And the winners are....

Congratulations to the winners of this year's LSE Photo Prize and The Ghosts of the Past competitions. Be sure to check out all of the winning entries online.

Introducing the new IMT Customer Portal

Accessible anywhere, the new Portal is the quick and easy way to get the IT help you need.

Indi Seehra

Indi, Director of HR, was once a background dancer in a Bollywood film and he would have loved to have seen George Best on a football pitch in real life.

 LSE in pictures

 Events

 Training and jobs

This week LSE has launched its official Instagram account -@londonschoolofeconomics.

The new photo-sharing account will showcase exciting images of LSE events, photos of our award-winning campus, shots of London, pictures from LSE’s history (using the #ThrowbackThursday tag) and much more.

Instagram is fast becoming a popular social media platform for universities to share news and capture campus life. The majority of Instagram’s users are under 30 and the platform is already widely used by LSE students and visitors, with over 40,000 photos tagged with #LSE. So it is a great time for LSE to start sharing images to connect with potential students, current students and the wider School community…and hopefully it won’t be long before we catch up to Harvard’s 50,000 followers.

You can sign up to Instagram here and follow LSE at @londonschoolofeconomics, and if you want to share any images of life at the School just use the #LSE tag on your posts.

The launch of LSE’s presence on Instagram coincides with the appointment of LSE’s first Social Media Manager, Amy Mollett.

You may already know Amy from her time as the editor of the LSE Review of Books blog. She has now moved over to the Communications Division to help us take advantage of new and inventive ways of speaking to the LSE community and beyond.

European Parliament name Professor Featherstone's book "one of 100 books on Europe to remember"

Director of the Hellenic Observatory Professor Kevin Featherstone's book The Road to Maastricht: Negotiating Economic and Monetary Union has been named on the "100 books on Europe to remember" book list, compiled by the European Parliament. The full list can be found here.

On Tuesday 3 March, Professor Kevin Featherstone will participate in the special event '100 Books on Europe to Remember', from 6-8pm in the EPRS Library Reading Room. More
 

Winners of LSE Photo Prize and Ghosts of the Past announced

The winners of this year’s Photo Prize competition were announced on Saturday 28 February to mark the end of the LSE Literary Festival.

First prize went to Benjamin Aw, an undergraduate in the economics department, for his photo, Windows (pictured left).

Second prize, for the picture Destroyed Room was awarded to Max Nathan, deputy director of the centre for local economic growth, while third prize was given to Catarina Heeckt, a member of staff at LSE Cities, for Preserving the Past.

The winner of The Ghosts of the Past competition has also been announced, with the accolade going to Postroom Operative Pawel Opaska.

You can see all of the winning entries online and more of the submissions to the Photo Prize in a special LSE Perspectives gallery.
 

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.

Did you know? In the epilogue to Pygmalion, Eliza Dootlittle attends classes at LSE to help her become a successful florist. Read more in the ‘LSE in Fiction’ LSE History blog post.

IMT are pleased to announce the IMT Customer Portal is now available and open to all staff and students.

The Portal is the quick and easy way to get the IT help you need. Accessible anywhere, it allows you to:

• Log and track your IT requests
• Receive notifications about any disruptions or planned outages
• View a selection of useful guides and frequently asked questions

Whenever you wish to request a service or report an IT issue you can access the Portal via a shortcut on your desktop or by visiting imtcustomerportal.lse.ac.uk.

Encouraged by recent Equality and Diversity initiatives at LSE, a new staff network, LSE POWER (Professional Women for Equality and Respect), has been established.

The network intends to give female professional services staff a stronger presence and voice in the culture of LSE. Its aims are social, supportive and policy focussed. LSE POWER will work alongside other staff networks, such as the Gender Equality Forum (which focuses on academic issues) and Spectrum (the LGBT staff network).

Nominations for the LSE Teaching Excellence Awards 2015 are now officially open until Sunday 5 April.

The Students’ Union runs the nominations and selection process, supported by the TLC and Annual Fund. Last year we saw a huge expansion of the awards, from 75 nominations in 2013 to 993 in 2014. We are looking to see this increase even further, with more staff being recognised in more varied capacities. Categories for awards are designed to include everyone from charismatic lecturers to compassionate wardens or administrators, so we hope the winners will reflect this.

You can let your students know that they can nominate online here.

The awards event is due to take place after the TLC Teaching Symposium on Tuesday 5 May. Make sure to take a note of that in your calendars, so you can come along to support your colleagues, friends and possibly even celebrate yourself!

