Events
Upcoming public events
How stories can transcend borders and boxes of identity
Hosted by the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic EquityWednesday 18 March 2026, 6.30pm - 8pm. In-person and online public event. Old Theatre, LSE Old Building.
Speakers:
Elif Shafak, Novelist and Storyteller
Lily Jamaludin, Writer and Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic EquityChair:
Professor Armine Ishkanian, Executive Director, Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity; Professor, Department of Social Policy, LSEBy drawing upon multiple disciplines and weaving these threads into the broader practice of literary arts, the Turkish-British writer Elif Shafak offers an inspirational talk about our world today, the stories that bring us together, and the silences that keep us apart.
For a long time, philosophers and artists have asked the question: how can we balance vita activa (the active life) and vita contemplativa (the contemplative life)? Now an additional challenge is added to the equation: vita apathetica (life of apathy/life without passions). Too much information causes an emotional and intellectual fatigue, exacerbating this state of apathy—numbness, indifference. Literature is the antidote to this state. In this AFSEE Keynote Lecture, Elif Shafak, joined by discussant Lily Jamaludin, will reflect on what literature and art, more specifically the art of storytelling, can offer us at this moment.
How can we solve the inequality emergency?
Tuesday 21 April 2026 4.30pm - 5.30pm. In-person and online public event. Old Theatre, LSE Old Building.
Speaker:
Professor Joseph Stiglitz, University Professor, Columbia University and winner of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in EconomicsChair:
Professor Larry Kramer, President and Vice Chancellor of LSEGlobal inequality has reached a tipping point. Since 2000, the richest 1% have captured 41% of all new wealth, whilst just 1% went to the bottom half of the population.
In 2025, at the request of President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Joseph Stiglitz was asked to lead a committee of global experts to prepare a report on global inequality, to be presented to the G20. The final report outlined the drivers of extreme inequality, its consequences and its solutions. The report declared an inequality emergency that is on par with the climate emergency and should be treated as such. Its main recommendation is for the establishment of a new International Panel on Inequality, which would play a similar role to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This proposal has been championed by the governments of Spain, Brazil, Norway and South Africa, and many leading economists and experts, including former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Thomas Piketty and Nobel Prize winner Daren Acemoglu.
At this event, Professor Stiglitz will discuss the report and its findings. He will outline how an International Panel on Inequality could address the global inequality emergency.
Who is Britain really saving in the fight against modern slavery?
Wednesday 6 May 2026 6.30pm - 8pm. In-person and online public event. Malaysia Auditorium, LSE Centre Building.
Speakers:
Liz Fekete, Director, Institute of Race Relations and Advisory Editor, Race & ClassI
Professor Insa Lee Koch, Professor, University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and Visiting Professor, LSE Law School
Kojo Kyerewaa, National Organiser, Black Lives Matter UK
Glodi Wabelua, Community advocate and host of the GloTalks podcastChair:
Professor Coretta Phillips, Professor of Criminology and Social Policy, LSE Department of Social PolicyAs Black Lives Matter has exposed the legacies of transatlantic slavery and empire, Britain has launched a new moral crusade at home: the fight against “modern slavery.” This panel discussion marks the launch of Drugs, Race and the Politics of Modern Slavery Law by Insa Lee Koch and asks what this crusade is really doing.
Focusing on the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the policing and prosecution strategies enabled in its wake, the panel examines how young Black and racialised working-class men involved in Britain's street level economy of heroin and crack cocaine — once criminalised under the war on gangs — are now recast as "modern slaves" and their "masters". Central to the discussion is Glodi Wabelua, the first young man convicted under modern slavery laws for a county lines drugs offence. Bringing together ethnographic insights, leading anti-racism campaigners and lived experience, the event interrogates how modern slavery law deepens racial inequality while allowing Britain to deny its imperial past.
Why populists are winning and how to beat them
Wednesday 13 May 2026, 6.30 to 8.00pm. In-person and online public event. Old Theatre, LSE Old Building.
Speakers:
Liam Byrne, Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill & Solihull North
Professor Sara Hobolt, Sutherland Chair in European Institutions and the Head of the Department of Government, LSEChair:
Dr Andy Summers, Associate Professor of Law, LSE Law School and Faculty Associate, LSE IIIIn 2024, two billion people went to vote – and populism won big. Donald Trump returned to the White House. Marine Le Pen surged in France. Reform UK became Britain’s most successful far-right party in modern history. Across the West, authoritarian populists now govern one-quarter of the world’s democracies. But is this peak populism – or the populists’ tipping point?
In his latest book, Liam Byrne exposes the forces propelling the populist surge – and reveals how to stop it. He traces the millions flowing into Britain’s populist media-political complex. He maps the rhetoric populists use to weaponise fear and nostalgia. And he warns: democracies rarely collapse in normal times – they fall after the next crisis, when hope collapses. Why Populists Are Winning sets out a bold plan to rebuild the radical centre of Western politics. It is a field manual for democratic renewal – written for anyone who refuses to let fear win. This event will draw connections between growing inequality and the populists’ clarion call for a ‘revolt against elites’. Our speakers will unveil the uncomfortable answers behind – and transformative strategies to tackle – the defining crises of our time.
Previous public events
Catch up on all of our past events here.