Global ideas for global challenges

Join us for this special public event to mark Nicholas Stern's 80th birthday.

Ideas matter. They have been core to the advances in health, education, and economic development the world has seen since the second world war. But societies and global institutions now need to evolve to address daunting challenges, including climate change, inequality and make the most of the opportunities and manage the risks arising from new technologies. The panel brings together the leaders of the world’s premier economic institutions and a Nobel Prize winning economist to discuss how ideas have evolved to shape our world and what is needed for the future.

Meet our speakers and chair

Kristalina Georgieva has been serving as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund since October 1, 2019. She began her second term on October 1, 2024. Before joining the IMF, Ms. Georgieva served as CEO of the World Bank from January 2017 to September 2019, where she also held the role of Interim President. Previously, Ms. Georgieva helped shape the agenda of the European Union, first as Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, and later as Vice President for Budget and Human Resources. During her academic career, she was a visiting fellow at LSE.

Since November 2019, Christine Lagarde (@Lagarde) has been the President of the European Central Bank. Between 2011 and 2019, she served as the eleventh Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prior to that she served as French Economic Finance Minister from 2007 to 2011 after having been Trade Secretary from 2005 to 2007. A lawyer by background, she practiced for 20 years with the international law firm Baker McKenzie, of which she became global chairman in 1999.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (@NOIweala) is the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation. The first woman and first African to hold the position. She is an economist and international development expert with over 40 years of experience. She served as Nigeria’s first female and longest serving Finance Minister and was also the first female Foreign Minister.

Joseph E Stiglitz is University Professor at Columbia University, the winner of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, and a lead author of the 1995 IPCC report, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. At Columbia, Stiglitz co-chairs the Committee on Global Thought and is founder and co-president of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue. His latest book, The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society, was released in April 2024.

Larry Kramer has been President and Vice Chancellor of LSE since April 2024. A constitutional scholar, university administrator, and philanthropic leader, he was previously the President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Dean of Stanford Law School.

More about this event

Join us on campus or register to watch the event online at LSE Live. LSE Live is the home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

Launched in 2025, the Global School of Sustainability at LSE (GSoS) is the centre of social science expertise for sustainability impact at LSE. We work in partnerships across the LSE community and beyond to advance pioneering sustainability research and global policy engagement.

The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment was established by LSE in 2008 to create a world-leading multidisciplinary centre for policy-relevant research and training on climate change and the environment, bringing together international expertise from across LSE and beyond, including on economics, finance, geography, the environment, science, law, international relations, development and political science.

STICERD brings together world-class academics to put economics and related disciplines at the forefront of research and policy. Founded in 1978 by the renowned Japanese economist Michio Morishima, with donations from Suntory and Toyota, we are a thriving research community within LSE.

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