Young people have bore the brunt of the recession

New LSE report finds that people in their twenties have been worst affected by the economic crisis despite higher qualifications than any earlier generation.

Ready for the summer?

There’s no better way to enjoy it than by playing for the LSE Staff Cricket Team. Games take place throughout the summer on Wednesday afternoons. New players needed and welcome.

Eva Bonin

Eva is running this year's London Marathon for the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund who focus on supporting promising young athletes: "They are a fabulous charity but not very well known".

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LSE has risen in the annual Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings for the fourth year in a row.

The 2015 rankings place the School at 22nd in the world, a climb of two places from last year and a continual rise since the reputation rankings were first established. LSE was previously 37th in 2011, 29th in 2012, 25th in 2013 and 24th in 2014. This year the School is one of only five UK institutions in the top 30.

The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings are based on the world's largest invitation-only survey of academic opinion, featuring 10,500 respondents from 142 countries.

Commenting on this year’s rankings, LSE Director Professor Craig Calhoun said: "That LSE continues to be so well-regarded around the world is a credit to the sustained work and engagement of our staff, students and alumni - both at home and overseas.

The Saw Swee Hock Student Centre has been recognised by the 2015 Civic Trust Awards with a 'Special Award for Brick'.

The award, sponsored by Derwent London, recognised SAW as an exemplar project, demonstrating excellence in overall design and construction using brick.

The judges’ comments include:

Richard Baldwin, Head of Development for Derwent London: "It should act as an inspiration for other student buildings. The Saw Swee Hock Student Centre is a clear winner. The architects have achieved a superb and beautifully crafted building and client, planners and contractors deserve credit for their commitment to an outstanding contribution to the city fabric."

David Prichard, Chair of the Civic Trust Awards National Panel: "LSE’s Saw Swee Hock Student Centre is a masterly composition on an incredibly constrained site where O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects have surpassed their client’s expectations with an exceptional, striking building."

LSE has finalists in two categories of the 2015 ARMA Awards, which showcase best practice in influencing the development of the research professions. The awards are sponsored by the Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA) in collaboration with Elsevier, the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education and other such professional organisations.

Professor Tim Newburn is a finalist in the Impact category, which "celebrates a research manager or research management team that has invented, innovated or transformed the processes for supporting the translation of research into societal impact". He was nominated for his collaboration with the Guardian on a project called Reading the Riots.

The Research Awards Team in the Research Division is a finalist in the Research Management Team of the Year category, which "celebrates a research management team that has succeeded in combining the component parts of research management and administration into a robust, cohesive and effective unit, resulting in a significant positive impact on their organisation’s research enterprise".

It is likely that there will be tax increases after the election whoever wins, concludes a new report from the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), based at LSE, in the latest in a series of background briefings on the policy issues in the May 2015 UK general election.

Professor John Van Reenen, CEP’s director and author of the report, notes that every general election since 1992 has been followed by net tax rises of more than £5 billion. Such an outcome seems all the more probable with each of the three main parties’ policy proposals on ‘austerity’ promising to balance the cyclically adjusted current budget by 2017-18.

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 Francesca Klug (pictured), Professorial Research Fellow, discusses human rights and the Magna Carta. More
 

LSE student wins prize for most innovative Library idea

On Monday 9 February the Library and LSESU hosted Re-Imagining Your Library, designed to maximise student discussion, debate and dialogue regarding important Library issues.

As part of the event, the Library invited students to make suggestions about its services. MSc Regulation student Anup Aryal (pictured) provided the most innovative idea - that the Library could provide data on the most read articles and books to help students choose which sources to consult. Anup received a £30 Waterstones book voucher as his prize.

The Library will now work with the LSESU to discuss ways in which the feedback from Re-Imagining Your Library can be implemented.

Check out the LSESU image gallery and blogpost from the event.
 

Volunteering Week Victory

Another Student Volunteering Week has come and gone, and what a brilliant one it was.

Over eight days, the LSE Volunteer Centre invited seven charities onto campus, raised almost £4,000 with LSESU RAG, posted inspiring student-written blogs, held a photo competition in LSE halls with the LSESU and gained almost 100 signatories for an “education for all” petition.

Read our overview on the week on the Volunteer Centre blog.
 

Dr Paul Dütting presents "Spectrum Auction" poster in Parliament

Dr Paul Dütting, an LSE Fellow in the Department of Mathematics, presented his poster "Spectrum Auctions: greed is good,… if you do it well!" at SET for Britain 2015 on Monday 9 March at the Houses of Parliament, Westminster.

