LSE: Public lectures and events

Speaker(s): Professor Ash Amin, Dr Victoria Redclift | Migration is integral to the cultural and economic life of cities. Yet we live in a migration milieu in which migrants are rendered as illegal subjects, and where migration processes are reduced to crises at national border points. This event explores the relation between cities, migrants and migration systems. The event also launches The Sage Handbook of the 21st Century City edited by Suzanne Hall and Ricky Burdett. This edited collection engages with the volatile processes of urbanisation that reveal the turbulent nature of our early twenty-first century. Ash Amin is 1931 Professor of Geography, Head of Department of Geography and Fellow of Christ’s College, University of Cambridge. Victoria Redclift (@VRedclift) is Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Surrey. Ricky Burdett is Professor of Urban Studies at LSE and Director of the Urban Age and LSE Cities. LSE Cities (@LSECities) is an international centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science that carries out research, graduate and executive education and outreach activities in London and abroad. Its mission is to study how people and cities interact in a rapidly urbanising world, focussing on how the design of cities impacts on society, culture and the environment. The Department of Sociology at LSE (@LSEsociology) was established in 1904 and remains committed to top quality teaching and leading research and scholarship today.

Speaker(s): Stefaan de Rynck | Stefaan de Rynck, Senior Advisor to Michel Barnier, Chief EU Negotiator for Brexit, will provide a state of play on the Brexit negotiations. He will focus on the Withdrawal Treaty and the nature of the transition and will address the current progress and possible ways forward. Stefaan De Rynck (@StefaanDeRynck) is senior advisor of Michel Barnier, Chief EU Negotiator for Brexit, in charge of public engagement strategy and relations with think tanks. He is professor at the College of Europe since 2003, and also teaches on EU governance at the Collegio Carlo Alberto (University of Turin). Kevin Featherstone is Head of the European Institute, Eleftherios Venizelos Professor of Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor of European Politics. This lecture is part of the LSE Programme on Brexit. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) the Institute was ranked first for research in its sector. The Institute of Public Affairs (@LSEPubAffairs) is one of the world's leading centres of public policy. We aim to debate and address some of the major issues of our time, whether international or national, through our established teaching programmes, our research and our highly innovative public-engagement initiatives.

Speaker(s): Hilary Benn | Hilary Benn will speak about the Brexit negotiations and the future of the UK-EU relations. Hilary Benn (@hilarybennmp) is Labour MP for Leeds Central and Chair of the Select Committee on Exiting the European Union. Tony Travers is Director of the Institute of Public Affairs, LSE. This lecture is part of the LSE Programme on Brexit. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) the Institute was ranked first for research in its sector. The Institute of Public Affairs (@LSEPubAffairs) is one of the world's leading centres of public policy. We aim to debate and address some of the major issues of our time, whether international or national, through our established teaching programmes, our research and our highly innovative public-engagement initiatives.

Speaker(s): Professor Daniele Archibugi, Alice Pease, Professor Christine Chinkin, Professor Richard Falk, Professor Mary Kaldor | Editor's note: We apologise for the poor audio quality of this podcast. In their new book, Crime and Global Justice: The Dynamics of International Punishment, which will be the subject of this discussion, Daniele Archibugi and Alice Pease offer an analysis of the successes and shortcomings of the global justice system from 1945 to the present day. Over the last quarter of a century a new stem of global criminal justice has emerged; national judges have become bolder in prosecuting crimes committed abroad, special tribunals have been able to target national leaders as well as their henchmen, and a permanent International Criminal Court has been established. But how successful have these ambitious transformations been? Have they ushered in a new era of cosmopolitan justice or are the old principles of victors’ justice still in play? Daniele Archibugi is a Research Director at the Italian National Research Council (CNR-IRPPS) in Rome, and Professor of Innovation, Governance and Public Policy at the University of London, Birkbeck College. Alice Pease is a freelance researcher currently working on a modern slavery campaign at the House of Lords. Christine Chinkin is Emerita Professor of International Law and Director of the Centre on Women, Peace and Security at the LSE. Richard Falk is Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and a Research Fellow in Global Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Mary Kaldor is a Professor of Global Governance and Director of the Conflict and Civil Society Research Unit in the LSE Department of International Development. Gerry Simpson is a Professor and a Chair of Public International Law in the Department of Law, LSE.

