Summer 2011 | Public lectures and events | Video: Recent Episodes
London School of Economics and Political Science
Video files from LSE's summer 2011 programme of public lectures and events, for more recordings and pdf documents see the corresponding audio collection.
Contributor(s): Professor Viktor Mayer-Schönberger | Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is the Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford. His research focuses on the role of information in a networked economy. Earlier he spent ten years on the faculty of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Professor Mayer-Schönberger has published seven books, as well as over a hundred articles (including in Science) and book chapters. His most recent book, the awards-winning 'Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age' (Princeton University Press 2009) has received favourable reviews by academic (Nature, Science, New Scientist) and mainstream media (New York Times, Guardian, Le Monde, NPR, BBC, Wired) and has been published in four languages. Ideas proposed in the book have now become official policy, e.g. of the European Union.
Contributor(s): Michael Wolff | Rupert Murdoch is currently engulfed in one of the most extraordinary news stories of recent times, his own. Michael Wolff has long argued that a trend of decline for media moguls is inevitable. In this conversation, Wolff will reveal some of the unparalleled insights he has gleaned from his unprecedented access to Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation. He will also discuss how this most recent crisis will ultimately impact the most infamous of media moguls going forward. Michael Wolff is an award winning journalist, author and expert on Rupert Murdoch's global media empire. His latest and most timely book, a biography of Rupert Murdoch 'The Man Who Owns the News', is based on nine months of interviews with Murdoch, his family and associates. Wolff began his career at The New York Times and is currently the editorial director of Adweek and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. His books include the best-seller 'Burn Rate: How I Survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet' (Simon & Schuster, 1998) and 'Autumn of the Moguls' (HarperBusiness, 2003).'
Contributor(s): Michael Atherton | A conversation and Q&A with cricketer Michael Atherton, author of Glorious Summers and Discontents: Looking Back on the Ups and Downs from a Dramatic Decade. Renowned as a shrewd and resolute captain of England, Atherton moved effortlessly into the commentary box and Fleet Street, proving himself every bit as capable with the pen as with the bat. Born in 1968 and educated at Cambridge University, Mike Atherton played his entire career for Lancashire and England, winning 115 Test caps and captaining his country 54 times. After a spell writing for the Sunday Telegraph, he became Cricket Correspondent of The Times in 2008 and also commentates for Sky Sports. He lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and two children.
Contributor(s): Professor David Miles | The banking sector across many developed economies proved fragile – insufficiently robust to prevent worries about the value of bank assets generating a banking crisis. This caused a downturn which in the UK has been severe and prolonged. But this has happened while inflation has stayed relatively high. This creates huge challenges in setting monetary policy. David Miles will analyse those difficulties and consider how banks can be best made more robust. Professor David Miles joined the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England in June 2009. He is also a Visiting Professor at Imperial College. Miles was formerly a professor of financial economics and head of the Finance Department at Imperial. As an economist he has focused on the interaction between financial markets and the wider economy. He was Chief UK Economist at Morgan Stanley from October 2004 to May 2009. He has been a specialist economic advisor to the Treasury Select Committee. In Budget 2003, the Chancellor commissioned Professor Miles to lead a review of the UK mortgage market. The result, published at Budget 2004, was the report: "The UK mortgage market: taking a longer-term view". He is a council member of the Royal Economic Society, a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research and at the CESIFO research institute in Munich. He is a former editor of Fiscal Studies.
Contributor(s): Professor George Selgin, Professor Lord Skidelsky, Duncan Weldon, Dr Jamie Whyte | How do we get out of the financial mess we're in? Two of the great economic thinkers of the 20th century had sharply contrasting views: John Maynard Keynes believed that governments could create sustainable employment and growth. His contemporary and rival Friedrich Hayek believed that investments have to be based on real savings rather than fiscal stimulus or artificially low interest rates. BBC Radio 4 will be recording a debate between modern day followers of Keynes and Hayek. George Selgin is Professor of Economics at The Terry College of Business, University of Georgia. Selgin is one of the founders of the Modern Free Banking School, which draws its inspiration from the writings of Hayek on the denationalization of money and choice in currency. He has written extensively on free banking, the private supply of money and deflation. George Selgin is the author of The Theory of Free Banking: Money Supply under Competitive Note Issue (1988), Less Than Zero: The Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy (1997), and Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage (2008). Robert Skidelsky is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick. His three-volume biography of the economist John Maynard Keynes (1983, 1992, 2000) received numerous prizes, including the Lionel Gelber Prize for International Relations and the Council on Foreign Relations Prize for International Relations. He is the author of The World After Communism (1995) (American edition called The Road from Serfdom). He was made a life peer in 1991, and was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1994. His latest book is Keynes: The Return of the Master. Duncan Weldon is a former Bank of England economist and currently works as an economics adviser to an international trade union federation. He has a long standing interest in and admiration for Keynes but also a respect for Hayek. He blogs at Duncan's Economic Blog. Jamie Whyte was born in New Zealand and educated at the University of Auckland and then the University of Cambridge in England, where he gained a Ph.D. in philosophy. Jamie remained at Cambridge for a further three years, as a fellow of Corpus Christi College and a lecturer in the Philosophy Faculty. During this time he published a number of academic articles on the nature of truth, belief and desire, and won the Analysis Essay Competition for the best article by a philosopher under the age of 30. Jamie then joined Oliver Wyman & Company, a London-based strategy consulting firm specialising in the financial services industry, for which he still works, as the Head of Research and Publications. Jamie has published two books: Crimes Against Logic (McGraw Hill, Chicago, 2004) and A Load of Blair (Corvo, London, 2005). Jamie is a regular contributor of opinion articles to The Times (of London), the Financial Times and Standpoint magazine. In 2006 he won the Bastiat Prize for journalism.He is on the advisory board of The Cobden Centre. The debate will be chaired by Paul Mason, economics editor of BBC 2's Newsnight and author of Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed.
Contributor(s): Douglas Edwards | Comparing Google to an ordinary business is like comparing a rocket to a wheelbarrow. No academic analysis or bystander's account can capture it. Now Douglas Edwards, Employee Number 59, takes us inside the Googleplex for the closest look you can get without an ID card, giving us a chance to fully experience the potent mix of camaraderie and competition that makes up the company that changed the world. Edwards, Google's first director of marketing and brand management, describes it as it happened. From the first, pioneering steps of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company's young, idiosyncratic partners to the evolution of the company's famously nonhierarchical structure (where every employee finds a problem to tackle or a feature to create and works independently), through the physical endurance feats of the company's engineers (both on Comparing Google to an ordinary business is like comparing a rocket to a wheelbarrow. No academic analysis or bystander's account can capture it. Now Douglas Edwards, Employee Number 59, takes us inside the Googleplex for the closest look you can get without an ID card, giving us a chance to fully experience the potent mix of camaraderie and competition that makes up the company that changed the world. Edwards, Google's first director of marketing and brand management, describes it as it happened. From the first, pioneering steps of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company's young, idiosyncratic partners to the evolution of the company's famously nonhierarchical structure (where every employee finds a problem to tackle or a feature to create and works independently), through the physical endurance feats of the company's engineers (both on and off the roller-hockey field) to its ethos to always hire someone smarter than yourself. Doug Edwards captures for the first time the unique, self-invented, culture of the world's most transformative corporation. This event marks the launch of I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59. Douglas Edwards was the first director of consumer marketing and brand management at Google from 1999 to 2005 and was responsible for setting the tone and direction of the company's communications with its users. and off the roller-hockey field) to its ethos to always hire someone smarter than yourself. Doug Edwards captures for the first time the unique, self-invented, culture of the world's most transformative corporation. This event marks the launch of I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59. Douglas Edwards was the first director of consumer marketing and brand management at Google from 1999 to 2005 and was responsible for setting the tone and direction of the company's communications with its users.
Contributor(s): Professor Tim Bale, Professor Patrick Dunleavy, Mark Harper MP, Rt Revd Lord Harries | The draft House of Lords Reform Bill, published in May 2011, sets out a number of proposals aiming to reform the UK's Upper House. These proposals - among them the reduction in number of members by more than half, making the House either 80 or 100 per cent elected, and limiting the length of term to 15 years - aim to increase the democratic authority of the House of Lords whilst retaining its essential scrutiny and expert functions. The timetable for reform could see first elections take place by 2015. This debate aims to bring together MPs, peers and academics to discuss the proposals set out in the Draft Bill and the prospects for reform of the House. The event launches The end of the peer show? a new book published by the Constitution Society and CentreForum drawing together a series of responses to the recent proposals for reform. Tim Bale is Professor of Politics and European Studies at Sussex University and the convenor of the Political Studies Association’s specialist group on Conservatives and Conservatism. His latest book is The Conservative Party from Thatcher to Cameron (Polity, 2010). Patrick Dunleavy is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science and General Editor of the British Politics and Policy at LSE blog. Mark Harper is Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform and the Conservative MP for the Forest of Dean. He was first elected in the 2005 general election. He joined the Cabinet Office in May 2010 as Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform, having previously served as Shadow Minister for Defence. The Rt Revd Lord Harries is a retired bishop of the Church of England. He was the 41st Bishop of Oxford from 1987 to 2006. Since 2008 he has been the Gresham Professor of Divinity.
Contributor(s): Sir Harry Kroto, Philippe Sands QC, Mike Phillips, Gita Sahgal, Barbara Roche | Migrants are often presented as a burden, but no one can deny the impact they have had on Britain's intellectual life. One quarter of Britain's Nobel Prize winners in science were born abroad. Our religious, philosophical and ideological heritage has often been inspired by migrants, from royal patrons (Prince Rupert, Prince Albert) to refugees (Ralf Dahrendorf, Isaiah Berlin). It is rarely noticed on the migration balance sheet, but our science, philosophy, critical and spiritual life has been repeatedly shaped and reshaped by newcomers. Sir Harry Kroto is a Professor of Chemistry at Florida State University who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1996. Philippe Sands QC is a barrister at Matrix Chambers and Professor of Laws and Director of the Centre of International Courts and Tribunals at University College London. Mike Phillips is a journalist and writer who has worked for the BBC. Rabinder Singh QC is a barrister at Matrix Chambers, deputy High Court judge, and Crown Court Recorder. Gita Sahgal is a writer and journalist. Barbara Roche chairs the Migration Museum Project and is a former Immigration Minister.
Contributor(s): Professor Lisa Anderson | This lecture is an examination of the recent uprisings in the Arab world, highlighting where they happened, where they succeeded and what they may mean for both the practice and the study of politics in the region. Lisa Anderson was appointed president of the American University in Cairo in January 2011. A specialist on politics in the Middle East and North Africa, Anderson served as the university's provost from 2008 to 2010. Prior to joining AUC in 2008, Anderson served as James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations at Columbia University and is the former dean of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia. She also served as the chair of the political science department at the university and as the director of Columbia's Middle East Institute. Before joining Columbia, she was assistant professor of government and social studies at Harvard University. Anderson is the author of Pursuing Truth, Exercising Power: Social Science and Public Policy in the Twenty-first Century (Columbia University Press, 2003), The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya, 1830-1980 (Princeton University Press, 1986), and coeditor of The Origins of Arab Nationalism (Columbia 1991).
Contributor(s): David Aaronovitch, Charlotte Harris, Martin Moore, Paul Staines | The furore around the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World has raised wider issues around the regulation and standards of British newspaper journalism. Is it time for the authorities to get tough on the press or would that threaten freedom of expression and the media's ability to hold power to account? David Aaronovitch is a writer, broadcaster and commentator on culture, international affairs, politics and the media. A former television researcher, producer and programme editor, he has previously written for The Independent, The Guardian and The Observer, winning numerous accolades, including Columnist of the Year 2003 and the 2001 Orwell prize for journalism. He currently writes for The Times. He has appeared on the satirical TV current affairs programme Have I Got News For You, presented a number of radio and television series and programmes on current affairs and historical topics. His first book, and account of a journey by kayak on the rivers and canals of England, Paddling to Jerusalem, was published in 2000 and won the Madoc Prize for travel writing. In 2009 he published Voodoo Histories, a book on the history and attraction of conspiracy theories, which he spoke about in a POLIS public lecture at LSE, a podcast of the lecture is available. Charlotte Harris is a partner in Mishcon Private. Charlotte has been fundamental in the exposure of the phone hacking scandal and continues to act for many clients in relation to this issue. Recent notable cases include Max Clifford v NGN and Glenn Mulcaire, Donald v N'tuli (C of A) and Perroncel v NGN. Martin Moore is director of the Media Standards Trust, a new independent charity that looks for ways to foster high standards in news. Paul Staines is the author of Guido Fawkes' blog.