His poster addressed the issue of how mathematics can help organise the optimum sale of spectrum rights and other so-called "combinatorial auctions". Based on Dr Dütting’s article, The Performance of Deferred-Acceptance Auctions, the poster was well-received and prompted a number of questions from the audience of MPs, scientists, engineers and fellow mathematicians. Other themes within the Mathematical Science Exhibition included fracking, cancer therapies, reconstructive surgery, fluid dynamics, aero-engines and wind farms.

The day-long exhibition, sponsored by Andrew Miller MP, Chairman of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, provided a fantastic opportunity for early-stage and early-career researchers in the fields of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, and, since 2014, Mathematics, to communicate their research to Members of both Houses of Parliament and to a lay audience. The event fosters increased dialogue and engagement between researchers and policy makers. It also stimulates interaction amongst researchers, laying the foundations for further collaborations. More
 

Dr Çubukçu to participate in the Kandersteg Seminar

Dr Ayça Çubukçu (pictured), Assistant Professor in Human Rights in the Department of Sociology and Centre for the Study of Human Rights, has been nominated as a participant in the Kandersteg Seminar convened by the Remarque Institute of New York University.

Every year, the Kandersteg Seminar offers a small number of invited scholars the chance to engage in an extended conversation around a defined topic over four days in a Swiss mountain retreat.

This year, Dr Çubukçu will be participating in the Remarque Institute of NYU's Kandersteg Seminar from 11-15 March, which will address the theme of 'sovereignty'.
 

The results are in....

On Thursday 5 March, the new Sabbatical and part-time Officers were elected to lead LSESU: 3,895 students voted, making this the highest turnout ever.

Nona Buckley-Irvine was re-elected as General Secretary and is joined by Jon Foster as Education Officer, Katie Budd as Activities and Development Officer, and Aysha Fekaiki as Community and Welfare Officer.

Find out who won the part-time positions here.
 

Did you know? LSE once had a British Rail locomotive named after it, which was unveiled at Euston station in 1985. You may recognise its nameplate as it now lives in the George IV pub on campus. How did this come about?

Academics abroad

This afternoon (12 March) Dr Riccardo Crescenzi, Associate Professor of Economic Geography at LSE, gave a brownbag seminar on "Innovation and Economic Development in the European Union" at the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, Washington D.C.

Dr Crescenzi also spoke about "Moving People with Ideas: innovation, inter-regional mobility and firm heterogeneity" at the Inter-American Development Bank, Washington D.C. on Wednesday 11 March. On Friday 6 March, he spoke on the same subject at the Harvard Business School’s Economics of Science and Engineering Workshop.

Professor Ricky Burdett delivered a keynote presentation at Mextropoli 2015 International Festival of Architecture and Town on Tuesday 10 March. The Festival took place in Mexico City from 6-10 March.

The Centre Buildings Redevelopment

LSE’s Centre Building Redevelopment will create a state of the art, flexible, and highly sustainable academic and teaching building, designed by renowned architects Roger Stirk Harbour + Partners.

Demolition is programmed to start at the end of the Summer term 2015 and the building will be completed by late 2018. This will be a major construction project for the School and as such there will inevitably be some disruption and noise over the next few years.

More on how the School will manage this, the routes that will be shut and alternative routes around campus, as well as further details on the construction process and demolition plans, can now be found on the Estates Division’s webpages. Please check the pages and visit the FAQ section which give more detail on the School's plans.

The Capital Development team are also holding a drop-in surgery ever Wednesday afternoon from 2-5pm, open to all, in the CBR Exhibition Space in Clare Market. Any questions or concerns can also be emailed to Estates.Centrebuildings@lse.ac.uk.
 

At its meeting last week, Academic Board agreed to amend the end-date for Lent term 2016 from Wednesday 23 March 2016 to Thursday 24 March 2016.

This means that Lent term 2016 week 11 teaching can take place up to and including Thursday of that week. The website has been updated to reflect this decision.

LSE Research Festival 2015 and LSESU are looking for participants for an exciting public engagement event. Have you ever wanted to discuss your research with a wider audience? Do you want to develop your public engagement or presentation skills? Then apply for the upcoming Social Science Soapbox on our website.

Wednesday 22 April

This one day workshop is suitable for all staff (academic and professional services) who might be considering retirement as a realistic option in the next few years, or who have already decided to retire.

Since the default retirement age was removed the decision of if and when to retire is now entirely down to individuals. The concept of retirement has also changed to one of taking advantage of a new active phase of life, which in many cases still includes some work, either paid or voluntary.

The purpose of the workshop is to encourage individuals to think seriously about all aspects of retirement or partial retirement in a structured way and to help individuals to make better and more considered choices.

