental health discrimination. This year’s campaign is "It’s time to talk" which encourages everyone to start a conversation about mental health.

Re-Imagining your Library

The Library and LSESU co-hosted a Re-Imagining event on Monday 9 February.

60 current LSE students attended the two hour lunchtime forum, discussing with staff the changes they would like to see in the Library.

The students’ feedback will help the Library to plan the development of services and resources in the future.

On: Tuesday 3 March from 12.30-2pm in BOX, fifth floor of Tower Three

Knowledge Exchange and Impact Masterclasses, hosted by the Institute of Public Affairs, will be held during the academic year, one in each term.

The theme of the Lent term session will explore what are the 'success factors' that lead to some research being championed in Westminster. Our distinguished panel includes Rt Hon. John Denham MP, Member for Southampton Itchen and IPA Parliamentarian Fellow; Niamh Moloney, Professor of Law at LSE; Chris Tyler, Director, Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology and Naomi Saint, Universities Programme Manager, Parliamentary Outreach.

Student Accommodation Satisfaction Survey 2014-15

Residential Services have recently launched the 2014-15 Student Accommodation Satisfaction Survey. All students in halls have been sent a personalised email and survey link inviting them to take part.

If you have a student facing role (particularly with first year undergraduates) we’d appreciate your help in advertising the survey and encouraging participation. Students have the chance to win a selection of prizes - from a free bedroom clean to an iPad.

Please get in touch with residential.life@lse.ac.uk if you would like any branded materials.
 

This week is National Green Week and to celebrate there is a Cycle Confident instructor on site to help staff and students improve their cycling ability.

Take part in Ashtanga, a dynamic form of yoga, on Fridays from 1-2pm in the Faith Centre, second floor of the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre. Come to get strong, flexible and ready for the weekend. Sessions cost £5.

Everyone is welcome. Just come with an empty stomach, wear loose clothing and bring your own mat.

Accommodation needed

A new LSE member of staff is looking for a single bedroom/studio flat to rent in London from late February. No specific area required as long as it has good transport links.

If you know of any accommodation in London, email Chiara at c.de-poli@lse.ac.uk.

This week's picture features the iRoam laptop loan service which is available during term time from the self-service machine on the first floor of the Library.

For more images like this, visit the Photography Unit.

'Nurture' more important than 'nature' for overweight children

Parents’ lifestyles, rather than their genes, are primarily responsible for their children being overweight according to research by the Centre for Economic Performance, based at LSE.

Researchers compared the weight of biological and adopted children to that of their parents to determine whether children inherit their weight problems or whether they are the result of the environment they grow up in.

They found that when both adoptive parents are overweight, the likelihood of an adopted child being overweight is up to 21 per cent higher than when the parents are not overweight. Because these children are adopted their weight problems can be largely attributed to their parents’ lifestyles rather than their genes.

In comparison, children who have two biological parents who are overweight were found to be 27 per cent more likely to be overweight - just six percentage points more than adopted children, showing the relatively small influence of genetics. More
 

A new report from LSE and the University of Manchester provides a comprehensive independent assessment of the Coalition’s record on schools: an essential guide to policies, spending, the changes in the school system and trends in children’s outcomes.

The paper, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Nuffield Foundation and Trust for London, provides clear evidence designed to help voters assess the Coalition’s successes and failures and identify key challenges facing the next government elected on May 7.

The analysis shows that the Coalition kept its promise to protect school spending - which rose by 1 per cent in real terms between 2009-10 and 2013-14. The Pupil Premium, given to schools for the most disadvantaged students, delivered a real increase in funding to schools with the poorest intakes.

Find out about LSE’s history at the LSE Literary Festival

On: Tuesday 24 February from 6.30-8pm

In our 120th year, Professor Michael Cox is exploring the School’s past. How did the "School" come into being in the first place? What role did key figures like Sidney and Beatrice Webb play? What was their vision? Was it ever realized? And how did this relatively small, somewhat ill-housed, often poorly resourced, and frequently much-criticised institution that many saw as the enemy of the established order, come to play such a key role in British and global politics over the next century?

