Department of Social Policy Seminars

International Social and Public Policy Seminar Series

The ISPP seminar series features international scholars and LSE Social Policy faculty presenting cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research on global social policy topics. Open to LSE staff, students, alumni, and the wider community, the series fosters collaboration and academic exchange across disciplines such as sociology, criminology, education, demography, anthropology, and economics.

All seminars take place from 1.00pm - 2.30pm on Thursdays, in person (OLD 2.21) and online.

Autumn Term 2025 Schedule

Presenter: Professor Kirsten Sehnbruch (III, LSE)
Chair: Dr Tania Burchardt (Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Abstract: On a theoretical level, the capability approach can be applied on three different ‘levels’: First, as a framework of thought, second, as a critique of other approaches to welfare evaluation, and third as a formula to make interpersonal comparisons of welfare (Robeyns, 2000). For Sen, their order of importance is precisely this ranking.

Arguments about how the capability approach can serve to frame a debated on employment from these perspectives continues to be under-formulated. The literature that conceptualises aspects of employment is often fragmented and directed at specific topics such as collective agency (Bonvin, 2012; Leßmann, 2022) or job quality (e.g. Green, 2025 and Stephens 2023). The job quality literature, in addition, has mostly focused on operationalising interpersonal comparisons of employment conditions, but has not sufficiently engaged with the distributional questions associated with job quality.

This theoretical paper therefore recaps the central tenets of the capability approach as they relate to labour markets. In doing so, it will discuss what the capability approach can contribute to how we think about them in terms of each of the three levels specified by Robeyns (2000). In turn, this discussion then frames whether, how and why the approach is suitable for thinking about the capabilities that employment conditions can generate for individual workers, particularly in terms of their multidimensional nature.

Presenter Bio: Kirsten Sehnbruch is a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Previously, she held positions at the Universidad de Chile and the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on conceptualising and measuring poor-quality employment across different economic contexts. Kirsten's work emphasises the necessity for targeted labour and social policies to support more intensely deprived workers. She also highlights the broader negative impacts of poor-quality employment, such as increased fiscal costs, reduced productivity, and lower social security contributions. She has extensive experience collaborating with governments, international organisations, and NGOs in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Her work is widely published in leading academic journals, including Economic and Policy Analysis, Social Science Research, World Development, Regional Studies, Social Indicators Review, The Cambridge Journal of Economics, and Development and Change. Kirsten holds degrees from the University of Cambridge (BA/MA, MPhil, PhD).

Attend in person- OLD 2.21. Or register to attend online here.

Race Matters Seminar

Presenter: Amina Adebisi Odofin (Ghent University)
Chair: Dr Robtel Neajai Pailey (Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Abstract: This article examines the historical and spatial continuities of extractivism in the Niger Delta, tracing its transformation from a hub of the transatlantic slave trade and colonial palm oil extraction to a centre of crude oil capitalism. Drawing on Black Geographies, Black Ecologies, and McKittrick’s (2006) concept of demonic grounds, it interrogates how racial and gendered violence are inscribed onto both bodies and landscapes, sustaining a logic of dispossession across time. By mapping sites of slavery, palm oil production, women’s resistance, and contemporary oil pollution, the article reveals how colonial spatial logics persist in shaping both the environment and social life. The Niger Delta has been described as one of the most severe cases of oil pollution globally and the greatest ecological catastrophe on the African continent. Yet, despite being ranked among the top ten oil-exporting regions in the world, the region remains marginal in international energy & environmental discourses. This paradox underscores how its centrality to the global oil economy coexists with a systematic overlooking of its violences, where corporate profit and state revenue are foregrounded while ecological devastation, women’s struggles, and community dispossession are obscured.

Presenter Bio: Amina Adebisi Odofin is a PhD researcher at Ghent University’s Conflict & Development Department and an Affiliate Fellow at King’s College London’s African Leadership Centre. Her research, grounded in Black Ecologies, traces how slavery, palm oil, and crude oil have marked women’s bodies and lands in the Niger Delta as sites of exploitation. By situating the contemporary oil catastrophe that has dominated the region for the past seven decades within a longer historical and colonial continuum, her work reveals the enduring entanglements of extractivism, racial violence, and gendered dispossession, while also foregrounding Afro-feminist practices that resist, disrupt, and reimagine these landscapes.

Attend in person- OLD 2.21. Or register to attend online here.

