Link between intelligence and longevity is mostly genetic

New research published in the International Journal of Epidemiology finds that more intelligent people tend to live longer because of their genes.

Celebrating 120 years of LSE
Did you know LSE Director William Beveridge wrote in his 1936-37 Director’s Report that the East Building was "the last block of buildings I ever really expected to see"?

Livi Shaw

Livi would have her team in LSE Careers with her if she were marooned on a desert island: "We’re a friendly lot and I think it’d be pretty good fun".

 News

 LSE in pictures

 Events

 Training and jobs

Message from Indi Seehra, Director of HR

All staff should note that the national pay award for 2015-16 is currently in dispute and the School is therefore unable to implement any uplift to the salary scales on 1 August 2015 at this point in time. Following resolution of this national dispute, any agreed pay award will be back dated to August 2015 for all staff.

In May 2015, the employers’ representative body made a full and final offer of 1 per cent added to all points on the salary scale, with additional increases to the bottom eight increment points on the national salary scale (which does not impact on LSE as our salary scale starts at a point higher than these points). This offer was accepted by two of the five recognised trade unions (Unison and GMB), with the others - including UCU and Unite - rejecting the 1 per cent offer. It is unlikely that there will be any progress in this matter until October 2015, following relevant regional and national meetings amongst the trade unions.

As part of our ongoing commitment to equality of opportunity, the School has recently been accredited with the Two Ticks Scheme.

The Two Ticks Scheme is a voluntary scheme developed by the government, and the Two Ticks symbol is awarded to employers who have agreed to take action to meet five commitments regarding the employment, retention, training and career development of disabled people. This is a positive step for the School and will enable us to demonstrate to potential candidates and existing employees our commitment to actively encouraging diversity and inclusion.

One of the key features of the Scheme is to guarantee an interview to disabled candidates who demonstrate that they meet all the essential criteria of the role. Therefore, all applicants that opt into the Scheme at the application stage will be guaranteed an interview providing they demonstrate they meet all of the essential criteria of the role.

On Tuesday 21 July LSE achieved ISO 14001 re-certification, an internationally recognised standard of environmental management.

The certification, which was led by the Estates Division, will help the School continue to meet its environmental objectives, including designing the new Centre Buildings redevelopment to be as low-energy as possible, retrofitting energy-efficiency measures into our existing buildings, and minimising the amount of waste we produce.

A new documentary film by William A. Callahan (pictured), Professor of International Relations, has received over 18,000 hits in its first week since being published on The Diplomat.

The documentary examines how the personal experiences of iconic international relations theorists John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) and Joseph S Nye Jr (Harvard University) on their first trips to China have framed their strategic understandings of US-China relations.

Professor Callahan said: "'This film shows to how we need to think visually about global politics, which is what students do in my 'Visual International Politics' class at LSE."

Last week Data Librarian Laurence Horton travelled to Ljubljana to help give a workshop on Research Data Management (RDM) and Open Data.

The workshop tested LSE’s Research Data Management training and materials as the School continues developing its RDM support service for research staff and students. Sessions covered writing a Data Management Plan, legal and ethical aspects of data sharing, as well as finding archives and depositing data.

Funded by the European Commission’s Foster programme, the workshop was organised as part of the European Consortium for Political Research’s summer school in research methods. Training also featured contributions from the Slovenian Social Science Data Archive and UK Data Service.

Office moves

The Estates Division office together with Governance, Legal and Policy Division and Planning Unit will be relocating to the third floor of 1 Kingsway (1KW) with effect from Monday 3 August, followed shortly by LSE Advancement.

LSE staff not based in 1KW and external visitors will be able to visit us but will need to report to 1KW reception in order to show their LSE ID (if appropriate) and to arrange access to the lift serving our third floor offices.
 

LSE Volunteer Pledge

The LSE Volunteer Centre is relaunching the LSE Volunteer Pledge this summer for all parts of the School to sign. You can sign up as a Department/Institute or as an individual staff member.

Signing the pledge is an opportunity to show your recognition of the benefits of volunteering and help embed a culture of volunteering within the LSE community.

Through the pledge, and in line with the School’s values and commitments, we encourage LSE staff and Departments to:

• recognise the value volunteering has for students’ personal development and the local community
• promote volunteering to students using resources available from the Volunteer Centre
• encourage volunteering amongst students

The Summer edition of Advancement News will be emailed to staff members in mid-August. In addition to providing updates on how LSE Advancement is working with departments and faculty, this edition marks the end of the financial year by looking back on the office’s 2014-15 achievements in alumni relations and philanthropy.

