LSE alumni come together for Global Networking Night 2026
A global community: LSE alumni connecting across continents
From London to Kolkata, over 1,000 LSE alumni across the globe came together for our annual LSE alumni Global Networking Night. Fellow graduates from 26 countries, met up, shared LSE memories, networked with their peers and got careers advice.
Six decades of LSE alumni experiences brought together in London
In London Professor Michael Cox, Founding Director of LSE IDEAS and Emeritus Professor of International Relations, chaired a fascinating discussion in the Marshall Building with six alumni spanning the past six decades - Degrees of Change: LSE Across the Decades.
Mike Power (BSc Economics 1970) came from a working-class background and studied at LSE in the 1960s. After graduating he spent 32 years at Procter & Gamble Company in senior leadership positions. He stressed the importance of continuing personal reinvention and education, the power of mentoring and his experience that ordinary people working in teams can deliver extraordinary results if empowered, energised and enabled.
It’s not just a seat of learning but a place that teaches you how to think.
Dr Carla Garapedian (PhD International Relations 1987 and Montague Burton Scholar), said that LSE was and arguably still is about the students who attended it and gave a shout out to the power of a scholarship. With that one action she explained her career as an investigative reporter and award-winning documentary maker was launched. In 2009 she founded the Pomegranate Foundation to raise awareness, through the arts, about genocide and intolerance.
Diana Kirsch (BSc International Relations 1992) qualified as a criminal defence solicitor in 1999 and after many years in a specialist criminal practice moved into higher education in 2007. Now her life has come full circle, and she told the audience how rewarding it is to be back at LSE as the Legal Advice Centre Director at LSE Law School. In this role she has responsibility for establishing new pro bono projects for students across a growing number of free Legal Advice Clinics and she is passionate about the potential for alumni to get involved and contribute to its success.
Dr Paolo Dasgupta (PhD Government 2009) pointed to the intellectual calibre of the LSE community and of the quality of research he encountered throughout his MSc, the research projects he was involved in, and his doctorate.
Over the decades not only did the LSE campus change significantly but the UK government’s policy on tuition fees for UK students also changed. With the expansion of higher education in post-World War II Britain tuition was publicly funded. However, by the time Zulum Elumogo (BSc Social Policy and Government 2018) came to LSE tuition fees had been introduced which he noted really shapes student perceptions. “I want what you had” he laughingly said to all those alumni in the room whose education was paid for by the state. Now through his work with TC & Friends, an international design agency, you can see how the creativity and critical thinking underpinning an LSE education go hand in hand.
I always knew people with an LSE education and creative bent could go on to influence creative industries.
Why alumni engagement matters more than ever
Across the globe for Global Networking Night 2026 there were similar discussions, networking events and trips down memory lane. But the final word goes to Tito Molokwu (MSc Social Anthropology 2024) and current LSE Students' Union General Secretary, who spoke on behalf of today’s LSE students. Her advice and plea to alumni was not to underestimate what students want and indeed need:
Stay involved with today’s students who are so hungry for the connections and mentorship that LSE alumni can offer.
LSE alumni mark Global Networking Night
As so many alumni remarked during London Global Networking Night, LSE's campus has truly transformed over the decades. And that transformation has been powered by gifts, both large and small, from LSE alumni.
To mark our 130th anniversary we created an interactive timeline showing that transformation. Do explore the feature - Looking back on 130 years of transformative philanthropy