Latest stories from the Department of Sociology
Bloomberg Philanthropies PhD Studentship in Cities
The Department of Sociology at LSE is delighted to be part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies PhD Studentship in Cities.
This exciting opportunity supports fully funded doctoral research on the contemporary challenges and possibilities of twenty-first-century cities, with a focus on city government innovation, urban governance and leadership.
Students applying for the MPhil/PhD in Sociology (with a focus on cities) are eligible to apply for this studentship.
LSE Collaborative Studentship with Trades Union Congress
We are pleased to offer a new Collaborative Studentship with Trades Union Congress, commencing in September 2026. The project, titled "Understanding the Health Effects of Trade Unions", will study the intersectional impact of unions in the UK from the 1980s to today to produce timely evidence on whether trade unions impact intersectional inequalities in well-being. The project would involve both quantitative and qualitative analysis, examining data sets like the Labour Force Survey and conducting interviews. Unions in Britain are more salient today than they have been at any time since the 1980s, an important reminder of the role unions could possibly play in addressing inequalities in well-being now and in the future.
The studentship will commence in September 2026, with a duration of 3.5 years.
Candidates must have already completed an MSc or MPhil in a related subject (e.g. Sociology, Social Policy, Public Health) and have experience of quantitative methods (such as multivariate regression) gained through study or working experience. Ideally, candidates will have experience using longitudinal data.
Dr Sacha Hilhorst awarded Inaugural Craig J. Calhoun Prize
The Department of Sociology is delighted to announce that the Craig J. Calhoun Prize for an Outstanding Thesis in Sociology, which recognises exceptional doctoral research in the field of Sociology, has been awarded to Dr Sacha Hilhorst for her thesis “Afterlives of Legitimacy: A Political Ethnography of Two Post-Industrial Towns in England”. Dr Hilhorst’s thesis investigated the shifting politics of ex-mining and manufacturing towns in the Midlands. The project found that there was a crisis of legitimacy in England’s former industrial heartlands, as many citizens have come to understand politics as fundamentally corrupt.
Commenting on the award, Professor Calhoun said, "Sacha Hilhorst is a terrific sociologist and new LSE PhD. I’ve had the chance to meet her through her teacher, Michael McQuarrie, and I know and admire her work. I am honoured to be associated with it!”
The Department of Sociology is grateful to Professor Calhoun, former President and Director of LSE, for the generous endowment which supports rigorous and groundbreaking research in the field of Sociology.
British Journal of Sociology Conference 2026 - Call for Papers
Following the success of the inaugural British Journal of Sociology Conference in 2024, we’re excited to announce its return in 2026. The British Journal of Sociology (BJS) editors are now accepting abstract submissions for the major international conference, to be held at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) on 23 and 24 April 2026, in the year of LSE’s 130th anniversary.
Find out more about the conference here and submit your abstract by Monday 20 October 2025.
LSE Sociology ranked number one in the UK for Sociology
We're delighted to have been ranked number one in the UK for Sociology by The Guardian University Guide 2026. LSE was also ranked as the top university in London for the sixth consecutive year, placing fourth across the UK overall.
The rankings use eight different metrics, including what students say about their teaching, feedback in the National Student Survey and career prospects following graduation.
Professor Conor Gearty
We are greatly saddened at the passing away of Conor Gearty. Conor was the Director of the Centre for Human Rights from its inception in 2002, a centre that was established by colleagues in the Sociology, Law and other departments at LSE. He headed the Centre until 2009. Conor was a wonderful, generous and warm colleague. He was a very popular teacher and appealed to inspired students from across disciplines. Many students in our Sociology department were introduced to law and adopted it as a profession through his brilliant inspiration, his deep commitment to human rights, and his principled defence of them. Conor was a gifted, compelling and witty speaker and hosted many high profile and influential events at the centre, their success owing greatly to Conor’s popularity and charisma. At these events, he conveyed passionately and with persuasion the importance of the rights and dignity that are so much under threat today. Conor will be greatly missed by human rights colleagues, the department and by lawyers and activists across the human rights community.
The LSE Law School has an expanded tribute highlighting Connor’s many achievements.
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025/26 - Applications Now Open
The Department of Sociology is excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for the internal selection process for this year’s British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships scheme.
This prestigious Fellowship offers outstanding early career researchers the chance to enhance their research and teaching experience within an academic setting. Fellows will be expected to develop original lines of enquiry in their field and gain teaching experience (up to five hours per week, as per scheme guidance). Full details, including eligibility criteria, can be found on the British Academy website.
If you wish to apply, please submit the following documents to Sociology.Research@lse.ac.uk by 5.00pm on Wednesday, 27 August 2025:
A draft research proposal, including a proposed programme and plan of action (maximum 2 pages)
Your CV (maximum 2 pages)
An email confirmation of support from your proposed mentor within the Department of Sociology
Please refer to the scheme’s guide notes when preparing your submission.
The Department will assess all received applications. Those shortlisted will proceed to preparing and finalising their full Outline Stage applications in line with the BA PDF scheme’s guidelines, with additional guidance and advice from the Research Development Manager at LSE. For any questions regarding the departmental shortlisting process while preparing your application, please contact Sociology.Research@lse.ac.uk
LSE and the University of Roehampton announce new PhD scholarship and training programme focusing on the creative economy
We are excited to announce that a new PhD programme addressing vital issues of inclusivity within the creative economy has been created by the Department of Sociology at LSE and the University of Roehampton.
The new programme, named the Consortium for Researching Inclusive Cultures in the Arts (CRICA), was created by the two universities, following their receipt of a highly competitive Doctoral Focal Award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
Department of Sociology winners at LSE Impact Awards
We are delighted to see four members of the Department of Sociology recognised at the LSE Impact Awards. Winners received £7,500 to help continue their future engagement projects.
Anthony Miro Born recieved the Outstanding PhD Researcher Impact award for his project "From PhD Research to Comic: The Price of Social Mobility".
Dr Sacha Hilhorst was runner up in the Rising Star award for her project "A tale of two towns".
Professor Sam Friedman and Professor Mike Savage recieved the Outstanding Team Impact award for their project "Abolishing the Non-Dom Tax Regime".
LSE ranked first in London for Sociology
We're delighted to have been ranked third overall and top in London for Sociology in the Complete University Guide 2026. LSE was also ranked as the top London universityfor the fourteenth consecutive year.
Universities are evaluated on ten key measures: entry standards, student satisfaction, research quality, research intensity, academic services spend, spending on student facilities, continuation, student-staff ratio, graduate prospects – outcomes, and graduate prospects.
Professor Suzi Hall awarded LSESU Award for Outstanding Teacher
Professor Suzi Hall has received the LSE Students' Union 2025 Outstanding Teacher Award. The award celebrates exceptional, forward-thinking teaching that transforms students see their field of study. It recognises teachers who go beyond traditional methods of teaching delivery to ensure students understand the subject matter and develop useful skills, and integrate opportunities for students to engage with and/or carry out research as part of the curriculum.
LSE Class Teacher Awards
We are delighted to announce the recipients of this year’s LSE Class Teacher Awards. These individuals have made exceptional contributions to education and the student experience, always going above and beyond. Their dedication and impact have been recognised by their peers and students alike.
Winner: Hobeth Isnardo Martínez Carrillo
Highly Commended: Zuzana Dancikova, Vashan Brown, Rodrigo Alberto Círigo-Jiménez, Nitzan Amitay and Nicolas Arenas Osorio
Born to Rule awarded the ASA Mary Douglas prize for best book
Professor Sam Friedman and Professor Aaron Reeves have been awarded the American Sociological Association's Sociology of Culture Mary Douglas Prize for their book Born to Rule: The Making and Remaking of the British Elite. The book provides a uniquely data-rich analysis of the British elite from the Victorian era to today: who gets in, how they get there, what they like and look like, where they go to school, and what politics they perpetuate.