Presenter: Dr Kevin Zapata-Celestino (Department of Social Policy, LSE)
Chair: Professor Almudena Sevilla (Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Abstract: When we think about bullying in elementary and low secondary schools, we often focus on victims given the emotional toll they endure, the academic disruption they face, and the long-term scars that follow them into adulthood. While victim-centred research has been critical in shaping prevention strategies, there’s a perspective that is too often ignored: that of the aggressors themselves. There is a growing body of research that explores how students themselves understand and explain bullying, but very few explicitly address aggressors’ perspectives. Consequently, there has been an oversimplification that masks the complex social and psychological forces that drive such behaviour. Thus, in a recent qualitative study conducted in Mexico, thirteen former students who had once participated in bullying were interviewed to explore the deep roots of bullying. By delving into their life stories and memories from childhood and adolescence, the study uncovered critical insights into why school bullying and violence occur and are reproduced. What emerged from these conversations was not a portrait of monsters, but of children navigating harsh environments, social pressure, and emotional confusion. The findings challenge some of the myths that revolve around bullies and instead reveal how aggression is often learned, normalised, and rewarded.

Presenter Bio: Kevin is a specialised social science researcher, focused on qualitative methods. He holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. He is currently a fellow in the Department of Social Policy at LSE. His interests centre around violence and informal social protection in Mexico and Latin America.

Kevin Zapata-Celestino

Presenter: Gillian Paull (CASE, LSE)
Chair: Professor Almudena Sevilla (Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Abstract: In recent decades, women’s role in formal paid employment has been supported by a variety of policy initiatives around the world. In the UK, women have benefited from greater equality in educational attainment and substantial and rising Government funding to reduce childcare costs. More recently, there has been increasing awareness of later career obstacles due to the menopause and the care needs of elderly relatives. This presentation will review some key evidence on these factors for the UK, covering:

The design and impacts of childcare policy.
The "U" shape in women's labour market inactivity with respect to family income.
The impacts of the menopause on women's work.
The impacts of responsibility for elderly parents on women's work.

The review will be used to consider how the different barriers to employment faced by women may interact over the working life. This research is in the initial stage of development and discussion at the seminar will be helpful to contribute additional perspectives and to consider how beneficial it could be to build a dynamic understanding of women’s employment patterns to complement research focused on specific segments such as around family formation.

Presenter Bio: Gillian has a PhD in Economics and an MPA from Princeton University and has previously worked at the IMF, World Bank, Institute for Fiscal Studies and Frontier Economics. Gillian’s research has focused on analysing and evaluating policy relating to early years, childcare, women’s employment and poverty, delivering academic articles as well as a wide range of policy-related reports for DWP, DfE and non-governmental organisations. She has also served as a Specialist Advisor to the House of Lords Committee on Affordable Childcare.

Attend in person- OLD 2.21. Or register to attend online here.

Presenter: Dr Eyob Gebremariam (University of Bristol)
Chair: Dr Robtel Neajai Pailey (Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Abstract: This paper proposes a decolonial meta-framework to critically examine the role of philanthrocapitalism in Africa’s ecosystem of health research and policy-making. The framework foregrounding coloniality and empire explains how health-related research and policy-making in Africa have continued to reinforce colonial epistemic orientations manifested through structural and institutional settings, as well as policies and practices. The paper then illustrates its arguments by examining how philanthrocapitalism builds upon and consolidates the logics of coloniality and the interests of empire. The four identified areas in which philanthrocapitalism reinforces coloniality and the workings of empire include: the promotion of neo-Malthusian narratives about Africa’s population growth, the normalisation of neoliberal institutions, policies and practices within the health sector, the imposition of vertical approaches in health-focused policies at the expense of horizontal and more systemic strategies, and the reinforcement of power asymmetries by consolidating governmentality and hierarchical structures over African societies without meaningful accountability.

Presenter Bio: Eyob Balcha Gebremariam is a Research Associate at the Perivoli Africa Research Centre (PARC), University of Bristol. His areas of interest include decolonial academic knowledge production, African political economy and the politics of development. He is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA), University of Cape Town (UCT), and a Research Fellow at the University of South Africa (UNISA). In addition to his Amharic and English blogs and newspaper contributions, his publications have appeared in the Journal of Northeast African Studies, IDS Bulletin, CODESRIA Bulletin, Global Social Challenges Journal, Africa Development, and the European Journal of Development Research.

Attend in person- OLD 2.21. Or register to attend online here.