Highlights include a new financial year record for the School’s overall fundraising, incorporating the largest ever private gift to LSE, a record year for the Annual Fund and the introduction of the new LSE Global Forum series, coordinated by Alumni Relations.

If you are unsure how to do something on a computer, remember this essential tip: WHEN IN DOUBT, RIGHT CLICK!

1. Try right-clicking on the word, object or part of a file you need to affect. A menu opens with options appropriate to what you have clicked on.
2. In about 80 per cent of cases, the option you need will be listed. Left-click on it to select it.
NB: (1) Right clicking is ALWAYS safe because the only thing this does is open a menu. Left click on the option you require to action it. (2) There is no harm in trying an option. The Undo button will always put things right again if something unexpected happens.
3. If you don’t find the option you want, click outside of the menu to close it.

Join the LSE La Liga

After last year’s successful launch, Information Management and Technology (IMT) are once again challenging all LSE staff to see if you can beat them in a Fantasy Premier League called LSE La Liga.

Joining the league couldn't be easier - simply use the link below and you'll be added automatically after you've entered the game: fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/164967/join/?autojoin-code=663460-164967. You shouldn't need the league code, but just in case, it is 663460-164967.

This year there will be a trophy for the winner and of course boasting rights as always. It’s a game of two halves of course but whose Gooner win? Let the season start.
 

2015 Prudential RideLondon - Surrey 100

On Sunday 2 August Ian Harvey (pictured), IMT, is taking part in the 2015 Prudential RideLondon - Surrey 100 in aid of Scope.

Celebrating the legacy for cycling created by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 will start in the new Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, then follow a 100-mile route on closed roads through the capital and into Surrey’s stunning countryside.

Scope exists to make this country a place where disabled people have the same opportunities as everyone else. They provide support, information and advice to more than a quarter of a million disabled people and their families every year, and raise awareness of the issues that matter.

Meet the Swashbuckling Six, a crack team of inexpert rowers from the Student Recruitment Office and Graduate Admissions team - Abel Tao, Alice Else, Amy Tijou, Hannah Lawrence, James Brown and Yohei Guy - who will be rowing down the Thames from Westminster to Greenwich (approximately eight miles) for charity on Saturday 19 September.

Their chosen charity, Ahoy, helps disadvantaged and at-risk youths build life skills through sailing and rowing.

Because 19 September also happens to be the internationally renowned 'Talk Like A Pirate Day' the team decided it would be a good idea to embrace the pirate theme!

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.

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 11 August, Tuesday 18 August, Tuesday 1 September and Tuesday 8 September. Just turn up on any of these dates with your own skipping rope. All lessons are free.

Hatha yoga

Hatha yoga with Lee Carter continues through the summer on Thursdays from 1-2pm in the tranquil setting of the Faith Centre in the Saw Swee Hock Building.

Hatha yoga is a relaxing but challenging mixture of stretching, twisting, moving and holding postures, always focussed on the breath and leaving the mind and body refreshed. This is a mixed ability class and everyone’s welcome, from absolute beginners to those with more experience. Mats are provided, so just come along wearing something loose or stretchy and give it a try.

Classes are £8 cash, payable on the day. For more information, email Leecarterimages@gmail.com.
 

Friends of Lincoln’s Inn Fields Annual General Meeting

All LSE staff are welcome to attend the General Meeting on Thursday 30 July at 6pm in Club Quarters, 61 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, WC2A 3JW.

The meeting will be followed by a talk ‘Unrealised Ambitions: Robert Adam’s designs for Lincoln’s Inn’ by Dr Frances Sands, the Catalogue Editor at Sir John Soane’s Museum.

Admission is free.
 

Real Food Market at Charing Cross

Ten of London's best street food traders will bring the Charing Cross forecourt to life from 12-7pm every Thursday to Saturday from Thursday 6 August.

For more information and to see the line-up, visit Real Food Festival.

This week's picture features the new LSESU shop on Portsmouth Street.

For more images like this, visit the Photography Unit.

The tendency of more intelligent people to live longer has been shown, for the first time, to be mainly down to their genes by new research published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

By analysing data from twins, researchers found that 95 per cent of the link between intelligence and lifespan is genetic.

They found that, within twin pairs, the brighter twin tends to live longer than the less bright twin and this was much more pronounced in fraternal (non identical) twins than in identical twins.

