Celebrating a year of community impact

In 2025, our incredible alumni volunteers brought our community together through a diverse range of activities across London and around the world. Highlights included our global series: Global Day of Volunteering, Global Networking Night, and Welcome to the City; where over 2,000 alumni collaborated to create meaningful opportunities for connection and engagement.

Global Day of Volunteering

This event provides a wonderful opportunity for our alumni to contribute to their communities by supporting local causes and charities. We had 11 groups take part with events happening in Asia, Europe and across the Americas.

From restoring soil in Bogota to cleaning beaches in Mumbai and Athens, our alumni showed the power of collective action and care for our planet. Other groups provided helping hands to organisations that serve some of the most vulnerable communities. In Tacoma in the United States, our volunteers packed baby supplies for families in need, while across the US and Canada, alumni supported their local food and emergency shelters. In Asia, our Singapore group organised a food drive, while in Hong Kong, participants learned about the needs of people with visual impairments.

LSE Global Day of Volunteering provided an opportunity for our alumni to be active and to give back to our local community. Our participants built connections with each other whilst engaging in our service project and now have meaningful connections with the charity we were assisting. Already, at least one of our alumni participants has reached out to the organisation to volunteer further with their cause.

In addition to our activity around the world, we collaborated with the LSE Volunteer Centre to provide opportunities for those in London to get involved. This included a webinar with our Volunteer Centre Manager on getting started with volunteering, writing letters against isolation, and a litter pick around Holborn and the Strand.

Global Networking Night

In May, our community rallied round again to host a series of networking events. Networking provides an excellent opportunity for alumni looking to build professional relationships and to meet their local community. In total, our local groups hosted 53 events in 35 countries, spanning Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas, and Africa.

In London, we were delighted to greet over 90 alumni for Global Networking Night. Dr Tom Curran from the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, spoke on perfectionism and shared practical tips. In North America, President and Vice Chancellor Professor Larry Kramer joined events in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Toronto, offering university updates and fostering connections.

Alumni in Turkey heard from Dr Yilmaz Arguden on direct investments and governance, while in Kyiv, LSE alumnus and Ukraine’s Ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, gave a virtual keynote speech. As photos came in from around the world, it was wonderful to see our alumni coming together, sharing stories, and sparking new opportunities.

Welcome to the City

In October, our alumni pulled together to host Welcome to the City events – offering a friendly hand and warm welcome to those starting new chapters after LSE. Since many of our recent graduates are navigating new places and new circumstances, these events mean that they do not start their careers alone.

Over 54 events were held spanning 35 countries. Our Jamaican community heard from sociologist, writer and academic Dr Leith Dunn, while LSE’s Associate Professor Dr Grace Lordan discussed how to create your own career luck in New York. Alumni across Asia discussed technology with a Bitcoin knowledge exchange in Seoul and with a forum on Technological Evolution in Chengdu.

Welcome to the City has become one of the events we genuinely look forward to. We've been steadily growing our events here in Tokyo, having organised more than 30 during the last five years, but Welcome to the City is special – it's where recent graduates really discover the alumni community for themselves.

Our alumni volunteers have truly shone this year, bringing community, support and learning to our global community. Thank you for making 2025 unforgettable!

Want to get involved next year? Global Day of Volunteering 2026 will take place on Thursday 12 February. Keep an eye out next year for events in your area.