And the winners are....

Many congratulations to the winners, the runners up and all who were nominated in the inaugural LSE Values in Practice Awards.

Staff Survey 2015 deadline extended

The Staff Survey has been extended until Friday 18 December so don’t miss your chance to have your say.

Eleanor Payne

Eleanor, LSE Library, is a a self-confessed museum geek and can be found enjoying shopping, chocolate and wine from time to time.

 Research

 LSE in pictures

 Events

 Training and jobs

Professor Anita Prazmowska, Department of International History, has been awarded a two-year Major Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust for 2016-18.

The Whitworth Gallery in Manchester has borrowed one of the suffrage banners from The Women’s Library collection for their exhibition Art_Textiles. It is beautifully lit and displayed, and was even their object of the week a few weeks back.

On Monday 23 November, a team of Library staff took a trip to Manchester to see the banner in situ. It is beautifully lit and displayed, and was even their object of the week a few weeks back.

Loans like this are a great opportunity for the Library collections to be seen by wider audiences, and we were especially pleased to be asked by the Whitworth following them being named Art Fund Prize Museum of the Year 2015.

The exhibition is on until Sunday 31 January so if you are in the area do drop by to the gallery.

#GivingTuesday

On Tuesday 1 December, the LSE Volunteer Centre and LSESU RAG celebrated #GivingTuesday by encouraging students to think about what giving could mean to them, and how they could go about taking part in the largest day of global giving.

The Volunteer Centre set up outside the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre and were delighted to host ReachOut, a charity partner of the Volunteer Centre which delivers mentoring in primary schools.

The team spent the day talking to LSE students about how to get involved in volunteering during their studies and spread the word about #GivingTuesday, which is still building momentum as this was it’s second year to be launched in the UK.

LSE Volunteer Coordinator David Coles said: "the response that we had to #GivingTuesday once again shows the generosity of the LSE community. With over 40 per cent of LSE students volunteering during their time here and LSESU RAG set to beat last year’s record fundraising total, LSE should be very proud of the difference that its members make in our communities."
 

On Wednesday 11 November and Wednesday 2 December, LSE brought together and welcomed the new cohort of LSE students who are recipients for various scholarships.

The students were selected on merit, including the new intake of LSE PhD Studentships and those students funded by major external organisations from around the world with whom LSE has a partnership.

This year we had 344 students in total, the largest number of scholars so far. Both receptions were held in the Senior Dining Room, with Professor Robin Mansell speaking at the first reception and LSE Director, Craig Calhoun, delivering his speech welcoming Chevening scholars at the December reception.

The Titmuss Project

Professor John Stewart has been asked by the School to write the biography of one of its most famous scholars, Richard Titmuss.

Titmuss, Professor of Social Administration from 1950 to his early death in 1973, was instrumental in the development of the field of scholarship, teaching, and research nowadays generally designated Social Policy. The LSE Library holds an extensive collection of Titmuss's papers and of a number of his close colleagues and associates. Informal interviews are also being held with individuals who knew him. The outcome will be a book, to be published by The Policy Press, in the same mini-series as Professor Sally Sheard's 2014 volume on Brian Abel-Smith.

Anyone interested in the Titmuss Project can contact Professor Stewart at j.w.stewart@lse.ac.uk.
 

I will look after my wellbeing by….

On Monday 7 December, the Student Wellbeing Service and the LSESU ran a Wellbeing Stall looking at barriers to looking after mental health/wellbeing and the things people can do to overcome these.

The stall was looked after by staff from the Disability and Wellbeing Service, Residential Services, Student Counselling, and Peer Supporters. Representatives from the Wellbeing Project, Disabled Students Network, Samaritans, Neuron Project, Sociology and Social Justice Society, and the LSESU Advice team were also on hand to offer advice. Visitors were offered free ten minute chair massages and could even attend a workshop on ‘Managing Exam Stress and Mindfulness’.