Sustainable Social Policy and Welfare States Research Hub Seminar

Presenter: Professor Thomas Hale (University of Oxford)
Chair: Dr Liam Besier McGrath (Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Abstract: Climate change and its consequences unfold over many generations. Past emissions affect our climate today, just as our actions shape the climate of tomorrow, while the effects of global warming will last thousands of years. Yet the priorities of the present dominate our climate policy and the politics surrounding it. Even the social science that attempts to frame the problem does not theorize time effectively. In this pathbreaking book, Thomas Hale examines the politics of climate change and other “long problems.” He shows why we find it hard to act before a problem’s effects are felt, why our future interests carry little weight in current debates, and why our institutions struggle to balance durability and adaptability. With long-term goals in mind, he outlines strategies for tilting the politics and policies of climate change toward better outcomes.

Presenter Bio: Thomas Hale is Professor in Public Policy (Global Public Policy) and the Director of the Master of Public Policy. Professor Hale’s research explores how we can manage transnational problems effectively and fairly. He seeks to explain how political institutions evolve – or not – to face the challenges raised by globalisation and interdependence, with a particular emphasis on environmental, economic and health issues. He holds a PhD in Politics from Princeton University, a master's degree in Global Politics from the London School of Economics, and an AB in public policy from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs.

His books include Long Problems: Climate Change and the Challenge of Governing Across Time (Princeton 2024), Beyond Gridlock (Polity 2017), Between Interests and Law: The Politics of Transnational Commercial Disputes (Cambridge 2015), Transnational Climate Change Governance (Cambridge 2014), and Gridlock: Why Global Cooperation Is Failing when We Need It Most (Polity 2013). Professor Hale co-leads the Net Zero Tracker and the Climate Policy Hub.

Attend in person- OLD 2.21. Or register to attend online here.

Mannheim Centre for Criminology Seminar

Presenter: Dr Simon Tawfic (Department of Social Policy, LSE)
Chair: Dr Johann Koehler (Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Abstract: This paper offers an ethnographic analysis of the emergence of British public protection policing, examining officials’ everyday pursuits to address the dual crises of austerity and police legitimacy. Since the early 2010s, Westminster governments have pledged to take ‘vulnerability’ seriously, while UK police forces, similarly beset by legitimacy crises, have also prioritised the ‘protection of vulnerable people from harm’, establishing public protection teams to signal this commitment. These crises serve as resources for officials to articulate a will to care that blends post-war welfarist sensibilities with contemporary humanitarian ends. Positioning themselves as a last resort against welfare retrenchment, public protection officials leverage discontent with austerity-stricken agencies, asserting the comparative advantage of their relational and compassionate style of working. They aspire to embody the nostalgic figure of the ‘noble bobby,’ assume personalised responsibility to alleviate suffering, idealise welfarist visions of reciprocal honesty and respectability, and embrace psychodynamic models that attribute criminality to disrupted familial attachments and trauma. By foregrounding these historically entrenched sensibilities, I argue that the vulnerability turn in policing is less a novel phenomenon than a re-enactment of enduring ideals about the role of policing and the welfare state. At its heart is a preoccupation to demonstrate care, promising to rebuild trust in policing while relying on state failure as its condition of possibility.

Presenter Bio: Simon Tawfic is an LSE Fellow in Social Policy. He was previously a research fellow on the Vulnerable State Project at Warwick Law School, having received his PhD in anthropology from LSE. He researches welfare and criminal justice in England from an ethnographic perspective, focusing on frontline officials' claims to care as a central ideal of their work. He has recently co-authored a comparative analysis of the will to care articulated by police and asylum officials in Theoretical Criminology, alongside co-editing and contributing to the forthcoming Embodied State edited collection.

Attend in person- OLD 2.21. Or register to attend online here.

Education Research and Policy Hub Seminar

Presenter: Dr Philip Noden (Department of Social Policy, LSE)
Chair: Dr Sonia Exley (Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Abstract: The seminar will illustrate some of the opportunities and challenges of carrying out research within Ofsted. This will be illustrated through discussion of completed research projects. These include, for example, an investigation of whether there was a relationship between school quality and the probability of imprisonment during early adulthood and a project focusing on pupil absence during inspections. The first of these projects, undertaken in collaboration with ONS, used newly available linked administrative data (linking the National Pupil Database to Ministry of Justice data) to investigate the relationship between school quality and subsequent imprisonment. The pupil absence project, using data from a single local authority, analysed absence data for year groups, within schools, for each half day during a period before and after a school inspection, to examine whether unusual school level variation could be identified. The seminar will discuss the two projects and also reflect on some of the differences between carrying out research within an academic institution compared with an inspectorate.