Although staff members cannot nominate, we really hope that you can get behind the awards and that departments encourage students to recognise someone that has made a difference.

Please get in touch with Nicky Pavitt at n.k.pavitt@lse.ac.uk if you would like promotional material sent over.
 

Student Accommodation Satisfaction Survey 2014-15

The 2014-15 Student Accommodation Satisfaction Survey is now half way through, and 34.88 per cent of residents have taken part.

All students in halls have been sent a personalised email and survey link inviting them to complete the survey. 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 bottle of champagne to a trip up The Shard. Please get in touch with residential.life@lse.ac.uk if you would like any branded materials, or information on how you can help advertise the survey. More information can be found here.
 

The University of London Housing Services (ULHS) will be paying two visits to LSE to give a presentation on private housing advice.

Staff from the LSE Residential Services Office (RSO) and ULHS will be on hand to answer questions in a Q&A session planned afterwards. Topics covered by the ULHS presentation, which will last for approximately one hour, include: Where/when should I start looking? What do I need to be planning for? And information on contracts, deposits, areas and other housing related aspects.

At the end of this part of the session, the RSO will give a short preview of the new LSE Rent Guarantor Scheme.

The second hour will give you a chance to ask any more in depth questions to the assembled staff.

The seminars will be held on:

• Monday 9 March at 1-3pm in TW1.G.01
  To book please click here
• Friday 20 March at 12-2pm in NAB.LG.08
  To book please click here
   

We have published all of the submissions from Photo Prize 2015, check out a few of our favourites featured in a special edition of our monthly online gallery. If you weren’t there at the competition Prize Giving, find out who won here.

LSE Catering has recently introduced two new special offers:

• At the Plaza Cafe, you can now get a regular tea or coffee with a muffin or rice cake for just £2, after 6pm.
• At the Fourth Floor Cafe, you have the choice of a free Americano or regular tea when purchasing the deli sandwich of the day.

Enjoy!
 

Wellbeing Stall

The Student Wellbeing Service will be running another Wellbeing Stall outside the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre on Friday 13 March. Colleagues from the Faith Centre, Residences, Disability and Wellbeing Service, the Student Services Centre and Peer Support will be manning the stall from 11am-2pm and will be handing out Easter eggs, chocolates, fruit, and cups of tea and coffee.

The team will be encouraging people to think of ways of looking after yourself over the break and will have information on your "five a day" for mental health. They will also be promoting the Time to Change "Time to talk" campaign which aims to end mental health discrimination.
 

The Research Division will be holding a bake-off in aid of Comic Relief on Wednesday 11 March.

Hand-baked goodies will be judged in several categories including sweet, savoury and special diet (including wheat-free, dairy-free and reduced fat).

If your own computer has slowed down, try these simple tips (not applicable on LSE computers).

1. Delete programs you never use
New computers often come loaded with trial programs you don’t need. Use these links to uninstall from Windows 8 or Windows 7.

2. Restart regularly
Restart at least once a week to clear out memory and close down any unnecessary processes.

3. Stop programs running automatically at Windows Start Up
Start faster by preventing non-essential programs from running automatically.

In Windows 7:
a. Click the Start button. The Systems Configuration dialog box opens.
b. In the Search box type Msconfig and press Enter.
c. On the Startup tab, uncheck the box next to non-essential programs to prevent them from starting automatically when you turn on your computer.
d. Click OK to close.

In Windows 8:
a. Press Ctrl Alt Delete simultaneously to open the Task Manager.
b. Select the Start Up tab.
c. Look through the list. To stop any program listed from opening automatically at start up, right click on Enable and select Disable. When you are finished, close the Task Manager.

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 17 March, Tuesday 24 March, Tuesday 7 April, Tuesday 14 April, Tuesday 28 April, Tuesday 5 May, Tuesday 19 May and Tuesday 26 May. Just turn up on any of these dates with your own skipping rope. All lessons are free.

Tuscan apartment available to rent

Self-catering apartment located in La Doccia near Florence, Italy, is available to rent.

The apartment is in a quiet, traditional villa surrounded by oaks and olive groves and close to cultural jewels.

For more information, contact Lourdes at l.hernandez-martin@lse.ac.uk or click here.

This week's picture features the writer Will Self, who was one of the panellists at the BBC World Service LSE Literary Festival event, The Forum, scheduled to be broadcast at 9am on Tuesday 10 March on the BBC World Service.

For more images like this, visit the Photography Unit.