The stall also promoted the 'Time to Change' campaign that aims to reduce stigma and discrimination in mental health, and publicised the support available at LSE including LSE Careers, the Student Counselling Service, the Disability and Wellbeing Service, and the Peer Support Service. For more information, visit lse.ac.uk/studentwellbeing.
 

Controlling the crowd?

Gregory Asmolov, PhD Researcher in the Department of Media and Communications, has been published in the Oxford Internet Institute’s Policy and Internet blog.

The article, entitled Controlling the crowd? Government and citizen interaction on emergency-response platform discusses the use of crowdsourcing tools and practices in emergency situations.
 

Almost half of School employees have already shared their views and comments and now you have a final chance to as well.

In case you haven’t been able to complete the survey due to term time demands, we are extending the Staff Survey until Friday 18 December. Don’t miss your chance to have your say.

Central Reprographics will be unable to offer staff fast turnaround printing between Monday 14 and Thursday 17 December, while we upgrade our printing presses.

LSE staff and students are regularly the target of spam and phishing emails.

Recently IMT has received reports about spam emails containing malicious word or excel attachments. These emails are carefully crafted in order to dupe you into opening the attachment, for example by pretending to come from a government authority, a delivery company or even from a spoofed LSE email address (for instance the sender address appears as HR@lse.ac.uk, reception@lse.ac.uk).

Please note - opening the attachment is likely to install trojan type malware onto your PC or Mac, which can be difficult to detect with anti-virus software. This malware can lead to files you have access to being encrypted by so-called ransomware, your user account details being compromised and abused by spammers, or even identity theft of personal or bank account information.

The School will be closed from Wednesday 23 December 2015 to Sunday 3 January 2016 inclusive. Access arrangements on the main School campus for the Christmas School closure period is as follows:

The School is due to close at the end of the working day on Tuesday 22 December 2015 and open again for business on Monday 4 January 2016.

There will be NO access to School buildings on Friday 25, Saturday 26, Monday 28 December 2015 and Friday 1 January 2016.

Emergencies will be dealt with by a ‘skeleton’ Security service on duty at the Old Building reception.

There will be NO access to undergraduate students during the closure period. There will be limited swipe access to buildings for staff and postgraduate students based on their current level of access, as stated in the table below:

The Library will close at 10pm on Tuesday 22 December 2015 and re-open at 9am on Monday 4 January 2016.

We recommend that staff only attend for work if absolutely necessary during the closure period.

Just how good are your Excel skills? Find out by completing this Training Needs Analysis (TNA) questionnaire. Then use the results to decide which Excel for LSE Staff course to enrol in.

The programme of five Excel for LSE Staff courses is tailored for staff who are self-taught and wish to become more efficient in tasks such as dealing with budget management, scheduling, using Excel as a database and other day to day work.

You can take the TNA here. There are 40 questions divided into five sections, corresponding to the five sequential Excel courses available. You can choose to finish at the end of any section you feel is difficult for you, or close the questionnaire at any point, and go back to it later. Your work will be saved, and you will start where you left off. However, you MUST reopen the survey using the same computer you started with; otherwise you will have to begin again.

The School's 2016-17 planner/calendar is now available to order.

Please note that if you have the 2015-16 version, please order the new 2016-17 version to replace it as the term dates and School closure dates, relating to 2016, were revised by the School since its publication.

The 2016-17 planner/calendar comes in two parts: Jan-Jun and Jul-Dec, and is double sided. Side one is for 2016 and side two for 2017. At the end of 2016, you simply turn it over to display 2017.

Planner/calendar features:

• it is laminated so you can use highlighters on it so that text can be later erased if need be
• School closure dates indicated
• comes in A5, A4 or A3 sizes, for either team use or individual use
• each of the two parts is either A5, A4 or A3 depending on size ordered
• term periods shaded so you can immediately differentiate between term time and non-term time
• term dates stated include 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18

Please click here to view it.

To place your order, click here, scroll down to Year Planners, and just follow the instructions. Please note that you will need to provide a valid budget code in order to place your order, and remember that each of the two parts for the planner/calendar is sized as A3, A4 or A5.

