And the winners are....

Congratulations to the winners of this year's LSE Photo Prize and The Ghosts of the Past competitions. Be sure to check out all of the winning entries online.

Run. Vote. Change

Houghton Street is buzzing, candidates are campaigning.... it’s LSESU elections time again! Vote online now until 7pm tomorrow.

Jack Winterton

Jack, second year Government student, would only take two things to a desert island, is inspired by his Granddad, and has a research paper of his own, thanks to LSE GROUPS.

This week LSE launched its official Instagram account -@londonschoolofeconomics.

The new social media account will showcase exciting photos of student and School events, images of our award-winning campus, shots of the city, #ThrowbackThursday pictures from LSE’s history and much more. The platform is already widely used by our students and visitors, with over 40,000 photos tagged with #LSE.

The launch of LSE’s presence on Instagram coincides with the appointment of LSE’s first Social Media Manager, Amy Mollett.

You may already know Amy from her time as the editor of the LSE Review of Books blog. She has now moved over to the Communications Division to help the School take advantage of new and inventive ways of speaking to the LSE community and letting others know what’s so great about LSE.

Part of Amy’s role will be to create a wider social media strategy for the School, which will look at how social media is currently used, what we do well, and what we can improve in order to better communicate with students, staff, alumni and visitors. This is very much a collaborative process, so Amy is really keen to hear your ideas. If you have any suggestions or thoughts, you can contact her at a.b.mollett@lse.ac.uk.

Winners of LSE Photo Prize and Ghosts of the Past announced

The winners of this year’s Photo Prize competition were announced on Saturday 28 February to mark the end of the LSE Literary Festival.

First prize went to Benjamin Aw, an undergraduate in the economics department, for his photo, Windows (pictured left).

Second prize, for the picture Destroyed Room was awarded to Max Nathan, deputy director of the centre for local economic growth, while third prize was given to Catarina Heeckt, a member of staff at LSE Cities, for Preserving the Past.

The winner of The Ghosts of the Past competition has also been announced, with the accolade going to Postroom Operative Pawel Opaska.

You can see all of the winning entries online and more of the submissions to the Photo Prize in a special LSE Perspectives gallery.
 

New Gearty Grilling online

A new Gearty Grilling video, part of the series of short video debates between Conor Gearty, director of the IPA and professor of human rights law, and leading researchers at LSE, is now online.

This week Jeremy Horder (pictured), Professor of Criminal Law, discusses corrupt MPs, seizing criminals' assets and reforming criminal law. More
 

Did you know? In the epilogue to Pygmalion, Eliza Dootlittle attends classes at LSE to help her become a successful florist. Read more in the ‘LSE in Fiction’ LSE History blog post.

Maximise your potential with LSE GROUPS

Message from Pro-Director Professor Paul Kelly

For the fifth year running, as part of the School’s Maximise Your Potential initiative, the Teaching and Learning Centre is running the LSE GROUPS (Group Research Opportunity Undergraduate Projects) programme in weeks nine and ten of Summer term.

LSE GROUPS gives undergraduates the opportunity to work in cross-disciplinary, cross-year groups on a research project of their own choice. During this two week period, you are expected to come up with your own research questions, carry out a literature review, design your methodology, conduct your research and then write up your papers, culminating in their presentation at the conference on the last day of the project. Each group of students is supported in this process by a research supervisor as well as qualitative and quantitative resource sessions. This year’s theme is ‘Social change in London and/or at LSE’.

For those of you who are interested in doing some research and developing group-work skills, I strongly encourage you to find out more about this exciting initiative and apply as soon as possible, as places are filling up fast. Applications close on Friday 6 March - only two days left to apply!

Message from Tom Maksymiw, LSESU Education Officer

Nominations for the LSE Teaching Excellence Awards 2015 are now officially open until Sunday 5 April.

Last year we received 993 nominations and this year we are looking to see this increase even further. SSLC reps have decided the categories and will be tasked with shortlisting the winners. The awards have been designed to recognise everyone from charismatic lecturers to compassionate wardens or administrators, so we hope your nominations will reflect this. You can nominate online here.