Forthcoming LSE events

What is the Responsibility to Protect?
On Monday 9 March from 6-7.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Professor Michael Walzer

Human Capital, Inequality and Tax Reform: recent past and future prospects
On: Tuesday 10 March from 6.30-8pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Professor Sir Richard Blundell

Disintegrating Europe: nationalism, regionalism and globalisation
On: Wednesday 11 March from 1.45-3.30pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speakers: Professor John Breuilly and Professor Kalypso Nicolaidis

Political Economy of European Union
On: Wednesday 11 March from 4-5.30pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speakers: Professor Bob Hancké and Professor David Soskice

Code and Law between Truth and Power
On: Wednesday 11 March from 6.30-8pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Professor Julie Cohen

Lana Trotovsek (violin) and Simon Lane (piano)
On: Thursday 12 March at 1pm in the Shaw Library, Old Building

The Law, Finance and the Abyss
On Thursday 12 March at 6.30-8pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speakers: Professor Julia Black, Dr Jon Danielsson, Professor Charles Goodhart, and Professor Katharina Pistor
 

Beyond the Cold War: how summits shaped the new world order

The seventh LSE Works lecture takes place on Thursday 5 March and will be given by LSE International History’s Dr Kristina Spohr on ‘Beyond the Cold War: how summits shaped the new world order’.

The respondents will be Rodric Braithwaite GCMG, a British diplomat and author; Roderic Lyne, Deputy Chairman of Chatham House and Adviser, Russia and Eurasia Programme, and Arne Westad, Professor of International History at LSE and Director of LSE IDEAS. The event will be chaired by Professor Stuart Corbridge, Deputy Director and Provost of LSE.

LSE Works is a series 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.
 

TEDxLSE 2015

Sunday 8 March from 10am-5.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building

Speakers at this year's TEDxLSE 2015 conference include:

• Mete Coban, Hackney's Youngest Councillor and CEO of a non-profit organisation
• Russell Buckley, Government advisor, mentor and angel investor in over 40 startups
• Ross Sutherland, Poet, theatre-maker and former Times Literary Star of the Year
• Nadia Darwazeh, International disputes lawyer and Secretary-General of the Jerusalem Arbitration Center
• Jane Burston, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and Head of the Centre for Carbon Measurement at the National Physical Laboratory
• Jonathan Glennie, Director of Policy and Research at Save the Children UK
• Tak Lo, Director at Techstars, former management consultant, investment banker and army veteran
• Dr Hugh Rayment-Pickard, co-founder and Director of Development of IntoUniversity
• Ed Cooke, Memory champion and best-selling author
• Melissa Sterry, Design scientist and futurist
• The Komola Collective, London-based theatre and arts company dedicated to telling the untold stories from women's perspectives
• Neal Lawson, British political commentator and author of the book All Consuming
• Alecia Maragh, TEDxLSE Student Competition Winner
• Alexander Lushnikov, Co-founder of social media platform CHAINY and member of Russian national Karate team

More can be found on its Facebook event page or the event's website here.

German Symposium 2015 - Facing New Responsibilities: Germany's new role in Europe and beyond?

On: Monday 9 - Friday 13 March

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the German Reunification, the LSESU German Society announce its 14th annual German Symposium. Throughout the week, the Symposium will question: What role can and must Germany fulfill in the coming decades? To what extent will the future of the European integration process be of importance?

Special guest, President of the French Republic from 1974 to 1981 and principal of today's Europe, Monsieur Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, will speak about "Europe's Last Chance: ideas for reform" on Wednesday 11 March.

Speakers will include:

• Dr Hans-Gert Pöttering - a German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union
• Kenneth Harry Clarke CH QC MP - a British Conservative politician representing Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire as a Member of Parliament since 1970
• Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell CH CBE PC - a British Conservative politician who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major
• Dr Peter Ammon - the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Kingdom
• Professor Dr Gesine Schwan - a German Political Science professor and member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Germany
• David Owen, Baron Owen, CH PC FRCP MB BChir - a British politician who served as British Foreign Secretary from 1977 to 1979
• Professor Dr Brendan Simms - an Irish historian and Professor of the History of International Relations in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge.
• David McAllister - a German politician of the conservative Christ Democratic Union (CDU)
• Sir Simon McDonald KCMG - a British diplomat who is ambassador to Germany
• Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG QC MP - a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament of Kensington for Kensington
• Peter Altmaier - a German politician who has served as the Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery and as Federal Minister for Special Affairs since December 2013
• Professor Dr Claudia Maria Buch - a German economist and Deputy Director of the German Bundesbank
• Martin Blessing - Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of Commerzbank AG, Germany
• Carsten Kratz - Senior Partner and Managing Director at The Boston Consulting Group, Germany
• Dr Alexander Gauland - a German jurist, journalist and politician and a leading politician of the German right-wing AfD

For more information and tickets, click here. Get your official printed programme at the Houghton Street stall until Friday 6 March.
 