Dr Tim White awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship
Dr Tim White has been awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship. His project will examine the growing role of digital technologies in housing and land, and the emerging forms of extraction, inequality and injustice this is driving. In addition to following a number of key 'PropTech' ventures and their consequences, Tim will research the data centre land grab that underpins the rise of AI. He will also continue ongoing research on the political economy of land and the role of property in broader questions of inequality and wealth distribution. The fellowship will run through to May 2028 and he will be based at Queen Mary, University of London.
Professor Judy Wajcman awarded a Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University.
Professor Emeritus Judy Wajcman has been awarded a Residential Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in the School of Social Science at Princeton University. During 2025 to 2026 she will be participating in the collaborative theme: "Digital (In)Equality". Professor Wajcman has contributed to several fields over the course of her distinguished career, including work and employment, science and technology studies, feminist theory, and the sociology of time. A core concern throughout has been the impact of digital technologies on economic and social life. While at the IAS, she will be working on a book about the gender gap in the process of technological innovation.
Professor Mike Savage elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Professor Mike Savage has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Professor Savage joins only eight other European sociologists who are Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. These include Gosta Esping-Anderson, Jurgen Habermas, and Anthony Giddens (the only other British sociologist so honoured).
Professor Fran Tonkiss appointed Martin White Professor of Sociology
We are delighted to announce that Professor Fran Tonkiss has been appointed Martin White Professor of Sociology. Professor Tonkiss' accomplished portfolio of work extends from economic to urban sociology and distinctively focuses on the overlaps of social, spatial and economic divisions. Her leading publications include"Cities by Design: The Social Life of Urban Form"(Polity, 2013) and "Space, the City and Social Theory"(Polity, 2005). Fran’s lineage of work examines the socio-economic production of inequality, for example, her book on "Contemporary Economic Sociology: Globalisation, Production, Inequality"(Routledge, 2006). She is the co-author of "Market Society: Markets and Modern Social Theory"(Polity, 2001, with Don Slater), and co-editor of "Trust and Civil Society"(Macmillan, 2000, with Andrew Passey).
Dr Olivia Umurerwa Rutazibwa awarded the Korea Foundation Field Research Fellowship
Dr Olivia Umurerwa Rutazibwa has been awarded the Korea Foundation Field Research Fellowship for her research project "Sites of Postcolonialisms. Reading-through Coloniality in Korea". The KF Field Research Programme is designed to support scholars and doctoral students in Korean Studies in humanities or social sciences for their field research in Korea. This achievement reflects Dr Rutazibwa’s dedication to researching global (post)colonialisms through a comparative perspective. Olivia will be hosted by Yonsei University Seoul as a Visiting Professor from July to December 2025. The six-month project asks what global Postcolonial Theory and Political Science can learn from Korea’s unique postcolonial experiences. Her study will use a mixed-method approach of thematic content analysis, on-site participative observation and auto-ethnography from engaging students with postcolonialism, interviews with knowledge-makers and intensive Korean language training.
Dr Andrea Espinoza Carvajal Secures Prestigious Wellcome Early-Career Award
Dr Andrea Espinoza Carvajal has been awarded a highly competitive research grant from the Wellcome Trust for her groundbreaking project, "Rewriting Latin America’s Healthcare History: Abortion Criminalisation and the Making of Contemporary Health Systems. Lessons from Ecuador". This significant achievement highlights her dedication to advancing our understanding of healthcare systems and the history of abortion in Latin America. This four-year project will use a three-pronged approach: archival research, ethnographic research and the co-production of knowledge to understand the historical implications of the abortion ban in the development of contemporary healthcare.
LSE Excellence in Education Awards
Congratulations to Dr Ayça Çubukçu, Dr Janet Foster, Dr Claire Moon, Claire Tomlinson and Monika Walker who all received an LSE Excellence in Education Awards earlier this month. Excellence in Education Awards recognise staff who have demonstrated outstanding teaching contribution and educational leadership
We are now accepting applications for ESRC Postdoctoral Fellows
The ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) at LSE has been awarded funding from the ESRC to appoint four Postdoctoral Fellows for the 2025-26 academic year. Further information and application guidance can be found here. The LSE Jobs e-recruitment system will open for applications to be submitted in January and will close at 4pm on Tuesday 25 March 2025.
Dr Tim White awarded Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Dr Tim White, former LSE Sociology PhD student, has been awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. He will be based in the Department of Sociology at the John F. Kennedy Institute, Free University of Berlin, where he will continue his research on the financialisation of housing.
Department of Sociology ranked third in the UK
We have been ranked third for Sociology in the 2025 Guardian University Guide and fifth in the 2025 Complete University Guide! Additionally, The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide has ranked LSE as the top university in the UK and named it as University of the Year 2025.
Dr David Kampmann awarded an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at City, University of London
Dr David Kampmann, former LSE Sociology PhD student, has been awarded an ESRC Posdoctoral Fellowshop at City, University London. During the ESRC project entitled "The Internationalisation of American Venture Capital and its Implications for Sustainable Development", David will turn his PhD and subsequent research on venture capital (VC) and its techno-utopian promises of artificial intelligence (AI) for sustainable development into a research monograph. The monograph critically examines the internationalisation of VC from the US in the 1980s to argue that the emerging global hierarchies of start-up investing between peripheral and core capitalist economies are reinforcing long-standing social inequalities and economic dependencies through VC driven financing of AI technologies.
Dr Miro Born awarded an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at LSE
Dr Miro Born, former LSE Sociology PhD student, has been awarded an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at LSE. Miro will be based in the Department of Methodology and will use the fellowship to complete his book manuscript on the relationship between urban marginality and the ideal of social mobility.
Dr Sacha Hilhorst awarded an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at LSE
Former LSE Sociology PhD student Sacha Hilhorst has been awarded an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, to be held at LSE’s Department of Sociology until December 2025, to publish papers from her doctoral project and prepare a book proposal. She will also continue to work with the think tank Common Wealth to draw out policy implications of her PhD project, a political ethnography of two post-industrial towns in the Midlands.
Dr Jana Melkumova-Reynolds launches Embodied Theory Lab
Earlier this year Dr Jana Melkumova-Reynolds launched Embodied Theory Labwith support from LSE Sociology Seed Fund Award. This project is a platform that brings together disabled and non-disabled artists, academics and activists to think through theoretical concepts and social, political and cultural idea(l)s in ways that make space for embodied, uncodified, tacit and practice-based knowledges. It aims to conjure socialities, relationalities and shared temporalities premised on interdependence, response-ability and radical care. This is achieved through a series of movement- and theory-based workshops facilitated by, and involving, disabled and non-disabled movement practitioners, activists and theorists.
Students inciting social change
Sociology master’s student, professional hockey player and Olympian Tess Howard, published research showing how gendered school sports uniform plays a major role in the high drop out rates of teenage girls in sport. The study, featured in an LSE news article titled "I want to help girls stay in sport and break down the barriers to participation", found 70 per cent of women had seen girls drop sport at school due to clothing and related body image concerns, with many feeling sexualised by their sports uniforms. The early promotion of her paper led to England Hockey launching new inclusive kit regulations for domestic hockey games and for the Federation of International Hockey to decide to change the international uniform guidelines.
Dr Ursula Henz Awarded Understanding Society Research Data Fellowship
With the support of the Understanding Society Fellowship valued at £70,000, Dr Ursula Henz will be conducting the project on "Understanding the effects of health and caregiving dynamics on credit usage and financial distress." In this project, Dr Henz focuses on the social costs of ill health and caregiving—a vital exploration in our context of pronounced inequalities, a cost of living crisis, and increased care requirements. Drawing on a longitudinal analysis of data between 2009-2021 from Understanding Societyand merging this with significant credit data, Dr Henz will analyse relationships between critical life events—the onset of ill health and becoming a caregiver—on the one hand, and credit balances and the probability of entering credit arrears on the other hand. The research will also examine differences in these effects among age, gender, income, and ethnic groups due to variations in their resources to deal with sudden changes. These findings can aid regulators in developing policies to assist customers in managing problem debt and provide valuable insights for charities offering advice and support to individuals facing problem debt during critical life events.