Send an LSE e-card this Christmas

Why not save resources this Christmas by sending e-cards? A specially designed electronic card, together with the LSE logo and the words 'Season’s Greetings', is now available for all staff to email out.

There is also room to add your own message below the e-card. Please contact Liz Trumble at designunit@lse.ac.uk for a copy to forward.
 

Nominations are invited for the award of a Queen’s Honour (which include MBE, OBE, CBE etc ). Do you know someone who has given outstanding service to the School (either as a member of staff or in a voluntary capacity) who in your opinion has:

• made a real impact on the School/our students
• gained the respect of their peers
• changed things for the better at the School
• demonstrated innovation or
• brought distinction to British life and enhanced its reputation through their work at the School?

A full explanation is given here but please bear in mind that awards channelled through the School should be for services to higher education, with particular reference to the School.

Photo Prize 2016 - time to get snapping

Photo Prize is back for its ninth year, and this time the theme is ‘Utopias’.

All submission entries are to be under this theme, and entrants are free to interpret this as they choose. The competition is open until Friday 29 January.

The first prize winner will receive a Lomography camera and lens package, with two runners up receiving Amazon vouchers.

For more information, visit the Photo Prize website or email arts.photoprize@lse.ac.uk.
 

LSE Treatment Clinic

The LSE Treatment Clinic, which welcomes LSE students and staff, is on the first floor of Tower Two (enter from Tower One-Two reception).

The clinic offers professional treatments of acupuncture, osteopathy and sports massage from practitioners with over 25 years of experience between them, at reduced rates for LSE.

Their combined expertise is effective in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain, RSI, sports injuries, anxiety, insomnia, tension headaches, migraine, among many other ailments.

Appointments are available Monday-Friday from 9am-6pm and can be booked online at lsetreatmentclinic.co.uk. All consultations are strictly confidential and sessions will last between 30 and 60 minutes depending upon the treatment.

This week's picture features 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields in the December sunshine.

For more images like this, visit the Photography Unit or check out the School's Instagram page.

New research shows UK public unwilling to help fight climate change

New research from LSE reveals just how little UK citizens are willing to pay out of their own pockets to fight climate change - £27 a year.

In the first study of its kind, researchers Dr Tanya O’Garra (Grantham Research Institute) and Professor Susana Mourato (Department of Geography and Environment) asked more than 1,000 adults how much they would be willing to contribute personally to a variety of projects designed to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

Pioneering programme helps households climb out, and stay out, of extreme poverty

A programme pioneered by development organisation BRAC, which aims to help households escape extreme poverty by supporting women to set up their own small businesses, not only works but its benefits increase in the long term, according to an evaluation led by researchers at the International Growth Centre (IGC), based at LSE.

Super-diverse Streets Data Profiles: ethnicity, economy and migration

New data on ‘super-diverse streets’ provides insights into the micro-economies that provide important economic and civic resources across UK cities. These are streets that are located in ethnically diverse and comparatively deprived urban places, where urban retail spaces shape and are shaped by migrant investments.

The first phase of this project incorporates a qualitative survey conducted in 2015, on four ‘super-diverse’ high streets: Rookery Road (Birmingham); Stapleton Road (Bristol); Narborough Road (Leicester); and Cheetham Hill (Manchester). In total, the face-to-face surveys across four streets incorporate 910 units. This included 480 retail units and 351 proprietors were surveyed.

The ‘Super-diverse streets’ project is funded by the ESRC (ref: ES/L009560/1), and focuses on the intersections between city streets, ethnic diversity and economic adaptations in the context of accelerated migration.

The phase one survey of these four streets was conducted by Suzanne Hall, Robin Finlay and Julia King.

For more information, Suzanne Hall (Principal investigator) on s.m.hall@lse.ac.uk.
 

Schools should open up their facilities at evenings and weekends to enable more young people to take part in sport. This is just one of a series of recommendations from an LSE study which found that cost is the biggest barrier to young people’s participation in sport because a third live in poverty.

