LSE Mobile now available for iOS7

An updated version of LSE Mobile which fixes the login issues with the app on iOS7 is now available, so if you are using iOS7, update the app as soon as possible.

LSE Chill

LSE Chill is back for its first session of this term on Friday from 5.30pm in the Fourth Floor Café Bar, Old Building. The session is open to all and will feature some dynamic acts.

Bethan Ovens

Bethan, International Student Immigration Adviser, once had to dress up as Santa and sing the '12 Days of Christmas' to 3,000 Chinese students at a university Christmas show.

LSE celebrates the life and work of Lionel Robbins to mark 50th Anniversary of his report on Higher Education

LSE Library has launched an online digital exhibition of the life of economist Lionel Robbins (pictured) to coincide with the 50th anniversary of his landmark report into higher education.

The exhibition, The Economist and the Wider World: the papers of Lionel Robbins (1898-1984), includes a selection of photographs, papers and correspondence from Robbins’ life.

On Tuesday 22 October, LSE held a one-day conference - Shaping Higher Education 50 Years after Robbins - to celebrate the anniversary of the publication of the Robbins Report.

The conference, supported by the LSE Annual Fund, closed with a public event featuring a panel discussion with Bahram Bekhradnia, Rajay Naik, and David Willetts MP.

The 1963 Report into Higher Education, chaired by Lionel Robbins, revealed that entry into university largely depended on class rather than ability, paving the way for expansion and modernisation within the higher education sector.

Elizabeth Chapman, Director of LSE Library Services, said: "LSE Library’s project celebrates the anniversary of this landmark report, and documents the important contributions Robbins made to the arts, politics and LSE during his long career, guaranteeing the availability of his papers to future generations of researchers." More
 

What the hell?

You may have twigged that something unusual is happening around campus this week: an event on Thursday 24 October involving guerrillas, hell and commandos.

Without giving too much away, it involves the Institute of Public Affairs, led by Professor Conor Gearty, who is pioneering a new style of lecturing at LSE.

Forget traditional lecture halls and think, instead, an intellectual form of a flash mob.

That’s the concept of guerrilla lectures, the first of which is happening this week - at an undisclosed location.

Keen to experience a unique, engaging, thought-provoking evening? Interested in discussing a controversial subject in a location that very few get the chance to see?

Meet us in the foyer of the New Academic Building this Thursday (24 October) at 6.45pm for more details about this secret assignment. Only 20 tickets will be issued, so don’t miss out.

P.S.: Bring your bus pass. The evening will finish around 9.30pm.
 

LSE PhD student Garrick Hileman, together with a team of LSE students and alumni, has launched MacroDigest.com, a website bringing together information and analysis on everything moving the economy.

Garrick, who won the 2013 LSE Entrepreneur of the Year award and a development grant from the Centre for Learning Technology, found that staying on top of the conversation and analysis surrounding economic events, like the European sovereign debt crisis, was very difficult when using existing RSS readers and Twitter tools.

The team launched MacroDigest this month to help students, academics and professionals filter through the thousands of online voices and news sources to understand what’s systemically important today.

Children in lower-income households do less well in school and have worse health than their better-off peers in part because they are poorer, researchers from LSE have found.

While it is well established that children in lower-income households do less well than their more wealthy peers, it has to date been unclear whether low income is itself a cause of lower achievement, or simply correlated with other key factors such as lower parental education. The report, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on Tuesday 22 October, finds that low income directly affects measures of a child’s wellbeing and development.

An updated version of LSE Mobile which fixes the login issues with the app on iOS7 is now available.

If you are using iOS7, please update the app as soon as possible. You should then be able to log in using your LSE username and password to access your timetable and Library services.

If the update does not appear, you may need to uninstall the app and re-download it from the Apple app store.

Courses scheduled for next week include:

• Essay Writing at LSE: an introduction for undergraduate/MSc students
• Excel 2010: data analysis
• Managing Study Related Stress

LSE Careers currently has over 1,000 vacancies advertised on LSE CareerHub, including part-time and internship roles you can take on during your studies.