Dr Haley McAvay
We are delighted to confirm that Dr Haley McAvay will be joining the Department of Sociology at LSE, following the recruitment of an associate professorial appointment in quantitative approaches to social inequalities.
Haley’s research interests bring together dimensions of migration, residential segregation, and ‘race’ and ethnicity. She has excellent teaching experience across these areas as well as in quantitative social methods. Haley will be joining us in January 2025. She will be working closely with Professor Aaron Reeves in developing our quantitative teaching and research in the department, and in working with Professor Sam Friedman and Aaron on the MSc in Inequalities and Social Science programme.
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships - Applications Now Open
The Department of Sociology is excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for the internal selection process for this year’s British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships scheme.
This prestigious Fellowship offers outstanding early career researchers the chance to enhance their research and teaching experience within an academic setting. Fellows will be expected to develop original lines of enquiry in their field and gain teaching experience (up to five hours per week, as per scheme guidance). Full details, including eligibility criteria, can be found on the British Academy website.
If you wish to apply, please submit the following documents to Sociology.Research@lse.ac.uk by 5.00pm on Tuesday 27 August:
1. A draft research proposal, including a proposed programme and plan of action (maximum 2 pages)
2. Your CV (maximum 2 pages)
3. An email confirmation of support from your proposed mentor within the Department of Sociology
Please refer to the scheme’s guide notes when preparing your submission.
The Department will assess all received applications. Those shortlisted will proceed to preparing and finalising their full Outline Stage applications in line with the BA PDF scheme’s guidelines, with additional guidance and advice from the Research Development Manager at LSE. For any questions regarding the departmental shortlisting process while preparing your application, please contact Sociology.Research@lse.ac.uk
Professor Aaron Reeves
We are delighted that Professor Aaron Reeves will be joining the Department of Sociology at LSE from September 2024.
Aaron will play a key role in building our strengths in understanding the structures and formations of inequalities, and in expanding our capacities in quantitative expertise in the department. He will be a core member of the MSc in Inequalities and Social Science programme, which is an interdisciplinary programme that explores how inequalities emerge in relation to social and economic change. Aaron’s compelling and vital work engages with the political economy of health, the transforming nature of the welfare state, and the cultural politics of social hierarchy.
Professor Reeves comments, ‘I am thrilled to be joining the department at this very exciting time. I have long admired the exceptional scholarship produced by the faculty and look forward to being a part of and contributing to this academic community.’
LSE Congress 2024
LSE Sociology students Esiri Bukata, Else Bavinck, Jingying Chen, Ahmad Abu-Hussien, Moa Jegnell, Felipe Morales Sierra participated in the 2024 LSE Congress. Congratulations to Esiri Bukata and Felipe Morales Sierra who were amongst the winning team. 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. Teams of students explored the research carried out within their departments and made links to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Students created a poster and video to explain the rationale for choosing the particular SDGs and the contribution their department can make to their progress.
LSE100 Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement
LSE Sociology students Erin Weeks and Suchita Thepkanjana have received an LSE100 Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement. This award recognises the exemplary work that these students and their fellow group members produced during their LSE100 group research project in Winter Term 2024. This work demonstrated a commitment to interdisciplinary investigation and their effective collaboration as a team. In light of their outstanding work, they were nominated by their LSE100 teachers, and their award was confirmed following a review by the LSE100 Co-Directors.
LSE Class Teacher Awards
We are delighted to announce the recipients of this year’s LSE Class Teacher Awards! These outstanding individuals have made exceptional contributions to education and the student experience, always going above and beyond. Their dedication and impact have been recognised by their peers and students alike.
Winners:
- Matt Reynolds
- Maya Adereth
Highly Commended:
- Rodrigo Cirigo Jimenez
- Vashan Brown
- Dr Sacha Hilhorst
Professor (Education) in Sociology appointment
We are delighted to announce that Suki Ali has been appointed as Professor (Education) in Sociology. This achievement recognises Professor Suki Ali’s outstanding body of work in pedagogy and intersectionality in education, and her related engagements with feminist postcolonial theory, research methodologies, representation, and processes of identification and embodiment. Congratulations!
Sacha Hilhorst - A Tale of Two Towns
Sacha Hilhorst has received a grant from the LSE KEI fund to produce a short policy publication based on her research. Her PhD research was a political ethnography of two post-industrial towns in the Midlands, which sought to understand why many local residents had become deeply suspicious of the political system. She will now work with citizens and activists in her field sites to identify policy implications, which will be written up in a digital report to be published by the think tank Common Wealth.
LSE Sociology Impact Grant 2023/24 Awards
We are delighted to announce the recipients of the third round of the LSE Sociology Impact Grant, which is partially supported through the LSE Knowledge Exchange and Impact (KEI) funds:
Dr Mahvish Ahmad, for the project "Conserving the Archives of Progressive Pakistan"
Dr Kristin Surak, for her project "Investment Migration - Personal Website Refurbishment"Congratulations to both recipients!
Dr David Madden Awarded the Leverhulme Research Fellowship
Congratulations to Dr David Madden, who has been awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship for his project "Owners and Occupiers: The Politics of Housing Tenure." This Fellowship carries a value of £64,991 to support Dr Madden’s research on a foundational yet often overlooked concept in housing research: tenure. In contrast to previous understandings of tenure as a set of census categories or dwelling types, such as owner-occupation, private renting, or public renting, in this project, Dr Madden develops a new sociological approach that sees tenure as the complex, contested relationships between the owners and occupiers of housing. By reconceptualising tenure, the book will seek to provide us with a better understanding of the contemporary housing crisis, and will argue that politicising and transforming tenure is the key to overhauling today’s unequal housing systems.
KEI Fund Project awarded to Helen Mackreath: A dialogue on dynamics of racism in Turkey
This project will be carried out in collaboration with Istos, an independent publishing house based in Istanbul. It will involve a one day event in Istanbul, in which a range of speakers – journalists, activists, lawyers, academics – will be invited to lay the framework for an open-ended dialogue around the subject of racism in Turkey. The aim of these talks will be to provide concrete ideas for developing anti-racist strategies, and to open an ongoing conversation by identifying the stakes, considering different frames, and paying attention to what must be considered for such strategies. Istos intend to publish a collected book of essays, published in Turkish, which will be authored by the speakers and based on the talks.
We are now accepting applications for ESRC Postdoctoral Fellows
The ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) at LSE has been awarded funding from the ESRC to appoint four Postdoctoral Fellows for the 2024-25 academic year. Further information and application guidance can be found here. The LSE Jobs e-recruitment systemwill open for applications to be submitted on 16 April 2024 and will close at 4pm 16 May 2024.
Dr Olivia U. Rutazibwa Awarded the Global Research Fund
With the support of the Global Research Fund, Dr Rutazibwa will advance her collaborative project with researchers from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, titled "Reading-Through: Towards a Methodology for Political Sciences Otherwise."
LSE Sociology Impact Grant fund Awarded to Dr Hakan Sandal-Wilson
We are thrilled to announce that Dr Hakan Sandal-Wilson has been awarded the LSE Sociology Impact Grant in the Winter Term round, supported by the LSE Knowledge Exchange and Impact (KEI) funds. Hakan will be working on the project titled "Pilot Community Engagement Project with London's Turkish-speaking LGBTI+ Migrants."
Dr Don Slater's project receives fund uplift under the International Science Partnerships Fund
Dr Don Slater’s current KEI Large Bid project, "Social Lighting and Urban Design in Southeast Asia: Changing Professional Practices", has been selected for an uplift in funds from International Science Partnership Fund for a maximum of £7,000. Conducted in collaboration with Dr Elettra Bordonaro (Senior Visiting Fellow, LSE), Dr Joanne Entwistle (KCL) and local project partner KMUTT, the project seeks to foster "social lighting" and socially-driven urban design in Southeast Asia. The group has recently held a series of workshops in Bangkok, with the final night of workshops involving a presentation to an invited audience of local residents, city officials, and other stakeholders. This project is part of the wider work conducted by the Configuring Light research group. More information here.
