#AsktheDirector is back

LSE Director, Professor Craig Calhoun, will be taking questions live on Twitter on Monday 14 October. Ask him a question in advance using the #AsktheDirector hashtag.

The Paralympic Movement Takes Off

Get your ticket for this event with Sir Philip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee, on Monday 14 October.

Ollie Cook

Ollie, who is an LSE Sports Ambassador, is currently 'pausing' his master's at the School so that he can concentrate on training with the Team GB Senior Rowing Squad.

LSE will host the next LSE Asia Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in April 2014. This is the sixth LSE Asia Forum and the first time it has been held in Malaysia.

The School will also celebrate the graduation of LSE students from Asia during the event with its first graduation ceremony to be held in the country.

The Asia Forum, which will take the theme ‘Building Asian Futures: integration, welfare and growth?’, was announced by LSE Director Professor Craig Calhoun, during a visit to the country's capital.

Professor Craig Calhoun, Director of LSE, said: "LSE has a longstanding relationship with Malaysia so it is with great pleasure that I can announce that it will be the venue for the next LSE Asia Forum. We shall also hold our first graduation ceremony in Malaysia at the same time.

LSE has climbed seven places in the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

The School rose from 39th last year to 32nd in the 2013-14 rankings, the third successive rise since the Times Higher Education teamed up with Thomson Reuters in 2010 to produce its annual university league table.

The rankings use a variety of indicators to assess university performance and show LSE scoring particularly well for its research, reputation, and international outlook.

LSE also rose from 18th to 13th in the ranking’s social sciences subject league table, which uses slightly different weightings from the main league table.

Commenting on the rankings, Professor Craig Calhoun, Director of LSE, said: "It is gratifying to see LSE climbing the international rankings, and that we continue to be rightly recognised as a world-class institution.

"Regardless of league table positions, we will continue to focus on what we do best - producing the very best social science research and teaching that tackles real-world problems."

Professor Janet Yellen has been nominated to be the next Chair of the US Federal Reserve, which would make her the first woman to lead the Fed in its history.

Professor Yellen, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, is a former lecturer in the Department of Economics at LSE. She has recently accepted an invitation from LSE to receive the award of an Honorary Doctorate of the School, which is the highest award an individual can receive from LSE, for her distinguished record of public service.

Professor Yellen is married to Nobel Prize winner George Akerlof, who is also a former LSE professor and Honorary Graduate, making them the first wife and husband team to hold Honorary Doctorates from the School.

Professor Michele Piccione, head of the Department of Economics at LSE, said: "While I did not have the pleasure of working with Professor Yellen when she was at LSE it is always pleasing to hear when colleagues go on to great things and I offer my congratulations to Professor Yellen on her appointment. We were delighted when she accepted our invitation to become an Honorary Doctorate of the School and I look forward to welcoming her to LSE for the conferment of this prestigious award next year."

Crowdsourcing a new UK Constitution

Should the UK have a monarch, abolish the House of Lords, or repeal the Human Rights Act?

These questions and more are the focus of a unique project launched by LSE on Tuesday 8 October to give the public a direct say in writing a proposed new UK Constitution.

The two year project, co-ordinated by LSE’s Institute of Public Affairs, will seek input from ordinary English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish residents on how their country should be governed.

Human rights lawyer and IPA Director, Professor Conor Gearty, said the lack of a formal Constitution in the UK was the basis for the crowdsourcing project.

"The United Kingdom is an odd country in many ways. It is constructed of a lot of different nations and does not even have a written Constitution. It gets by on laws and conventions and this doesn’t seem to work; many think that it’s becoming untenable," Professor Gearty said.

The project launch will outline how the British public can get involved in drafting a formal new Constitution, including contributing essays, voting online, and deciding what values and principles should underpin the new document. More
 

Employees who are able to work from home are more productive than their office-bound colleagues because they are less distracted, grateful for the flexibility and the time they save on commuting is ploughed back into work.