You can nominate as many people as you like and in as many categories as you want. All nominated staff will receive a certificate and anonymous feedback, so even if they don’t win they will still really appreciate your time in giving something back.

IMT are pleased to announce the IMT Customer Portal is now available and open to all students and staff.

The Portal is the quick and easy way to get the IT help you need. Accessible anywhere, it allows you to:

• Log and track your IT requests
• Receive notifications about any disruptions or planned outages
• View a selection of useful guides and frequently asked questions

Whenever you wish to request a service or report an IT issue you can access the Portal via a shortcut on your desktop or by visiting imtcustomerportal.lse.ac.uk.

International students - share your experience with #WeAreInternational

During the month of March, the #WeAreInternational campaign will be celebrating international students in the UK.

Get involved by sharing how you’ve benefited from coming to the UK to study, or why you chose to come here: on twitter or on Instagram using the hashtag #WeAreInternational (please tweet to @StudyLSE), or email through your experiences to ard.marketing@lse.ac.uk.

You could even write a blog post about this topic - email ard.studentblogs@lse.ac.uk for more details.
 

Are you confused about careers or wondering how to find fulfilling work?

Come to the LSE Undergraduate Careers Week between Monday 16 and Friday 20 March for a range of networking events, seminars and other activities designed to help you consider your career options and get your career journey off to a great start.

Run. Vote. Change.

Houghton Street is buzzing, there are a million posters everywhere and lots of students in fancy dress… Yes that’s right, it’s the LSESU elections time again.

Candidates are now campaigning to be elected as your General Secretary, among other positions. Check out the full list of candidates and vote online until 7pm on Thursday at www.lsesu.com/vote.
 

Student Accommodation Satisfaction Survey 2014-15

Do you want a free iPad? Would you like to help your hall win £250 to liven up your end of year party? If so, please take some time to fill in LSE's Student Accommodation Satisfaction Survey.

For just 10 minutes of your time, you will be entered into a prize draw to win an iPad, a trip up The Shard, some Amazon vouchers, some champagne, or a free room clean. Not only that, but the hall with the highest percentage participation rate will be awarded £250 to spend on entertainment at the end of year party. Please check your email for your personalised invite and survey link. More information can be found here.
 

LSE Central American Students’ Association Internship Programme

We may be in the midst of election fever, but it's never too soon to organise your summer plans and kickstart your career.

The application process is fully underway for CASA'S INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME with nine internship positions available to LSE students. Please check out our website for details about the internships we have available this year: https://casalsesu.wordpress.com/internships/ 

The internships include:

• Four Internship positions at the Central Bank of Nicaragua;
• an Economic Research position at the Universidad Rafael Landivar in Guatemala;
• a Public Policies Strategist position at TECHO in Guatemala;
• a Socio-Political Analyst position at TECHO in Guatemala;
• a Projects Officer position at CEPIA in Costa Rica;
• an Educational Technical Consultant position at Pronacom in Guatemala.

Under each internship you will find job specification details. To apply please send a CV and Cover Letter to applications.lsesu.casa@gmail.com. The application deadline is midnight on Friday 13 March.

Are you a first or second year student here at LSE? Share your LSE experience and become a student blogger. We’d love to have you as one of our contributors on the LSE Student Blog.

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, 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 we give out a prize for the best blogger as well as a prize at the end of the year.

Wellbeing Stall

The Student Wellbeing Service will be running another Wellbeing Stall outside the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre on Friday 13 March. Colleagues from the Faith Centre, Residences, Disability and Wellbeing Service, the Student Services Centre and Peer Support will be manning the stall from 11am-2pm and will be handing out Easter eggs, chocolates, fruit, and cups of tea and coffee.

The team will be encouraging people to think of ways of looking after yourself over the break and will have information on your "five a day" for mental health. They will also be promoting the Time to Change "Time to talk" campaign which aims to end mental health discrimination.
 

