| |
|
|
13 August 2015 |
|
 News
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
2015 National Student Survey
Message from Paul Kelly (pictured), Pro-Director for Teaching and Learning
The 2015 National Student Survey results were released yesterday, 12
August 2015. LSE has unfortunately fallen to 81 per cent for overall
satisfaction from 83 per cent in 2014. This is disappointing news and we will
be working to address the concerns raised by students in the survey at a
School and department level.
We take the satisfaction of undergraduate students very seriously and
have already made strides in tackling a number of the issues raised in the
2014 survey and in research conducted internally. These include a new
academic year structure from 2015-16 with an extension of teaching-focused
terms and increasing and improving learning facilities. In addition, each
department will develop its own strategy around the NSS results in order to
respond to the specific feedback from their students.
A strategy for education will be presented to LSE Council and Academic
Board in Michaelmas Term which will put forward a framework to enhance the
quality of education and student experience across the School, with the
intention of achieving an equivalent standard to research performance.
If you would like to discuss the NSS or the Education Strategy, please
contact Paul Kelly.
|
|
| |
|
|
LSE’s Socially Responsible Investment Review Following a
recommendation of LSE’s Ethics Policy Committee, the
Socially Responsible
Investment (SRI) Review has been formed to explore the divestment options
from fossil fuel and the impact that different levels of divestment would
have on the finances of the School and its ability to fulfil its objectives.
It will also review whether other environmental, social and governance
factors should be incorporated into LSE’s SRI policy. The Chair of the
review is Lord Paul Myners, Chair of Court and Council.
Your thoughts on the SRI policy are welcomed – please email them to
ethics@lse.ac.uk by 7 October 2015.
Save the Date - SRI Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday 7 October 2015
at 12.30pm (venue tbc).
|
|
| |
|
|
Down on the Farm: by Catherine Bennett
On Wednesday 5 August a group of professional services staff from
Anthropology, Gender, Media and Communications, Methodology and Statistics
held a joint awayday, volunteering at Hackney City Farm.
After a morning of discussing issues common to all of us and sharing ideas
for best practice, we had lunch in the straw bale room (yes, that’s a room
made from straw bales), and then got down to some manual labour on the farm.
Cutting back the nettles, feeding the pigs and raking over the muck heaps
kept us busy for the afternoon. With thanks to TLC for funding, this turned
out to be a productive and enjoyable day.
Hackney City Farm can offer a meeting room, catering and a venue for outdoor
volunteering, if you are interested, Catherine Bennett
c.l.bennett@lse.ac.uk can pass on
the contact details.
|
|
| |
|
|
Richard Delbridge
LSE is saddened to learn of the death of Richard Delbridge, a member of the
LSE Finance Committee since 2010.
Richard graduated from LSE with a BSc
(Economics) degree in 1963 and remained a loyal alumnus and a regular and
generous supporter of LSE. He funded a wide range of initiatives including
the ‘Delbridge Scholarship’, the African Initiative and the Annual Fund from
which many benefitted.
We extend our sincere condolences to his family and
friends.
Professor Craig Calhoun, Director of LSE
|
|
| |
|
|
Celebrating 120 years of LSE Did you know? LSE’s Shaw
Library opened in Cambridge 1940 - because the School was evacuated to
Peterhouse during the Second World War. Read more in
Charlotte Shaw’s legacy
- the Shaw Library.
2015 is LSE’s 120th anniversary. Join in the celebrations at
lse.ac.uk/lse120
#LSE120
|
|
| |
|
|
Academics abroad
Dr Chaloka Beyani, Associate Professor in the Law Department and UN
Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons,
completed a mission to the Philippines 20-31 July where he examined
disaster, conflict, and development-related displacement.
Earlier, on 19 June, he addressed the UN Human Rights Council on the
inclusion of internally displaced persons in the post-2015 development
goals.
Professor Stephen Jenkins, Department of Social Policy and the
International Inequalities Institute, gave a plenary lecture on "To what
extent has income inequality increased?" at the biennial conference of the
Society for the Analysis of Economic Inequality (ECINEQ), in Luxembourg from
13-15 July.
On 21 July, he taught a one-day course on "Statistical Graphics" in
Melbourne, Australia. On 27 July, he gave a keynote address on "Let's think
about poverty longitudinally" at the "Towards a More Inclusive New Zealand"
Forum in Wellington, New Zealand, and participated in the post-Forum
Stakeholders Workshop hosted by New Zealand Treasury the following day. On
28 July, he also presented a paper on "Employment instability: a variance
components approach" at Motu Research, Wellington.
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
 Notices
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
 |
|
New room booking system launched
Resource Booker, LSE's new room booking system, will be launched
on 1 September and will replace the room booking application that you
currently use via LSE for You (LfY).