Presenter Bio: Philip Noden is an educational researcher. He works at Ofsted, the inspectorate responsible for the inspection of schools, early years providers, further education and skills providers and also children’s social care services. He is based in the Quantitative Research team at Ofsted which undertakes projects across any of Ofsted’s inspection remits. Prior to working at Ofsted, he was a researcher at LSE, working on numerous research projects funded by the Nuffield Foundation, Department for Education and other funders. As an academic researcher he had particular interests in social segregation between schools and educational quasi-markets. He is currently a Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the Social Policy Department at LSE.

Philip Noden

Attend in person- OLD 2.21. Or register to attend online here.

Presenter: Dr Joanna Clifton-Sprigg (The University of Bath)
Chair: Professor Almudena Sevilla (Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Abstract: We investigate the relationship between parental working from home (WFH) and school absence in England following the COVID-19 pandemic. Using administrative data on school absence from local authorities between 2011 and 2023, we exploit variation in WFH potential – constructed from occupational data linked to the 2011 Census – in a difference-in-differences event study design. Contrary to recent claims by policymakers, we find that higher WFH potential leads to lower school absence rates. Areas with above-median WFH potential saw a reduction in overall absence by 0.3–0.35 percentage points (around 7%), with effects larger in secondary schools and driven almost entirely by decreases in unauthorised absences.

Presenter Bio: Joanna is a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Bath. In her research, she explores topics related to migration, education and gender inequalities, and she often works at the intersection of these areas. Her published work includes analysis of educational outcomes of children with migrant parents, international student mobility in the context of Brexit, and the role of parental and maternity leave policy design in take-up by parents. She has been supported by funding from ESRC, Research England, and the Nuffield Foundation. She is a keen advocate for equity and equality at Bath, leading on Widening Participation in the Department.

Attend in person- OLD 2.21. Or register to attend online here.

Thursday 2 October 2025

Degrees of value: Cultivating privilege at an elite university

Presenter: Dr Fiona Gogescu (Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Chair: Professor Almudena Sevilla (Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Recording coming soon

From Public Good to Residual Function: Adopting a Comparative Social Policy Approach to Understanding Shifts in Social Housing

Presenter: Professor Deirdre Howard-Wagner (The Australian National University)
Chair: Professor Almudena Sevilla (Department of Social Policy, LSE)

Recording coming soon

Catch up on our 2024/25 seminar series via our YouTube channel here.

3 April 2025

The enduring effect of higher education on attitudes towards immigrants across generations and within the family
Presenter: Dr Victoria Donnaloja (University of Essex)
Watch the presentation here

27 March 2025

Inequalities in Applications and Offers to Graduate Recruitment Programmes
Presenter: Professor Lindsey Macmillan (UCL).
Watch the presentation here

20 March 2025

Family change and welfare provision in complex families: evidence from the UK and policy lessons from abroad
Presenter: Professor Susan Harkness (University of Bristol).
Watch the presentation here

20 February 2025

The Bystander Issue: Why Do We Take The Harassers' Side?
Presenter: Dr Margaux Suteau (LSE).
Watch the presentation here

13 February 2025

A Brief Introduction about the Young Lives Study and a Paper Presentation: "A Sound Methodology: Measuring Experiences of Violent Conflict through Audio Self-Interviews"
Presenter: Dr Marta Favara (University of Oxford)
Watch the presentation here

7 February 2025

Born to Rule: The Making and Remaking of the British Elite
Presenter: Professor Sam Friedman (LSE)
Watch the presentation here

30 January 2025

Working with Hope: Reflections on Researching Child Poverty in Incredibly Hard Times
Presenter: Professor Ruth Patrick (University of York).
Watch the presentation here

23 January 2025

How Should we Conceptualize the Sposal Relationship of 'Mixed Race' People?
Presenter: Professor Miri Song (University of Kent)
No video available

5 December 2024

Status-Enforcing Criminal Laws
Presenter: Professor Jamelia Morgan (Northwestern University)
Watch the presentation here

28 November 2024

Neighbourhood Migration and the Air Pollution Disadvantage of Immigrant Minorities
Presenter: Dr Tobias Rüttenauer (University College London)
No video available

21 November 2024

The role of default options and financial and pension literacy for retirement saving in a fully funded system
Presenter: Dr Piera Bello (University of Bergamo)
No video available

14 November 2024

Aid’s Impact on Social Protection in the Global South
Presenter: Dr Miguel Niño-Zarazúa (SOAS, University of London)
Watch the presentation here

24 October 2024

Understanding Global Blackness: Indigeneity, Reparations and the Post-colonial State SPECIAL Race Matters Initiative (RMI) Seminar
Presenter: Dr Althea-Maria Rivas (SOAS, University of London)
No video available

17 October 2024

The Concentration of Children on Income Distribution and Its Consequences for Poverty and Inequality
Presenter: Professor Berkay Ozcan (LSE)
Watch the presentation here

10 October 2024

Analysis of Cybercrime Issues in Anglophone West Africa
Presenter: Dr Suleman Lazarus (LSE)
Watch the presentation here

Catch up on our 2023/24 seminar series via our YouTube channel here.