Contributor(s): Mehdi Hasan, James Macintyre | Ed Miliband is perhaps the least understood political leader of modern times. Mehdi Hasan and James Macintyre's book, ED: The Milibands and the making of a Labour leader, reveals where he has come from and where he is going. It charts his unique upbringing, against the backdrop of tragedy and with a prominent Marxist thinker for a father. ED follows his coming of age at Oxford, his election to Parliament and asks whether the pressures of being Labour party leader are swaying him from deep personal and ideological convictions. But Ed’s story cannot be fully understood outside the context of his struggle to emerge from the shadow of his elder brother, David. Ed followed David to the same college at Oxford, into Parliament and into the Cabinet before, at the eleventh hour, snatching away David’s dream of the leadership. Ed Miliband’s political hero is Robert Kennedy but, unlike the Kennedys, the Milibands fought to the bitter end, rather than supporting one another. ED gets to the heart of the dramatic decision-making that led him to join that epic leadership battle and reveals the hidden truth behind the making of a Labour leader. Mehdi Hasan is Senior Editor (Politics) at the New Statesman and is a former newsstand- current-affairs editor at Channel 4. He is a regular guest on the BBC’s Question Time and The Big Questions, and also appears on BBC News, Sky News, Al Jazeera and LBC, where he is a guest presenter. James Macintyre is Politics Editor at Prospect. Previously he was a reporter at the Independent and New Statesman and producer of BBC’s Question Time and LWT’s Jonathan Dimbleby programme. He frequently appears on news and radio programmes.
Contributor(s): Professor Fawaz A Gerges | Fawaz Gerges is a Professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He also holds the Emirates Chair of the Contemporary Middle East and is the Director of the Middle East Centre at LSE.
Contributor(s): Platon | Portrait photographer Platon shares his experience photographing an eclectic mix of presidents, politicians, celebrities and artists through to his award winning portfolios for the New Yorker. He will also discuss highlights from Power his book of over 100 Heads of State including Barack Obama, George W Bush, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg, Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mahmoud Abbas, Hugo Chavez, Robert Mugabe and Silvio Berlusconi. This event celebrates the publication of his latest book Power. Born in England to a Greek father and English mother, Platon grew up in both the Greek Isles and London. He attended St. Martins School of Art, and after receiving his BA with honours in Graphic Design, he was later awarded an MA in photography and fine art at the Royal College of Art. Now based in New York, Platon has contributed to a vast range of international publications including the New Yorker, Rolling Stone and Esquire magazines. In 2008, Platon's photograph of Russian Premier Vladimir Putin for Time magazine's Person of the Year cover was awarded first prize in the World Press photo contest. He is now a staff photographer at the New Yorker magazine. Platon's first book Platon's Republic was published in 2004 by Phaidon Press. He lives in New York with his wife, daughter and son. Charlie Beckett is Director of POLIS at LSE.
Contributor(s): Rahul Hiremath | The textile sector in India plays an important role in the country's economy, providing employment to a significant population in rural and semi-rural areas. It generates sizeable foreign exchange for the country, and is a repository of the cultural heritage of the nation. The sector, however, remains largely unorganized and heavily dependent on market fluctuations. The mass production of textile goods without any effects on the environment seems utopian in these days as the available manufacturing technologies consume many different chemicals as well as high quantities of water and energy. To explain the textile sector and its impact, the seminar will consider the findings of a study of Solapur City in the state of Maharashtra. Solapur, with a population of 907,400 (2003) is the 37th most populous city in the country and eighth in the State of Maharashtra, India. There are about 25,000 power looms employing about 100,000 workers. The seminar will present key concepts and findings regarding the need for sustainability in the textile industry in Solapur City. The research provides an overview of the textile and clothing industry in a city where it is one of the biggest sectors for employment and export. The current problems exist in the city because effluent disposal facilities of these industries are very poor in turn creating environmental, health and social problems. To counteract this effect, the study reviewed the textile industry's approach adopted in the city and sought to evaluate models and methods for measuring the impact of the textile industry on the environment, human health, biodiversity and climate. The research emphasises the need for the development of an integrated sustainable model of networking for climate change mitigation using adaptation approaches related to environment, health, safety and cleaner production which can assist in building a local knowledge base to sustain the process.
Contributor(s): Dr Zack Cooper, Professor Julien Forder, Professor Mireia Jofre-Bonet, Dr Irini Papanicolas | In this lecture, organised by LSE Health and Social Care, and supported by LSE HEIF 4 Bid Fund, LSE academics will discuss quality and competition in the field of health and social care. Welcome from Chair - Professor Alistair McGuire (LSE Health and Social Care). Does Hospital Competition Save Lives? Evidence from the English National Health Service - Dr Zack Cooper (LSE Health). Payment by Results and Quality in the English NHS - Dr Irini Papanicolas (LSE Health). Measuring Quality and Outcomes in Social Care - Professor Julien Forder (PSSRU Kent and LSE). Discussant: Professor Mireia Jofre-Bonet (City University).
Contributor(s): Professor Sir Hilary Beckles | This event is part of the celebrations that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Caucus of High Commissioners are organising to celebrate CARICOM day on 1 July 2011. Several activities are being planned to mark the day from July 3-8, which aim to showcase CARICOM countries. Professor Sir Hilary Beckles was born in Barbados in 1955. He attended secondary school in Barbados and Birmingham in the UK. He received his higher education in the United Kingdom. He graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in Economic History from Hull University in 1976 and a PhD from the same university in 1980. In 2003, he received an Honorary Doctor of Letters for outstanding work as a scholar from his alma mater. He joined the History Department at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus in 1979 as a lecturer; in 1984 he transferred to the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados and was promoted to a personal professorship in 1993 at age thirty-seven, the youngest in the history of UWI. Professor Sir Hilary has served the University as Head of the History Department and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities.
Contributor(s): Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Dr Katharine Rake, Professor Anne Power, Jane Waldfogel | Family futures is about family life in areas of concentrated poverty and social problems where surrounding conditions make bringing up children more difficult and family life more fraught and limited. Home and neighbourhood carry special meaning for families, because where they live, how they fit in with their neighbours, and how their children grow up all intertwine, to build a sense of community. This timely book, by acclaimed author Anne Power and her team, is based on a unique longitudinal study of over 200 families interviewed annually over the last decade. It answers three important questions in the words of families themselves: What challenges face families in poor areas? How are the challenges being met? Have government efforts helped or hindered progress over the past decade? This event will have wide appeal to people who work with, live in and care about families and low-income areas. Margaret Hodge is Member of Parliament for Barking. Dr Katharine Rake OBE is Chief Executive Officer at the Family and Parenting Institute. Anne Power is Professor of Social Policy and Head of LSE Housing at LSE. Jane Waldfogel is a professor of social work and public affairs at Columbia University School of Social Work and a visiting professor at the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics.
Contributor(s): Liz Fekete, Dr Naika Foroutan, Dr Myria Georgiou, Nazia Hussain, Lamya Kaddor, Profressor Julian Petley | How can we formulate a vision of the future after the widely proclaimed "failure of multiculturalism"? The London Integration Forum aims at providing a fresh perspective on British and German integration debates bringing together renowned scholars and professionals and framing immigration and integration as fields of learning and exchange. Liz Fekete is the executive director and head of European research at the Institute of Race Relations in London. A leading authority on issues of racism, Islamophobia and national security legislation. Dr Naika Foroutan is director of the research project "Hybrid European-Muslim Identities" (HeyMat) at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Dr Myria Georgiou is lecturer at the LSE Department of Media and Communications, focusing on the areas of diaspora, migration, media and identity. Nazia Hussain is director of the Open Society Institute project "At Home in Europe", directing research on policies and practices relating to integration in different EU cities. Lamya Kaddor is an author on Muslim-German Identity, awarded the "European Muslim Women of Influence" prize by CEDAR in 2010. Julian Petley is Professor of Screen Media and Journalism, Brunel University, Uxbridge & co-editor of Pointing the Finger: Islam and Muslims in the British Media.
Contributor(s): Professor Danny Quah | Your clothes, trainers, Xboxes, TVs and much, much more are all made in the East. And by selling us all this stuff, countries such as China and India are becoming wealthier and more powerful than ever before. But if the East is becoming stronger – is the West becoming weaker? Should we be scared by this? What does it mean for you anyway? In a highly interactive online lecture for schools, Professor Danny Quah explores how the world is changing, with countries such as China and India becoming wealthier and more powerful than ever before. Using simple ideas from economics, he explains why this is happening and what it means for our future. The lecture is most suitable for students in Year 9, and more motivated students in Years 7 and 8 and has been designed with elements of the KS3 citizenship curriculum in mind. It will give students an understanding of: - How the East's economic power is growing and what this means for Western countries such as the UK, and potentially for the students themselves. - The importance of viewing the changes in local, national and global contexts, whilst also taking into account moral, historical and social dimensions of the changes. - What an economy is and how trade works. - The benefits of economic development for a country. - How economics provides a useful way to interpret the world. The Big Questions lecture builds on the approach and success of LSE100 -The LSE Course, the pioneering, compulsory course in which first year LSE students apply rigorous social science thinking to important issues of our time. Danny Quah is Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. . Professor Quah has consulted for among others the World Bank, the Bank of England, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He is a Member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Economic Imbalances. Professor Quah holds degrees from Princeton and Harvard, and was Assistant Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining LSE. In 2010 he was Visiting Professor at the School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University; in 2011, at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. Quah is also Tan Chin Tuan Visiting Professor in the Economics Department at the National University of Singapore. He was born in Malaysia and holds a blackbelt in taekwondo and used to compete regularly in regional and national championships. Both his two teenage sons are much better at Halo Reach on the Xbox than he is, as he is usually splattered by Covenant forces while reloading. The Big Questions Lecture is supported by the LSE HEIF 4 Bid Fund.
Contributor(s): Felipe Larraín Bascuñán | Since March 2010, Felipe Larraín Bascuñán has been the Minister of Finance of the Government of President Sebastián Piñera. Felipe gained a PhD (1985) and Master of Arts (1983) in Economics from Harvard University, and Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Universidad Católica de Chile (1981), he has a vast experience as an international consultant, academician, editor and author of more than 10 books and 120 professional articles, both published in Latin America, U.S.A., Europe and Asia. Since 1996, he has been a Professor of Economics at Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, where he previously served as Associate and Assistant Professor. From 1997 to 2002 he was affiliated to Harvard University, first as the Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor of Latin American Studies (1997-99), then as Faculty Fellow (1999-2002). Since 1985, he has served as economic advisor to several American governments, including Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. Felipe Larraín has been a consultant on macroeconomic issues to the United Nations, the World Bank, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He is the editor and author of ten books, including: Desarrollo Económico en Democracia: Proposiciones para una Sociedad Libre y Solidaria (Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile: Santiago, 1987); Debt, Adjustment and Recovery: Latin America's Prospects for Growth and Development (Basil Blackwell: Oxford and New York, 1989); The Public Sector and the Latin American Crisis (ICS Press: San Francisco, 1991); Chile Hacia el 2000 (CEP: Santiago, Chile, 1994); La Transformación Económica de Chile (CEP: Santiago, Chile, 2000); Capital Flows, Capital Controls and Currency Crises: Latin America in the 1990s (University of Michigan Press, 2000); Economic Development in Central America, Vols I and II (Harvard University Press, 2001); and Macroeconomics at Practice (Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2004).