Professor Annette Lareau
We are delighted to welcome Professor Annette Lareau, from the University of Pennsylvania, who is joining the department in January 2024 for six months, following the award of a prestigious Leverhulme Visiting Professorship. Professor Lareau is one of the world’s leading qualitative researchers, renowned for her study of the impact of class and parenting practices. More recently, she has been conducting research on the family lives and strategies of wealthy American families.
During her Fellowship, Professor Lareau will collaborate with Professor Mike Savage and Professor Sam Friedman, as well as work alongside scholars at the International Inequalities Institute. She will also provide valuable methodological expertise in the area of qualitative methods and use her Fellowship as an opportunity to bring together young scholars and more senior scholars to present their current works-in-progress in the area of elite studies.
Dr Rebecca ElliottAwarded the 2023 Philip Leverhulme Prize in Sociology
With the support of the Leverhulme Prize, Rebecca will be launching a new project tentatively called "Commemorative Climates," which will be the subject of her second book. The project investigates how heritage conservation institutions are responding to climate change as they confront questions about what to preserve versus what to let go, and how to memorialise what cannot or will not be saved from coastal erosion, rising sea levels, or recurrent flooding. The project will examine how a destabilising climate complicates already fragile and contentious efforts to stabilise a historical narrative or a landscape and to render its artefacts durable.
LSE proudly appoints Professor Chetan Bhattas Anthony Giddens Professor in Social Theory.
This named chair was established in 2004 with a commitment to social theory addressing specific empirical issues. The chair has been previously held by Professor Paul Gilroy and Professor Judy Wajcman. It is an honour for the Department of Sociology to host this named chair, and a recognition of Professor Bhatt's contribution as a scholar and educator whose work brings social theory and philosophy into dialogue with urgent contemporary issues and major societal dynamics. Congratulations, Professor Bhatt!
Professor Annette Lareau
Professors Sam Friedmanand Mike Savagehave succeeded in winning a prestigious Leverhulme Visiting Professorship award to host Professor Annette Lareau, from the University of Pennsylvania, in LSE Sociology from January to June 2024. Annette is one of the world’s leading qualitative researchers, renowned for her study of the impact of class and parenting practices. More recently she has been conducting research on the family lives and strategies of wealthy American families, an interest which will fit closely with the social inequalities cluster in the Department. During her stay, Annette will be assisting with teaching qualitative methods, in working with Mike (and Maria-Luisa Mendez, Santiago, Chile) in editing an Oxford Handbook on the Sociology of Global Elites, and will be giving various talks. More information about Annette can be found here.
Dr Faiza Shaheen
The LSE Department of Sociology is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Faiza Shaheen to be Course Tutor during the 2023-2024 academic year. She will be working closely with Professors Sam Friedman and Mike Savage on the MSc Inequalities and Social Science, as well as pursuing collaborative projects with the International Inequalities Institute and the Atlantic Fellows Programme in Social and Economic Equity. Faiza is one of the UK’s leading critical voices, having been Director of the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS) think tank between 2016 and 2020, and from 2021-2023 being Program Head for the Inequality and Exclusion Grand Challenge of the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. The recent launch of her book "Know Your Place"was the only LSE Public Event of this academic year to be entirely fully seated with people having to be turned away. You can watch a podcast here. Faiza was a parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party in Chingford and Woodford Green in the 2019 election and will be contesting the seat in the next election.
Welcome Faiza!
In memory of Professor Bridget Hutter
We are deeply saddened by the passing of our colleague, Professor Bridget Hutter, who died peacefully on Monday, 10 April. Bridget joined the Department of Sociology in 1996, becoming Professor of Risk Regulation in 2000. She was a leading figure in the study of risk and regulation, and a founding Co-Director of LSE's Centre for the Analysis of Risk and Regulation, which she directed between 2000 and 2010. Bridget was Editor of the British Journal of Sociology from 2002-2007.
Alongside her great distinction as a scholar, Bridget was a committed member and leader of the department. Bridget retired in 2019 and had held the status of emeritus professor since then. She will be greatly missed.
2022 Seigfried Landshut Prize by the Hamburg Institute for Social Research
Congratulations to Professor Mike Savage, who has been awarded the 2022 Seigfried Landshut prize by the Hamburg Institute for Social Research. The prize is awarded in memory of the German Jewish political scientist Siegfried Landshut, who was instrumental during his lifetime in establishing a historically oriented social science in Germany. Previous winners include Michael Mann, George Steinmetz, and Marion Fourcade. Mike is the first UK based academic to be awarded this prize which will be presented during his visit to Hamburg at the end of June. His recent book The Return of Inequality: Social Change and the Weight of the Past is being translated into German as part of this prize, and will be published by Hamburger Press. The award provides funding for doctoral students and early career staff nominated by Mike to visit the HIS. LSE colleagues who think they may benefit from such a visit are encouraged to contact Mike to discuss their interest.
Class Teaching Awards
A huge congratulations to our Graduate Teaching Assistants Limichi Okamoto and Matt Reynolds for receiving an LSE Class Teacher Award! Daniela Perez Aguilar, David Kampmann and Yasmine Kherfi were also highly commended for their contribution to teaching. More information here.
We are now accepting applications for ESRC Postdoctoral Fellows!
The ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) at LSE has been awarded funding from the ESRC to appoint seven Postdoctoral Fellows for the 2023-24 academic year. Further information and application guidance can be found here. Submit your application here.
There Never Was a West and Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology
Dr Ayça Çubukçu wrote the introduction to the German translation of David Graeber's There Never Was a West and Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology, which is now available from Unrast Verlag Press.
Long Reads Podcast
During the 1980s, Japan seemed like it might overtake the US to become the world’s largest economy. But since a property bubble burst in the early 90s, Japan has become a by-word for economic stagnation. That hasn’t prevented the ruling Liberal Democratic Party from maintaining its status as the most successful political party in the rich capitalist world. Listen to Dr Kristin Surak’s podcast for Jacobin Magazine here.
Anticolonial Feminist Imaginaries
Dr Sara Salem guest edited Kohl journal's special issue Anticolonial Feminist Imaginaries with Alina Sajed. This 19-article collection aims to revisit and reimagine the location of gender and sexual politics in anticolonial revolutionary struggles. It’s open access, in English and Arabic. Read here.
Let Me Be Your Stimy Toy’: Fashioning Disability, Cripping Fashion
Dr Jana Melkumova-Reynolds recently published a chapter "‘Let Me Be Your Stimy Toy’: Fashioning Disability, Cripping Fashion" in Mahawatte, R. and Willson, J. (eds.), Dangerous Bodies: New Global Perspectives on Fashion and Transgression (2022). You can access the chapter here
Decolonising Global Health
Dr Olivia Rutazibwa recently published 'Decolonising Global Health: An Introduction', Bulletin of the Netherland Society for Tropical Medicine and International Health. Access the article here.
Justice Visions Podcast
Can historical truth be a tool for decolonisation? Dr Cira Palli-Aspero talks to Dr Olivia Rutazibwa about truth-seeking initiatives' potential to contribute to decolonisation, accountability & social change. Tune in to the Justice Visions podcast (Ghent University). Listen here.
Supporting Early Career Researchers: Annalena Oppel's Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship
With the guidance of LSE Research Support, Annalena Oppel, an LSE Fellow at the Department of Sociology and a Faculty Associate at the International Inequalities Institute, was awarded a prestigious Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (ECF) in the 2022 round.
SAGE Prize for Innovation/Excellence
Huge congratulations to Christopher Upton-Hansen, Kristina Kolbe and Mike Savage, our SAGE prizewinners for Innovation & Excellence! Read their paper on the impact of inequality on the art world & the politics of restitution here
The Citizenship Industry: How the Market in Golden Passports Works
Kristin Surak delivered the keynote address at the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies & Sussex Center for Migration Research annual conference at Sussex University. Kristin was also quoted in a France 24 article on "Citizenship for the Rich". You can the article here.