21 March 2024

Birth spacing and the health of mothers and fathers: an analysis of physical and mental health using individual- and sibling-fixed effects
Presenter: Dr Kieron Barclay

Watch the presentation here

14 March 2024

Intergenerational educational mobility during the twentieth century in 77 low- and middle-income and 15 high-income countries
Presenter: Dr Mobarak Hossain

Watch the presentation here

15 February 2024

Conflict-related migration: new insights from Ukraine
Presenter: Professor Lucinda Platt

Watch the presentation here

8 February 2024

Research similarity and Women in Academia
Presenter: Dr Alessandra Casarico

Watch the presentation here

1 February 2024

Colonization and Social Policy: A Comparative Analysis of Social Policy Development in South Asia; Pre to Post Colonial Era
Presenter: Dr Zahid Mumtaz

Watch the presentation here

25 January 2024

Intergenerational Poverty Persistence in Europe - is there a Great Gatsby Curve for Poverty?
Presenter: Professor Brian Nolan

Watch the presentation here

18 January 2024

Kingdon at 40: Multiple Streams, Multiple Flaws
Presenter: Dr Fabio Battaglia

No video available

7 December 2023

The Altruistic Authoritarian Citizen
Presenters:Professor Reza Hasmath (University of Alberta) and Dr Timothy Hildebrandt (LSE)

Watch the presentation here

23 November 2023

Formal Trade, Informal State: Public Authority and the Governance of Informal Cross-Border Trade in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
Presenter: Dr Jonathan Bashi Rudahindwa (SOAS, University of London)

Watch the presentation here

16 November 2023

Qualitative Literacy: A Guide to Evaluating Ethnographic and Interview Research
Presenters: Professor Mario Small (Columbia University) and Dr Jessica Calarco (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Watch the presentation here

9 November 2023

The Political Economy of Women's Work in Palestine under Settler Colonialism
Presenter: Dr Samia M Al-Botmeh (Birzeit University)

Watch the presentation here

26 October 2023

Energy Policy Support Increases through Policy Goal Communication
Presenter: Dr Gracia Bruckmann (University of Bern)

No video available

12 October 2023

Marketing Development Studies in the Neoliberal University and How to Be Cosmopolitan
SPECIAL Race Matters Initiative (RMI) Seminar
Presenter: Dr Kamna Patel (University College London)

Watch the presentation here

5 October 2023

Imperial Development: The Humanitarian-Development Nexus in Jordan and Lebanon
Presenter: Dr Lama Tawakkol (University of Manchester)

Watch the presentation here

Catch up on our 2022/23 seminar series via our YouTube channel here.

30 March 2023

Social and academic embeddedness as buffers against school closure effects on schooling outcomes

Speaker: Professor Herman van de Werfhorst, European University Institute

Department of Social Policy Seminars

International Social and Public Policy Seminar Series

Autumn Term 2025 Schedule

Thursday 9 October 2025

The Capability Approach as a Framework for Rethinking Employment and Labour Markets

Thursday 16 October 2025

From Slavery to Crude Oil Pipelines: Tracing Gendered Extractive Geographies in the Niger Delta

Thursday 30 October 2025

Understanding School Bullying Through the Eyes of the Aggressors: Lessons from Mexico

Women's Employment: A Lifetime Perspective and Policy Impact

Thursday 13 November 2025

Philanthrocapitalism & Africa’s ecosystem of health research and policy-making: A decolonial critique

Thursday 20 November 2025

Long Problems: Climate Change and the Challenge of Governing Across Time

Thursday 27 November 2025

Policing’s will to care and the bleeding heart of austerity welfare in England

Thursday 4 December 2025

Research Reflections from Ofsted

Thursday 11 December 2025

Working from Home and School Absence (joint work with Jonathan James)

Seminar Archive 2025 - 2026

Seminar Archive 2024 - 2025

Seminar Archive 2023 - 2024

Seminar Archive 2022 - 2023

Seminar Archive 2021 - 2022

Seminar Archive 2020 - 2021

Seminar Archive 2017 - 2019