Contributor(s): Andrea Colantonio, Tim Dixon, Brian Field, Jan Olbrycht | Urban regeneration is a key focus for public policy throughout Europe. This launch marks an examination of social sustainability through the analysis of its meaning and significance. The authors will offer a comprehensive European perspective to identify best practice in sustainable urban regeneration in five major cities in Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, and the UK. Respondents will discuss current policy thinking and the future of the EU Urban Agenda. Andrea Colantonio is Research Coordinator at LSE Cities. Tim Dixon is Director of the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development, Oxford Brookes University. Brian Field is Urban Specialist with the European Investment Bank. Jan Olbrycht is MEP and Chair of the Urban Intergroup, European Parliament. Anne Power is Professor with the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
Contributor(s): Sir Michael Bichard, Matt Briggs, Guy Ker, Simon Boniwell, Nick Chapman, David Dinsdale, Patrick Dunleavy, Harry Metcalfe, Ivo Gormley, William Heath, Teresa Perchaud, Kevin McLean, Mark O'Neill, Jerry Fishenden, Martin Ferguson | LSE Public Policy Group, LSE Moving Social Security Online Conference, Wednesday 29 June 2011. In the present fiscal climate, governments must cut the costs of delivering services at the same time as maintaining quality. They must also cope with the demands of increasing numbers of the unemployed and the aging. A key imperative therefore is to move the bulk of social security processes and transactions online. Introduction: Designing Social Security, Sir Michael Bichard, Design Council. Session 1: Moving social security online: the current UK view, Matt Briggs (Programme Manager, Tell Us Once, Department for Work and Pensions), Guy Ker (Publishing Director, Directgov), Simon Boniwell (Strategy Unit, Department for Work and Pensions). Session 2: Government services online: other policy areas, Nick Chapman (Chief Executive, NHS Direct), David Dinsdale (ex Director of Businesslink), Patrick Dunleavy (Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, LSE). Session 3: Designing technology changes to social security, Harry Metcalfe (The Dextrous Web), Ivo Gormley (Thinkpublic) – Case study on transforming public services. Session 4: Information and citizen focused innovation, William Heath (Chairman, Mydex), Teresa Perchaud (Director of Policy, Citizens Advice Bureaux), Kevin McLean (UK Online Centres). Session 5: Designing online social security for the future, Mark O’Neill (Head of Skunkworks and CIO, CLG and DCMS), Jerry Fishenden (Advisor, PASC IT inquiry and ex Head of Technology, Microsoft).
Contributor(s): Sir Michael Bichard, Matt Briggs, Guy Ker, Simon Boniwell, Nick Chapman, David Dinsdale, Patrick Dunleavy, Harry Metcalfe, Ivo Gormley, William Heath, Teresa Perchaud, Kevin McLean, Mark O'Neill, Jerry Fishenden, Martin Ferguson | LSE Public Policy Group, LSE Moving Social Security Online Conference, Wednesday 29 June 2011. In the present fiscal climate, governments must cut the costs of delivering services at the same time as maintaining quality. They must also cope with the demands of increasing numbers of the unemployed and the aging. A key imperative therefore is to move the bulk of social security processes and transactions online. Introduction: Designing Social Security, Sir Michael Bichard, Design Council. Session 1: Moving social security online: the current UK view, Matt Briggs (Programme Manager, Tell Us Once, Department for Work and Pensions), Guy Ker (Publishing Director, Directgov), Simon Boniwell (Strategy Unit, Department for Work and Pensions). Session 2: Government services online: other policy areas, Nick Chapman (Chief Executive, NHS Direct), David Dinsdale (ex Director of Businesslink), Patrick Dunleavy (Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, LSE). Session 3: Designing technology changes to social security, Harry Metcalfe (The Dextrous Web), Ivo Gormley (Thinkpublic) – Case study on transforming public services. Session 4: Information and citizen focused innovation, William Heath (Chairman, Mydex), Teresa Perchaud (Director of Policy, Citizens Advice Bureaux), Kevin McLean (UK Online Centres). Session 5: Designing online social security for the future, Mark O’Neill (Head of Skunkworks and CIO, CLG and DCMS), Jerry Fishenden (Advisor, PASC IT inquiry and ex Head of Technology, Microsoft).
Contributor(s): Sir Michael Bichard, Matt Briggs, Guy Ker, Simon Boniwell, Nick Chapman, David Dinsdale, Patrick Dunleavy, Harry Metcalfe, Ivo Gormley, William Heath, Teresa Perchaud, Kevin McLean, Mark O'Neill, Jerry Fishenden, Martin Ferguson | LSE Public Policy Group, LSE Moving Social Security Online Conference, Wednesday 29 June 2011. In the present fiscal climate, governments must cut the costs of delivering services at the same time as maintaining quality. They must also cope with the demands of increasing numbers of the unemployed and the aging. A key imperative therefore is to move the bulk of social security processes and transactions online. Introduction: Designing Social Security, Sir Michael Bichard, Design Council. Session 1: Moving social security online: the current UK view, Matt Briggs (Programme Manager, Tell Us Once, Department for Work and Pensions), Guy Ker (Publishing Director, Directgov), Simon Boniwell (Strategy Unit, Department for Work and Pensions). Session 2: Government services online: other policy areas, Nick Chapman (Chief Executive, NHS Direct), David Dinsdale (ex Director of Businesslink), Patrick Dunleavy (Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, LSE). Session 3: Designing technology changes to social security, Harry Metcalfe (The Dextrous Web), Ivo Gormley (Thinkpublic) – Case study on transforming public services. Session 4: Information and citizen focused innovation, William Heath (Chairman, Mydex), Teresa Perchaud (Director of Policy, Citizens Advice Bureaux), Kevin McLean (UK Online Centres). Session 5: Designing online social security for the future, Mark O’Neill (Head of Skunkworks and CIO, CLG and DCMS), Jerry Fishenden (Advisor, PASC IT inquiry and ex Head of Technology, Microsoft).
Contributor(s): Sir Michael Bichard, Matt Briggs, Guy Ker, Simon Boniwell, Nick Chapman, David Dinsdale, Patrick Dunleavy, Harry Metcalfe, Ivo Gormley, William Heath, Teresa Perchaud, Kevin McLean, Mark O'Neill, Jerry Fishenden, Martin Ferguson | LSE Public Policy Group, LSE Moving Social Security Online Conference, Wednesday 29 June 2011. In the present fiscal climate, governments must cut the costs of delivering services at the same time as maintaining quality. They must also cope with the demands of increasing numbers of the unemployed and the aging. A key imperative therefore is to move the bulk of social security processes and transactions online. Introduction: Designing Social Security, Sir Michael Bichard, Design Council. Session 1: Moving social security online: the current UK view, Matt Briggs (Programme Manager, Tell Us Once, Department for Work and Pensions), Guy Ker (Publishing Director, Directgov), Simon Boniwell (Strategy Unit, Department for Work and Pensions). Session 2: Government services online: other policy areas, Nick Chapman (Chief Executive, NHS Direct), David Dinsdale (ex Director of Businesslink), Patrick Dunleavy (Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, LSE). Session 3: Designing technology changes to social security, Harry Metcalfe (The Dextrous Web), Ivo Gormley (Thinkpublic) – Case study on transforming public services. Session 4: Information and citizen focused innovation, William Heath (Chairman, Mydex), Teresa Perchaud (Director of Policy, Citizens Advice Bureaux), Kevin McLean (UK Online Centres). Session 5: Designing online social security for the future, Mark O’Neill (Head of Skunkworks and CIO, CLG and DCMS), Jerry Fishenden (Advisor, PASC IT inquiry and ex Head of Technology, Microsoft).
Contributor(s): Sir Michael Bichard, Matt Briggs, Guy Ker, Simon Boniwell, Nick Chapman, David Dinsdale, Patrick Dunleavy, Harry Metcalfe, Ivo Gormley, William Heath, Teresa Perchaud, Kevin McLean, Mark O'Neill, Jerry Fishenden, Martin Ferguson | LSE Public Policy Group, LSE Moving Social Security Online Conference, Wednesday 29 June 2011. In the present fiscal climate, governments must cut the costs of delivering services at the same time as maintaining quality. They must also cope with the demands of increasing numbers of the unemployed and the aging. A key imperative therefore is to move the bulk of social security processes and transactions online. Introduction: Designing Social Security, Sir Michael Bichard, Design Council. Session 1: Moving social security online: the current UK view, Matt Briggs (Programme Manager, Tell Us Once, Department for Work and Pensions), Guy Ker (Publishing Director, Directgov), Simon Boniwell (Strategy Unit, Department for Work and Pensions). Session 2: Government services online: other policy areas, Nick Chapman (Chief Executive, NHS Direct), David Dinsdale (ex Director of Businesslink), Patrick Dunleavy (Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, LSE). Session 3: Designing technology changes to social security, Harry Metcalfe (The Dextrous Web), Ivo Gormley (Thinkpublic) – Case study on transforming public services. Session 4: Information and citizen focused innovation, William Heath (Chairman, Mydex), Teresa Perchaud (Director of Policy, Citizens Advice Bureaux), Kevin McLean (UK Online Centres). Session 5: Designing online social security for the future, Mark O’Neill (Head of Skunkworks and CIO, CLG and DCMS), Jerry Fishenden (Advisor, PASC IT inquiry and ex Head of Technology, Microsoft).
Contributor(s): Rudy Demotte | In the 19th century the Belgian region of Wallonia was the second industrial power of the world after England. Then, in the 1950s, came rapid and seemingly unstoppable decline. Now, with exports and investment rising, there is a growing perception that Wallonia is finally turning the corner. How is it doing so? Rudy Demotte is Minister President of the Belgian region of Wallonia and President of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Before becoming Minister President, Rudy Demotte previously served as Minister for the National Health System and for Social Affairs, Minister for Budget, Culture and Sport for the French-speaking community, and Federal Minister for Economy and Scientific Research. Maurice Fraser is Director of the LSE European Institute. This event is organised in association with the Belgian Embassy in London and the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain.
Contributor(s): Suzanne Moore, Max Mosley, David Price, Hugh Tomlinson | A public debate to celebrate the launch of the new issue of Index on Censorship magazine, Privacy is dead! Long live privacy. Index editor Jo Glanville chairs a panel featuring Hugh Tomlinson QC, who represents Ryan Giggs, former F1 president Max Mosley and Imogen Thomas' lawyer David Price, who will discuss gagging orders, tabloid intrusion and the right to a private life. Are injunctions a means to uphold our human rights or an unjust anachronism after the recent Twitter exposés? Should Article 10, the right to freedom of expression, trump Article 8, the right to respect for a private life? Are celebrities' personal lives fair game? Suzanne Moore is an award-winning columnist for the Guardian and the Mail on Sunday. Max Mosley is the former president of Formula One. David Price QC is the founder of London media law firm David Price Solicitors & Advocatesis. Hugh Tomlinson QC of Matrix Chambers is a noted specialist in media and information law including defamation, confidence, privacy and data protection. His practice also includes advisory work and litigation in the freedom of information field.
Contributor(s): Phillip Blond, Jonathan Douglas, Professor John White | Three debates will examine the theoretical, practical and policy implications of teaching philosophy to children in primary and secondary school settings in the UK. Phillip Blond is director of ResPublica. Jonathan Douglas is director of The National Literacy Trust. John White is emeritus professor of philosophy of education in the Institute of Education, University of London.
Contributor(s): Dr Rami Zurayk | In his lecture, Rami Zurayk will discuss his current work on food and de-development in Gaza and the use of food insecurity as a weapon of siege. He will also look at Egypt and its post-revolution agricultural policies. Rami Zurayk is an agronomy professor at the American University of Beirut and a longtime activist for political and social justice. Born in Beirut during the 1958 U.S. Marines' landing in Lebanon, he has witnessed two Israeli-Arab wars, one protracted civil war, one major Israeli invasion, one Israeli retreat and one Israeli defeat. He studied at AUB and at Oxford University. He has published over a hundred articles, monographs and technical reports on agriculture, food, environment and education. His most recent book Food, Farming and Freedom: Sowing the Arab Spring was published this May.
Contributor(s): Dr Katerina Deligiorgi, Dr Angela Hobbs, Dr Vivienne Orchar | Three debates will examine the theoretical, practical and policy implications of teaching philosophy to children in primary and secondary school settings in the UK. Katerina Deligiorgi is senior lecturer in literature and philosophy at the University of Sussex. Angela Hobbs is senior fellow in the public understanding of philosophy at the University of Warwick. Vivienne Orchard is lecturer in French at the University of Southampton.