Speaker(s): Dr Ursula von der Leyen | Ursula von der Leyen is Germany's Minister of Defence, a position she has held since 2013. Since 2005, Ursula von der Leyen has been a member of the German Federal Cabinet. Before she was appointed Minister of Defence, she served as Federal Minister of Labor and Social Affairs since November 2009. From 2005 to 2009, she was Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Dr von der Leyen studied at Göttingen and Münster, Hanover Medical School and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Minouche Shafik is Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to this she was Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) the Institute was ranked first for research in its sector. The German Society is a student union society at the London School of Economics and Political Science. This event forms part of their annual German Symposium which takes place from 28 February to 2 March.

Speaker(s): Professor Sarah Banet-Weiser, Dr Shani Orgad | In 2018, we are living in a moment in North America and Europe where feminism has become, somewhat incredibly, popular. It seems as if everywhere you turn, there is an expression of feminism—on a t-shirt, in a movie, in the lyrics of a pop song, in an inspirational Instagram post. There are many different feminisms that currently circulate in popular culture across all media platforms, some connecting with synergy, others struggling for priority and visibility. But feminism isn’t the only popular phenomenon we need to contend with in the early 21st century. For every popular feminist practice or expression, there is always an accompanying hostile rejoinder or challenge, regardless of the mediated space in which it occurred— whether that was social media, or the legal realm, or corporate culture. In this talk, Sarah Banet-Weiser will discuss the ways in which contemporary popular feminism re-imagines and re-directs what “empowerment” means for girls and women, and how it is restructuring feminist politics within neoliberal culture. For many, a broader acceptance of feminism as an identity, concept, and practice is exhilarating; yet, for those who find feminism to be a threat, this acceptance also stimulates fear, trepidation, aggression, and violence. This talk is about the deeply entwined relationship between the creation and expression of popular feminism and what she calls popular misogyny. Sarah Banet-Weiser (@sbanetweiser) is Professor, Vice Dean and Director of the USC Annenberg School of Communication. In autumn 2018 she will join LSE as Head of the Department of Media and Communications. Shani Orgad is Associate Professor in the LSE Department of Media and Communications. Robin Mansell (@REMVAN) is Professor of New Media and the Internet and Head of the LSE Department of Media and Communications. The Department of Media and Communications (@MediaLSE) is a world-leading centre for education and research in communication and media studies at the heart of LSE’s academic community in central London. We are ranked #1 in the UK and #3 globally in our field (2017 QS World University Rankings).

Speaker(s): Dr Adura Banke-Thomas, Dr Tania Burchardt, Tammy Campbell, Kathleen Scanlon, Dr Jamie Woodcock | What are the key challenges of welfare states of the future? In a world of limited resources, what should our priority be? To close the LSE Festival, we will pit Beveridge's "five giants" (reimagined as the giant issues of housing and urbanisation, education and skills, health and social care, the future of work and the challenges of poverty), as well as sustainability, the missing sixth Giant voted for by you, against each other in a battle to decide which is the biggest issue now and in the near future. Adura Banke-Thomas is LSE fellow in Health Policy. He is also a research fellow at the Centre for Reproductive Health Research and Innovation, Lagos State University, Nigeria and a fellow at the McCain Institute for International Leadership, Washington DC, USA. Tania Burchardt is Director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) and an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy at LSE. Tania’s research interests lie in theories of justice, including the capability approach, measurement of inequality and applied welfare policy analysis. Tammy Campbell (@_TammyCampbell) is based in the LSE’s Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, and is a (mainly) quantitative researcher. She completed her PhD at the UCL Institute of Education, focussing on structural and psychological factors creating difference among primary school pupils, and was previously a Government Social Researcher in the Department for Education. Rebecca Elliott (@RebsFE) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at LSE. Her research interests span economic sociology, political sociology, environmental sociology, and knowledge production and science studies. She is particularly interested in how the environmental impacts of climate change are confronted as economic problems. Kathleen Scanlon (@KathJScanlon) is Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at LSE London. She has a wide range of research interests including comparative housing policy (across all tenures–social and private rented housing as well as owner-occupation), comparative mortgage finance, and migration. Jamie Woodcock (@jamie_woodcock) is a Fellow at LSE and author of Working The Phones, a study of a call centre in the UK inspired by the workers' inquiry. His current research involves developing this method in co-research projects with Deliveroo drivers and other digital workers in the so-called gig economy. Minouche Shafik is Director of LSE. Prior to this she was Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.