We are also continuing our programme of events to help you develop your employability skills and meet potential employers.

Some highlights that are now open for booking include:

Teaching and Learning Centre training events

• Participating and Presenting in Classes and Seminars
  Wednesday 30 October from 2-3pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
  This lecture for undergraduate and MSc students outlines the expectations of seminar tutors and course convenors and offers practical ideas for both making presentations and arguing a position persuasively.
• Managing Study Related Stress
  Wednesday 30 October from 3.30-5pm in TW1 G.01, Tower One

Systemic Risk Centre Masterclass Series

The Systemic Risk Centre (SRC) has launched its Masterclass Series. These are advanced one- or two-day courses on a variety of narrow topics in theory and practice in the areas of economics, finance and systemic risk.

The first masterclass, on Monday 4 and Tuesday 5 November, will be delivered by Professor Frank Page Jr. Professor Page will present on the topic of "strategic network formation and the emergence of equilibrium network dynamics".

The second masterclass, on Wednesday 6 November, is given by Dr William T Ziemba on the topic of "prediction and investment strategies in markets prone to crashes and bubbles".

Both masterclasses will take place at LSE. For more information, visit the SRC website.
 

LSE’s Hellenic Observatory (HO) has launched a PhD Scholarship on Greece to commence in the academic year 2014-15.

The HO is offering one scholarship for a new full‐time student commencing an MPhil/PhD in European Studies at LSE’s European Institute in October 2014. The research is to be on “Contemporary Greece and Europe” and in the subject areas of political science, international relations, economics or economic geography.

The award will be for one year in the first instance, and renewable for a further three years subject to satisfactory academic performance (upgrade to PhD). The scholarship will cover tuition fees and living expenses of £18,000 each year for four years with an agreement that the scholar also contributes to the HO as part of their research training, in the form of providing 80 hours per term in research and/or admin assistance.

The deadline for submitting your entries for the Equality and Diversity Photo Competition is Sunday 3 November.

The theme for the competition is "redefining difference", urging all participants to demonstrate creative thinking about diversity.

Twelve images will be selected to go into the School’s Diversity Calendar for 2014. This is your opportunity to see your work published and circulated across the School, and to win a prize. If you haven’t already sent in your entries, do it now.

Whether you want to help change the world, or you want to turn a great money making idea into a reality, we want to hear from you.

You may not class yourself as an entrepreneur but if you are out making a difference in your community, or are offering a unique service or product, you could be eligible to receive funding to help scale up your idea.

LSE Entrepreneurship is holding three competitions throughout the year in which it will be allocating substantial funding for a variety of entrepreneurial businesses and social enterprises. The first competition will be held on Friday 6 December and applications are open now.

LSE Catering provides a professional and friendly service for a wide range of hospitality events, from formal dinners or drinks receptions, to delivering finger food lunches and refreshments to your office or meeting rooms.

In an aim to meet our customer needs and expectations, we have recently improved our finger food and sandwich lunch menu.

Deliveries can be made to most buildings on campus so why not view our services and menus, or contact us to discuss bespoke arrangements for your event.

Join the Houghton Consulting Group

Houghton Consulting Group, part of the LSESU Management and Strategy Society, is the oldest non-profit student-run consultancy at LSE, which aims to give LSE students business experience and network opportunities, while providing pro-bono consulting services to its clients.

The team is currently recruiting project leaders and consultants. Project leaders will work with the team and stakeholders to set goals and major objectives. You will be expected to maintain focus and provide clear direction to team members with respect to external influencers and be clear about the programme’s priority in the portfolio. You will often be called upon to clarify the roles and responsibilities of team members. Project consultants will work with a team of students and a project leader. You will learn to apply theoretical frameworks on real projects and be part of an end-to-end consulting project - from acquisition to final delivery. Training workshops will be provided for both roles.

For more information or to apply, send your CV and a cover letter to houghtonconsultinggroup@gmail.com by Saturday 26 October.
 