Resource Booker has a number of benefits for users, including being easy
to use on your mobile devices, being able to see your bookings on a calendar
view, and having your room booking notifications stored in the application
(you will also receive email notifications as you do now). The link to
Resource Booker will be added to the list of applications available on the
Apps menu on the front page of the LSE website, but we will also include it
in the 27 August Staff News newsletter.
For room bookings:
- Please continue to use LfY Room Bookings to request rooms for
bookings to be held between now and 29 August;
- Contact the Room Booking Team at
LSE.roombookings@lse.ac.uk
if you want to make a request now for room bookings to be held on dates
from 1 September onwards; and
- Once Resource Booker launches, use that new system for all new
booking requests for dates from 1 September onwards.
If you have any questions regarding the new room booking system please
contact the project team at
IMT.Rats.Project@lse.ac.uk or the project manager Zoë Saunders-White on
Z.Saunders-White@lse.ac.uk
|
|
| |
|
|
Make better data storage decisions with IMT's InfoSec
Decision Making Tool
The InfoSec Decision Making Tool (ISDMT) is a quick and easy way to help you make better data storage
choices.
Whether you are working with Research, Exam, HR, Finance or other
confidential records, the ISDMT helps you to assess this data and provides
advice on how to protect it appropriately. Designed by IMT using structured
multiple choice questions, it is easy to use and directly applicable to your
daily LSE life.
Download the tool and find instructions on how to run it on the ISDMT
webpage.
We are all responsible for safeguarding information, be it our own
personal details or the large amounts of data we have access to while at
LSE. Please see the
InfoSec webpages to download
ISDMT and for an overview of our approach to
information security;
policies, procedures and guidelines as well as details about the
services we can provide to departments, groups and research projects.
|
|
| |
|
|
LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival 2016 - call for event proposals
The 2016 Literary Festival will be taking place from 22-27 February with the theme ‘Utopias’. The theme is inspired by the 500th
anniversary of Thomas More's Utopia but aims, as usual, to encompass
a very broad range of topics - dreams; the imagination; idealism;
philanthropy; nostalgia; escapism; cynicism; dissidence.
As in past years, we are keen to work with departments, centres and groups
in putting together the Festival programme, in order to make it as relevant
as possible to LSE. Holding an event as part of the Festival is an excellent
way of boosting your profile and reaching out to new audiences.
We would ask for event proposals to be submitted to
l.gaskell@lse.ac.uk by Friday 11
September, after which time the Literary Festival group will meet to
finalise the programme.
Proposals should include an explanation of the idea for the event and how it
fits with the theme, ideas for speakers (including likelihood of securing
them), and cost implications, including
funding to support the costs of your event.
For more information, contact Louise Gaskell at
l.gaskell@lse.ac.uk.
|
|
| |
|
|
Hellenic Observatory 2015 newsletter now out
The Hellenic Observatory's latest newsletter is now online.
It has been an uncertain year for Greece, with the election of the new
SYRIZA-led government and subsequent negotiations with the EU and the IMF
keeping Greece in the media headlines around the world. Similarly, the
prospect of a resolution of the partition of Cyprus has raised the hopes of
many people.
The Hellenic Observatory has matched this interest in both its research
outputs and its programme of public events, detailed in the newsletters. For
more on events run by the centre as well as research papers and staff
publications click
here.
|
|
| |
|
|
New Perspectives gallery The
August edition of LSE Arts’ photo gallery Perspectives is now online.
This month features photos from staff and students across the different LSE
departments.
The photo to the right, "The Journey is the Reward", was taken by Inez Freiin-Von-Weitershausen, a PhD candidate in International Relations. Find
out more
here.
|
|
| |
|
|
Stationery give away
The European Institute have surplus stationery which they would like
to donate to departments across the School.
If you are interested, email
Sabina Allam-Patel at
s.allam-patel@lse.ac.uk or pop by to COW 3.11, Cowdray House.
|
|
| |
|
|
Does your office have any empty crates?
If you
have any crates that need collecting, just email
Estates.Porters@lse.ac.uk who
will arrange to pick them up.
|
|
| |
|
|
Special Christmas party rates
The Grange Hotel group is once again offering special rates for LSE
office Christmas parties.
An event at the Grange Holborn will cost £60 inc VAT per head, and at the
Grange Whitehall and the Grange Beauchamp the rate is £36 inc VAT per head.
For more information and details of what the package includes,
click here. For bookings and further enquiries, contact Rama Vasantham
on 020 7630 2000 or email
rama@grangehotels.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
Flat for rent
A bright two bed purpose built flat in a popular development situated
in Manor Park is available to rent. Available furnished.
