Student Opportunities
There are so many ways you can get involved and be part of the Department and wider LSE community!
Department Opportunities
Student Academic Representatives play a vital role in shaping the student experience within the Department and across LSE. They act as a bridge between the student body and staff, ensuring that your views, ideas, and concerns are heard and acted upon.
Reps help to improve both the academic and wider student experience by:
- Representing their peers at key departmental meetings, such as Programme Forums and Teaching Committee meetings.
- Raising feedback on the quality of teaching, assessment, learning resources, and student support, as well as sharing what’s working well.
- Collaborating with staff to discuss and agree on potential improvements and helping the Department respond more effectively to student needs.
- Contributing to School-wide discussions about education, equity, and student wellbeing through their connection to the LSE Students’ Union.
Being a Rep is a fantastic opportunity to:
- Develop skills in communication, negotiation, and leadership.
- Gain insight into how academic programmes are managed and improved.
- Make a meaningful contribution to your academic community.
Each cohort elects its own Reps at the start of the academic year. The Department and the LSE Students’ Union provide comprehensive training and ongoing support to help you succeed in the role.
You can find out more about what the role involves here and on the LSESU website here.
Are you passionate about sustainability and looking to make a positive impact during your time at LSE? Join the Social Policy Green Team and help lead the way in promoting environmental responsibility within the Department and beyond.
The Green Team is a student-led group that works closely with staff and faculty to support Green Impact, LSE’s School-wide sustainability accreditation scheme. Green Impact provides a structured framework for departments to make meaningful environmental improvements through collaborative projects, campaigns, and initiatives.
As a member of the Social Policy Green Team, you will have the opportunity to:
- Lead or contribute to a sustainability project within the Department; past examples from other departments include reducing single-use plastics, running educational campaigns, and implementing energy-saving initiatives.
- Organise sustainability-themed events or initiatives, such as workshops, awareness days, or green challenges that encourage positive environmental behaviours among students and staff.
- Contribute to the Department’s Green Impact submission, working with staff to achieve recognition for the Department’s sustainability efforts.
- Gain valuable experience in teamwork, project planning, communication, and leadership, all while making a meaningful contribution to the LSE community.
Students from all years and programmes are welcome, and no prior experience is required, just enthusiasm and a willingness to get involved. It’s a great way to meet like-minded peers and contribute to a cause with global importance.
If you have an idea for an event which you would like Departmental support to organise or sponsor, please contact the Department’s Events and Communications Manager to discuss further. Please email: m.s.schlegel@lse.ac.uk
You will be sent an events proposal form to complete. In preparation, please ensure that the timeframe for the proposed event falls in term times only, and that you contact the Department’s Events and Communications Manager a minimum of 14 working days in advance of an internal LSE student event, and 8 weeks in advance of a public-facing event (open to LSE students and staff and external audience) or an event involving an external speaker.
School-Wide Opportunities
Change Makers is an exciting new collaborative project between LSE and LSE Students' Union that gives students the chance to undertake paid research into how we can enhance students' education and experiences across our School.
Posters in Parliament is an excellent annual opportunity to showcase the research of LSE undergraduates and to celebrate British undergraduate research in general.
Each participating UK university nominates two participants to exhibit their undergraduate research in the exhibition. Posters must exhibit work that has been conducted during an undergraduate programme.
LSE Congress is a simulation activity where students are invited to explore how LSE’s research can contribute to the progress towards the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Parliamentary Internships scheme is open to current MSc and PhD students from all LSE departments and disciplines and provides part-time voluntary internships with Members of Parliament (MPs) from across the House of Commons, peers in the House of Lords and with parts of the Palace administration.
Houghton St Press is a platform for high quality, open access content produced by LSE students. It showcases the work created by our students through their critical investigation of complex social questions and provides a global forum for communities to engage with their ideas.
Every year, LSE recruits a new cohort of bloggers to write for the Students@LSE blog. Submissions are welcome from all sorts of students – from first-year undergraduates to final-year PhD students; from those who’ve lived in London all their lives to new arrivals in the city. Bloggers write about different aspects of being a student at LSE and living in London.
LSE GROUPS places you with students from different degree programmes, and you and your group will decide a question to investigate. LSE GROUPS is a unique chance to design and carry out a whole small-scale research project; you will start with a blank slate and create an academic paper and conference presentation in just two weeks.
LSE Fringe is an initiative designed to support students and staff who would like to explore using creative research methods as part of their research projects, as a way of communicating about research to diverse audiences, and as a teaching activity to support students' learning about research methods.