Take part in a careers survey for the LSESU Artichoke Society

The LSESU Artichoke Society is conducting research into undergraduates' perspectives on careers and invites LSE undergraduate students to get involved by completing an online survey.

The aim is to gauge what sort of impact studying at LSE has on students' career plans and choices. The survey is completely anonymous and none of the data will be used for anything other than the research.

The survey takes around one minute to complete and can be found online at www.surveymonkey.com/s/N38YGD5. The survey will close on Monday 28 October and the results will be published early in November.

Computer tip of the week

Extend Excel formula bar

Sometimes when you are creating formulas in Excel they can become rather large, complex and difficult to read, for example, with nested IF statements. In such cases, the formula bar becomes very crowded and it is difficult to see the whole formula.

In order to see the whole formula in one go, you can increase the size of the formula bar. To do this, click on the down pointing arrow at the right hand end of the formula bar. To make this area even larger, point the mouse at the dividing line just above the column headings, and when you see the double headed arrow, hold down the left mouse button and drag down.

NEW EVENT - Innovation: the essence of transforming development patterns

On: Thursday 21 November from 6.30-8pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Professor Liu Wei (pictured), Executive Vice President of Peking University.

China has built a relatively well-off society by the end of the 20th century, transforming from a low-income country to a lower-middle-income one. In the first decade of the 21st century, China has further elevated itself to an upper-middle-income country.

Based on these achievements, the country sets its new goals for economic development: a sustainable economic growth to double its scale, a high-income economy with a higher per capita GDP, a transformation in the economic structure and an overall modernisation.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. More
 

Other forthcoming LSE events include....

The Social-Cultural Foundation of the 21st Century New Pan-Africanist Consciousness
On: Thursday 24 October at 6.30pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speaker: Adama Samassékou (pictured), Founder and Former President of the African Academy of Languages.

Capitalism Without Guilt: the moral case for freedom
On: Monday 28 October at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Dr Yaron Brook, Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Institute.

The Metropolitan Revolution: perspectives from US cities
On: Tuesday 29 October at 6.30pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speakers: Bruce Katz, Vice President of the Brookings Institution and Founding Director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, and Professor Anne Power, Professor of Social Policy at LSE.

What's the Point of Contemporary Art?
On: Wednesday 30 October at 6.30pm in the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speakers: JJ Charlesworth, Associate Editor for ArtReview, and Mark Rappolt, Editor of ArtReview.

The first LSE Chill session of this term will take place this Friday (25 October) from 5.30pm in the Fourth Floor Café Bar, Old Building. The session is open to all and will feature some dynamic acts.

The line-up for the evening is as follows:

6-6.30pm Daniel Lombard
Daniel Lombard will be performing a stand-up comedy routine which is sure to have us laughing in our seats.

6.45-7.15pm Princessa Rellosa
Princessa Rellosa is excited to have her first performance at LSE. She will be singing a few of her favourites from artists such as Adele, Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys and Bruno Mars.

7.30-8pm The Critique of Pure Rhythm
The Critique of Pure Rhythm is the Department of Philosophy band. It specialises in 50s/60s rock and blues (with the occasional original number thrown in). Personnel are department members Roman Frigg, Max Steuer, Alex Voorhoeve and John Worrall; Alec Howells (second year BSc in Politics and Philosophy), former student Ipek Gencsu, and guest vocalist Natalia Tsalli. They promise to shake your nerves and rattle your brains.

A Government-in-exile Beyond Exile: expanding governance in western Sahara's liberation movement

On: Monday 28 October from 6-7.30pm in the Thai Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Dr Alice Wilson (pictured), Junior Research Fellow in Social Anthropology at Homerton College, University of Cambridge.

The outbreak of the Arab uprisings marked the 35th year of the government-in-exile of western Sahara, Africa’s last decolonisation case. Led by western Sahara’s liberation movement, Polisario, this government-in-exile has developed a state-like apparatus through which, with Algerian consent, it governs Sahrawi exiles in desert refugee camps in south-west Algeria. In recent years, Polisario’s government-in-exile has increasingly expanded its governance beyond its base in exile in Algeria to Polisario-controlled western Sahara.