Contributor(s): Dr Mary Healy, Dr John Taylor, Peter Worley | Three debates will examine the theoretical, practical and policy implications of teaching philosophy to children in primary and secondary school settings in the UK. Mary Healy is senior lecturer in education at Roehampton University. John Taylor is director of critical studies at Rugby School. Peter Worley is chief executive officer of The Philosophy Shop.
Contributor(s): Jean-Michel Severino, Martin Wolf | Two of the world's top commentators on economics, development and finance discuss some of the most pressing global imbalances and the social challenges that they pose in the years ahead. Jean-Michel Severino is general inspector of finances, French Ministry of Finance. Martin Wolf is associate editor and chief economics commentator at the Financial Times.
Contributor(s): Michael Shackleton, David Curry, Sara Hagemann, Hugo Brady | The launch of the 8th edition of the "The European Parliament" by Richard Corbett, Francis Jacobs and Michael Shackleton offers a timely opportunity to reflect on the development of this fascinating institution. Following the Lisbon Treaty, has the European Parliament reached the apogee of its powers, or is there still more for the MEPs' to influence? And, after a record low in voter participation in the 2009 European Parliament elections, what can or should the European Parliament do to increase its legitimacy?
Contributor(s): Philip Davies | It is almost thirty years since the American social scientist Carol Weiss noted that social science findings and evaluation evidence "were not having visible impacts on policy decisions". Weiss went on to suggest that "this is not the same as saying that research findings have little influence on policy", but that the influence that they do have is more subtle and indirect. This seminar will consider the various ways in which research gets into policy and practice, as well as the barriers to the successful transfer of research evidence. It will argue that there are some structural reasons why there is a gap between the research and policy making communities, but that this gap can be filled if the subtle and indirect methods of knowledge translation and knowledge transfer are understood and respected.
Contributor(s): Professor Stephen Nickell | This lecture will look at immigration and its economic effects including the contribution to population growth. Why does housing not keep up with population growth? More generally, why do we find it so hard to house our population decently? Stephen Nickell is warden of Nuffield College, Oxford and a member of the Budget Responsibility Committee at the Office for Budget Responsibility. Professor John Van Reenen is Director of the Centre of Economic Performance (CEP) at LSE.
Contributor(s): Eli Pariser | Imagine a world where all the news you see is defined by your salary, where you live, and who your friends are. Imagine a world where you never discover new ideas. And where you can't have secrets. Welcome to 2011. Google and Facebook are already feeding you what they think you want to see. Advertisers are following your every click. Your computer monitor is becoming a one-way mirror, reflecting your interests and reinforcing your prejudices. The internet is no longer a free, independent space. It is commercially controlled and ever more personalised. In this talk, Eli Pariser will reveal how this hidden web is starting to control our lives – and shows what we can do about it. Eli Pariser is a pioneer in online campaigning. He helped start Avaaz.org, one of the world's largest citizen organizations, and is now President of the five-million member MoveOn.org. He's a Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. He has written for the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. This event celebrates the publication of his new book The Filter Bubble: What The Internet Is Hiding From You.
Contributor(s): Professor Yves Tiberghien | In the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008 and at the time of major impasses regarding both the future of the global trading regime and the Kyoto protocol, the global economic governance is in the midst of major uncertainties. The G20 process presents the most systematic effort since 1971 to rebalance the relation between market and governance and to establish an integrated structure of global governance. It has also become the key focal point of a new geopolitical "Great Game". At stake is not just the long-term sustainability of both the global financial and global trading systems and the balance between these two systems; but also the distribution of gains among nations and the transition of power from the US (and to a secondary extent Europe and Japan) to China and other emerging powers (India and Brazil). This talk offers both a conceptual approach to the balance between global rules and global markets at a time of major rebalancing and an empirical review of large issues embedded in the G20 process. It argues that China is the pivotal player in the G20 game and raises questions about the role and preferences of China and Japan in this larger process. As well, it raises question about the strategic position played by the UK. Professor Yves Tiberghien (Ph.D. Stanford University) is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia and a Research Associate at Science Po Paris. He specializes in comparative political economy and international political economy with empirical focus on Japan, China, and Europe. In 2007, Cornell University Press published his new book Entrepreneurial States: Reforming Corporate Governance in France, Japan, and Korea. Professor Tiberghien is currently working on a new multi-year project on the roles of Japan and China in global governance, as well as a project on the political consequences of economic inequality in Japan.
Contributor(s): Ed Balls | Ed Balls is the Labour & Co-operative MP for Morley and Outwood and Shadow Chancellor. He was previously MP for Normanton (2005-2010) and Labour's Shadow Home Secretary (2010-11), Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (2007-2010) and Economic Secretary to the Treasury (2006-2007). Ed brought together schools and children's policy for the first time in the Children's Plan and pushed through radical and progressive policies including raising the education and training age to 18, reform of the social work profession, establishing the support staff negotiating body and extra investment in youth services and short breaks for disabled children and their families. In opposition (1994-1997) and then as chief economic adviser to the Treasury (1997-2004) Ed worked on policies including independence of the Bank of England, the windfall tax and New Deal jobs programme, Sure Start, tax credits and the national minimum wage.
Contributor(s): Professor Michael Cox, Fadi Hakura, Professor Şevket Pamuk | Turkey's international role has grown in recent years as its economy has boomed under the direction of Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Davutoglu's much-vaunted 'Strategic Depth' foreign policy doctrine. But as Turkey goes to the polls in a general election, what will be the impact of the result on its international role? This event marks the launch of a major new research report from LSE IDEAS entitled 'Turkey's Global Strategy'. Professor Michael Cox is Co-director of LSE IDEAS and Professor of International Relations at LSE. Fadi Hakura is the manager of the Turkey Project at the Chatham House. Professor Sevket Pamuk is Chair of Contemporary Turkish Studies at the European Institute.
Contributor(s): Lord Glasman, Jesse Norman MP | David Cameron has championed the 'big society' as his big idea for government; Ed Miliband has countered with the 'good society'. Two of the thinkers behind these concepts debate what is at stake in rethinking the role of the state in contemporary Britain. Maurice Glasman was raised to Baron Glasman of Stoke Newington and of Stamford Hill in 2011. Jesse Norman is the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire and author of The Big Society.
Contributor(s): Professor Benny Morris | The lecture will look at various aspects, some of them innovative, of the 1948 War, the first between the Arabs and Israel. Benny Morris is professor of Middle East history at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and is the author of several books on Israeli history, including The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited.
Contributor(s): Dr Rajiv Shah | In the process of implementing one of the most sweeping sets of reforms in its history, the U.S. Agency for International Development is transforming the way it delivers development assistance. Administrator Rajiv Shah will discuss how fundamental reforms, coordinated approaches, and new U.S. Presidential initiatives on food security and global health are helping achieve more effective, cost-efficient, results-oriented development. Dr Rajiv Shah was sworn in as the 16th Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on December 31, 2009. USAID, a U.S. Government agency, has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for almost 50 years. Dr Purna Sen is a Senior Visiting Fellow at DID and Head of Human Rights, Commonwealth Secretariat. Prior to his Dr Sen was with Amnesty International as Director for the Asia-Pacific Programme and had previously taught Gender and Development at the Development Studies Institute (DESTIN) at LSE.
Contributor(s): Professor Chris Frith, Dr Alex Gillespie, Professor Dermot Moran | How do we create our world through shared experiences? What are the psychological and physiological mechanisms that underlie our abilities to relate to and interact with others? Chris Frith is emeritus professor of psychology in the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL. Alex Gillespie is senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Stirling. Dermot Moran is professor of philosophy at University College Dublin.
Contributor(s): Jean-Claude Trichet | The Stamp Memorial Lecture is in memory of Josiah Charles Stamp, an alumnus and former governor of LSE. The recent financial crisis has been a turbulent period for policy-makers around the world. Originating in and mostly affecting the financial sector, it has forced central banks to take unprecedented steps to contain the situation and its fallout for the real economy. Overall, this has been achieved, and economic activity is gradually recovering around the world. Risks remain, however, including systemic risks, and the advanced economies are still a long way from achieving sustainable economic growth and job creation. Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), explains how his institution reacted swiftly to the challenges of the financial crisis through non-standard measures. However, at the same time, it has continued to remain faithful to its mandate of maintaining price stability in the euro area over the medium term through standard monetary policy measures. Looking ahead, Mr Trichet also argues that the unwavering actions of the ECB and its decision-making bodies need to be paralleled by a quantum leap in the economic governance of the euro area. The citizens of the euro area want stronger and better coordination of economic and financial policies and are calling for governments to deliver a deeper and more effective economic union.
Contributor(s): Various - see description for details | Academics are increasingly being pressed to provide evidence of impact from their research on the world outside academia. And universities will have to provide evidence of impact as part of the new Research Excellence Framework. But there is confusion about the different definitions of impact that exist amongst funding bodies and research councils, and also about methods of measuring impact. This one day conference will look at a range of issues surrounding the impact of academic work on government, business, communities and public debate. We will discuss what impact is, how impacts happen and innovative ways that academics can communicate their work. Practical sessions will look at how academic work has impact among policymaking and business communities. Also how academic communication can be improved and how individual academics can easily start to asses their own impact. 11:30 – Welcome and introduction, Professor Patrick Dunleavy. 11:45 – Panel 1: Current Thinking in Assessing Impact - Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Professor Alan Hughes (Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge), Tomas Ulrichsen (Public and Corporate Economic Associates), Chair: Simon Hix, Government Department, LSE. 12:45 - Panel 2: Innovative Methods for Impact and Engagement, Charlie Beckett (Director of POLIS, London School of Economics), Professor Stephen Curry (blogger, Imperial College London), Paul Manners (Director, National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement, UWE), Dr Martyn Lawrence (Senior Publisher, Emerald Group Publishing), Mike Peel (Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics / Wikimedia UK), Chair: Dr Bart Cammaerts, Media and Communications, LSE. 14:00 - Session A: Academic impact on policy-making, Maria O’Beirne (Analysis and Innovation Directorate, Department for Communities and Local Government), Jill Rutter (Better Policy Making Programme Director, Institute for Government), James Johns (Director of Strategy for Civil Government, HP), Chair: Dr Edgar Whitley, information Systems Group, LSE. 14:00 Session B: A 'how to' guide to measuring your own academic impact, Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Jane Tinkler (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics). 16:00 Session C: Knowledge transfer and the role of research mediators, Nick Pearce (Director, IPPR), Professor Judy Sebba (University of Sussex), Daniel Lindsay (Senior Economic Analyst, Shelter), Chair: Professor Sonia Livingstone, LSE Media, LSE. 16:00 Session D: Improving academic communication, Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Chris Gilson (Managing Editor, British Politics and Policy blog, London School of Economics). 17:15 Concluding Panel: Research Impact and the REF, Professor Rick Rylance (Chief Executive, Arts and Humanities Research Council), David Sweeney (Director of Research, Innovation and Skills, HEFCE), Professor Paul Wiles (Panel Chair, social work and social policy panel, REF impact pilot), Astrid Wissenberg (Director of Partnerships and Communications, Economic and Social Research Council), Chair: Tony Travers, LSE Greater London Group.