Stay Down
Dr Sam Friedman's class pay gap research has been used as part of a campaign run by an organisation called the Department of Opportunities to end workplace classism. This year they've produced a horror film to coincide with Halloween and spotlight the issue with some well-known actors. You can find the film here.
The Securitisation of Muslims in Britain
As a part of their ESRC Fellowship at LSE Sociology in 2021-2022, Dr Shereen Fernandez is involved in a collaboration with the organisation Maslaha. The project looks at the securitisation of Muslims in Britain since the War on Terror. The aim is to shed light on how counter-extremism and counter-terror measures have shaped the everyday lives of Muslims in Britain.
Revolutionary Papers
Dr Mahvish Ahmad's article "Revolutionary papers: an exploration of anticolonial and anti-imperial journals" is featured in LSE's Research for the World. Read the article here
David Morgan Prize
Dr Ursula Henz's 2020 article "Couples’ daily childcare schedules: gendered patterns and variations" in Families, Relationships and Societies has been shortlisted for the David Morgan prize. The shortlisted articles and the winning article have now been announced on the journal’s webpage, access here.
Breaking the Class Ceiling
Professor Sam Friedman will be appearing in the two-part BBC2 documentary about breaking the class ceiling. The programme is scheduled to air on Tuesday 6 December 2022. Find out more here. Professor Friedman was also featured on the LSE IQ Podcast about class. Listen here. He co-authored this article on the power of elite girls schools which was featured in The Times and elsewhere.
Gerry Simpson’s The Sentimental Life of International Law
Dr Ayça Çubukçu, co-editor of the journal Humanity, invited five scholars to take part in a symposium responding to Gerry Simpson’s The Sentimental Life of International Law. These five scholars will reflect on Simpson’s creative approach to the discipline of International Law, and the symposium will conclude with a response from the author.
On Left Internationalism
Dr Ayça Çubukçu delivered a lecture "On Left Internationalism" at the Institute for Philosophy, Freie Universitat-Berlin, where she held a resident fellowship for a week sponsored by the Transforming Solidarities Consortium.
In memory of Professor Nigel Dodd
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of our colleague and friend, Professor Nigel Dodd, who died peacefully on 12 August 2022. Nigel was Professor of Sociology and Editor in Chief of the British Journal of Sociology. He was a brilliant thinker, writer and teacher who made major contributions to the fields of economic sociology and classical and contemporary social thought, particularly in his ground-breaking scholarship on the sociology of money and on the work of Georg Simmel. Nigel was a champion for Sociology both within and outside the LSE. He will be missed very deeply.
Professor Mike Savage's co-authored article wins SAGE Prize for Innovation
Congratulations to Professor Mike Savage whose co-authored article ‘Social polarisation at the local level’ has won the outstanding paper in Sociology for 2021. The research was conducted by anthropologists, geographers, and sociologists from not only the LSE but also from Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Manchester.
Dr Gözde Güran's PhD wins the Malcolm H.Kerr Dissertation Award
We’re delighted to announce that Dr Gözde Güran, who’s recently joined the Sociology department as an Assistant Professor, has been awarded this year’s Malcolm Kerr Dissertation Award in the Social Sciences from the Middle East Studies Association.
We're fourth in the UK for Sociology in the Complete University Guide 2022
We've been ranked fourth in the UK for Sociology, and LSE has been ranked third in the UK, in the Complete University Guide 2022.
ENLIGHTENme Project Hosts International Conference "Shaping Light for Health and Wellbeing in Cities" – Call for Extended Abstracts Now Open!
From 16-17 December 2021 the recently launched EU project ENLIGHTENme will host the international conference "Shaping light for health and wellbeing in cities". The virtual event will bring together representatives from academia, industry and local administration from across Europe for discussions around the latest findings on urban lighting in relation to citizen’s health and wellbeing. Researchers are now invited to participate in the open calls to submit extended abstractuntil 4 October 2021.
LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre UK Postgraduate Dissertation Prize Winner
We're delighted to announce that Madhumitha Ardhanari (MSc in Inequalities and Social Science) has been awarded the LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre Dissertation Prize for Sand extractivism and its inequalities: Elite scripts in the Singaporean demand for sand.
The prize recognises outstanding social science research on Southeast Asia from postgraduate students in the UK.
We're third in the world for Sociology in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021
We've been ranked third in the World - and second in the UK - for Sociology. LSE also ranked top in Europe - and second in the world - in social sciences and management subjects for the ninth consecutive year in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021.
We are now accepting applications for ESRC Postdoctoral Fellows
The ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) at LSE has been awarded funding from the ESRC to appoint seven Postdoctoral Fellows for the 2021-22 academic year. Further information and application guidance can be found here. Submit your application here.
LSE Africa Dissertation Award Winners
We're delighted to announce that two sociology students have been awarded an .
Simon Marcus (MSc Inequalities and Social Science) recieved the Innovative Research Techniques award for The intersectionality of COVID-19: A Quantitative analysis of COVID-19 in a South African urban settlement.
Isabel Paolini (MSc Human Rights) recieved the Outstanding Dissertation award for Rights for the Rightless: Synthesizing an Interdisciplinary Framework Explaining Accession to the Statelessness Conventions.
Visiting Fellow Dr Glyn Robbins awarded a Fulbright Scholarship
Glyn’s Fulbright research will focus on the impact of housing/urban policy in New York City and how it compares with his home city of London. Read more about Glyn's Fulbright Award research here.
Your Journey to LSE Photo Competition: Winners Announced
We are pleased to announce the winners of our offer holder photo competition. Congratulations to Congratulations to Louis Norris (MSc Political Sociology), Macarena Cano (MSc Human Rights) and Miles Parker Hirozawa (MSc Economy, Risk and Society) for your winning entries. You can view the winning photos and find out more about the competition here.
MSc City Design and Social Science Publication
This year, the MSc City Design studio investigated the redevelopment of the Woodberry Down estate in North London. Over the course of five months, City Design students worked in groups and investigated issues ranging from the risk of flooding and the climate crisis to how council estate redevelopments could better address London’s housing shortage. The studio publication, Reclaiming, Recommoning, Reimagining, Reprogramming: Regeneration at Woodberryis the result of these investigations, as well as the work of editors Noah Powers and Armando Salvador-Delgado.
We're ranked eighth for Sociology in the Guardian League Table
We've ranked 8th for Sociology in the UK and LSE has been ranked the 5th best university overallin theGuardian's Best UK Universities 2021league table.
Professor Fran Tonkiss is our new Head of Department
We are very pleased to announce Professor Fran Tonkissas our new Head of Department. We are pleased to announce Dr Suki Alias the new Deputy Head of Department.
Gendered harassment in public and the potential for a ‘zero-tolerance’ culture
Dr Ioanna Gouseti has been awarded the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship to conduct research on the topic of sexual harassment in public spaces in the UK. Here, she summarises the project.
Department of Sociology win 'Key Stakeholder' award for Green Impacts
Congratulations to the Sociology Green Impacts team for their work on encouraging environmentally and socially sustainable practice within the Department. Find out more about Green Impacts here.
Dr Fabien Accominotti has been awarded the Charles Tilly Award for best article in Comparative-Historical Sociology
Congratulations to Fabien Accominotti who won the award for his work on the emergence of cultural hierarchy: "How Cultural Capital Emerged in Gilded Age America: Musical Purification and Cross-Class Inclusion at the New York Philharmonic".
Researching Sociology Photo Competition: Winners Announced
We are pleased to announce the winners of our first student photo competition. Congratulations to Hannah Bennet (MSc Culture and Society), Kanon Tsuda (MSc Human Rights and Politics) and Noah Powers (MSc City Design and Social Science). You can view the winning photos and find out more about the competition here.
TEDxTalk: When social policies fail in a time of economic crisis
Dr Liene Ozoliņa gave a TEDxTalk which asked how social policies can bolster or break social connections, with a particular focus on the 2008 economic crisis. Watch the talk here.