These findings, from LSE, endorse a general move towards more flexible working practices in the UK, although the private sector is lagging behind in this respect.

Dr Alexandra Beauregard from LSE’s Department of Management says working from home does not suit everyone, however.

"The happiest employees are those who can work partially from home and partially in the office. They report the highest levels of work/life satisfaction because they can juggle personal responsibilities yet are not socially isolated," Dr Beauregard says.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and children’s charities need to rethink how digital technology and communications are affecting the rights of children around the world, according to a new report from LSE.

The report, A Global Agenda for Children’s Rights in the Digital Age: recommendations for developing UNICEF’s research strategy, by Professor Sonia Livingstone and Dr Monica Bulger of LSE, argues that the UN children’s charity should adopt new research methods in order to get robust evidence on how children are using information and communication technology (ICT), and how this may affect their rights and wellbeing.

Do you have a question for the LSE Director? Professor Craig Calhoun (@craigjcalhoun) will be live on Twitter to answer your tweets from 4-5pm on Monday 14 October.

Design Exhibition: 7-18 October in the LSE Library
An exhibition of the five designs from the architects shortlisted for the new LSE Global Centre for Social Sciences (GCSS) will be on display in the main entrance of the LSE Library until Friday 18 October.

Please come and view them - the Library is open from 8am to midnight, seven days a week. The designs are also online at lse.ac.uk/gcsscompetition.

Have Your Say: vote online
Students and staff are invited to vote for their preferred design. Votes can be cast until Friday 18 October via lse.ac.uk/gcsscompetition. There are also two dedicated computers in the Library exhibition area.

Julian Robinson, LSE’s Director of Estates said: "This will be the School’s biggest ever building project and will transform the heart of our campus. Given its scale it will be a landmark building and its legacy will endure for many generations of LSE students so it is vital that we make the right decision."

If you were a new arrival at LSE during Orientation 2013, the Student Services Team invites you to tell them about your experiences by completing the Orientation Feedback Survey.

New arrivals who complete the survey, and provide their contact details, will be entered into a draw for the chance to win an Amazon voucher worth £300.

LSE student bloggers needed

Do you love writing and blogging? LSE’s Student Recruitment Office is looking for students for the LSE Student Blog - so whether you’re new and have just arrived in London or are a seasoned third year who knows all the best things to do and places to visit, the team needs you.

Bloggers are free to write about their social and academic life while at LSE and in London. In the past this has ranged from choosing courses and making the most of career opportunities, to going to musicals and finding the best pubs.

Bloggers will be given training in guidelines and content as well as training in how to use Wordpress. Every month the team awards a prize for the best blogger as well as a prize at the end of the year.

If you are interested in getting involved, email Phil Wood at p.a.wood@lse.ac.uk.
 

Student profiles are needed for the LSE website and the LSE prospectuses. Profiles from students on any programme (undergraduate, graduate and General Course) and of any nationality are welcomed for the various international student pages.

Samples of previous profiles can be seen here.

LSE Careers is holding lots of events over the next few weeks to help you progress in your career plans; whether you know what you want to do and are starting applications, haven’t decided yet, want to meet employers from a range of sectors, or just want to gain some useful skills and information.

You can view all of our Michaelmas term events on LSE CareerHub, as well as booking one-to-one careers discussions and CV and cover letter checks. You will also find lots of useful information about employment sectors, application processes and more on our website or by dropping into our Resource Area on the third floor of Tower Three.

Some popular events that are open for booking now include:

• Careers in Public Policy Forum - Thursday 10 October from 12-2pm
• LSE Careers Banking and Financial Services Fair - Tuesday 15 and Thursday 17 October from 5.30-8.30pm
• How to Write Effective CVs - Monday 14 October from 1-2pm
   

LSE Entrepreneurship is launching the 2013-14 series of seminars, inspirational case studies, networking opportunities and one-to-one mentoring to help you get your entrepreneurial ambitions off the ground - whether you aspire to running your own business, or are interested in joining an organisation that promotes entrepreneurship as one of its core values.