Contributor(s): Various - see description for details | Academics are increasingly being pressed to provide evidence of impact from their research on the world outside academia. And universities will have to provide evidence of impact as part of the new Research Excellence Framework. But there is confusion about the different definitions of impact that exist amongst funding bodies and research councils, and also about methods of measuring impact. This one day conference will look at a range of issues surrounding the impact of academic work on government, business, communities and public debate. We will discuss what impact is, how impacts happen and innovative ways that academics can communicate their work. Practical sessions will look at how academic work has impact among policymaking and business communities. Also how academic communication can be improved and how individual academics can easily start to asses their own impact. 11:30 – Welcome and introduction, Professor Patrick Dunleavy. 11:45 – Panel 1: Current Thinking in Assessing Impact - Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Professor Alan Hughes (Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge), Tomas Ulrichsen (Public and Corporate Economic Associates), Chair: Simon Hix, Government Department, LSE. 12:45 - Panel 2: Innovative Methods for Impact and Engagement, Charlie Beckett (Director of POLIS, London School of Economics), Professor Stephen Curry (blogger, Imperial College London), Paul Manners (Director, National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement, UWE), Dr Martyn Lawrence (Senior Publisher, Emerald Group Publishing), Mike Peel (Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics / Wikimedia UK), Chair: Dr Bart Cammaerts, Media and Communications, LSE. 14:00 - Session A: Academic impact on policy-making, Maria O’Beirne (Analysis and Innovation Directorate, Department for Communities and Local Government), Jill Rutter (Better Policy Making Programme Director, Institute for Government), James Johns (Director of Strategy for Civil Government, HP), Chair: Dr Edgar Whitley, information Systems Group, LSE. 14:00 Session B: A 'how to' guide to measuring your own academic impact, Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Jane Tinkler (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics). 16:00 Session C: Knowledge transfer and the role of research mediators, Nick Pearce (Director, IPPR), Professor Judy Sebba (University of Sussex), Daniel Lindsay (Senior Economic Analyst, Shelter), Chair: Professor Sonia Livingstone, LSE Media, LSE. 16:00 Session D: Improving academic communication, Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Chris Gilson (Managing Editor, British Politics and Policy blog, London School of Economics). 17:15 Concluding Panel: Research Impact and the REF, Professor Rick Rylance (Chief Executive, Arts and Humanities Research Council), David Sweeney (Director of Research, Innovation and Skills, HEFCE), Professor Paul Wiles (Panel Chair, social work and social policy panel, REF impact pilot), Astrid Wissenberg (Director of Partnerships and Communications, Economic and Social Research Council), Chair: Tony Travers, LSE Greater London Group.
Contributor(s): Various - see description for details | Academics are increasingly being pressed to provide evidence of impact from their research on the world outside academia. And universities will have to provide evidence of impact as part of the new Research Excellence Framework. But there is confusion about the different definitions of impact that exist amongst funding bodies and research councils, and also about methods of measuring impact. This one day conference will look at a range of issues surrounding the impact of academic work on government, business, communities and public debate. We will discuss what impact is, how impacts happen and innovative ways that academics can communicate their work. Practical sessions will look at how academic work has impact among policymaking and business communities. Also how academic communication can be improved and how individual academics can easily start to asses their own impact. 11:30 – Welcome and introduction, Professor Patrick Dunleavy. 11:45 – Panel 1: Current Thinking in Assessing Impact - Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Professor Alan Hughes (Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge), Tomas Ulrichsen (Public and Corporate Economic Associates), Chair: Simon Hix, Government Department, LSE. 12:45 - Panel 2: Innovative Methods for Impact and Engagement, Charlie Beckett (Director of POLIS, London School of Economics), Professor Stephen Curry (blogger, Imperial College London), Paul Manners (Director, National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement, UWE), Dr Martyn Lawrence (Senior Publisher, Emerald Group Publishing), Mike Peel (Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics / Wikimedia UK), Chair: Dr Bart Cammaerts, Media and Communications, LSE. 14:00 - Session A: Academic impact on policy-making, Maria O’Beirne (Analysis and Innovation Directorate, Department for Communities and Local Government), Jill Rutter (Better Policy Making Programme Director, Institute for Government), James Johns (Director of Strategy for Civil Government, HP), Chair: Dr Edgar Whitley, information Systems Group, LSE. 14:00 Session B: A 'how to' guide to measuring your own academic impact, Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Jane Tinkler (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics). 16:00 Session C: Knowledge transfer and the role of research mediators, Nick Pearce (Director, IPPR), Professor Judy Sebba (University of Sussex), Daniel Lindsay (Senior Economic Analyst, Shelter), Chair: Professor Sonia Livingstone, LSE Media, LSE. 16:00 Session D: Improving academic communication, Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Chris Gilson (Managing Editor, British Politics and Policy blog, London School of Economics). 17:15 Concluding Panel: Research Impact and the REF, Professor Rick Rylance (Chief Executive, Arts and Humanities Research Council), David Sweeney (Director of Research, Innovation and Skills, HEFCE), Professor Paul Wiles (Panel Chair, social work and social policy panel, REF impact pilot), Astrid Wissenberg (Director of Partnerships and Communications, Economic and Social Research Council), Chair: Tony Travers, LSE Greater London Group.
Contributor(s): Various - see description for details | Academics are increasingly being pressed to provide evidence of impact from their research on the world outside academia. And universities will have to provide evidence of impact as part of the new Research Excellence Framework. But there is confusion about the different definitions of impact that exist amongst funding bodies and research councils, and also about methods of measuring impact. This one day conference will look at a range of issues surrounding the impact of academic work on government, business, communities and public debate. We will discuss what impact is, how impacts happen and innovative ways that academics can communicate their work. Practical sessions will look at how academic work has impact among policymaking and business communities. Also how academic communication can be improved and how individual academics can easily start to asses their own impact. 11:30 – Welcome and introduction, Professor Patrick Dunleavy. 11:45 – Panel 1: Current Thinking in Assessing Impact - Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Professor Alan Hughes (Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge), Tomas Ulrichsen (Public and Corporate Economic Associates), Chair: Simon Hix, Government Department, LSE. 12:45 - Panel 2: Innovative Methods for Impact and Engagement, Charlie Beckett (Director of POLIS, London School of Economics), Professor Stephen Curry (blogger, Imperial College London), Paul Manners (Director, National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement, UWE), Dr Martyn Lawrence (Senior Publisher, Emerald Group Publishing), Mike Peel (Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics / Wikimedia UK), Chair: Dr Bart Cammaerts, Media and Communications, LSE. 14:00 - Session A: Academic impact on policy-making, Maria O’Beirne (Analysis and Innovation Directorate, Department for Communities and Local Government), Jill Rutter (Better Policy Making Programme Director, Institute for Government), James Johns (Director of Strategy for Civil Government, HP), Chair: Dr Edgar Whitley, information Systems Group, LSE. 14:00 Session B: A 'how to' guide to measuring your own academic impact, Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Jane Tinkler (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics). 16:00 Session C: Knowledge transfer and the role of research mediators, Nick Pearce (Director, IPPR), Professor Judy Sebba (University of Sussex), Daniel Lindsay (Senior Economic Analyst, Shelter), Chair: Professor Sonia Livingstone, LSE Media, LSE. 16:00 Session D: Improving academic communication, Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Chris Gilson (Managing Editor, British Politics and Policy blog, London School of Economics). 17:15 Concluding Panel: Research Impact and the REF, Professor Rick Rylance (Chief Executive, Arts and Humanities Research Council), David Sweeney (Director of Research, Innovation and Skills, HEFCE), Professor Paul Wiles (Panel Chair, social work and social policy panel, REF impact pilot), Astrid Wissenberg (Director of Partnerships and Communications, Economic and Social Research Council), Chair: Tony Travers, LSE Greater London Group.
Contributor(s): Sadiq Khan MP | Sadiq Khan will explain Labour's approach to human rights. Sadiq Khan is shadow lord chancellor and shadow secretary of state for justice.
Contributor(s): Shahnaz Husain | Over the last few years, India has become one of the fastest-growing economies. Shahnaz Husain's experience is in organic / Ayurvedic beauty care, which has become relevant to the modern world. The world is looking at holistic systems with enlightened eyes. There is a growing global market for alternative medicine and herbal products. Cultural industries also play an important role in the economy, in terms of economic growth, social stability, and generating employment, creating wealth and also preserving culture. In fact, it has been seen that cultural industries have contributed to a rapid rise in GDP. In the present scenario of globalisation, our challenge is to develop holistic beauty and health care for the international market. Shahnaz Husain, pioneer and leader of organic beauty care, has received international acclaim for the practical application of an ancient, holistic, herbal healing system. Today, she heads the largest organisation of its kind in the world with a global network of franchise ventures and over 350 organic formulations for beauty and health care. Her name has become a brand and she herself is the brand ambassador. She has been awarded the Padma Shri, a civilian award by the Government of India in 2006 and Success Magazine's "World's Greatest Woman Entrepreneur" award in 1996.
Contributor(s): Peter Godwin | Peter Godwin is an award-winning foreign correspondent, author, documentary-maker and screen writer. After practicing human rights law in Zimbabwe, he became a foreign and war correspondent, and has reported from over 60 countries, including wars in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Somalia, Congo, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kashmir and the last years of apartheid South Africa. He served as East European correspondent and Diplomatic correspondent for the London Sunday Times, and chief correspondent for BBC television's flagship foreign affairs program, Assignment, making documentaries from such places as Cuba, Panama, Indonesia, Pakistan, Spain, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltics, and the Balkans as it descended into war. His film, The Industry of Death, about the sex trade in Thailand, won the gold medal for investigative film at the New York Film Festival. He is the author of five non fiction books: Rhodesians Never Die - The Impact of war and Political Change on White Rhodesia c.1970 - 1980 (with Ian Hancock), Wild at Heart: Man and Beast in Southern Africa (with photos by Chris Johns and foreword by Nelson Mandela), The Three of Us - a New Life in New York (with Joanna Coles) and Mukiwa, which received the George Orwell prize and the Esquire-Apple-Waterstones award. When a Crocodile Eats the Sun - a Memoir of Africa, won the Borders Original Voices Award, and was selected by American Libraries Association as a Notable Book winner for 2008.
Contributor(s): Dr Ehtisham Ahmad | Does China need to conduct another "fundamental rethink" of the fiscal system as in 1993/4? The 1994 reforms have served the country well, but are inadequate in relation to the needs of local governments, and the stage of development that China now finds itself at. In particular, spending assignments that were not addressed in 1994 need to be tackled, along with own-source revenues to lead to greater sub-national responsibility and accountability, as well as levels of investment needed to maintain sustainable employment opportunities. A comprehensive reform is suggested, including revisiting tax and spending assignments, furthering domestic resource mobilization, as well as a redesign of transfers, budget systems, and development of local and municipal financing mechanisms. Ehtisham Ahmad, currently at the Asia Research Center at the LSE, and ZEF at the University of Bonn, has held senior positions over the past two decades in the IMF (senior advisor, Executive Board; advisor and Division Chief, Fiscal Affairs Department). He was on the team for the 1990 World Development Report "Poverty", and was director of the Development Economics Research Program, STCERD, LSE 1986-90, and at Warwick University (1980 to 1986). He has participated in or led several Bank and Fund missions to China since 1988. He is co-editor (with Giorgio Brosio) of the Handbook of Fiscal Federalism, and Does Decentralization Enhance Service Delivery and Poverty Reduction? Some earlier books include Theory and Practice of Tax Reform in Developing Countries; 1991 (with Nicholas Stern); Social Security in Developing Countries, 1992 (with Jean Dreze, John Hills and Amartya Sen).
Contributor(s): Dr Jose-Luis Fernandez, Professor Julien Forder, Philipp Hessel, Dr Tiziana Leone, Raphael Wittenberg, Professor Mike Murphy | Programme: Welcome from Chair - Professor Martin Knapp (co-director LSE Health and Social Care). The effect of "social participation" on the subjective and objective health status of the over 50: evidence from SHARE - Dr Tiziana Leone and Philipp Hessel (LSE Health). The economics and fiscal sustainability of long-term care for older people - Raphael Wittenberg (PSSRU, LSE). The impact of budget cuts on social care services for older people - Dr Jose-Luis Fernandez and Professor Julien Forder (PSSRU, LSE and Kent).
Contributor(s): Professor James Robinson | Countries grow economically if they can build inclusive economic institutions. They stagnate if they have exclusive institutions. It is political conflicts and how they are resolved which determines the path a society follows. James Robinson is David Florence Professor of Government at Harvard University.
Contributor(s): Professor Andrew Clark, Dr Antti Kauppinen | Is there more to happiness than pleasure or belief that life is going well? Should public policy aim at increasing happiness instead of prosperity or social justice? Andrew Clark is a CNRS research professor at the Paris School of Economics and a research associate at the Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. Antti Kauppinen is lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Trinity College Dublin.
Contributor(s): Tim Harford | In this lecture, Tim Harford, the author, radio presenter and newspaper columnist looks at the lessons we can learn from the financial crisis and how the collapse of Lehman Brothers has close parallels in disasters such as Three Mile Island and Deepwater Horizon. This lecture marks the launch of Tim Harford's new book Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure. Tim Harford is a member of the Financial Times editorial board. His column, "The Undercover Economist", which reveals the economic ideas behind everyday experiences, is published in the Financial Times and syndicated around the world. He is also the only economist in the world to run a problem page, "Dear Economist", in which FT readers' personal problems are answered tongue-in-cheek with the latest economic theory.
