LSE Research Showcase

The importance of public engagement with science

Professor Emily Jackson

Scientists, policymakers and regulators agree that public engagement is necessary and valuable for building understanding of new scientific developments, promoting public trust in science, and deciding how best to regulate emerging technologies. In this talk, Professor Emily Jackson discusses her work with the design agency, The Liminal Space, on two public engagement projects – one on egg freezing in 2017, and more recently on the regulation of embryo models. How can we draw attention to possible futures that might lie ahead in innovative and creative ways and prompt public conversations about new technologies and their wider social and ethical implications?

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The Open Society as an enemy

Professor J. McKenzie Alexander

In The Open Society and its Enemies, Karl Popper defended the Open Society – a conception of liberal democracy in which individuals have freedom of choice – against external ideological threats presented by totalitarian and authoritarian leaders. However, today's threats to the Open Society come primarily from within, through populist movements on both left and right. Drawing on his recent LSE Press book, Professor J. McKenzie Alexander identifies some of the ways in which the Open Society has come to be seen as an enemy – as a vice, a danger or a threat – and offers a new defence of its core principles.

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Shark fin in late imperial China: a cultural history

Dr Ronald C. Po

Why did shark fins, a largely tasteless ingredient with no notable health benefits, come to symbolise wealth and prestige in late imperial China? Dr Ronald C. Po examines the forces that embedded shark fin consumption in Chinese culinary traditions and elevated it to a symbol of luxury, exploring the connections between Chinese consumers, maritime trade networks, and the broader dynamics of early globalisation. Turning to the present, the talk considers whether practices rooted in historical prestige should continue to shape contemporary culture, and critically assesses the effectiveness of recent shark finning bans.

The fluctuating fortunes of the market in international relations

Professor Robert Falkner

The market is one of the primary institutions of the society of states, but it is an exceptionally contradictory and frequently unstable one. Having emerged in the mid-19th century and gone through alternating periods of consolidation and contestation since the early 20th century, the market currently faces renewed challenge and opposition as economic nationalism is on the rise again. Drawing on his new book The Market in Global International Society (co-authored with Professor Barry Buzan), Professor Robert Falkner considers the nature of the market as an international institution and explores the reasons behind its instability in an age of geopolitical strife and great power conflict.

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How apprenticeship helped transform premodern England

Professor Patrick Wallis

For more than a century, apprenticeship in England has been in crisis. Brief moments of optimistic expansion have been punctured by political and economic shocks. Yet it was not always so. Before 1800, apprenticeship was a thriving and vital part of the economy. Drawing on his new book, The Market for Skill, Professor Patrick Wallis describes how apprenticeship helped transform England from a backwards, rural economy and laid the foundations for the first Industrial Revolution.

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Training military and police peacekeepers on gender

Dr Aiko Holvikivi

The practice of "gender training" has gained widespread popularity among numerous professions in the last few decades, even becoming a requirement for soldiers and police officers deploying overseas as peacekeepers. But what happens when the concept of gender, put forth through feminist activism and scholarship, is taken up by powerful institutions shaped by traditional notions of masculinity? In this talk, Dr Aiko Holvikivi shares findings from her recent book, Fixing Gender, to discuss the dynamics of this training. She argues that gender training can, paradoxically, both challenge and reinforce existing hierarchies in global politics.

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How anti-gay laws reach beyond criminal justice

Dr S.M. Rodriguez

When we think of law enforcement, we often focus on arrests and formal legal processes. But laws like Uganda’s sodomy legislation extend their reach far beyond the courtroom, working through moral panics, societal surveillance, and proxy laws to marginalise LGBTQ+ individuals. This talk explores how politically motivated laws can hide the extent of the harms that they enact. Dr S.M. Rodriguez challenges us to rethink enforcement by revealing how legal and societal forces intertwine—and considers that decriminalisation is required for antiviolent futures.

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Homeland insecurity: the rise and rise of global anti-terrorism law

Professor Conor Gearty

How did the ‘‘war on terror’’ bed down so easily?  Why have seemingly endless anti-terrorism laws been tolerated by our supposedly liberal and democratic society? Professor Conor Gearty explores the answers from his latest book, Homeland Insecurity. He locates anti-terrorism laws in their historical, international and political contexts – starting with colonialism, taking off with the Cold War, and coming of age with Israel’s successful presentation of Palestine as a crisis of global terror.