LSE Catering has recently introduced two new special offers:

• At the Plaza Cafe, you can now get a regular tea or coffee with a muffin or rice cake for just £2, after 6pm.
• At the Fourth Floor Cafe, you have the choice of a free Americano or regular tea when purchasing the deli sandwich of the day.

Enjoy!
 

We have published all of the submissions from Photo Prize 2015, check out a few of our favourites featured in a special edition of our monthly online gallery. If you weren’t there at the competition Prize Giving, find out who won here.

If your own computer has slowed down, try these simple tips (not applicable on LSE computers).

1. Delete programs you never use
New computers often come loaded with trial programs you don’t need. Use these links to uninstall from Windows 8 or Windows 7.

2. Restart regularly
Restart at least once a week to clear out memory and close down any unnecessary processes.

3. Stop programs running automatically at Windows Start Up
Start faster by preventing non-essential programs from running automatically.

In Windows 7:
a. Click the Start button. The Systems Configuration dialog box opens.
b. In the Search box type Msconfig and press Enter.
c. On the Startup tab, uncheck the box next to non-essential programs to prevent them from starting automatically when you turn on your computer.
d. Click OK to close.

In Windows 8:
a. Press Ctrl Alt Delete simultaneously to open the Task Manager.
b. Select the Start Up tab.
c. Look through the list. To stop any program listed from opening automatically at start up, right click on Enable and select Disable. When you are finished, close the Task Manager.

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 17 March, Tuesday 24 March, Tuesday 7 April, Tuesday 14 April, Tuesday 28 April, Tuesday 5 May, Tuesday 19 May and Tuesday 26 May. Just turn up on any of these dates with your own skipping rope. All lessons are free.

Forthcoming LSE events

What is the Responsibility to Protect?
On Monday 9 March from 6-7.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Professor Michael Walzer

Human Capital, Inequality and Tax Reform: recent past and future prospects
On: Tuesday 10 March from 6.30-8pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Professor Sir Richard Blundell

Disintegrating Europe: nationalism, regionalism and globalisation
On: Wednesday 11 March from 1.45-3.30pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speakers: Professor John Breuilly and Professor Kalypso Nicolaidis

Political Economy of European Union
On: Wednesday 11 March from 4-5.30pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speakers: Professor Bob Hancké and Professor David Soskice

Code and Law between Truth and Power
On: Wednesday 11 March from 6.30-8pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Professor Julie Cohen

Lana Trotovsek (violin) and Simon Lane (piano)
On: Thursday 12 March at 1pm in the Shaw Library, Old Building

The Law, Finance and the Abyss
On Thursday 12 March at 6.30-8pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speakers: Professor Julia Black, Dr Jon Danielsson, Professor Charles Goodhart, and Professor Katharina Pistor
 

Beyond the Cold War: how summits shaped the new world order

The seventh LSE Works lecture takes place on Thursday 5 March and will be given by LSE International History’s Dr Kristina Spohr on ‘Beyond the Cold War: how summits shaped the new world order’.

The respondents will be Rodric Braithwaite GCMG, a British diplomat and author; Roderic Lyne, Deputy Chairman of Chatham House and Adviser, Russia and Eurasia Programme, and Arne Westad, Professor of International History at LSE and Director of LSE IDEAS. The event will be chaired by Professor Stuart Corbridge, Deputy Director and Provost of LSE.

LSE Works is a series public lectures that will showcase some of the latest research by LSE's academic departments and research centres. In each session, LSE academics will present key research findings, demonstrating where appropriate the implications of their studies for public policy.

A list of all the LSE Works lectures can be viewed at LSE Works.
 