Contributor(s): Rhian Benson | A conversation with award-winning artist and LSE alumna Rhian Benson, hosted by journalist Emma Warren, discussing Rhian's time as a student at LSE, as well as her subsequent musical achievements and her involvement with World Bank's 'Young Africans Talk Development' initiative.
Contributor(s): Professor Francesco Caselli, Philip Coggan, David Sington, Professor Robert Wade | Today, a question haunts America: what exactly caused the world's greatest economy to crash and burn? And why is it so slow to recover? In THE FLAW Sundance award-winning documentary filmmaker David Sington sets out to find the answer. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with: Professor Francesco Caselli is the Director of Macroeconics Program in the Centre for Economic Performance and Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics here at LSE. Philip Coggan is the Buttonwood columnist of The Economist. Previously, he worked for the Financial Times for 20 years, most recently as Investment Editor. In that post, he founded the 'Short View' column and wrote the 'Long View' and 'Last Word' columns. In 2009, he was voted Senior Financial Journalist of the Year in the Wincott awards and best communicator in the business journalist of the year awards. Among his books are The Money Machine, a guide to the city that is still in print after 25 years and The Economist Guide to Hedge Funds. David Sington, Director of The Flaw, has been making award-winning films for twenty years. He has filmed on every continent on the planet, from the Amazon to the Antarctic. His films have helped to free the innocent, convict the guilty and have changed government policy. He has won numerous awards, including a Grierson Award, two WildScreen Pandas, and Gold and Silver Hugos. His most recent film, In the Shadow of the Moon about the Apollo astronauts, was an Audience Award winner at the Sundance Festival and became one of the best-reviewed cinema releases of 2007, with general releases in the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Germany and France. Professor Robert Wade is Professor of Political Economy and Development in the Department of International Development here at LSE.
Contributor(s): Dr Joan Clos, Dr Gareth Jones, Professor Çaglar Keyder, Professor Saskia Sassen, Professor Richard Sennett | Marking the launch of a new book on Mumbai, Sao Paulo and Istanbul – the outcome of the Urban Age research programme at LSE – the event will explore how social and environmental equity are determined by the spatial and political organisation of some of the world's most complex cities. Joan Clos is the executive director of UN-HABITAT. Gareth Jones is a senior lecturer at LSE. Çaglar Keyder is a professor at Bogaziçi University, Istanbul. Suketu Mehta is the award winning author of Maximum City: Bombay, lost and found. Saskia Sassen is a professor at Columbia University. Richard Sennett is professor of sociology at the University of Cambridge, NYU and emeritus professor at LSE.
Contributor(s): Traian Băsescu, Professor Vladimir Tismaneanu | Traian Basescu is president of Romania. He was first elected to the post in December 2004, and was re-elected to a second 5-year term in 2009. He has previously served as mayor of Bucharest, and minister of transportation in the Ciorbea, Vasile, Isarescu, Roman and Stolojan governments. Prior to joining the government, he was a marine officer and merchant navy captain for the Romanian commercial fleet, having graduated in 1976 from the 'Mircea cel Bătrân' Civil Maritime Institute. Vladimir Tismaneanu is professor of comparative politics and director of the Center for the Study of Post-communist Societies, University of Maryland. He also serves as president of the scientific council of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile, Bucharest. This event is organised together with the Romanian Embassy, London, and with the generous support of the Romanian Cultural Institute. It forms part of the LSE European Institute - APCO Worldwide Perspectives on Europe Series and is coordinated by LSEE (LSE Research on South Eastern Europe).
Contributor(s): Traian Băsescu, Professor Vladimir Tismaneanu | Traian Basescu is president of Romania. He was first elected to the post in December 2004, and was re-elected to a second 5-year term in 2009. He has previously served as mayor of Bucharest, and minister of transportation in the Ciorbea, Vasile, Isarescu, Roman and Stolojan governments. Prior to joining the government, he was a marine officer and merchant navy captain for the Romanian commercial fleet, having graduated in 1976 from the 'Mircea cel Bătrân' Civil Maritime Institute. Vladimir Tismaneanu is professor of comparative politics and director of the Center for the Study of Post-communist Societies, University of Maryland. He also serves as president of the scientific council of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile, Bucharest. This event is organised together with the Romanian Embassy, London, and with the generous support of the Romanian Cultural Institute. It forms part of the LSE European Institute - APCO Worldwide Perspectives on Europe Series and is coordinated by LSEE (LSE Research on South Eastern Europe).
Contributor(s): Sir Harold Walker, H.E. Khaled Al-Duwaisan | Sir Harold Walker is a former British Ambassador to Iraq, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. H.E. Khaled Al-Duwaisan is Ambassador of Kuwait to the United Kingdom.
Contributor(s): Professor Sherry Turkle | Facebook. Twitter. Second Life. "Smart" phones. Robot pets. Robot lovers. Thirty years ago we asked what we would use computers for - now the question is what we don't use them for. In this lecture, MIT technology and society specialist Sherry Turkle issues a wake-up call based on her fifteen year exploration of our lives in the digital realm. She shows how our narcissistic use of technology is fuelling disturbing levels of isolation, leaving us incapable of distinguishing the difference between true human connection and digital communication. Sherry Turkle is the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT, the founder and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, and a licensed clinical psychologist. She is the author of The Second Self and Life on the Screen, which with Alone Together forms a trilogy. Professor Turkle lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
Contributor(s): Professor Abhijit Banerjee, Professor Esther Duflo | Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo have worked with the poor in dozens of countries, trying to understand the specific problems that come with poverty and to find proven solutions. In this lecture, they argue that so much anti-poverty policy has failed over the years because of an inadequate understanding of poverty. The battle against poverty can be won, but it will take patience, careful thinking and a willingness to learn from evidence. Abhijit Banerjee is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at MIT. He is the recipient of many awards, including the inaugural Infosys Prize in 2009, and has been an honorary advisor to many organizations including the World Bank and the Government of India. Esther Duflo is Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics in the Department of Economics at MIT. She has received numerous honours and prizes and was recognized as one of the best eight young economists by the Economist, as one of the 100 most influential thinkers by Foreign Policy, and as one of the "forty under forty" most influential business leaders by Fortune magazine in 2010. In 2003, Banerjee and Duflo co-founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), which they have been directing together ever since. J-PAL's mission is to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is based on scientific evidence. J-PAL's work has won international recognition, including the inaugural BBVA "Frontier of Knowledge" award. This event celebrates the publication of their new book Poor Economics; A Radical Rethinking of the way to Fight Global Poverty.
Contributor(s): Professor Peter Godfrey-Smith | The winner of the 2010 Lakatos Award (for his book Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection) will talk about the evolution of the individual. Peter Godfrey-Smith is a professor of philosophy at Harvard University and winner of the 2010 Lakatos Award.
Contributor(s): Dr Tilde Rosmer | This lecture examines the role of Palestinians citizens of Israel in Israeli politics and their place in a conflict in which they are often caught between the state of their citizenship and the nationality of their people. In addition to looking at tensions between these non-Jewish citizens and the Jewish state and Jewish Israelis, the lecture will examine tensions within this group of Palestinians. Dr Tilde Rosmer is a Researcher at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo and a Visiting Fellow at LSE Global Governance. She is currently researching the Islamic Movement in Israel and her PhD dissertation Mizrahiut and the Arab-Jewish Divide: Contemporary Challenges to Israel's Ethnic Boundaries analyses social movements dominated by Jews of Middle Eastern and North African origin and Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Contributor(s): Dr Ama de-Graft Aikins, Dr Olugbenga Ogedegbe, Dr Francis Dodoo | LSE Health and the LSE Africa Initiative in collaboration with The British Academy invites you to an event on Africa’s disease burden. Chronic non-communicable diseases have become major causes of adult disability and death in Sub-Saharan Africa. Chronic disease deaths in men and women as a whole are higher in sub-Saharan African than in virtually all other regions of the world and co-exist with a high burden of infectious diseases. In advance of the UN’s High Level Meeting on chronic non-communicable disease in September 2011, this event will debate the public health crisis of chronic non-communicable diseases in Africa, present the UK-Africa Academic Partnership on Chronic disease, and launch the report Africa’s Neglected Epidemic: Multidisciplinary Research, Intervention and Policy for Chronic Diseases. Dr Ama de-Graft Aikins is a visiting fellow at LSE Health and senior lecturer, Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana. Professor Francis Dodoo is director of the Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana and Professor of Sociology and Demography, Penn State University. Dr Olugbenga Ogedegbe teaches at the New York University School of Medicine and is director of the Center for Healthful Behavior Change.
Contributor(s): Dr Peter Orszag | Spiralling health care costs are currently threatening the future of the US economy. Peter Orszag offers insight on possible approaches to reduce health care costs over time without impairing the quality of medical care or outcomes. LSE alumnus Peter Orszag (MSc, PhD Economics, 1992, 1997) is vice chairman of Global Banking at CitiGroup. He recently served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under president Barack Obama.
Contributor(s): Michael Scheuer | Osama bin Laden was one of America's most formidable and implacable enemies. And yet no one has written a serious assessment of his influence over world events in the last decade. Michael Scheuer; a former head of CIA's Osama bin Laden Unit provides an objective and authoritative portrait of bin Laden. Michael Scheuer was the chief of the CIA's bin Laden unit from 1996 to 1999 and remained a counterterrorism analyst until 2004. He is the author of many books, including Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terrorism. His latest book is Osama Bin Laden.
Contributor(s): Professor Leila Ahmed | Professor Ahmed asks why the wearing of veils or headscarves has become a growing phenomenon in America – and across the world. Having almost vanished from many Muslim majority cities, why in the 1970s did veiling (or covering) suddenly begin to grow more common and rapidly spread first across Muslim majority societies and then later in the West? Following this trail Professor Ahmed explores the forces which brought about this "rebirth" of veiling, and how, why and by what means they succeeded in persuading women to take on the hijab. She also examines how this pro-veiling form of Islam continues to evolve now that it has taken root in the democratic societies of the West. Leila Ahmed is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School. She is the author of the recently published A Quiet Revolution: The Veil's Resurgence from the Middle East to America, the follow up to her seminal work Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate.
Contributor(s): Polly Higgins | Polly Higgins advocates a different approach to preventing the destruction of our planet. Instead of our laws protecting the property rights of the few, we can shift to laws that impose responsibilities, duties and obligations for the benefit of the many. Polly Higgins is a barrister, author and international environmental lawyer, voted by the Ecologist as one of the 'Worlds Top ten Visionary Thinkers' for her earlier work advancing the Universal Declaration of Planetary Rights.
Contributor(s): Dr Robert Falkner, Professor Lord Giddens, Thomas Hale, André Lieber, Scott Moore, Professor Michael Jacobs | How can we make progress on climate change in the face of gridlock? Global Governance 2020 is a group of young academics, policymakers and business people from China, the United States and Europe. Robert Falkner is senior lecturer in international relations at LSE and a leading expert on global environmental politics. Anthony Giddens is former director of LSE and the author, most recently, of The Politics of Climate Change. Thomas Hale is a PhD candidate in the Department of Politics at Princeton University and visiting fellow at LSE Global Governance. Michael Jacobs is visiting professor at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. Previously, he was special adviser to former British prime minister Gordon Brown, with responsibility for energy, climate change and environment policy. André Lieber is a research fellow in the parliamentary office of Norbert Röttgen, German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Scott Moore is currently pursuing graduate study in Geography and Environment at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
Contributor(s): Sheryl Sandberg | We are witnessing the transformation of the web from the information web to the social web. This has profound implications for how people relate to each other, the communities around them and to government and business. Sheryl will discuss how these relationships are changing in a world that is built around social principles and powered by web and mobile technologies. Sheryl Sandberg is Chief Operating Officer at Facebook. She oversees the company's business operations including sales, marketing, business development, human resources, public policy and communications. Prior to Facebook, Sheryl was Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google, where she built and managed the online sales channels for advertising and publishing and operations for consumer products worldwide. She was also instrumental in launching Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm. Before Google, Sheryl served as Chief of Staff for the United States Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton where she helped lead the Treasury's work on forgiving debt in the developing world. Earlier, she was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and an economist with the World Bank. Sheryl received a B.A. summa cum laude in Economics from Harvard University and was awarded the John H. Williams Prize for the top graduating student in economics. She received an MBA with highest distinction from the Harvard Business School. Sheryl serves on the boards of The Walt Disney Company, Starbucks, Women for Women International, the Center for Global Development and V-Day. Sheryl was named as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune and one of the 50 Women to Watch by The Wall Street Journal.