This event will be followed by a complimentary drinks reception and a chance to browse an exhibition of ‘Ghost of the Past’ images, which reveal the changing face of the LSE campus.

Free tickets available to book online here.
 

Forthcoming LSE events include....

The Challenge of Big Data for the Social Sciences
On: Monday 16 February at 6.30pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speaker: Professor Kenneth Benoit (pictured)

Are Welfare Programmes Just Keeping People Out of Work? An Economist's Take on Benefits Street
On: Tuesday 17 February at 6.30pm in the New Theatre, East Building
Speaker: Dr Camille Landais

Leaving the EU?
On: Tuesday 17 February at 6.30pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speakers: Professor Damian Chalmers, Professor Carol Harlow, Dr Jan Komarek, and Dr Jo Eric Khushal Murkens

Ayn Rand, the Financial Crisis and the Age of Selfishness
On: Wednesday 18 February at 6.30pm in the New Theatre, East Building
Speaker: Darryl Cunningham (pictured)

The Brain's Way of Healing: stories of remarkable recoveries and discoveries
On: Wednesday 18 February at 6.30pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speaker: Professor Norman Doidge

The 14th Hellenic Observatory Annual Lecture - NEW DATE

The 14th Hellenic Observatory Annual Lecture by Yannis Stournaras (pictured) which was going to take place on Thursday 12 February has now been rescheduled for Wednesday 25 March from 6.30-8pm. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
 

LSE Works

The fifth LSE Works lecture takes place on Thursday 12 February and will be given by LSE Law’s Dr Jan Kleinheisterkamp (pictured) on ‘Investor Protection in TTIP: fading democracy or new generation?’.

The respondent will be Martti Koskenniemi, Professor of International Law at the University of Helsinki and Centennial Professor at LSE, and the event will be chaired by Shawn Donnan, World Trade Editor at the Financial Times.

Dr Jan Kleinheisterkamp’s research has influenced EU policies relating to international trade agreements - more on his research impact can be found here.

LSE Works is a series of public lectures that will showcase some of the latest research by LSE's academic departments and research centres. In each session LSE academics will present key research findings, demonstrating where appropriate the implications of their studies for public policy.

A list of all the LSE Works lectures can be viewed at LSE Works.
 

On: Friday 13 February from 6.45-8.15pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speakers: Simon Glendinning, Professor of European Philosophy in LSE's European Institute and Director of the Forum for European Philosophy, Leila Simona Talani, Professor of International Political Economy at King’s College London, Costas Douzinas, Professor of Law at Birkbeck School of Law and Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, and Paul Mason, Economics Editor at Channel 4.

On: Tuesday 17 February at 6.30pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building

In this Entrepreneurship Matters session Duncan Clark OBE (pictured), Chairman and Founder of BDA China and adviser to Alibaba, looks at what’s fuelling the rise of internet entrepreneurs in China, and how Jack Ma and other digital dynamos are transforming commerce, content and the middle classes in China.

On: Tuesday 17 February from 6.30-8pm in the Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Colonel Joel Rayburn (pictured), National Defense University

In this lecture, Joel Rayburn presents his book Iraq after America: strongmen, sectarians, resistance, in which he examines the government and the sectarian and secular factions that have emerged in Iraq since the US invasion of 2003, presenting the interrelations among the various elements in the Iraqi political scene.

Everyday Strategies against Austerity in Greece: the view from anthropology

On: Tuesday 17 February from 6-7.30pm in the Cañada Blanch Room, Cowdray House
Speaker: Dr Dimitrios Theodossopoulos (pictured), Reader in Social Anthropology at the University of Kent.