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Reaching vulnerable women in Afghanistan

Dr Michael Callen

Democratic backsliding, the climate crisis, and rising state fragility are creating new obstacles to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. As an example, humanitarian needs are at their highest level since 1945, yet aid budgets are shrinking as developed nations face mounting challenges. Dr Michael Callen presents his research which tests innovative strategies for supporting vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations in repressive and fragile states. He will discuss two projects – one delivering digital humanitarian payments to highly vulnerable women in Afghanistan, and the other using a proven over-the-phone approach to provide foundational numeracy and literacy education to girls barred from attending school by the Taliban.

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Analog labor in a digital world: electronics repair and the circular economy

Dr Julia Corwin

What happens to our electronics when we stop using them? While most of us depend on these technologies daily, we rarely see the labour that goes into making, selling, and repairing them. Drawing from her forthcoming book, Analog Labour in a Digital World, Dr Julia Corwin examines the often invisible but vital labour of electronics repair, as seen through repairers and scrap dealers in Delhi, India. From the local electronics repair shop to major electronics manufacturers and e-waste recyclers, she shows the interdependence of people, materials and communities, and reveals a globally connected world of commodity production, waste and revaluation.

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Can the media change our beliefs about wealth inequality?

Dr Sarah Kerr and Dr Michael Vaughan

Wealth inequality is high and rising, but public concern is not. Does the way that wealth, the wealthy and wealth inequality are talked about in the media contribute to this lack of public concern? Can media framing affect political pressure for change? In this talk, Dr Sarah Kerr and Dr Michael Vaughan discuss the role that the media can play in shaping understandings of and opinions about the economy and wealth inequality, and how it does this in the face of an enduring public belief in meritocracy.

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The personal side of policy: how experiences of fraud impact support for financial regulation

Dr Alexandra Scherf

Accounting scholars have long been interested in understanding the forces that shape financial regulation. Dr Alexandra Scherf examines how legislators’ personal exposure to financial fraud affects their support for legislation that tightens financial regulation. She suggests that legislators are more likely to vote in favour of financial regulation after being exposed to fraud, highlighting a personal – rather than professional – factor than can affect oversight of the US financial sector.

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Hypnosis: the inside story

Dr Nick Long

What is hypnosis? Can everyone be hypnotised? Does being able to hypnotise other people change how you see the world? LSE anthropologist Dr Nick Long spent over 16 months living and working with hypnotists in Indonesia to find out. Organised in conjunction with the Faces of Hypnosis exhibition on display in LSE’s Atrium Gallery in November and December 2024, this talk explores the three most important things Nick discovered about hypnosis – and why they matter to us all.

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The role of career coaches in an insecure work landscape

Dr Aliya Rao

Job insecurity and unemployment are part of today’s work landscape, but there are many ways unemployment is culturally understood – whether as a business decision, a personal decision, an individual attitude problem, or as a skills problem. In this talk, Dr Aliya Rao looks at how career coaches shape ideas of unemployment. Career coaches have often been understood as focusing on the individual and overlooking the structural causes of job insecurity. Dr Rao argues that career coaches in fact act as important ‘‘buffers’’ in an uncertain job landscape, ‘‘seeing’’ workers who often feel invisible and poorly treated and equipping them with the confidence to re-enter the workplace.

How can social research and lighting design work together to make better public spaces?

Dr Don Slater

Light – and its absence – is a ubiquitous part of social experience. While we might expect lighting – how we configure, design and regulate it – to be a developed area of research and public debate, it has been overlooked until recently. Dr Don Slater reflects on the interventions of the Configuring Light research group, focusing on lighting and safety projects in India and London’s Olympic Park and a lighting policy project in Bangkok, Thailand. He draws on his experiences of these projects to show how social research and lighting design can come together to create better public spaces.

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Building an interdisciplinary approach to colonial history

Dr Maël Lavenaire

The social sciences are talking more and more about the importance of interdisciplinary research. Dr Maël Lavenaire will show the value of bringing together sociology and social history to better understand colonial history, drawing on his study of social transformation in the French West Indies after World War II and his new research project on continuing social-racial inequalities in Jamaica, Guadeloupe and Martinique since the abolitions of slavery. Taking us into the colonial histories of the British and French empires, he demonstrates how an interdisciplinary approach can give insight into social change in the post-slavery societies of plantation America.

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Moving and staying: Ukrainian experiences of migration during the conflict

Professor Lucinda Platt

Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it is estimated that nearly 6.5 million Ukrainians have migrated internationally and millions more have been internally displaced. Professor Lucinda Platt explores the findings from a specially designed survey of Ukrainians undertaken in 2022 and 2023. She sheds light on how those who move differ from those who stay, on patterns of movement and return, and how the responses to the conflict of both movers and stayers have evolved over this period.