Contributor(s): Professor Charles Goodhart, Dr Paul Woolley, Mark Schieritz, Dr Holger Schmieding, Hiltrud Thelen-Pischke, Dr Friedrich Thelen | The Future of Finance report presents a novel approach to the reform of the world's financial system, starting with the basic question, what is a financial system for? It shows that the existing system has become far more complicated than it needs to be to discharge its functions – and dangerously unstable into the bargain. It proposes some drastic remedies. The Future of Finance: The LSE Report is the work of a group of leading academics, financiers, journalists and officials from the UK's Financial Services Authority, the Bank of England and the Treasury. They met twelve times, for what many of those present described as the best and most searching discussions they had ever participated in.
Contributor(s): Professor Ato Quayson | In 2005 the African Union declared the African diaspora to be the sixth region of the continent. But was the concept of ""African Diaspora"" understood correctly at the time? This lecture will offer a more complex definition. It will focus on the difference between dispersion and diaspora, the dynamics of identity formation, the contrasts between Indian Ocean and Atlantic processes of diasporization, and the growth of a mixed-race population. Ato Quayson is Professor of English and inaugural Director of the Centre for the Study of Disaporas and Transnationals at the University of Toronto.
Contributor(s): Professor Julian Le Grand, Professor Carol Propper, Peter Taylor-Gooby, Nick Timmins, Professor Albert Weale | For excellent public policy, it is necessary to have a clear idea of both the ends to be achieved (including equity, quality and efficiency), and the means for achieving those ends (including the structure of motivation and incentives, and the appropriate balance between market and state). Julian has made major contributions in all of these areas, and this Seminar is an opportunity for distinguished academics and commentators to reflect on his work while developing their own ideas. Speakers include Professor Carol Propper of Imperial College and the University of Bristol; Professor Peter Taylor-Gooby of the University of Kent; Nick Timmins, Public Policy Editor of the Financial Times; Professor Albert Weale of University College, London; and, of course, Julian himself.
Contributor(s): Sandra Day O'Connor | Sandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice O'Connor was appointed an Associate Justice by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, a position she held for 25 years until her retirement in 2006. Viewed as one of the most influential Justices to serve on the modern US Supreme Court, Justice O'Connor became the ""swing opinion"" in the often divided Court on which she sat in the later years of her tenure. Prior to Justice O'Connor's appointment to the Court, she was an elected official and judge in Arizona. Justice O'Connor is Chancellor of The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and serves on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On August 12, 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour of the United States, by President Barack Obama. Jeffrey Golden is a visiting professor of Law at LSE.
Contributor(s): Professor Richard English, Martin Mansergh, Jonathan Powell, David Trimble | What are the lessons from the 30 years of the Troubles for modern counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism policy elsewhere, for peacemaking and for reconciliation? Leading experts debate how Britain's experience in Northern Ireland can help us address today's terrorism and conflict resolution challenges. Richard English is professor of politics and, from September 2011, director of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St Andrews. Martin Mansergh is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and historian. Jonathan Powell is former chief of staff to prime minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007 and member of the LSE IDEAS advisory board. David Trimble sits in the House of Lords as Conservative Peer and is Nobel Peace Laureate 1998 (jointly with John Hume) following the making of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
Contributor(s): Alvaro Galindo, Margrethe Norum, Adam Sheppard, Randall Williams | Australia recently announced to discontinue investor-state-arbitration provisions in trade agreements; Ecuador abandons its BITS and left ICSID; South Africa seeks to renegotiate its BITs; the Norwegian and U.S. BIT review have stirred much controversy. This colloquium addresses these national experiences and their significance for future developments of investment treaty law. Alvaro Galindo is the former director of the International Litigation and Arbitration Unit at the Solicitor General Office of Ecuador. Margrethe Norum is senior legal advisor at the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Business. Adam Sheppard is senior research economist at Productivity Commission of the Australian Government. Randall Williams is chief director for Trade Policy and Negotiations at the South African Department of Trade and Industry.
Contributor(s): Álvaro Uribe Vélez | Álvaro Uribe Vélez is the former President of Colombia, holding the office from 2002 to 2010. Mr. Uribe has a Law Degree from the Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia), and a post-graduate degree in Management and Administration from Harvard University. From 1998 to 1999 after being awarded the Simon Bolivar fellowship by the British Council in Bogotá, he worked as an associate professor at Oxford University. Mr Uribe began his political career in 1977 as Secretary General of the Ministry of Labour. From 1980 to 1982, he was head of the Civil Aviation Department. He was the mayor of his native city of Medellín in 1982 and later, from 1984 to 1986, he was elected city councillor. He was elected Senator for the periods 1986-1990 and 1990-1994. In 1995 he was elected governor of the department of Antioquia.
Contributor(s): Alfredo Brillembourg | This lecture explores the physical limitations of contemporary architecture and argues for a shift in emphasis from form-driven to purpose-oriented social architecture. Alfredo Brillembourg founded the Urban Think Tank (UTT) in Caracas, Venezuela. Since July 2010, together with partner Hubert Klumpner, the UTT holds the chair for Architecture and Urban Design at the Swiss Institute of Technology, ETH in Zurich and has been awarded the 2010 Ralph Erskine Award from the Swedish Institute of Architects.
Contributor(s): Sonia Corrêa | Since the late 1970s, Sonia Corrêa has been involved in research and advocacy activities related to gender equality, health and sexuality. She is the founder of various non-governmental initiatives in Brazil. Between 1992 and 2009 she has been the research coordinator for sexual and reproductive health and rights at DAWN – Development Alternatives with Women for a new Era – a Southern Hemisphere feminist network. In that capacity, she closely followed United Nations negotiations directly impacting on gender and sexuality related matters: the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD – Cairo 1994), the IV World Conference on Women (IV WCW –Beijing, 1995) and also the five and ten years year review processes of this conferences. Since 2002 with Richard Parker, she co-chairs Sexuality Policy Watch (SPW), a global forum comprised of researchers and activists engaged in the analyses of global trends in sexuality related policy and politics. In 2006, she co-chaired the expert meeting that finalized the Yogyakarta Principles. Sonia Corrêa has extensively published in Portuguese and English. This list includes, among other, Population and Reproductive Rights: Feminist Perspectives from the South (Zed Books, 1994) and Sexuality, Health and Human Rights co-authored with Richard Parker and Rosalind Petchesky (Routledge, 2008). She has also lectured in various academic institutions. Clare Hemmings is a Reader in Feminist Theory and Director of the Gender Institute at LSE.
Contributor(s): Professor Robert Eaglestone | Final part of the series, in which an historian, a novelist and a literary critic explore the ways in which memory, literature and history shape contemporary Europe. Robert Eaglestone is professor of contemporary literature and thought at Royal Holloway, University of London. This event is part of the Jean Monnet 'Europe Beyond Governance' Lecture Series.
Contributor(s): Professor Gerald Frug, Dr Asher Ghertner, Patrik Schumacher, Professor Richard Sennett, Dr Fran Tonkiss, Professor Larry Vale | This panel discussion will examine the concept of distance when writing about cities. How does this concept remain relevant to urban disciplines? And how does it both inform and limit research on cities? Gerald Frug is Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Asher Ghertner is a lecturer in human geography at LSE. Justin McGuirk is the Design Critic, The Guardian. Patrik Schumacher is partner at Zaha Hadid Architects and founding director at the AA Design Research Lab. Richard Sennett is professor of sociology at the University of Cambridge, NYU and emeritus professor at LSE. Fran Tonkiss is reader in sociology, and director of the Cities Programme at LSE. Larry Vale is Ford Professor of Urban Design and Planning at MIT.
Contributor(s): Professor Sir Tony Atkinson, Professor Peter Diamond, Sir Nicholas Macpherson, Professor Sir James Mirrlees, Professor Lord Stern | This event is part of a celebration of 25 years on from the LSE project on Taxation, Income Distribution and Incentives run in STICERD by Sir Tony Atkinson, Mervyn King and Professor Lord Stern. The panel brings together a distinguished panel of experts to discuss what we have learned in the intervening period about how public policy can best be structured to support equity and growth. Professor Sir Tony Atkinson, is centennial professor in the Department of Economics at LSE. Peter A. Diamond was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2010, along with Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides. He is an institute professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sir Nicholas Macpherson, is a senior British civil servant, serving as the permanent secretary to the Treasury since 2 August 2005. He succeeded Sir Gus O'Donnell upon the latter's promotion to Cabinet Secretary. Professor Sir James Mirrlees is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University and winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Nicholas Stern is chair of the Grantham Research Institute since it was founded in 2008; chair of the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy; IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, the first holder of this position, at the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD); chair of the Asia Research Centre; and director of the India Observatory.
Contributor(s): René Ramírez | This lecture provides an idea of the approach of the Ecuadorian Government to comply with its strategies of "Good Living", a concept developed in recent years that sees growth and economic development as a whole in which includes new indicators and ways to measure it. This concept of "Good Living" is one of the axes of the thought of the "Citizens Revolution". René Ramírez is the National Secretary of Planning and Development of Ecuador and author of several books related to an alternative view to economic and human development and the methods in order to measure it.
Contributor(s): Alan Montefiore, Professor Stephen Mulhall, Dr Sarah Richmond | Marking the publication of Alan Montefiore's new book A Philosophical Retrospective: facts, values and Jewish identity, this discussion will explore the idea that concepts of cultural identity can sometimes bridge facts and values. Alan Montefiore is emeritus fellow at Balliol College, University of Oxford and president of the Forum for European Philosophy. Stephen Mulhall is professor and fellow in philosophy at New College, University of Oxford. Sarah Richmond is senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at UCL.
Contributor(s): Michelle Bachelet | The UN's newest agency - UN Women - has a global mandate to empower women and build gender equality. UN Women's first Executive Director and Under-Secretary General Michelle Bachelet will outline her vision for empowering women economically and politically to address challenges of poverty, inequality and exclusion and persistent violence against women both in conflict and non-conflict situations. She will focus in particular on peace and security as an area with particular obstacles to women's engagement in conflict prevention and building security, and she will describe UN Women's work in conflict-affected contexts to enable women to engage as leaders - not victims - in conflict resolution and recovery. Michelle Bachelet is the first Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, which was established on 2 July 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly. Under Ms Bachelet's leadership, UN Women will lead, support and coordinate the work on gender equality and the empowerment of women at global, regional and country levels. Ms Bachelet most recently served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010. A long-time champion of women's rights, she has advocated for gender equality and women's empowerment throughout her career. One of her major successes as President was her decision to save billions of dollars in revenues to spend on issues such as pension reform, social protection programmes for women and children, and research and development, despite the financial crisis. Other initiatives included tripling the number of free early child-care centres for low-income families and the completion of some 3,500 child-care centres around the country. Ms Bachelet also held ministerial portfolios in the Chilean Government as Minister of Defence and Minister of Health. As Defence Minister, Ms Bachelet introduced gender policies intended to improve the conditions of women in the military and police forces. As Minister of Health, she implemented health care reform, improving attention to primary care facilities with the aim of ensuring better and faster health care response for families.
Contributor(s): Major General John Lorimer, Moazzam Malik, Sheelagh Stewart, Nick Williams | This event will examine the challenges faced by those responsible for overseeing the transfer of state power from external organisations to domestic institutions in conflict affected states. Major General John Lorimer, Chief of Defence Staff's Strategic Communication Officer and Ministry of Defence spokesman on military operations. Moazzam Malik is director of the Western Asia and Stabilisation Division, Department for International Development and the Stabilisation Unit. Sheelagh Stewart is Head of Stabilisation Unit, the Government's centre of expertise and best practice in stabilisation. Nick Williams is Deputy Head of the Afghanistan Department at the FCO. Jonathan Steele is former senior foreign correspondent at The Guardian.