Dr Dimitrios Theodossopoulos explores a number of issues that have transpired from a ‘first wave’ of anthropological writings on the Greek financial crisis and its consequences. He outlines common themes that have emerged from this literature and related dilemmas.

All Hellenic Observatory seminars are open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. More
 

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender History Month takes place across the UK every year in February. It celebrates the lives and achievements of the LGBT community.

LSE Spectrum, the LSE network for LGBT staff, has the following events taking place later this month:

A Night at the Movies with Spectrum - Double Bill: Paris is Burning and Talking Transgender
On: Wednesday 18 February from 6-8pm in 32L.LG.18, 32 Lincoln’s Inn Fields
Paris is Burning is an American documentary film directed by Jennie Livingston. Filmed in the mid-to-late 1980s, it chronicles the ball culture of New York City and the African-American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities involved in it. Talking Transgender introduces a group of transgender individuals who candidly share their personal stories with compassion, honesty and humour, to widen knowledge, to increase understanding and to promote an awareness of transgender issues. To attend, please register here. Drinks and snacks will be provided.

The next LSE Chill is on Friday 20 February, with a mixture of music and stand up.

Join LSE Arts from 6pm in Café 54, NAB to start the weekend right. Get there early to make the most of the limited free drinks and food.

LSE EMBRACE staff network is hosting a Chinese New Year celebration on Thursday 26 February from 5.45pm until late, in CLM 5.02, Clement House.

The event programme will include Chinese arts and music, a talk on the Chinese 'Zodiac' and refreshments.

The Future of Secularism in a Multi-Ethnic UK

On: Tuesday 3 March from 6.30-9pm in TW1 G.01, Tower One

Join the LSESU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society for an enlightening discussion about the future of secularism in an increasingly multicultural UK. How is secularism in the UK failing ethnic minorities? Does secularism need to change? What type of secularism do we want to see in the UK?

Panellists include:

• Pragna Patel, Director of Southall Black Sisters and a founding member of Women Against Fundamentalism.
• Gita Sahgal, activist and founder of the Centre for Secular Space.
• Maryam Namazie, political activist, campaigner and blogger.
• Tehmina Kazi, Director of British Muslims for Secular Democracy.
• Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society.

The Cyprus Recovery Plan: a midterm assessment

On: Friday 6 March from 8.45am-6.30pm in the Shaw Library, Old Building

This one day conference is organised by LSE's Hellenic Observatory in association with the University of Nicosia and the Neapolis University of Pafos.

Has the financial disaster of March 2013 resulted in the economic catastrophe of Cyprus or provided an opportunity for addressing deep rooted political and economic problems and implementing long overdue reforms?

This event debates whether the financial crisis became an economic disaster or if it has provided the opportunity to revise the previous economic model and implement the necessary reforms for a sustainable recovery.

Podcasts of public lectures and events

The Age of Sustainable Development
Speaker: Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs
Recorded: Wednesday 4 February, approx. 60 minutes

Human Shield
Speaker: Professor Judith Butler
Recorded: Wednesday 4 February, approx. 88 minutes

STAR: using visual economic models to engage stakeholders to increase value in the the NHS
Speakers: Dr Mara Airoldi and Professor Gwyn Bevan
Recorded: Thursday 5 February, approx. 86 minutes

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

• Administrative Assistant, Planning Unit
• Assistant Archivist, Library: Archives Services
• Communications Officer, LSE IDEAS
• Departmental Manager (internal only), Mathematics
• Development Associate, LSE Advancement
• Director/Co-Directors, International Inequalities Institute
• Events and Communications Officer, Management
• Managing Editor - LSE for Business Blog, Government
• Project Manager (Transcrisis), Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation
• Quality Assurance Administrator/Research Degrees Officer, Academic Registrar's Division
• Service Delivery Manager (Taught Postgraduate Programmes), Law
• Student Engagement and Young Alumni Executive (maternity cover), LSE Advancement
• Research Officer, LSE Cities