Unis should play bigger role in reversing gender bias in computer programmes
Professor Judy Wajcman spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald about the role of universities in reversing gender-biased culture in the development of robotics and artificial intelligence. Read the interview here.
We've ranked third in the World for Sociology in the QS World University Rankings 2020
LSE also ranked top in Europe - and second in the world - in social science and management subjects. Read more here.
LSEIQ Podcast: How do we stop knife crime?
Dr Janet Foster joined Kerris Cooper, Tom Kirchmaier, Yvonne Lawson and Carmen Villa-Llera to discuss knife crime and what can be done to prevent it. Listen here.
Dr Liene Ozoliņa has been awarded the 2019 Vilis Vītols Award
Liene won the award for her article "Embracing Austerity? An Ethnographic Perspective on the Latvian Public’s Acceptance of Austerity Politics". The Vilis Vītols annual award is presented to the author of the best article in a given year of the Journal of Baltic Studies.
MSc Human Rights Alumna Joanna Natasegara nominated in the Best Documentary Category at the 92nd Academy Awards
Joanna Natasegara produced the 2019 Film 'The Edge of Democracy' which explores recent politics in Brazil.
Dr Sam Friedman has been awarded the Russell Prize 2019
Sam Friedman has been awarded the Russell Prize 2019for his Guardian Long Read 'The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged'. The Long Read was extracted from his book of the same title co-written with Dr Daniel Laurinson. Read the Long Read here.
Dr Sam Friedman and Dr Sara Salem win Excellence in Education Awards 2019
Sam Friedman and Sara Salem have won an LSE Excellence in Education Award for their outstanding teaching contribution in the last year. This will be presented at a ceremony on 21 November 2019.
Dr Suzi Hall and Dr Huda Tayob have developed an open-access curriculum on ‘Race, Space and Architecture’
The project asks what a curriculum on race-making and space-making might look like, with architecture and the designed world as a key reference point.
They have created a shared resource to use and adapt as necessary, read the curriculum here.
Dr Fabien Accominotti receives Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award Honorable Mention from the American Sociological Association’s section on Consumers and Consumption
Fabien's article "How Cultural Capital Emerged in Gilded Age America: Musical Purification and Cross-Class Inclusion at the New York Philharmonic" examines the emergence of cultural hierarchy in the United States and its role in entrenching the regime of extreme social and economic inequality characteristic of the Gilded Age.
Dr Rebecca Elliott awarded 2019 ASA Section on Environmental Sociology's Allan Schnaiberg Outstanding Publication Award
Rebecca won the award for her article 'The Sociology of Climate Change as a Sociology of Loss'.
Dr Monika Krause awarded 2019 Lewis A. Coser Memorial Award for Theoretical Agenda-Setting
Monika is the first recipient of this prestigious award who is not based at an American university (prior recipients include: Marion Fourcade, Loic Wacquant, George Steinmetz, Peggy Somers, Julian Go, and Rogers Brubaker). The recipient of the award gives a lecture at the following ASA meeting and often the Coser lectures are themselves important theoretical statements. If you are interested in what Monika comes up with, she will be presenting the Coser lecture at the 2020 ASA meeting in San Francisco.
Professor Judy Wajcman joins Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Judy Wajcman is joining the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg as a FRIAS External Senior Fellow from June 10 until July 31 2019.
Dr Clive Nwonka wins the 'Rising Star' Award and is runner up for 'Inspirational Teaching' Award
Clive Nwonka has been announced as the winner of the 'Rising Star' award and runner up for the category of 'Inspirational Teaching' in LSESU's the 2019 Student-led Teaching Excellence Awards.
Read the full list of winners and runners up here.
Professor Judy Wajcman appointed Principal Investigator for Women in Data Science and AI Project at Alan Turing Institute
The Women in Data Science and AI Project aims to redress the gender imbalance in data science and AI. Digital technologies are changing the way in which we live our lives and it is imperative for women to be equal partners in developing the algorithms, setting the research agendas, and building the applications underpinned by data science and AI.
Find out more about the project here.
Dr Sam Friedman discusses 'The Class Ceiling' on BBC Radio 4
The Class Ceiling: Why it pays to be privileged. Drawing on four in-depth case studies – acting, accountancy, architecture and television – Sam Friedman, Associate Professor in Sociology at the LSE, argues that the ‘class ceiling’ in the elite professions can only be partially attributed to conventional measures of ‘merit’. Instead, he suggests that more powerful drivers include the misrecognition of classed self-presentation as ‘talent’ and the affordances of the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’. He's joined by Louise Ashley, Senior Lecturer in Organization Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London and Anna Williams, Director of Research, Advocacy and Communications at the Sutton Trust.
Camps revisited: Multifaceted Spatialities of a Modern Political Technology
A new book by Dr Irit Katz, Diana Martin and Claudio Minca offers a geographical reflection on ‘the camp’, as a modern institution and as a spatial bio-political technology.
This book focuses on past and present camp geographies and on the dispositifs that make them an ever-present spatial formation in the management of unwanted populations characterizing many authoritarian regimes as well as many contemporary democracies. It also offers and investigates possible ways to resist the present-day proliferating manifestations of camps and ‘camp thinking’, by calling for the incorporation of ‘camp studies’ into the broader field of political geography and to consider the geographies of the camp as constitutive of much broader modern geo-political economies.
Dr Rebecca Elliott - Can we afford our consumer society?
Dr Rebecca Elliott, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology featured on a recent LSE IQ Podcast discussing whether we can afford our consumer society.
Economic growth has helped millions out of poverty. The jobs it creates mean rising incomes and consumers who buy more. This drives further growth and higher living standards, including better health and education. Yet WWF, the World Wildlife Fund, has recently warned that exploding human consumption is the driving force behind unprecedented planetary change, through increased demand for energy, land and water.
Dr Robin Archer - The radical left in the US
Robin Archer, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, was recently interviewed at length for a two part radio series on the history and prospects of the American left. The program was broadcast as part of the ‘Rear Vision’ program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio National. ABC Radio National is the Australian equivalent of BBC Radio 4. You can listen to part one of the programme hereand part two here.
Dr Sam Friedman wins 2018 European Academy of Sociology Best Article Award
Sam Friedman, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, and co-authors Aaron Reeves (joint lead author), Charles Rahal and Magne Flemmen have been awarded the 2018 European Academy of Sociology Distinguished Publication Prizefor their article ‘The Decline and Persistence of the Old Boy: Private Schools and Elite Recruitment 1897-2016’ in the American Sociological Review. Read the article.
Professor Lesie Sklair - the Anthropocene and climate change
At the end of October Emeritus Professor Leslie Sklair delivered a public lecture ‘We need to talk about the Anthropocene’ organised by the University of Technology Sydney, and gave the keynote address on ‘Climate and energy: global dynamics’ at a two day workshop in Sydney sponsored by the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.
Dr Sam Friedman joins Social Mobility Commission
Sam Friedman, Associate Professor of Sociology, has been appointed one of the new commissioners of the UK Government’s Social Mobility Commission. Read more.
Dr Rebecca Elliott wins Excellence in Education Award 2018
Rebecca Elliott, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, has won an LSE Excellence in Education Award for her outstanding teaching contribution in the last year. This will be presented at a ceremony on 31 October 2018.
Professor Judy Wajcman wins OII Lifetime Achievement Award 2018
Judy Wajcman, Anthony Giddens Professor of Sociology at LSE, is to receive the Oxford Internet Institute's 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award'in recognition of her contributions to the field of the social study of science and technology'. Congratulations Judy!
Emeritus Professor Frances Heidensohn awarded the British Society of Criminology Outstanding Achievement Award
Emeritus Professor Frances Heidensohn has received the British Society of Criminology Outstanding Achievement Award 2018. The award is intended to celebrate outstanding contributions made to the discipline of Criminology. More information can be found here. Congratulations Frances!