Speaker(s): Poet Curious, Christian Gabriel, Caroline Teague, Desree, Thomas Owoo, Hannah Gordon | LSE LIFE invites you to take part in a night of spoken word performances, philosophical dialogue and hiphop vibes. Poetcurious hosts as hiphop poets from across London perform their spoken word art, offering lyrical rhymes that challenge our assumptions on urban spaces, masculinities, racism, and much more. These artists use beats to not just entertain, but educate us, transform us, and motivate us to reconsider our worlds. Between performances, Poetcurious, spoken word artist and co-convener of HipHopEd UK, will encourage dialogue between the audience and performers as we explore together the philosophy underpinning the poetry. Inspired by critical pedagogy, audience and performers ask each other questions, and learn from each other. Between performances and dialogues sets, a guest DJ will play beats as attendees are encouraged to continue dialogues while they get drinks and groove. There will also be an open mic at the end of the evening – so those of you who are budding freestyle artists, share your lyrical beats. The guiding values of the night will be based on the HipHopEd Manifesto, which states that “Collaboration is at the heart of HipHopEd” and “HipHop is dialogue”. So, come prepared to share, learn, talk, and enjoy a night of good vibes to close out this year’s LSE Festival. Poetcurious (@poetcurious) is a poet, artist and educator living and working in North West London. Co-convener of HipHopEd UK and host of “Rise Up”, “HeadSpin” and “Root Down”, Poetcurious can usually be found performing HipHop poetry on the spoken word scene; spitting freestyles over HipHop Beats or discussing critical pedagogy in a university lecture hall.

Speaker(s): Brett Heasman, Celestin Okoroji, Professor Bev Skeggs, Dr Jana Uher | Editor's note: We apologise for the poor audio quality of this podcast. There have been significant advances in the rights, recognition and participation of diverse groups of people in the UK over the past 30 years. And yet, people’s backgrounds and characteristics – such as their age, gender, ethnicity, 'abilities' or 'disabilities', and sexual orientation – continue to strongly influence their life experiences, opportunities and prosperity. During an extended period of austerity, the current political climate is characterised by sharp divisions in attitudes to the long-term direction of the country, to the question of 'who belongs?' and to the sustainability of the UK's welfare system – giving rise to the question, ‘Can we afford to be different?’ LSE’s EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) team brings together a panel of experts on inequality for a discussion of the challenges of developing an inclusive and fair society in the 21st century. In honour of the 75th anniversary of the release of the Beveridge report, the speakers will draw on their research findings and disciplinary perspectives to consider how we should approach difference and supporting one another in society. When looking at life outcomes, what can we learn from examining the interplay of people’s characteristics and backgrounds? What does it mean to contribute to society, and who judges this? And what are the social costs of getting our approach to difference wrong? Brett Heasman is a PhD researcher in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at LSE. His research focuses on the public understanding of autism, for which he has won grant awards for collaboration and impact from the ESRC and LSE. Brett is the creator of the 'Open Minds' exhibition, which was set up to promote autistic voices. Celestin Okoroji is a PhD researcher in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at LSE. His research focuses on the ways in which ideas associated with stigmatised groups – such as unemployed people - become a part of stigmatised group members' self-concept. Celestin’s research was awarded the Popular Prize at the 2016 LSE Research Festival. Bev Skeggs is academic director of the Atlantic Fellows programme in the International Inequalities Institute at LSE. Jana Uher was a senior research fellow and Marie Curie fellow at LSE from 2015 to 2017. She is now a senior lecturer at the University of Greenwich. Sunil Kumar teaches on the MSc in Social Policy and Development and convenes the postgraduate elective ‘Urbanisation and Social Policy in the Global South’. As dean of graduate studies (2011–16) at LSE, he chaired the Equality and Diversity Forum, among other duties. His recent research is on the urbanisation-construction-migration nexus in south Asia.

