Established in 2018, the Advisory Board assists the department in a range of its activities, with a focus on resource development, alumni outreach, external relations, and academic programmes and initiatives. It also sponsors frequent events throughout the year seeking to connect the department with alumni and friends while bringing to bear the perspectives and methods of economic historians to a range of historical and contemporary issues.
In the 2020-2021 academic year, the Advisory Board hosted a series of very well attended events, notwithstanding the need to do so remotely due to ongoing restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Christian DInesen, an alumnus and member of the Advisory Board, discussed his recently published book Absent Management in Banking in an event moderated by Olivier Accominotti and chaired by Natacha Postel-Vinay, two department members with deep expertise in banking and financial history. Christian’s work explores the history of management in the banking sector and its impact on financial crises.
In December, Simon Brewer, another alumnus of the department and CEO of Vantage Investment Advisory, spoke at an event targeted to students of the department. In this event chaired by Alison Kennedy, an alumna and member of the Advisory Board, Simon reflected on his experience as an investor to address historic episodes of bear markets in a range of asset classes ranging from equities to commodities and currencies.
In March, the Advisory Board sponsored a panel session focused on migration, bringing together department members Chris Minns and Peter Cirenza along with Alex Nowrasteh, an alumnus and Director of Immigration Studies at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity at the Cato Institute. The panel discussed episodes of historical and contemporary migration with a focus on how they might inform current policy debates and academic research. The Advisory Board is working with the department on an exciting slate of events for the coming academic year. It would also like to hear from alumni and to have them involved in its activities. Ideas for future events would be very much welcomed.
The Advisory Board also focuses on engagement with students of the department. Members of the Advisory Board were active in coordinating and participating in events related to careers as well as an innovative investment memo competition that is now entering its third year of operation. These well-attended events have been great fun and we hope beneficial to participating students.
One of the highlights of this past year was in fundraising, where the Advisory Board was able to announce the funding of its first PhD studentship in the department. This important milestone was achieved through donations from Advisory Board members, alumni and friends of the department, as well as the department itself. It is a goal of the Advisory Board to be able to fund a new PhD studentship each academic year. More work and generosity will be required to achieve this ambitious goal, but the Advisory Board is off to a great start in this effort.
For further information regarding the Advisory Board and its activities, please contact Professor Max Schulze (m.s.schulze@lse.ac.uk) or Dr. Peter Cirenza (p.t.cirenza@lse.ac.uk).