New research, conducted by LSE's Abigail McKnight for the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, has exposed the reality of a glass floor in British society that protects less-able better-off children from falling down the social ladder as they become adults.

The research uses the British Birth Cohort Survey to look at the impact that social background has on earnings at age 42 and whether this can be explained by early cognitive ability, qualifications, school type, parental education level and non-cognitive skills such as self-esteem and behaviour.

Single currency has led to increase in generosity, decrease in national pride

Countries who have adopted the Euro single currency in the past decade have experienced a decline in national pride, according to new research from LSE.

However, the knock-on effect is a more generous approach to spreading wealth from rich to poor and a stronger European identity.

In a study of 10 predominantly Eastern European countries who joined the EU after 2004, LSE economists Dr Joan Costa Font and Professor Frank Cowell found a strong link between a boost in European identity, a decline in national pride and changes in economic behaviour.

People who identify themselves as European - rather than Croatian or Slovakian for example - are more likely to support redistribution of taxes favouring the poor. This contradicts standard economic models where the rich are less inclined to support taxation measures which do not benefit them. More
 

The long-running Greek crisis and China’s recent stock market crash are the latest threats to the stability of the global financial system. But as a new report from the Systemic Risk Centre (SRC) at LSE explains, ‘systemic risk’ - and its periodic appearance in financial crises - has been present ever since the first financial system was created and is an inevitable part of any market-based economy.

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the SRC was established to investigate the risks that may trigger the next financial crisis and to develop practical tools to help policy-makers and private institutions become better prepared.

Its co-directors, LSE professors Jon Danielsson and Jean-Pierre Zigrand, describe their agenda: "We aim to develop a set of tools for policy-makers to adjust regulations to achieve the twin goals of ensuring the efficiency of the financial system and mitigating the incidence and severity of financial crises.

Forthcoming LSE events include....

How Business Can be a Force for Good
On: Wednesday 12 August at 6.30pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speakers: Nick Giles and Michael Hayman (pictured)

What Economics and Public Policy Can Learn from Engineering Design
On: Wednesday 9 September at 6.30pm in TW1.G.01, Tower 1
Speaker: Guru Madhavan

Podcasts of public lectures and events

The Folly of Crowds?
Speakers: Professor Peter Ayton, Dr Sepideh Bazazi, and Professor Chris Frith
Recorded: Thursday 25 June, approx. 77 minutes

Above the Parapet - Women in Public Life
Speaker: Professor Ruth Simmons
Recorded: Tuesday 30 June 2015, approx. 91 minutes

When Firms Become Persons and Persons Become Firms: neoliberal jurisprudence in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores
Speaker: Professor Wendy Brown
Recorded: Wednesday 1 July, approx. 76 minutes

On: Tuesday 18 August from 2-4pm in room 32L.G.15

The next Tech Talks* event will feature Dr Jane Secker from Learning Technology and Innovation leading a workshop on Copyright Essentials.

Jane will give an overview of the works covered by copyright, and how copyright might affect the way you use protected materials. The session will focus on licences and exceptions that allow you to make use of copyrighted works while staying within the law.

You will have the chance to play the Copyright Card Game, devised by Jane and Chris Morrison (Copyright Officer at the University of Kent), to learn about copyright essentials in a fun and engaging way.

Please RSVP to imt.comms@lse.ac.uk. Refreshments will be served.

On: Tuesday 25, Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 August

The aim of these workshops, organised by the Department of Statistics, is to bring together researchers to discuss the latest developments in liquidity, mean field games, and robust finance. Speakers from the UK, Europe and America will give talks.

Below are some of the vacancies currently being advertised:

• Assistant Editor, Democratic Audit
• Assistant Planning Officers (Two Posts), Planning Unit
• British Politics and Policy Blog Editor, Government
• Communications Manager, ARD: Teaching Quality and Review
• Events Coordinator and Office Assistant, Systemic Risk Centre
• Executive Summer School Programme Manager (Maternity Cover), Summer School and Executive Programmes
• Finance Administrator, Finance Division
• Head of External Communications, Communications
• IGC Economist for the Country Programme (London), International Growth Centre
• Institute Manager, Institute of Global Affairs
• LSE Fellow in Sociology, Sociology
• LSE100 Class Teacher (GTA) (Internal Only), LSE100 The LSE Course
• Managing Editor - LSE Review of Books, Communications
• Pensions Administrator, Human Resources
• Recruitment and Admissions Administrator, TRIUM
• Research Assistant - Media Policy Project, Media and Communications
• Research Officer, Social Psychology