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How has the far right gained power across Europe – and did European integration have anything to do with it?

Dr Marta Lorimer

While far-right parties were largely relegated to the political margins after World War II, today they have become a regular feature of European party systems. How did the far right go from an illegitimate fringe to contenders for public office – and did Europe have anything to do with it? Dr Marta Lorimer considers the role of European integration in the normalisation of the far right. Drawing on her new book, Europe as Ideological Resource, she explores how European integration has functioned as an ideological resource for far-right parties looking for legitimation, allowing them to repackage their political message in a more acceptable form while maintaining the allegiance of their existing supporters.

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Why are things this way? Visualising life in post-austerity Britain

Dr Eileen Alexander

Dr Eileen Alexander discusses Why are things this way?, an exhibition on display in LSE’s Atrium Gallery between 4 March and 12 April 2024 that has been created in collaboration with six residents of Hackney, East London, and artist Andy Sewell. Through a selection of photographs and fragments of text, the artwork engages with experiences of what it is like to live in post-austerity Britain. Eileen explores how the creation of artwork in social policy research offers participants alternative forms of expression, makes ideas accessible to a wider audience, and deepens our understanding of lived experience.

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How conversational are conversational technologies?

Professor Elizabeth Stokoe

OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Bing and Google’s Bard have made chatbot interfaces available to mass markets. But how ‘‘conversational’’ are these technologies and what does ‘‘conversational’ actually mean? Professor Elizabeth Stokoe introduces conversation analysis as a way of understanding human social interaction and positions conversation design at the forefront of industry developments. Are conversational technologies ‘‘participants’’ in conversation, and will they ever be capable of emulating real conversation?

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How can open and inclusive decision-making help achieve universal health coverage?

Professor Alex Voorhoeve

Achieving universal health coverage is one of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. A new World Bank report, Open and Inclusive, examines how fair decision processes in health financing can help make progress towards this goal. It argues that they can contribute to fairer outcomes, strengthen the legitimacy of decision processes, build trust in authorities, and promote sustainable reforms on the path to health coverage for all. In this talk Professor Alex Voorhoeve, co-author of the report, considers how we can achieve these values and when ensuring procedural fairness can be costly – or even fail.

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Cracking the code: using affirmative action to narrow the gender gap in STEM

Dr Valentina Contreras

Despite being half the world's population, women make up only 35 per cent of STEM graduates globally. Dr Valentina Contreras explores how gender affirmative action policies can address this imbalance. Focusing on pioneering policies in Chilean engineering schools, this talk sheds light on the effectiveness of affirmative action for bridging the gender gap in STEM and fostering a more equal society.

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Fixing football: how regulation could improve sports governance

Dr Jan Zglinski

Football is in dire need of reform. The past decade of controversies surrounding the beautiful game, and those who run it, makes clear the need for change. In this talk, Dr Jan Zglinski explores how regulation could improve this state of affairs, discussing legislative initiatives such as the UK Fan-Led Review of Football Governance and the recent Super League litigation before the European Court of Justice.

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How should we approach decision-making for people with dementia?

Professor Anna Mahtani

Anyone who has cared for a person with dementia will know there are many decisions to be made – from everyday decisions about what activities to pursue or what clothes to wear, to major ones about accommodation, care and medical treatment. Who should be making these decisions? What if decisions conflict with a person’s long-held values? Given many of us may develop dementia in the future, should we bind our future selves with living statements and wills? In this talk, Dr Anna Mahtani considers the philosophical implications of these questions surrounding dementia and decision-making.

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In the Long Run: the future as a political idea

Professor Jonathan White

Expectations of the future are a key stake of political struggle. Beliefs about what lies ahead carry implications for who should hold power, how it should be exercised, and for what ends. In this talk, Professor Jonathan White introduces some of the themes of his new book, In the Long Run. He highlights how modern democracy has relied on expectations of a future that is plentiful and shared, and how problems arise for democracy in an age of short-lived institutions and increased time pressure.

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Why we don’t Level Up: addressing spatial inequality in the OECD

Professor Neil Lee

Spatial inequality is a major concern across the rich world, despite government efforts to address it. What are the economic and political barriers to addressing this form of inequality? In this talk, Professor Neil Lee draws on research across Western Europe and North America to investigate the economic and political roots of spatial inequality. He considers the ultimate drivers of spatial inequality and why UK government attempts to ''Level Up'' are unlikely to succeed.

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