This talk examines the implications of this expansion for the sustainability of the liberation movement.

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: Monday 28 October from 6.30-8pm in the New Theatre, East Building
Speakers: Dr Ana Cristina Alves, Senior Researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, Professor Vladimir Shubin, Professor of African History and Politics at the Russian State University for Humanities, Dr Soyeun Kim, Lecturer at the University of Leeds, and Dr Mehmet Ozkan, Researcher at the SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research in Ankara, Turkey.

Emerging powers are playing an increasingly consequential role in Africa, and are set to deepen their impact upon political, economic and security dynamics across the continent in coming years. Africa is back in the global spotlight, though uncertainties remain as to the ability of its leaders to capitalise on commodity-led growth to realise the continent’s development potential.

With a host of internationally recognised scholars, this lecture will critically examine these trends and possibilities for Africa’s future development.

For more information, click here or email ideas.events@lse.ac.uk.
 

Ethnic Struggle, Coexistence, and Democratisation: Hungarian politics in Romania

On: Tuesday 29 October from 6-7.30pm in the Cañada Blanch Room, Cowdray House
Speaker: Dr Sherrill Stroschein (pictured), Senior lecturer in Politics at University College London.

Dr Sherrill Stroschein's research examines the politics of ethnicity in democratic and democratising states, especially democratic processes in states with mixed ethnic or religious populations.

At this event, which is part of LSEE’s visiting speaker programme, she will discuss Hungarian politics in Romania. More
 

Climate Vulnerability and Human Security in the Jordan River Basin

On: Wednesday 30 October from 4-5pm in room LG.04, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields
Speaker: Dr Michael Mason (pictured), Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environment at LSE.

This seminar reports initial findings from an environmental research project jointly undertaken by LSE (Geography and Environment) and Birzeit University (Civil Engineering).

The project examines the climate vulnerability of Jordan Basin farming communities with current or recent experience of belligerent occupation (southern Lebanon, Golan Heights, West Bank) - a condition we label '(post)occupation'.

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
 

Montenegro's Foreign Policy Priorities

On: Wednesday 30 October from 4.30-5.30pm in the Cañada Blanch Room, Cowdray House.

Igor Lukšić (pictured), Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, and former Prime Minister (2010-12) of Montenegro, will speak at this event organised by LSEE - Research on South Eastern Europe.

Registration is required for this event. To book your place, email euroinst.lsee@lse.ac.uk. More
 

On Thursday 31 October from 6.30-8pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE
Speaker: Professor Lord Giddens (pictured), former Director of LSE and a member of the House of Lords.

The European malaise goes deeper than the euro crisis alone, protracted and still unresolved though that may be. The EU and its member states must respond to deep-rooted changes affecting all the industrial countries. Pro-Europeans should recognise that now is the time for a far-reaching rethink of the European project as a whole to create a model appropriate to the exigencies of the twenty-first century.

This event marks the publication of Anthony Giddens' new book Turbulent and Mighty Continent: what future for Europe?. Books will be on sale after the lecture.

Predictability, Probability(s) and Physical Insight

On: Wednesday 6 November at 6.30pm in room CLM 2.02, Clement House
Speaker: Professor Leonard Smith, Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Time Series at LSE.

This lecture is a preview of the Charney Lecture Professor Smith will be delivering at the AGU (American Geophysical Union) Conference in San Francisco in December. An abstract of the lecture can be found here.

This lecture is free to attend but please email Lyn Grove at l.grove@lse.ac.uk to confirm a place.
 

On: Monday 4 November from 8.30am-1pm at the Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4BS.

Starting a business depends on having an idea, having the know-how and raising the finance.

This event aims to inspire you to come up with a concept, and provide the tools to make it a reality. Introduced by Simon Walker, Director General of the Institute of Directors, the team of professionals will tell you what you need to know about facing the challenges, avoiding the pitfalls, writing the plan, and choosing the right partner.