TEDxLSE 2015

Sunday 8 March from 10am-5.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building

Speakers at this year's TEDxLSE 2015 conference include:

• Mete Coban, Hackney's Youngest Councillor and CEO of a non-profit organisation
• Russell Buckley, Government advisor, mentor and angel investor in over 40 startups
• Ross Sutherland, Poet, theatre-maker and former Times Literary Star of the Year
• Nadia Darwazeh, International disputes lawyer and Secretary-General of the Jerusalem Arbitration Center
• Jane Burston, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and Head of the Centre for Carbon Measurement at the National Physical Laboratory
• Jonathan Glennie, Director of Policy and Research at Save the Children UK
• Tak Lo, Director at Techstars, former management consultant, investment banker and army veteran
• Dr Hugh Rayment-Pickard, co-founder and Director of Development of IntoUniversity
• Ed Cooke, Memory champion and best-selling author
• Melissa Sterry, Design scientist and futurist
• The Komola Collective, London-based theatre and arts company dedicated to telling the untold stories from women's perspectives
• Neal Lawson, British political commentator and author of the book All Consuming
• Alecia Maragh, TEDxLSE Student Competition Winner
• Alexander Lushnikov, Co-founder of social media platform CHAINY and member of Russian national Karate team

More can be found on its Facebook event page or the event's website here.

German Symposium 2015 - Facing New Responsibilities: Germany's new role in Europe and beyond?

On: Monday 9 - Friday 13 March

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the German Reunification, the LSESU German Society announce its 14th annual German Symposium. Throughout the week, the Symposium will question: What role can and must Germany fulfill in the coming decades? To what extent will the future of the European integration process be of importance?

Special guest, President of the French Republic from 1974 to 1981 and principal of today's Europe, Monsieur Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, will speak about "Europe's Last Chance: ideas for reform" on Wednesday 11 March.

Speakers will include:

• Dr Hans-Gert Pöttering - a German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union
• Kenneth Harry Clarke CH QC MP - a British Conservative politician representing Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire as a Member of Parliament since 1970
• Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell CH CBE PC - a British Conservative politician who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major
• Dr Peter Ammon - the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Kingdom
• Professor Dr Gesine Schwan - a German Political Science professor and member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Germany
• David Owen, Baron Owen, CH PC FRCP MB BChir - a British politician who served as British Foreign Secretary from 1977 to 1979
• Professor Dr Brendan Simms - an Irish historian and Professor of the History of International Relations in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge.
• David McAllister - a German politician of the conservative Christ Democratic Union (CDU)
• Sir Simon McDonald KCMG - a British diplomat who is ambassador to Germany
• Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG QC MP - a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament of Kensington for Kensington
• Peter Altmaier - a German politician who has served as the Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery and as Federal Minister for Special Affairs since December 2013
• Professor Dr Claudia Maria Buch - a German economist and Deputy Director of the German Bundesbank
• Martin Blessing - Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of Commerzbank AG, Germany
• Carsten Kratz - Senior Partner and Managing Director at The Boston Consulting Group, Germany
• Dr Alexander Gauland - a German jurist, journalist and politician and a leading politician of the German right-wing AfD

For more information and tickets, click here. Get your official printed programme at the Houghton Street stall until Friday 6 March.
 

On: Monday 9 March from 1-2pm in room 9.04, Tower Two
Speakers: Professor Sergei Guriev (pictured), Professor of Economics at Sciences Po and Russia’s leading policy economist, and Professor Tymofei Mylovanov, Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh.
Moderator: Professor Erik Berglöf, Director of the Institute of Global Affairs, LSE.

The Institute of Global Affairs (IGA) at LSE is launching a series of debates on the Ukraine-Russia conflict and its wider implications. This inaugural discussion will focus on economic and political aspects of the conflict with a special emphasis on the inherent tensions between eastern Ukraine and the rest of the country.

On: Friday 13 March from 6-8pm in Café 54, New Academic Building

Join LSE Arts for some live music and free drinks at the last performance night of the term.

On: Wednesday 18 March from 6.30-8pm in the Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Dr Michael Herb (pictured), Georgia State University

Despite recent setbacks, Kuwait's parliament remains the strongest amongst the GCC states. Michael Herb delves into Gulf history to explain why Kuwait's political system differs from those of its neighbours.

This event is free and open to all on a first come first served basis. Our events are very well attended, please make sure to arrive early. We cannot guarantee entry.