Tuesday 17 March from 6-7.30pm on the eighth floor of the NAB

LSE London is holding a small focus group for young London professionals (25-34 years old) as part of a research project for the Sutton Trust.

The research looks at the impact declining housing accessibility is having on young employed Londoners and what innovative housing models could be introduced/scaled up to address this.

This focus group will look to discuss these issues and the views of young professionals’ on their housing options, over drinks and appetizers.

Whether you want to filter contacts, sort an inventory, or create a chart from statistical data, avoid errors by observing these basic rules.

1. Place labels in the top row of the dataset
In order to sort, filter or use other database features, your data must be labelled at the top of each column (rather than at the left of each row).

2. Format labels differently from the data
This not only makes your dataset easier to read, but also helps Excel distinguish labels from data.

3. Remove Empty Columns or Rows within the dataset
Excel understands blank columns and rows as the borders of a dataset. So, for example, if you sort a dataset, any data beyond a blank row or column will remain unsorted.

4. Remove Surrounding Data
Keep distinct sets of data on separate sheets. If you must keep them on the same sheet, ensure that each set is surrounded by empty rows and columns.

5. Each column should hold just one type of data
Data in any single column should be of a single type, such as birthdates, surnames or currency amounts.

Designing the Urban Commons is an ideas competition calling for new ways to stimulate the city’s public and collective life. It is organised by Theatrum Mundi at LSE Cities and will be launched on Wednesday 25 March.

Entry to the competition is free, open to anyone, and invites diverse teams to work together. Architects, community organisers, performers, artists, activists, and even ordinary citizens are all encouraged to take part. The deadline for applications is Friday 1 May.

The competition brief will ask teams to transform existing land, architecture or infrastructures across London into common spaces, or to carve out new urban commons either as physical places or online. Commons are not static pieces of architecture. We are seeking designs through which the social act of commoning could take shape. We want to enable citizens to co-produce urban resources. This could be in the form of culture and knowledge or housing, energy or democratic processes.

The ten winning proposals will be awarded £300. The winning schemes will be exhibited in June simultaneously at LSE as part of the London Festival of Architecture, and in Berlin as part of the MakeCity Festival. The winners will also be invited to present their visions to the public at the V&A's Friday Late in June.

Ready for the summer? There’s no better way to enjoy it than by playing for the LSE Staff Cricket Team.

Games take place throughout the summer on Wednesday afternoons at our well-appointed Sportsground in South West London. New players needed and welcome.

You are invited to lunchtime Praise and Worship sessions with LSE Rejoice every Friday at 12-1pm in the LSE Faith Centre, second floor of Saw Swee Hock Student Centre.

Alan Revel (pictured), Events Manager at LSE, will be taking part in the 2015 Swimathon to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care, by taking on the challenge of swimming 5km in an outdoor pool.

Taking place from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 April, Swimathon is a nationwide swimming challenge that encourages swimmers up and down the UK to swim a variety of challenge distances at their local pool.

Alan said: "I'm raising funds for Marie Curie to help them to provide care to over 40,000 people living with terminal illnesses across the UK. Any support would be greatly appreciated - your sponsorship will ensure Marie Curie can continue the amazing work they do."

If you would like to sponsor Alan, visit his fundraising page.
 

Summer house for rent in Patmos, Greece

This fully refurbished summer house is situated in Hora, one of the few perfectly preserved heritage villages of Greece, which is built around a monastery at the top of a hill. The island is small and not overrun by tourists.

The house sleeps up to six people and is available all year around except in August. Please contact Katerina at k.dalacoura@lse.ac.uk for more information.

LSE Photo Prize 2015 followed the Literary Festival theme Foundations and included a special category which explored LSE's own foundations. First prize was awarded to Pawel Opaska, Postroom Operative, for this photograph, Ghost in the Library. See the winning entries at LSE Photo Prize 2015. For more images like this, visit the Photography Unit.

People in their twenties have been the worst affected by the economic crisis despite higher qualifications than any earlier generation, according to a comprehensive LSE analysis of what has happened to inequalities in qualifications, employment, pay, incomes and wealth since 2007.

The research, led by Professor John Hills, shows that those in their twenties and early thirties have been hardest hit by far than any other group, with the greatest drop in full-time employment, largest rises in unemployment, and greatest falls in real wages.

While wealth rose for households aged over 65 between 2006-08 and 2010-12, it fell for younger ones. By 2010-12, median total wealth for households aged 55-64 had grown to £425,000, including pensions, but had fallen to £60,000 for those aged 25-34. To bridge the £365,000 gap would require young households to save or make pension contributions of £33 for every day for thirty years. More

The General Election is weeks away 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 at LSE and President of the British Academy, and from the Campaign for Social Science, Professor James Wilsdon, Chair, and Ceridwen Roberts OBE FAcSS, Board Member.