Speaker(s): Dr Duncan Green, Dr Armine Ishkanian, Dr Michael McQuarrie, Ludovica Rogers | The Beveridge Report's contemporary relevance can only be considered if we properly understand the ways in which civil society actors from across the globe are challenging unequal redistributive systems. The aim of this panel is to challenge the top-down approach of defining welfare needs and well-being and to critically examine how civil society actors, ranging from social movements, NGOs, to trade unions, have campaigned for the recognition of needs and for fairer redistribution. Duncan Green (@fp2p) is Senior Strategic Adviser at Oxfam GB, Professor in Practice in International Development at LSE, Honorary Professor of International Development at Cardiff University and a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Development Studies. Armine Ishkanian (@Armish15) is an Associate Professor and the Programme Director of the MSc in Social Policy & Development (State and NGO Streams) in the Department of Social Policy at LSE. Michael McQuarrie (@mgmcquarrie) is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at LSE. Ludovica Rogers (@ldvcrgrs) was an active participant in the Occupy movement and since then has been active in other groups that formed from or around it, such as the movement of the Commons, the #NoTTIP campaign and Debt Resistance UK. Hakan Seckinelgin is an Associate Professor (Reader) in the Department of Social Policy at LSE.

Speaker(s): Dr Tania Burchardt, Professor Sir John Hills, Professor Stephen P Jenkins, Professor Lucinda Platt | Taking five ‘Giants’ in the study of poverty over the last 100 years, themselves, like Beveridge, authors of influential reports, this event discusses how their thinking articulates with Beveridge’s vision and has advanced our understanding of poverty and how to tackle it. This event focuses on Beveridge’s Giant of ‘want’. It addresses the thinking on poverty of five ‘Giants’ in the study of poverty over the last 100 years, who have been closely associated with LSE and who are themselves authors or co-authors of influential reports: Beatrice Webb, Brian Abel-Smith, Peter Townsend, Amartya Sen and Anthony Atkinson. It explores how their thinking both articulates with the concepts and propositions of Beveridge in his report, and has transformed the ways in which we think about poverty and how to address it. The event draws on the insights of current LSE academics known for their work on poverty and inequality. Lucinda Platt will discuss Beatrice Webb’s ‘Minority Report on the Poor Laws’ of 1909, which was deemed to be highly influential on Beveridge’s thinking and the break with the Poor Laws expressed in his report. John Hills will shed light on the ‘rediscovery of poverty’ marked by the publication of Brian Abel-Smith and Peter Townsend’s 1966 work on ‘The Poor and The Poorest’, the corrective this provided to the somewhat over-optimistic interpretation of the achievements of the welfare state in eliminating poverty, and how it foregrounded Townsend’s subsequent development of the relational and ‘relative’ conception of poverty. Tania Burchardt will analyse the distinctive contribution of Amartya Sen to how we understand poverty across very different contexts, in her consideration of the 2009 Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (coauthored with Joseph Stiglitz and Jean-Paul Fitoussi). Finally, Stephen Jenkins will evaluate the significance of the Atkinson Commission’s 2015 Report on Monitoring Global Poverty to how we conceptualize and address poverty in a global context. Tania Burchardt is Director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) and an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy at LSE. John Hills is Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at LSE, co-director of the LSE’s interdisciplinary International Inequalities Institute and is currently Chair of CASE. Stephen P Jenkins is Professor of Economic and Social Policy, in the Department of Social Policy at LSE. Lucinda Platt is Professor of Social Policy and Sociology in the Department of Social Policy at LSE. Lucinda’s research focuses on inequalities, with a particular focus on ethnicity and migration, as well as gender, disability, identity, and child poverty. Paul Gregg is a Professor of Economic and Social Policy, and Director of the Centre for Analysis and Social Policy at the University of Bath.

Speaker(s): Professor Paul Dolan | Loneliness is one of the giant issues we are facing as a society today. Our relationships with other people are fundamental to our wellbeing, but what kinds of relationships make us happy or miserable? How should individuals decide when to ‘make or break’ a relationship? Why is the term love often misunderstood and misconstrued? How do social policies influence people’s relationships, such as by encouraging marriage and discouraging divorce – and how should they, if at all? Paul Dolan (@profpauldolan) is Professor of Behavioural Science at LSE, Director of Executive MSc Behavioural Science and Head of the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science. There are two main themes to Paul’s work: Developing measures of happiness and subjective wellbeing that can be used in policy and by individuals looking to be happier; and considering ways in which the lessons from the behavioural sciences can be used to understand and change individual behaviour, and to add to the evidence base in this regard. He uses a range of data and methods to address these issues, and to better integrate them e.g. surveys, big data, lab studies, and field experiments. He is author of the Sunday Times best-selling book, Happiness by Design and the forthcoming The Narrative Trap, in which he talks about how the stories we tell about how we ought to live our lives harm us. Suzi Godson (@suzigodson) is a psychologist and journalist. She has been The Times sex and relationships columnist for fifteen years and is the author of several award winning books. She is currently conducting a longitudinal PhD study exploring the impact of midlife divorce on women with adult children. Last September she launched the multi award winning MeeTwo app, a safe, scalable, early intervention solution to the growing problem of adolescent anxiety. MeeTwo helps teenagers to talk about difficult things and encourages young people to help themselves, by helping each other. MeeTwo is free to use and is available on the App Store and Google Play