Monika Krause elected as Secretary Treasurer of the Global and Transnational Sociology Section of the ASA
Monika Krause has been newly elected as Secretary Treasurer of the Global and Transnational Sociology Section of the ASA, with her 3-year term beginning in 2018. More information on the ASA election results can be found here. Congratulations Monika!
Monika Krause elected as a Council Member of the ASA Theory Section 2018
Monika Krausehas been newly elected as a Council Member of the ASA Theory Section, with her 3-year term beginning in 2018. More information on the ASA Theory Section can be found here. Congratulations Monika!
Monika Krause awarded a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship
Monika Krausehas been awarded a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship to conduct research on "Ideosyncratic Ties: Mission Agencies and the Future of Transnational Relations" and to complete a manuscript based on in-depth interviews with managers in mission agencies, participant observation, and site visits. This will describe the work of contemporary mission agencies on their own terms and will argue that our thinking about transnationalism needs to take into account the kind of ties they establish.
Congratulations Monika!
Student-Led Teaching Excellence Awards 2018
Congratulations to Janet Fosterwho achieved Runner Up for the LSESU Award for Innovative Teaching and Daniel Jameswho was highly commended for the LSESU Award for Excellent Welfare and Pastoral Support.
Congratulations Janet and Daniel!
Dr Claire Moon - Visiting Fellow at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in Aguascalientes, México
Dr Claire Moon was a Visiting Fellow at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in Aguascalientes, México during February and March 2018. During her residency Dr Moon conducted research with her co-author, Dr Javier Treviño-Rangel (a sociologist at CIDE) on the social denial of atrocities perpetrated by security services and organised criminal gangs in the context of México’s war on drugs. In addition, she presented a paper at CIDE entitled ‘Last rights: forensic deathwork and the human rights of the dead’, and led a staff seminar on research ethics and risky fieldwork.
Emeritus Professor Leslie Sklair - Lecture on Architecture and Globalisation at the MAXXI Museum in Rome
On 7 April 2018, Emeritus Professor Leslie Sklair delivered a lecture on 'Iconic Architecture and Capitalist Globalization: Contamination or Creativity?' at the MAXXI Museum in Rome. The MAXXI was one of Zaha Hadid's last major projects and the lecture was part of a series on 'Storia dell'Architettura Contemporanea' (History of Contemporary Architecture').
Dr Martina Klett-Davies - Higher Education Conference for Sixth Form Students
In January 2018, Dr Martina Klett-Daviesparticipated in a Higher Education Conference for sixth form students at The Camden School for Girls, North London. Joining academics from institutions across the UK, Martina represented the LSE and the Department of Sociology. Her talk covered what it's like to study sociology at undergraduate level, with particular focus on the experience at LSE, as well as paths of progression after a sociology degree.
Professor Bridget Hutter - Appointed as a FSANZ Fellow
In November 2017, Professor of Risk Regulation Bridget Hutterwas appointed as a FSANZ Fellow, joining a network of experts who can provide the Food Standards Agency Australia New Zealand with objective expert advice and critical review. This follows on from her work on the governance of food safety and hygiene risks.
Dr Claire Moon - Winner of an LSE Excellence in Education Award 2016-17
For the second year running, Dr Claire Moon, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, has won an LSE Excellence in Education Award (2016-17).
Designed to support the School’s aspiration of creating ‘a culture where excellence in teaching is valued and rewarded on a level with excellence in research’ (LSE Strategy 2020), the Excellence in Education Awards are made, on the recommendations of Heads of Department, to staff who have demonstrated outstanding teaching contribution and educational leadership in their departments.
Congratulations Claire!
Dr Suzi Hall - Winner of a Philip Leverhulme Prize 2017
Dr Suzi Hallhas won a Philip Leverhulme Prize (2017). This award was set up by the Leverhulme Trust to "recognise the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising".
Suzi’s winning submission consisted of a proposal to extend her ‘ordinary streets’ project to South Africa. It will be fascinating to see how her core research question – how migrants inhabit the city – plays out in urban centres of the global south, particularly with the complex political and social history of Cape Town.
Congratulations Suzi!
LSE Human Rights
Important and exciting changes are planned for the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, LSE. In Michaelmas Term 2017, the Centre will move to the Department of Sociology and be relaunched as LSE Human Rights. Read the full announcement here.
Judy Wajcman wins 2017 Ludwik Fleck Prize
Congratulations to Professor Judy Wajcman, who has won the 2017 Ludwik Fleck prize for her book Pressed for Time: The Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism (2015, University of Chicago Press). The Fleck Prize is the Society for Social Studies of Science’s oldest book prize, awarded to an outstanding book across the breadth of science and technology studies. Read more on the Society's webpage.
Sam Friedman wins 2017 ASA IPM Award for Outstanding Article
Congratulations to both Dr Sam Friedmanand former LSE Sociologist Dr Daniel Laurison, who have been awarded the ‘Outstanding Article Award’ by the Inequality, Poverty and Mobility Section of the American Sociological Association. The award is for their article in the American Sociological Review entitled: 'The Class Pay Gap in Higher Professional and Managerial Occupations'. In this article they demonstrate that even when those from working-class backgrounds get into top professions in the UK they face a powerful ‘class ceiling’ in terms of earnings.
LSE Sociology faculty highly commended for Student-Led Teaching Excellence Awards 2017
Dr Claire Moonhas been highly commended in the category of Welfare and Pastoral Support, Professor Mike Savage has been highly commended for the award of Sharing Subject Knowledge and guest lecturer Dr Martina Klett-Davies has been highly commended in the category of Feedback and Communication, and has received the Class Teaching Award. Congratulations to them all!
The award provides the opportunity for students to offer feedback to those staff that have made a positive and significant difference to their learning journey. The process this year led to over 1100 individual nominations, with 450 members of staff being nominated. A review panel comprising of SSLC reps and Students’ Union officers reviewed the nomination feedback to shortlist nominees against criteria for excellent teaching and support.
Rebecca Elliott published in June issue of Harper's Magazine
Dr Rebecca Elliotthas published a feature in the June issue of Harper's Magazine, in collaboration with journalist Elizabeth Rush. "Stormy Waters: The fight over New York City's flood lines" traces recent contestation between the U.S. federal government and the municipal government of New York City over the boundaries of New York City's high-risk flood zones. The feature is based in part on Dr Elliott's ongoing research into how individuals and communities are adapting to a future defined by climate change. To read the article follow link above (you will need to log in/subscribe to Harper's).
Regulatory Crisis: negotiating the consequences of risk, disasters and crises
A new book by Professor Bridget Hutterand Professor Sally Lloyd-Bostock has been published by Cambridge University Press. Using a new concept - 'regulatory crisis' - this book examines how major crises may or may not affect regulation. The authors provide a detailed analysis of selected well-known disasters, tracing multiple interwoven sources of influence and competing narratives shaping crises and their impact. Their findings challenge currently influential ideas about 'regulatory failure', 'risk society' and the process of learning from disasters.
‘All future scholars of disaster, natural or otherwise, will have to consult this wide-ranging comparative study of the complex and multiple forces that aim to ignore, remediate or exploit this crucial species of public troubles. I know of no work that matches it in terms of thorough documentation and range across so wide variety of cases.’ Harvey Molotch, New York University.
Claire Moon receives Wellcome Trust Investigator Award
Dr Claire Moon, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Senior Research Associate in the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, has been awarded a prestigious Wellcome Trust Investigator Award in Humanities and Social Science for £385,000. The project is entitled ‘Human rights, human remains: forensic humanitarianism and the politics of the grave’ and she’ll be working on it for the next four years. The project addresses the power of forensic science to turn the dead body into to a witness to atrocity. It’s about the experts who make the dead speak. It’s about the families of the dead. And it’s about the dead, and what we owe them. It comprises a history of the ‘forensic turn’ in humanitarianism; an investigation of challenges and innovations in the field in the context of Mexico’s war against organised crime; and an exploration of whether, as a consequence of the forensic turn, it can be argued that the dead have human rights.