The LSE Annual Fund raises and allocates vital unrestricted money for projects that enhance the student experience and benefit the School community. We are currently recruiting students to act as School Ambassadors by contacting and fundraising from alumni and friends of LSE.

This is a great opportunity to enhance your CV and develop your communication skills. You will also be helping the School by raising funds that support campus wide projects. You will need to be available for the whole of the academic year and pay starts from £10.69 p/h.

The Michaelmas term calling campaign starts on Monday 21 October with two nights of paid training.

Courses scheduled for next week include:

• Top Five Tips on Finding Library Resources
• Effective Reading Strategies
• Studying and Surviving at LSE

Undergraduates: Track skills you develop by taking part in activities beyond academic studies using PDAM.

Teaching and Learning Centre training events

• Studying at LSE: an introduction for MSc students
  Friday 11 October from 11am-12.30pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
  This session will give an introduction to studying at LSE, explain the structure of courses, and suggest useful approaches to managing your study time, getting the most out of lectures and tackling your course reading lists.
• Effective Reading Strategies
  Wednesday 16 October from 2-3pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
  Teaching and Learning Centre advisers will give some hints and tips for coping with long reading lists. Students will have an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the session.
• Studying and Surviving at LSE
  Wednesday 16 October from 3-4.30pm in the Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building
  This presentation looks at the experience of being a student at LSE, putting into context the challenges that lie ahead. It will include tips for coping and a review of stress management skills. This event is free and open to any current student at LSE.

Information Management and Technology is offering Office 2010 self-paced workshops from Monday 14 October.

These workshops are free for any LSE student who would like to get their Office 2010 skills refreshed as well as advanced.

Topics include Excel 2010, Outlook 2010, PowerPoint 2010 and Word 2010.

Computer tip of the week

Get to your often used folders in just one click

Quite often, your files and folders can be found only after a lot of clicking. This tip will show you to create shortcuts to the folders you regularly use.

1. Click Start-Computer and navigate to the folder for which you wish to create a shortcut
2. When in this folder, right click on Favourites at the top of the drives menu in the left hand pane and click on Add current location to Favourites
3. The name of your current folder will appear at the bottom of the list
4. To get to a folder in the favourites list, click on the one you need

You can rename a folder in the Favourites list by right clicking on it and clicking on rename. Then, enter the new name and press return. Remove a folder from this list from the same menu.

Lunchtime meditation

On: Tuesdays (term time) from 12.10-12.45pm
On: Thursdays (term time) from 12.10-12.45pm (first meeting - Thursday 24 October)
At: LSE Chaplaincy, 20 Kingsway

Just breathing, just sitting, just being present - a place to pause during the week and be present to oneself. Meditation offers space to tune into a deeper, quieter part within us. Being more fully present to what is.

Meditation allows us to connect with our true intentions. With mindfulness we can learn to respond more creatively to our experience.

Skip fit lessons

Security officer and former boxer Daniel Beckley is running skip fit lessons for all students and staff 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 15 October, Tuesday 29 October, and Tuesday 5 November.

Just turn up on any of these dates with your own skipping rope. All lessons are free.

For more information, email Daniel at d.beckley@lse.ac.uk.
 

Are you a fitness fanatic? Would you like to be part of an event to raise money for a good cause?

Fist and Feather® will be hosting a three and half hour body combat marathon in aid of The Bethany Chiddle Fund on Sunday 27 October.

Bethany is five years old and was born with Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy. Funds are needed so that she can have pioneering surgery on her spine in the USA. All profits from the marathon's ticket sales will go to The Bethany Chiddle Fund.

On: Monday 14 October from 6.30-8pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Sir Philip Craven (pictured)

President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Sir Philip Craven will discuss the challenge for the IPC to capitalise on the success of the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Paralympic Games, and help build a society in which people with an impairment are fully integrated.