Contributor(s): Professor Gerald Frug | Professor Frug looks at the fragmentation of current urban governance and how it undermines the authority of elected representatives. Gerald Frug is the Louis D Brandeis Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and winner of the James Stirling Memorial Lectures on the City Competition. The Stirling Lectures competition is a collaboration between LSE Cities and the Canadian Centre for Architecture.
Contributor(s): Dr Douglas Cowie | In this series, an historian, a novelist and a literary critic explore the ways in which memory, literature and history shape contemporary Europe. Douglas Cowie is a novelist and lecturer in the English department at Royal Holloway, University of London. This event is part of the Jean Monnet 'Europe Beyond Governance' Lecture Series.
Contributor(s): Jeffrey Golden, Professor Jan Paulsson | Jeffrey Golden, the principal author of ISDA's Master agreements (FT: "Mr. Derivatives") and the driving force behind the efforts of setting up an international financial court will be challenged by Jan Paulsson on the suitability of arbitration for financial markets disputes. Jeffrey Golden was the founding partner of the US law practice of Allen & Overy LLP and a senior partner in the firm's global derivatives practice and is now a visiting professor at the LSE Law Department. Jan Paulsson is co-head of the international arbitration and public international law groups of Freshfields LLP and LSE Centennial Professor.
Contributor(s): Professor Susan Shirk | What are the features of Chinese politics that could derail its peaceful rise? And how should other countries respond? Susan Shirk is director of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation and Ho Miu Lam professor of China and Pacific Relations, UC San Diego.
Contributor(s): Sigbjørn Johnsen | Equality and growth are often considered to be conflicting goals. Welfare cuts in order to achieve fiscal sustainability are now on the agenda in a number of European countries. In Norway, an abundance of natural resources has offered a favourable starting point. Yet its management presents policymakers with a number of new dilemmas. Can the experience of a small country like Norway hold some larger lessons? Sigbjørn Johnsen is serving his second term as Norwegian Minister of Finance. His first term was 1990 - 1996. Mr. Johnsen was a member of Parliament from 1976 to 1997, and is representing the Labour Party. He has led several major public commissions in Norway, including the Pension Commission 2000-2002.
Contributor(s): Dr Stephane Lacroix | Since the events of 9/11, Saudi Islamists have attracted considerable attention. However, given the opacity of the Saudi Kingdom, very little is known about them. Who are those activists who challenge in the name of Islam a regime whose claims to legitimacy are based on religion? Stephane Lacroix is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Sciences Po. In 2008-2009, he was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University. His work focuses on Islam and politics in the contemporary Middle East, with a particular interest in the Gulf region.
Contributor(s): Luc Bovens, Simon Norfolk | This dialogue between a photojournalist and a philosopher will explore how war photography treads a fine line between truthfulness, procuring impact and respecting the dignity of the victims of war as well as the sensitivities of readers.
Contributor(s): Professor Ananya Roy | The 21st century will be an urban century. It will also be a 'Southern' or even 'Asian' century, with much of the urban growth taking place in the cities of the global South. This talk highlights these Asian experiments and the ambitious claims of the making of 'Asian' futures. Ananya Roy is professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning and co-director of the Global Metropolitan Studies Center at the University of California, Berkeley.
Contributor(s): Professor Barry Buzan | As the inequality of power between the West and the rest diminishes, the most likely scenario for world politics is de-centered globalism, in which there will be no superpowers. But what does a world with no superpowers mean for regional coexistence and international cooperation? Barry Buzan is Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at LSE and senior fellow at LSE IDEAS.
Contributor(s): Dr Claire Annesley, Beatrix Campbell, Professor Diane Elson, Professor Susan Himmelweit | This panel will consider how far women, especially low income women, are bearing an unfair share of the burden of the budget deficit reduction. Claire Annesley is a lecturer in European politics at the University of Manchester. Beatrix Campbell is a journalist, author, playwright and broadcaster. Diane Elson is professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex. Susan Himmelweit is professor of economics at the Open University.
Contributor(s): Dr Simon Glendinning, Dr Amber Jacobs, Professor Nicholas Royle | Marking the publication of Nicholas Royle's new novel Quilt, this event will attempt to explore the dimensions and ascertain the depths of the 'unfathomable'. Simon Glendinning is reader in European philosophy at the LSE European Institute and director of the Forum for European Philosophy. Amber Jacobs is lecturer in the Department of Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. Nicholas Royle is professor of English at the University of Sussex.
Contributor(s): Dr Ali Kadri | Arab countries represent stark cases of "de-development". Of the two paths of capital accumulation - accumulation by commodity realisation and accumulation by encroachment and dispossession - the Arab world falls subject to the diktat of the latter process. A tight cross-border class alliance between Western elites and Arab regimes has been at play, to support the process of social product usurpation even when the terms of trade appear to be favourable to the Arab world. The development of the Arab world is itself an outcome of a multi-tiered power structure, in the first instance, where the concept of power could be literally reduced to fire power without much loss to content and, secondly, it mediates the crisis of a fossil-fuel dependent global accumulation process. Dr Ali Kadri is a Visiting Fellow in the Department of International Development at LSE. Formerly, he served as Head of the Economic Analysis Section of the United Nations regional office in Beirut.
Contributor(s): Professor Anatol Lieven | In this talk on the subject of his new book, Pakistan: A Hard Country, Professor Anatol Lieven will analyse the Pakistani state and political system, and explain how those factors which give the state its surprising resilience in the face of revolution also hold it back in terms of economic and social development. Professor Anatol Lieven is chair of international relations and terrorism studies at King's College London, and a senior fellow of the New America Foundation in Washington DC. He was previously a journalist, who reported from South Asia, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe for The Times and other publications. His books include Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power, America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism and, with John Hulsman, Ethical Realism: A Vision for America's Role in the World. This event celebrates Professor Lieven's new book Pakistan: A Hard Country.
Contributor(s): Tim Macartney | A lecture from a leadership expert who seeks to challenge some of our fundamental preconceptions and current ways of thinking. Tim Macartney has been working as a people and organisation development professional since 1984. He is the founder and CEO of Embercombe, a published author, and an associate of Leaders' Quest.
Contributor(s): Frank Vibert | A recent report by the IMF on why it failed to spot the 2008 international financial crisis identified what is known as 'cognitive failure' – failures in the way in which information is assessed and analysed. This is highlighted in Frank Vibert's new book, Democracy and Dissent, on international rule making. Frank Vibert is a senior visiting fellow at LSE Global Governance.
Contributor(s): Bill Turnbull | Bill Turnbull's light-hearted introduction to the world of beekeeping highlights the ups and rather more frequent downs of his ten years attempting to produce honey and keep his colonies alive. Definitely not a masterclass on the art of apiculture; more a survival guide for beginners and the casual bystander. BBC Breakfast presenter Bill Turnbull first joined the BBC in 1986, where he has remained as an investigative journalist and presenter ever since. He is a keen beekeeper, a leading ambassador of beekeeping in the UK, and the author of mishap memoir The Bad Beekeepers Club. Ian Spencer is Director of the LSE's Residential and Catering Services Division. He is keen to become an amateur bee keeper himself and was instrumental in the Passfield Hall Honey project which gave LSE it's very first roof-top hives.
Contributor(s): Dr Hans-Gert Pöttering | These are troubled times for Europe. Where is the EU headed? Will its economy revive? Has the European Parliament found its role? Crucially: can the European 'project' be brought back to life? Hans-Gert Pöttering is former president of the European parliament. Dr Sara Hagemann is from the European Institute at LSE.
Contributor(s): Professor Dan Stone | In this series, an historian, a novelist and a literary critic explore the ways in which memory, literature and history shape contemporary Europe. Dan Stone is professor of modern history at Royal Holloway, University of London. This event is part of the Jean Monnet 'Europe Beyond Governance' Lecture Series.
Contributor(s): Professor Joseph Nye | Joseph Nye is a long-time analyst of power and a hands-on practitioner in government. His concept of "soft power" has been adopted by leaders from Britain to China and "smart power" has been adopted as the bumper-sticker for the Obama Administration's foreign policy. In this lecture, drawn from his new book The Future of Power, Nye outlines the major shifts of this century: new transnational challenges such as the financial crisis, global epidemics, and climate change facing an increasingly interconnected world; a changing global political and economic landscape, including the rise of China and India; and the increasing influence of non-state actors. Nye explores what resources now confer power, and argues that, in the information age, it might be the state (or non-state) with the best story. Joseph S. Nye, Jr. is University Distinguished Service Professor and former Dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He has served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Chair of the National Intelligence Council, and a Deputy Under Secretary of State. The author of many books, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the British Academy, and the American Academy of Diplomacy.
Contributor(s): Professor Norman Stone | Joined to Europe by geography and linked to it byhistory and trade, can politics overcome religious and cultural differences so that Turkey ceases to be Europe's 'Other'? This event celebrates the publication of Turkey: A Short History| published by Thames & Hudson. Norman Stone was born in Glasgow in 1941, and is a British academic, historian and currently a Professor in the Department of International Relations at Bilkent University, Ankara. He is a former Professor at the University of Oxford, a Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, and adviser to Margaret Thatcher. He graduated with First Class Honours in History from Cambridge University in 1962, and following his undergraduate degree he did research in Central European History in Vienna and Budapest. Upon completion of his secondary degree, he was offered a research fellowship by Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he later became an Assistant Lecturer in Russian and German history and full Lecturer in 1973. In 1971, he had transferred to Jesus College as Director of Studies in History. In 1984, he accepted the position of Professor of Modern History at Oxford University until 1997, when he left to teach at the department of International Relations at Bilkent University in Ankara. Between 1987 and 1992 he published a regular column for the Sunday Times and contributed to other new services including the BBC and the Wall Street Journal. During this time, he also became Margaret Thatcher's foreign policy adviser on Europe, as well as her speech writer. He has written many books including The Eastern Front 1914-1917 (1975); Hitler (1980); Europe Transformed 1878-1919 (1983), Czechoslovakia: Crossroads and Crises, 1918-88 (1989); The Times Atlas of World History (1989); The Other Russia (1990); World War One: A Short History (2007), The Atlantic and its Enemies: A Personal History of the Cold War (2010).
Contributor(s): Brian Christian | Author Brian Christian will talk on the subject of his debut book The Most Human Human a superbly engaging re-evaluation of what it means to be human in the light of breathtaking advances in artificial intelligence. Brian Christian is an Author and Poet. He holds a dual degree in computer science and philosophy and an MFA in poetry.
Contributor(s): Professor Simon Baron-Cohen | World-expert Simon Baron-Cohen presents new discoveries on the importance of empathy, and the problems with evil. Simon Baron-Cohen, expert in autism and developmental psychopathology, has always wanted to isolate and understand the factors that cause people to treat others as if they were mere objects. In this book he proposes a radical shift, turning the focus away from evil and on to the central factor, empathy. Unlike the concept of evil, he argues, empathy has real explanatory power. Putting empathy under the microscope he explores four new ideas: firstly, that we all lie somewhere on an empathy spectrum, from high to low, from six degrees to zero degrees. Secondly that, deep within the brain lies the 'empathy circuit'. How this circuit functions determines where we lie on the empathy spectrum. Thirdly, that empathy is not only something we learn but that there are also genes associated with empathy. And fourthly, while a lack of empathy leads to mostly negative results, is it always negative? Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor at Cambridge University in the fields of psychology and psychiatry. He is also the Director of Cambridge's internationally-renowned Autism Research Centre. He has carried out research into social neuroscience over a career spanning twenty years. This event celebrates the publication of his new book Zero Degrees of Empathy.
Contributor(s): Professor Costas Meghir, Professor Herakles Polemarchakis | One year after Greece agreed a rescue package with the EU and the IMF, this debate considers how best Greece can secure future economic growth. Is the austerity plan working? Can Greece avoid a sovereign debt default? What new reform measures might be desirable in the future? Costas Meghir is Professor of Economics, University College London; Douglas A. Warner III Professor, Yale University; and co-director ESRC Research Centre, Institute for Fiscal Studies. Herakles Polemarchakis is Professor of Economics, University of Warwick and economic advisor to the prime minister of Greece