Of the 9 million young people aged 14-24 living in the UK, approximately 30 per cent are living in poverty. This includes 1.9 million young people with an income considerably below the poverty threshold (below 60 per cent of median income).

Improving employee engagement and performance
Assistant Professor of Management Emma Soane (pictured) played a key role in research that helped to define and disseminate best practice in the area of employee engagement.

Promoting reconciliation and human security in the Western Balkans
Associate Professor in Global Politics Denisa Kostovicova worked with EU and UK policymakers and civil society organisations in the Balkans to facilitate reconciliation efforts and strengthen state-building.

Improving motivation and performance in public services
Research by Professor of Industrial Relations David Marsden (pictured) identified practical reforms in public sector pay that are effective in spurring individual and team performance.

NEW EXHIBITION: Karokoa

On: Thursday 10 December from 10am-7pm in the Lower Ground Foyer, New Academic Building
Photographer: Giulietta Verdon-Roe, documentary photographer and filmmaker.

Adrift on the equator lies Kiribati, a remote nation of 33 islands. The country is expected to be one of the first to lose all its land territory due to climate change and rising sea levels. The fate of the nation and its people hangs poised as plans for its population migration have now started.

For Verdon-Roe, a month spent in Kiribati resulted in the documentation of everyday encounters and observations captured during her stay. The resulting photographs are a varied collection of portraits, landscapes and still lifes; she bears witness to the culture and everyday lives of the I-Kiribatese.

If there is a single thread to the diversity of the images, it is the attempt to capture and preserve a place on the verge of disappearance.

Harnessing the power of the ‘Massive’  - Innovative approaches to participation, digital citizenship and open learning on-line

On: Wednesday 16 December at 3pm.
Speakers: Professor Conor Gearty, Director of the Institute of Public Affairs and Professor of Human Rights Law at LSE, Darren Moon, Senior Learning Technologist - Learning Technology and Innovation at LSE, and Paul Sullivan, Manager of LSE's Institute of Public Affairs.

In January 2015, LSE launched an innovative civic engagement project, which aimed to crowd source the United Kingdom Constitution.

Featuring a panel of the key people involved in the project, NetworkED will present the findings arising from a critical evaluation of the project and pose a number of questions that emerged from both the School’s engagement with the project and from the participants themselves centred on enhancing the effectiveness of a pedagogical design to harness the power of the massive, and leverage a large community of engaged participants working together in order to solve a problem, effect change or develop capacity.

The panel will challenge some of the dominant paradigms of civic engagement and open on-line learning in a active and participatory debate. More
 

Podcasts of public lectures and events

The Future of the Professions: how technology will transform the work of human experts
Speakers: Daniel Susskind and Professor Richard Susskind
Recorded: Monday 30 November, approx. 91 minutes

Democracy, Diversity, Religion
Speaker: Professor Charles Taylor
Recorded: Tuesday 1 December, approx. 85 minutes

Below are some of the vacancies currently being advertised:

• Postdoctoral Research Officer (EPSRC), Statistics
• Acquisitions Manager, Library: Collections Services
• Assistant Professor in Global Health Policy, Social Policy
• Assistant Professor in Health Economics and Policy, Social Policy
• Assistant Professors in Mathematics, Mathematics
• Assistant/Associate Professor in International Relations (Gender and International Relations), International Relations
• Associate Professor in Global Health Policy, Social Policy
• Fellow (Postdoctoral) Fellowship in Political Science (two posts), Government
• Fellow in Population Health/Global Ageing, Social Policy
• Office Coordinator, Management
• Postgraduate Programmes Administrator (maternity cover), Law
• Professor/Associate Professor in Economics, Economics
• Research Officer (Public Sphere Project), Institute of Public Affairs

Inaugurated in 2003, the Vincent Wright Chair is a visiting professorship that promotes academic exchanges between France and Britain by welcoming one professor from a UK university to Sciences Po each year.

The Chair encourages European comparative research and helps develop cooperation between Sciences Po and British universities.