On: Monday 9 March from 1-2pm in room 9.04, Tower Two
Speakers: Professor Sergei Guriev (pictured), Professor of Economics at Sciences Po and Russia’s leading policy economist, and Professor Tymofei Mylovanov, Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh.
Moderator: Professor Erik Berglöf, Director of the Institute of Global Affairs, LSE.

The Institute of Global Affairs (IGA) at LSE is launching a series of debates on the Ukraine-Russia conflict and its wider implications. This inaugural discussion will focus on economic and political aspects of the conflict with a special emphasis on the inherent tensions between eastern Ukraine and the rest of the country.

On: Tuesday 10 March from 6.30-8pm in room 9.04, Tower Two
Speaker: Professor Lahouari Addi, Sciences Po Lyon

In this lecture, Professor Lahouari Addi discusses the current situation in Algeria, from the sickness and subsequent disappearance of Bouteflika from the public eye, to the protests in the south resisting the exploitation of the country's vast shale gas reserves and, importantly, the future of Algeria's economic situation in the face of declining oil prices. These issues are discussed against the backdrop of a nearing change in presidential leadership.

On Wednesday 11 March at 1.30-3pm in LIF.3.05
Speakers: Yu Suzuki, Cees Heere, Shunsuke Nakaoka, and Steven Ivings

This workshop explores the economic and historic links between Britain and Japan. It is organised by graduate students from the Department of Economic History at LSE and sponsored by the Suntory and Toyota Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD).

On: Friday 13 March from 6-8pm in Café 54, New Academic Building

Join LSE Arts for some live music and free drinks at the last performance night of the term.

On: Monday 16 March at 12.30-2pm in the Alumni Theatre, New Academic Building

The General Election is coming and with a Spending Review to follow this is a critical time to advocate for social science.

The Campaign for Social Science recently launched The Business of People, a landmark report which sets out the value of social science to the UK’s society and economy and makes key recommendations to policy-makers. Read the new report.

On Monday 16 March the Campaign for Social Science visits LSE to present the report and discuss its relevance to the School. Social scientists of all disciplines are encouraged to attend. Lunch will be served from 12.30pm before the main session at 1-2pm.

The panel includes Professor Craig Calhoun, Director of LSE, Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, IG Patel Chair of Economics and Government and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, and from the Campaign for Social Science, Professor James Wilsdon, Chair, David Walker, Head of Policy, and Professor Andy Ross, Board Member.

On: Wednesday 18 March from 6.30-8pm in the Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Dr Michael Herb (pictured), Georgia State University

Despite recent setbacks, Kuwait's parliament remains the strongest amongst the GCC states. Michael Herb delves into Gulf history to explain why Kuwait's political system differs from those of its neighbours.

This event is free and open to all on a first come first served basis. Our events are very well attended, please make sure to arrive early. We cannot guarantee entry.

Podcasts of public lectures and events

The 'School': the LSE from the Webbs to the Third Way
Speaker: Professor Michael Cox
Recorded: Tuesday 24 February, approx. 84 minutes

The China Dream
Speakers: Professor William A Callahan, Chan Koonchung, and Isabel Hilton
Recorded: Tuesday 24 February, approx. 97 minutes

The Minimum Wage in the UK and Beyond
Speaker: Professor Alan Manning
Recorded: Thursday 26 February, approx. 89 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
• Administrative Assistant, European Institute
• Assistant Professor, Media and Communications
• CEP Research Assistant (Wellbeing Programme), Centre for Economic Performance
• Development Manager, LSE Advancement
• Digital Library Developer, Library: Resources and Innovation
• Employer Enquiries and Data Coordinator, LSE Careers
• Events and Reunions Manager, LSE Advancement
• Global Health Initiative Manager, LSE Health and Social Care
• Grant Applications Manager (Knowledge Exchange and Impact), Research Division
• Head of Corporate Marketing, Communications
• Research Programme Manager, International Growth Centre
• LSE Fellow in Comparative Politics, Government
• MSc Programmes Manager, Economics
• Senior Registry Administrator, ARD: Student Administration
• Strategic Project Support Officer, Information Management and Technology
• The Mellon Fellowship Programme and the Humanities Research Officer, LSE Cities
• Warden (LSE Halls of Residence), Residential and Catering Services Division
• Web Editor (internal only), Library: Resources and Innovation