LSE Choir and Orchestra Spring Concert

Don’t miss out on this year’s LSE Choir and Orchestra Spring Concert taking place on Tuesday 17 March at 7.30pm in St Andrews Holborn.

The LSE Choir, conducted by Andrew Campling, will perform Coronation Mass by W A Mozart. The LSE Orchestra, conducted by Matthew Taylor, will perform Thomas Hyde, Serenade in A (World Premiere); Malcolm Arnold, Clarinet Concerto No 2; and Neilsen, Symphony No 1.

Tickets are £7 and can be booked online.
 

NEW EVENT - A lecture by Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland

On: Monday 16 March at 11am on the LSE campus - venue will be confirmed to ticketholders.

Nicola Sturgeon is Scotland’s first female First Minister and the first female to lead any of the devolved UK administrations.

LSE staff and students can request a ticket via the online ticket request form. Check the event listing for details.
 

On: Tuesday 17 March from 6.30-8pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Professor Matthew Connelly (pictured), Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at LSE IDEAS for 2014-15

"Big data" poses a massive challenge to the democratic accountability. Over the last four years the US has quadrupled the amount of information that it classifies annually. This growth has become unmanageable, causing massive leaks, an unprecedented number of prosecutions, and a dysfunctional declassification system that is breaking under the strain.

Luckily, the information revolution has also provided citizens with the means to address these challenges, such as crowd-sourcing the otherwise impossible task of creating a virtual archive of declassified government documents.

By mining this data, we can detect patterns in classification and declassification, and automated tools to identify records that really do have to be kept secret. No longer just a tool of surveillance, data-mining can also help preserve the principle of open government.

On: Wednesday 18 March from 6.30-8pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speaker: Professor Alexander Pantsov (pictured), Edward and Mary Catherine Gerhold Chair in the Humanities at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio

Other forthcoming LSE events....

VIP: Visual International Politics
On: Monday 16 March at 6.30pm in the New Theatre, East Building
Speaker: Professor William A Callahan (pictured)

How to Run a Government
On: Monday 16 March at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Sir Michael Barber

The Global Transformation: history, modernity and the making of international relations
On: Tuesday 17 March at 6.30pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speakers: Professor Barry Buzan, Professor Craig Calhoun, Dr George Lawson, Professor Juergen Osterhammel, and Dr Ayse Zarakol

Above the Parapet - Women in Public Life
On: Wednesday 18 March at 6.30pm in the Shaw Library, 6th floor, Old Building
Speaker: Roza Otunbayeva (pictured)

Alexander Baillie (cello) John Thwaites (piano)
On: Thursday 19 March at 1pm in the Shaw Library, Old Building

LSE Works

The eighth LSE Works lecture takes place on Thursday 12 March and will be given by CASE’s Professor John Hills (pictured) and Dr Polly Vizard on ‘Changing Patterns of Inequality in the UK’. The event will be chaired by Bharat Mehta, Chief Executive at Trust for London.

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.
 

Celebrate the approaching vacation early with the last Chill of the term.

Join LSE Arts for some live music and free drinks. Acts on the night include the Instrumental Variables, The Barbershop Chorus, and The Critique of Pure Rhythm.

For more information, click here.
 

On: Tuesday 17 March from 6.30pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building.

Lisa Bridgett (pictured), Global Director of Sales and Marketing for NET-A-PORTER.COM, the online luxury fashion retailer, will talk about how the company continuously combines technology and creativity, retains its start-up environment and incubates new businesses within the NET-A-PORTER GROUP.

Empire, Revolt, and State Formation in the Middle East and North Africa in the 1920s

On: Tuesday 17 March from 4-5.30pm in room B.07, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields
Speaker: Dr Jonathan Wyrtzen, Yale University.

In this seminar, Jonathan Wyrtzen discusses his paper entitled Reimagining Political Space: empire, revolt, and competitive state formation in the Middle East and North Africa in the 1920s.

Against a dominant historical narrative emphasizing the importance of war-time agreements (Sykes-Picot and others) and the post-World War I peace settlement in "making" the modern Middle East, this paper shifts the focus to the post-war decade, examining a set of synchronic "revolts" in the mid-1920s from Morocco to Turkey that were critical in negotiating new political topographies in North Africa and the Middle East.