£1250 PCM. Please contact Sophia on 07961010516 or email
Sophia_mousoulides@yahoo.co.uk to discuss or to arrange a viewing. |
|
| |
| |
|
|
 LSE
in pictures
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
This week's picture shows an aerial view of the LSESU Saw Swee Hock
Student Centre from the roof top of 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields.
For more images like this, visit the
Photography Unit.
|
|
 |
|
| |
| |
|
|
 Research
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
London faces skyscraper pressure unless planning laws change
Scarcity of land in London could result in the capital becoming a city of
residential skyscrapers unless existing planning laws are altered, according
to LSE urban economist Gabriel Ahlfeldt.
Dr Ahlfeldt, an Associate Professor of Urban Economics and Land
Development at LSE, says as long as outward growth is prevented by policies
such as the ‘green belt’, the city will need to grow vertically as the
population increases.
“A significant proportion of land in London is within dedicated
conservation areas so much of the architectural heritage will be preserved,
but outside these areas there are increasing pressures to build denser and
taller buildings, which will inevitably alter London’s skyline,” he says.
More
|
|
| |
|
|
Practical help to rebuild Syria's economy, rather than bombs and aid, is
essential for defeating ISIL
Dynamic state-building, rather than aerial bombardment and the
provision of aid, is essential for defeating ISIL, according to two LSE
research papers.
In a major new empirical study of Syria under the present armed conflict,
LSE researchers, led by Dr Rim Turkmani, conducted more than 100 in-depth
interviews with people in three areas under opposition control. The study
found that ISIL’s ability to expand is due to its tendency to plan and act
as a proto-state, its ability to restore law and order and governance to the
war-torn country and to offer lucrative salaries. Interviewees reported that
ISIL, despite its brutality, had brought improvements in security and
services and were providing clean, well-run hospitals.
In all three areas studied a new societal condition has emerged. The
research found that the main parameter, which explains the respective
dynamics of violence and economy in all the areas studied, is the borders;
the way they are controlled, what and who is allowed to cross and the fees
imposed.
More
|
|
| |
|
|
Attending church is the key to good mental health among older Europeans
A study of depression among older Europeans has found that joining a
religious organisation is more beneficial than charity work, sport or
education in improving their mental health.
The surprising findings from a study by the Erasmus MC and the LSE also
reveal that political and community organisations actually have a
detrimental impact on the mental health of older Europeans on a long term
basis.
In a study of 9000 Europeans aged 50+ over a four-year period,
researchers at Erasmus MC and LSE looked at different levels of social
activity and how they influenced people’s moods. LSE epidemiologist Dr
Mauricio Avendano said the only activity associated with sustained happiness
was attending a church, synagogue or mosque.
More
|
|
| |
|
|
Drug possession should be removed from police performance indicators,
says new LSE study Drug possession should be removed from police performance indicators to
encourage officers to spend more time solving serious crime rather than
targeting low level possession of cannabis, according to a new LSE study.
The paper follows a recent pledge by Durham, Derbyshire, Dorset and
Surrey police forces that they will no longer actively pursue cannabis
smokers in order to prioritise resources against more serious crime.
Dr Michael Shiner, Associate Professor in LSE’s Department of Social
Policy, analysed official crime statistics in relation to the controversial
and short-lived reclassification of cannabis in England and Wales in 2004 -
the most significant liberalisation of British drug law in more than 30
years.
More |
|
| |
| |
|
|
 Events
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Forthcoming LSE events include....
How to Apply the 80/20 Rule for Increased Productivity, Happiness and
Freedom
On: Tuesday 8 September at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Shaa Wasmund (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
Black Earth: the Holocaust as history and warning
On: Monday 14 September at 6.30pm in TW1.G.01, Tower 1
Speaker: Professor Timothy Snyder
Inside the Nudge Unit: how small changes can make a big difference
On: Tuesday 15 September at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Dr David Halpern (pictured)
|
|
| |
|
|
Podcasts of public lectures and events
Decoding Glamour
Speaker: Virginia Postrel
Recorded: Thursday 2 July, approx. 88 minutes
Do we need a New Macroeconomics?
Speaker: Lord Meghnad Desai
Recorded: Thursday 9 July, approx. 80 minutes
The Impact of Geography on International Politics
Speaker: Tim Marshall
Recorded: Monday 13 July, approx. 78 minutes
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
 60
second interview
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
with..... Adrian Thomas
I’ve been Director of
Communications at LSE since August
2014, so I’m coming up to my first
anniversary. I love LSE - it’s
varied, vibrant, intellectually
stimulating and never, ever dull. I
feel enormously privileged. I’m
lucky to be working with such a
great team of people in
Communications too. There’s a great
sense of energy and commitment to
the School.