Bridget Hutter visits Chinese University of Hong Kong
Bridget Hutter, Professor of Risk Regulation, is Distinguished Visiting Scholar at CUHK, where she is giving two presentations: an MPUP Seminar on Regulatory Crises: Regulatory Encounters with Disaster, A Multi-disciplinary Approach on 28 March and a talk on Risk Regulation Research and Risk Governance Practice: The REF and Impact. She is also participating in a programme review of the MSc Social Science Programme in Public Policy.
Promotions for Sam Friedman and Suzanne Hall
Congratulations to Dr Sam Friedmanand Dr Suzi Hallfrom the Department of Sociology, who have both passed their Major Review and will be promoted to Associate Professor. In addition, Suzi was awarded a Teaching Prize. She is currently Director of the Cities Programme and is teaching on MSC City Design and Social Sciences core courses. Sam is currently on leave working on a project, funded by an ESRC Future Research Leaders grant, examining social mobility into and within Britain’s elite occupations. You can read more about them from their staff profiles.
Leslie Sklair awarded the Frantisek Palacky Honorary Medal
At a ceremony in Prague on 22 February, Emeritus Professor Leslie Sklairreceived the Frantisek Palacky Honorary Medal for the Historical Sciences from the Czech Academy of Sciences. During his time in Prague, he delivered a public lecture on his new book, The Icon Project: Architecture, Cities, and Capitalist Globalization (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), and was interviewed on Czech television and radio.
Honorary doctorate awarded to Charis Thompson
Congratulations to Professor Charis Thompsonwho has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in January in recognition of her significant scientific contributions to the social and cultural study of emerging technologies. The ceremony will take place in November.
Suzi Hall at the Teaching Café
On 2 February the Teaching and Learning Centre and Educational Strategy Unit’s Lent Term Teaching Café explored the connection between research and education, focusing on three examples of modules where students are supported to produce their own original research. Dr Suzi Hall from LSE Sociology, pictured here with the publication Infrastructural Urbanism produced by MSc City Design and Social Science students in 2016, talked about the City Design Research Studio course. Read more about it.
New research uncovers 'class pay gap' in Britain's professions
People from working class backgrounds who get a professional job are paid an average of £6,800 (17 per cent) less each year than colleagues from more affluent backgrounds, research for the Social Mobility Commission has revealed. Using extensive data from the UK Labour Force Survey (LFS), Dr Sam Friedmanand Dr Daniel Laurison of the Department of Sociology at LSE alongside academics from UCL, examined access to the professions and the impact of socio-economic background on earnings. Follow link above for more on this story. Read more about it.
Ricky Burdett awarded CBE
Ricky Burdett, Director of LSE Cities research centre and Urban Age and Professor of Urban Studies at LSE, has been awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) as part of the New Year’s Honours List for 2017. The Honours List recognises people who have made achievements in public life and committed themselves to serving and helping Britain. Professor Burdett’s CBE is for services to urban planning and design. Read more about it.
Jalal Pour highly commended in the Booth Prize at the LSE Research Festival
Congratulations to MSc Sociology student Jalal Pour who was highly commended in the Booth Prize for his headlined abstract - Driving in the Gig Economy: road to freedom or bercapitalism? This was part of the LSE Research Festival, an annual celebration of LSE's social science research and its impact. As this year was the centenary of the death of pioneering social science reformer Charles Booth, the Research Festival had teamed up with the International Inequalities Institute who held a conference on Booth’s work on the same day. Professor Niki Lacey from the III was the judge of the Booth Prize, which was for the submission that best matched Charles Booth’s research themes of poverty and inequality. Read more here.
Judy Wajcman to speak at De Lange Conference X
On 6 December Professor Judy Wajcman will be speaking at the De Lange Conference X at Rice University. Her lecture, entitled 'Automation, Robotics and the Temporality of Everyday Life' will examine the ways in which robotics embody the desire to save valuable time by enabling us to complete tasks ever faster and more efficiently. Read more on the conference.
Pat McGovern on Brexit and immigration control
How many extra civil servants will Britain have to recruit in order to cope with Brexit? Dr Patrick Mcgovern says in the Financial Times "An increase will certainly be necessary because the volume of admissions work can only go up." Read the article (you will need to log in or create an account, LSE staff and students can do so for free).
Pat McGovern seminar at Cornell on workplace research
On 1 November Dr Patrick McGovern was invited to give a seminar at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University on some of his latest research which relates to problems of generalization and theory in workplace case study research.
Claire Moon on the human rights of the dead
Claire Moon, Associate Professor in the Sociology Department and Senior Research Associate in the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, has just published an article entitled ‘Human rights, human remains: forensic humanitarianism and the human rights of the dead’. The article is the first to label, define and historicise a distinctive and growing trend in global humanitarian practice: what Moon calls ‘forensic humanitarianism’. This involves the forensic investigation of mass graves in the wake of state crimes, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The article also initiates a distinctive and controversial argument that, as a result of this recent humanitarian phenomenon, the dead have human rights. The article appears in a special issue of International Social Science Journal and is the result of a workshop reappraising contemporary humanitarianism at the Social Trends Institute in Barcelona in January 2015. The issue includes articles by Michael Barnett (George Washington), Peter Stamatov (Yale), Iain Wilkinson (Kent) and John Brewer (Queen’s University, Belfast).
Mike Savage shortlisted for Times Higher Education Award 2016
Professor Mike Savage was shortlisted for the Times Higher Education (THE) Award 2016 for outstanding research supervisor of the year. The annual THE awards celebrates outstanding examples of best practice in higher education. The award criteria for outstanding research supervisor of the year is for the individual who has created "the most supportive, stimulating and inspirational research environment for PhD students".
Suzi Hall: Are Migrants City-Takers or City-Makers?
In episode one of a six part series entitled 'Six Impossible Ideas (after Brexit)', Dr Suzi Hall walked us through her research on ordinary streets in UK cities that challenges the perceptions of migrants as a burden. From Peckham's Rye Lane, a super-diverse street in South London, Suzi talked about what streets like this mean for the economy and what we can learn about the ways migration shapes modern cities. This six part series (of which Suzi Hall's work is one component) draws on six LSE experts and explores different disciplinary perspectives on migration.
Launch of the International Inequalities Institute Atlantic Fellows programme
Mike Savage, Co-Director of the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute (III) is delighted to announce the launch of the III’s Atlantic Fellows programme, a 20-year programme funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies to support leaders tackling inequalities. This is an ambitious programme designed to build a global community of leaders dedicated to changing policy, practice and public dialogue around inequalities. Follow the link above to read more. The Atlantic Fellows programme at the III is created with a grant of £64.4m from The Atlantic Philanthropies.This grant, the largest ever in the history of the LSE, will do much to inscribe critical social science at the heart of the LSE’s intellectual agenda.
The Resist Festival of Ideas and Actions
The Department of Sociology is hosting the campus-wide three day festival entitled 'Resist: Festival of Ideas and Actions' from 28-30 September. The festival will explore the distinct ways in which the theme of resistance has been interpreted and understood within academic research, the arts, grassroots activism campaigns, student debate and mainstream politics, through a variety of events including workshops, debates, street food, films, music and more. And on Monday 26th September fashion designer and activist Vivienne Westwood will get things going with a discussion about how we can resist propaganda through critical thinking, the collaboration of intellectuals and activists, and the arts. This event will start at 6.30pm at LSE's Hong Kong Theatre and is free and open to all but you will need a ticket.
Ayça Çubukçu on the Turkey coup attempt
Dr Ayça Çubukçu, Assistant Professor in Human Rights in the Department of Sociology, has written on the recent events in Turkey in the wake of the failed coup attempt on 15 July. Her piece, published in The Guardian, is entitled 'It’s the will of the Turkish people, Erdogan says. But which people?'.
Latest edition of Cities News published
The latest edition of Cities News has been published. Published twice a year, the newsletter runs through the latest developments, events and projects of the students, staff and alumni of the MSc City Design and Social Science programme.
Read Cities News September 2021 here
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