Speaker(s): Kate Bell, Dr Derek King, Lisa McKenzie | The subject of care is now a central political concern. The consequences of longer lives and new expectations about universal participation in paid work have produced new questions about the ways in which care - for all ages and situations - can be provided and organised. We all know that at present the majority of people who provide care, both paid and unpaid, are women but we also know that the demands for care are increasing and increasingly difficult to fund. In the twenty first century assumptions about who cares - and for whom - demand that we think not just about the cost of care but also about the ways in which we recognise and validate care and caring as part of the lives of all citizens. Kate Bell (@kategobell) is Head of the Economic and Social Affairs Department (ESAD) at TUC, which leads the TUC's work in many key areas of economic and social policy, seeking to influence public and political debate through a comprehensive programme of research, analysis and events. Derek King is Assistant Professorial Research Fellow in the Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) at LSE. Lisa McKenzie (@redrumlisa) is Lecturer in Practical Sociology at Middlesex University and an Atlantic Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute at LSE. She is a working class academic and undertakes research and actively campaigns on social and political issues relating to class inequality. Mary Evans is LSE Centennial Professor at the Department of Gender Studies. This event links with the exhibition Who Cares? Women, care and welfare on display in the Atrium Gallery from Monday 19 February - Friday 23 March 2018. Update, Friday 23 February: Due to unforeseen circumstances, Hilary Land is no longer able to speak at this event.

Speaker(s): Dr Jonathan Birch, Heikki Helanterä, Hannah Rubin | If evolution is a 'struggle for existence', why do we witness so much altruism in nature? From bacteria to baboons, the natural world is full of spectacular examples of organisms cooperating with one another. In the early 1960s, WD Hamilton changed the way we think about how such behaviour evolves, and his pioneering work kick-started a research programme now known as 'social evolution theory'. The Forum brings together a panel of biologists and philosophers of biology will discuss the legacy of Hamilton’s ideas, and the evolution of altruism in microbes, insects, humans, and the cells of our own bodies. Jonathan Birch is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at LSE and author of The Philosophy of Social Evolution. Heikki Helanterä is Group Leader in the Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions at the University of Helsinki. Hannah Rubin is Postdoctoral Researcher in Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Groningen. Bryan Roberts (@SoulPhysics) is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at LSE.

Speaker(s): Deeti Vyas Béghin, Helen Newcombe, Olivia Pinnock, Roger Williams | As fashion production processes get faster and faster, this event will ask: how can fashion brands and producers adapt their business models, in the face of growing demands to reduce the environmental impacts from the production, consumption and disposal of clothing? Chaired by Dr Richard Perkins from the Department of Geography and Environment, a panel of speakers brought together by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment will explore how fashion now demands faster and faster production and consumption of clothing; new approaches being pioneered by brands to become more sustainable; and the role consumers play in shaping demand for a new type of fashion future. Deeti Vyas Béghin is Chief of Business Longevity at Global Bright Futures. Deeti comes from a retail and commercial banking background and has spent over 7 years in the finance sector. In 2006, Deeti left the world of mainstream finance to pursue her interest in bridging the worlds of sustainability and business. More recently, she been involved in the sustainable fashion sector with organisations such as Made-By, WRAP, and CottonConnect, working on projects ranging from analysing the commercial viability of sustainable business models in fashion to farmer training programmes to improve the livelihoods to cotton farmers. Helen Newcombe (@davyjs) is the founder of Davy J, a British swimwear brand that creates beautiful active swimwear, all manufactured in the UK and made using ECONYL® yarn, a nylon yarn regenerated from 100% waste materials including fishing nets and other marine rubbish. Olivia Pinnock is a Freelance Fashion Writer and Lecturer. Roger Williams is an award winning Director/Producer and Director of Photography, who has worked with some of the world’s most respected broadcasters and entertainment companies.