I feel a longstanding connection
to LSE - I took classes here as part
of my undergraduate degree at King’s
many years ago. And I occasionally
claim vicarious credibility by
mentioning that my wife studied for
her masters and PhD at the School
but I’m sure that’s wearing a little
thin by now.
The Communications Division has
been undergoing some changes in the
past 12 months; we’re keen to
improve internal communications, we
have a renewed focus on online and
digital communications and we’re
looking at how we can better present
the School to the outside world -
from our publications to our media
relations. I want us to connect
better with faculty and provide more
of a service to it. And improving
the way in which we communicate with
Students has to be a priority too.
Outside of work I’m kept busy by
an energetic four year old. I love
the outdoors and have a passion for
music of all kinds. I share an
affliction with Stuart Corbridge in
the shape of Aston Villa.
What is your favourite place
on LSE’s campus?
That’s a very difficult question
as there is something about it being
the sum of its parts that makes it
so special. Being able to pop into
the Economists bookshop of a
lunchtime and browse is a great
thing - I’m reading much more than I
have done in a very long time. And
it’s incredibly civilised having two
proper pubs on campus. Of course the
Saw Swee Hock is a magnificent
building in every respect. But,
although it’s temporarily obscured
by building work, I’d have to say
that Houghton Street in term time
has an energy and vibrancy about it
that says something fundamental
about what we are - all LSE life is
there.
Who would be your top five
dinner party guests?
Very hard to say - but if Conor
Gearty were to be included somehow
it would be very far from boring.
If you could experience
working in another department/office
at LSE, which would it be?
Judging by the enthusiasm of the
karaoke contestants they each
fielded at the Party on the Plaza
both IMT and Finance must be great
places to work. But if the truth be
told I have a secret fascination
with the Library.
As a child, what did you want
to be when you grew up?
I have an early memory of telling
my primary school teacher that I
wanted to be a pirate, but given the
limited career options in that field
I ended up in Communications.
Earlier on in my career I
moonlighted as a freelance
photographer and through that met a
fascinating range of people from
Noam Chomsky to the reggae singer,
Junior Murvin.
What three items would you
rush to save from a fire?
I have a 1920s zither banjo that
belonged to my great grandfather
which I play (until the strains of
the Deliverance theme becomes too
much for my wife to bear). I also
have a much treasured record
collection - proper vinyl - and a
box full of my own photographs,
negatives as well as ancient family
photos that I would have to somehow
rescue.
What has been your most
embarrassing incident so far?
Thankfully nothing particularly
embarrassing while I’ve been working
at LSE. But there was an unfortunate
incident involving a nun on a train in
Portugal last year that I’ll
disclose if anyone is minded to buy
me a drink. |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
 Training
and jobs
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Jobs at LSE Below are some of the vacancies currently being
advertised:
- Assistant Professor in Environment and Development,
International Development
- Assistant Professor in International Political Economy
(International Trade), International Relations
- Assistant Professor in International Political Economy (Money in
the World Economy), International Relations
- Associate Professor, Accounting
- Associate Programme Director, Finance
- Centre Manager, Centre for the Study of Human Rights
- Centre Manager, Financial Markets Group
- David Davies of Llandinam Research Fellowship in International
Relations, International Relations
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Adviser, GLPD: Governance,
Legal and Policy Division
- Executive Summer School Programme Manager (Internal Maternity
Cover), Summer School and Executive Programmes
- Food Development Manager, Residential and Catering Services
Division
- Hub Economist (Research Programme), International Growth
Centre
- Fellow in Finance, Finance
- Fellow in Sociology, Sociology
- MS Dynamics Specialist, Information Management and Technology
- MS SharePoint Specialist, Information Management and
Technology
- Programme Coordinator, Management
- Programme Coordinator (MSc Management and Exchanges),
Management
- Programme Director, Institute of Global Affairs
- Research Assistant - Media Policy Project, Media and
Communications
- Research Officer - Media Policy Project (Maternity Cover),
Media and Communications
- Research Officer, Social Psychology
- Senior Programme Manager, Finance
- Video Producer, Communications
- Video Production Coordinator, Communications
For more information, visit
Jobs at LSE and login via the instructions under the 'Internal
vacancies' heading. |
|
| |
| |
|
|
 Get
in touch!
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
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 n.gallivan@lse.ac.uk
or on ext 7582. The next edition of Staff News is on Thursday 27
August. Articles for this should be emailed to me by
Tuesday 25 August. Staff
News is emailed every Thursday during term time and fortnightly during
the holidays.
Thanks, Nicole
|
|
|
| |