NEW EVENT - The UK in the EU Single Market: what next? Opportunities and challenges

On: Thursday 17 October at 2pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Michel Barnier (pictured), European Commissioner responsible for the internal market and services

The single market or "common market" as more frequently referred to in the UK is probably the one bit of the European Union most British politicians seem to agree is a good thing.

The UK government's own estimates are that the single market benefits the UK between £31 billion and £92 billion per year, i.e. £1,300 and £3,500 for each UK household per year. Three and a half million UK jobs are linked to the single market, one in every 10. British politicians and businesses call regularly for a deeper single market. But what exactly makes up the "single"/"common"/"internal market"?

Other forthcoming events include....

Can the European Union Reconnect with Its Citizens?
On: Monday 14 October at 6.30pm in the New Theatre, East Building
Speaker: Gavin Hewitt (pictured), BBC’s Europe editor.

On: Friday 11 October from 6-7.30pm in the Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Professor Lawrence R Douglas, James J Grosfeld Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at Amherst College, USA.

The trial of Abd al-Nashiri, the senior al Qaeda lieutenant alleged to have masterminded the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, before a military commission in Guantanamo Bay represents the most significant criminal case to come before a military court since leading Nazi functionaries stood trial in occupied Germany.

This lecture will consider the extraordinary legal challenges that the trial poses. Can a tribunal originally born of an impatient contempt for due process now prove itself a legitimate institution of American law?

On: Tuesday 15 October at 6.30pm in room CLM 4.02, Clement House.

The LSESU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society invites you to a debate on "The Niqab (Face Veil): human right, security concern or symbol of oppression?".

The debate will be chaired by Chetan Bhatt, Director of LSE's Centre for the Study of Human Rights, and the speakers include:

• Maryam Namazie (pictured), founder and spokesperson of One Law for All and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
• Akeela Ahmed, director of the Christian Muslim Forum

The New Middle East: the world after the Arab Spring

On: Wednesday 16 October from 6.30-8pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Paul Danahar (pictured), BBC Bureau Chief.

In this event, Paul Danahar will discuss his timely and important book, offering a fascinating and illuminating analysis of the new order in the Middle East following the Arab Spring and explaining what it will mean both for the region and the West.

With access to many of the key players including Bashar al-Assad, Muammar Gaddafi, Shimon Peres, leadership figures in the Muslim Brotherhood and senior officials in the UN and US and with vivid, on-the-ground storytelling, Paul Danahar provides an unparalleled account of recent events.

This event is free and open to all on a first come, first served basis For more information, email Sara Masry at s.masry@lse.ac.uk. More
 

On: Tuesday 22 October from 6-7.30pm in the Cañada Blanch Room, COW 1.11, Cowdray House
Speaker: Dr Manussos Marangudakis (pictured), Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of the Aegean.

The Greek civil society is shaped by a distinct ‘civil religion’ that constitutes the cultural background of Greek secular life. This civil religion is strongly influenced by the Orthodox theology and religious practices that have decisively affected the various crystallisations of the four networks of social power (political, ideological, economic, and military) that constitute the Greek society in its various institutional formations.

Based on the results of the research project ‘State Crisis and Civil Consciousness in Greece’ it is argued that this civil religion has strongly affected both the trajectory of the Greek state apparatus until its resent collapse, as well as the specific social and political reactions to the ongoing socioeconomic crisis.

Podcasts of public lectures and events

The Undercover Economist Strikes Back
Speaker: Tim Harford
Recorded: Tuesday 1 October, approx 66 minutes

What Has The European Convention on Human Rights Ever Done For Us?
Speakers: Martin Howe, Professor Philip Leach, Caroline Lucas MP, Emily Thornberry MP, and Professor Alan Sked
Recorded: Tuesday 1 October, approx 89 minutes