This is a registration only event. Please register using the online booking system. More
 

Privatizations: auction and market design during a crisis

On: Tuesday 17 March from 6-7.30pm in the Cañada Blanch Room, Cowdray House
Speaker: Professor Vasiliki Skreta (pictured), Professor at the Economics Department, University College London.

This talk has three main goals. First to offer a framework to think about the costs and benefits of privatizations, based both on theory and on empirical evidence. Second, to provide insights from economic theory on how best privatizations should be organized. Third, to give an account of privatizations in Greece, both pre and during the crisis.

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

LSE Circles Choir: it’ll be short, but oh, so sweet

You are invited to hear the LSE Circles Choir perform on Wednesday 18 March from 4.15-4.45pm in the Faith Centre, Saw Swee Hock Student Centre.

The choir will be raising funds for North London Samaritans. If you can’t come to the concert, please consider making a donation at northlondonsamaritans.org.uk.

On: Wednesday 18 March from 6.45-7.45pm in the Sixth Floor Studio, Saw Swee Hock Student Centre.

The non-auditioned choir of LSE students, staff and alumni will perform a range of unaccompanied choral music from the Renaissance to twentieth century, including Monteverdi, Elgar and Barber.

Democracy in Turkey: institutions, society and foreign relations

On: Thursday 19 March from 6-7.30pm in the Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building
Speakers: Dr Deniz Kandiyoti, SOAS; Dr Ali Çarkoğlu, Koç Üniversitesi; and Dr Talip Küçükcan, Marmara Üniversitesi.

Turkish democracy finds itself, in early 2015, at a critical juncture. A spate of elections - municipal, presidential, parliamentary - follow the tumultuous events of ‘Gezi’ and mark the end of the third AKP term in office.

This panel event will explore the question of democracy from the aspect of the state and its laws and the aspect of society, in all its richness. It will also investigate the manner in which the development of Turkish democracy influences - and is influenced by - the country’s foreign relations.

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. More
 

Hellenic Observatory 14th Annual Lecture - The Greek Economy: current developments and future prospects

On: Wednesday 25 March from 6.30-8pm. The venue will be confirmed to ticket holders.
Speaker: Yiannis Stournaras (pictured), Governor of the Bank of Greece and former Greek Minister of Finance.

Yannis Stournaras will talk about the current developments of the Greek Economy.

Tickets can be requested via the online ticket request form which will be live on the LSE Events website from around 6pm on Wednesday 18 March. More
 

Podcasts of public lectures and events

The Soul of the Marionette: a short inquiry into human freedom
Speaker: Professor John Gray
Recorded: Wednesday 25 February, approx. 88 minutes

Law, Economics and the Republic of Beliefs
Speaker: Professor Kaushik Basu
Recorded: Tuesday 3 March, approx. 87 minutes

Beyond the Cold War: how summits shaped the new world order
Speaker: Dr Kristina Spohr
Recorded: Thursday 5 March, approx. 90 minutes

Impact Case Studies - What’s Involved and How to Achieve Reach and Significance
Tuesday 17 March from 12-1.30pm
In this workshop participants will be introduced to HEFCE’s definition and categories of impact and its criteria for assessing impact - reach and significance.

Research Project Grants - Recurring Calls
Thursday 19 March from 12-1.30pm
An overview of research project funding opportunities available all year round, in any area of the social sciences and humanities.

Impact Case Studies - A Panel Discussion with LSE Authors
Wednesday 3 June from 12.30-2pm
LSE faculty who submitted impact case studies to the REF to share their experiences of creating and documenting research impact. As well as supporting understanding of how impact can be generated, the discussion will provide attendees with an insight into both the rewards and the challenges of effectively presenting that impact for REF (or other) assessment.

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

• Academic Registrar, Academic Registrar's Division
• Assistant Professor, Media and Communications
• CEP Research Assistant (Wellbeing Programme), Centre for Economic Performance
• Development Manager, LSE Advancement
• Global Health Initiative Manager, LSE Health and Social Care
• Head of Corporate Marketing, Communications
• Contracts Assistant, International Growth Centre
• Events Officer, International Growth Centre
• Research Programme Coordinator, International Growth Centre
• Research Programme Manager, International Growth Centre
• LSE Fellow In International History, International History
• LSE Fellow in Comparative Politics, Government
• LSE Fellow in Economics (internal only), Economics
• Research Officer, Social Psychology
• Research Officer - LSE Kuwait Programme, Middle East Centre
• Senior Registry Administrator, ARD: Student Administration
• Senior Registry Administrator (two roles), ARD: Student Administration
• Warden - LSE Halls of Residence (internal only), Residential and Catering Services Division
• Web Editor (internal only), Library: Resources and Innovation