LSE: Public lectures and events

Speaker(s): Ahmad Al-Rashid, Dr Phillip Cole, Professor Elspeth Guild | Some people crossing borders are called refugees while others are not. But who is a refugee? What precisely is the relationship between migration and seeking refuge? Can we justify the distinction between refugees, migrants, and displaced people? Our panel discuss whether current legal definitions are in need of modification, and if so, what should be altered and why. Ahmad Al-Rashid is an author; Syrian campaigner and Violence, Conflict and Development Postgraduate, SOAS. Phillip Cole is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of West England, Bristol. Elspeth Guild is Jean Monnet Professor ad personam, Queen Mary, University of London. Sarah Fine is a Fellow at The Forum and a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, King’s College London. The Forum for European Philosophy (@ForumPhilosophy) is an educational charity that organises a full and varied programme of philosophy and interdisciplinary events in the UK.

Speaker(s): Dr Tobias Adrian | Editor's note: We apologise for the poor audio quality of this podcast. Financial instability can put growth at risk. How should global financial stability issues been analyzed? What is the IMF’s current assessment of global financial stability? During his lecture, Tobias Adrian will discuss the main features of a framework to assess global financial stability in a comprehensive and consistent way. He will also present the analysis of the October 2017 Global Financial Stability Report, which identifies sources of financial instability and the policies to mitigate risks to growth. The report focuses on the interplay between financial and macroeconomic developments, and assesses the degree to which these interactions pose risks that could threaten economic growth. Tobias Adrian, an LSE alumnus, is the Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In this capacity, he leads the IMF’s work on financial sector surveillance, monetary and macroprudential policies, financial regulation, debt management, and capital markets. He also oversees capacity building activities in IMF member countries, particularly with regard to the supervision and regulation of financial systems, central banking, monetary and exchange rate regimes, and asset and liability management. Prior to joining the IMF, Dr Adrian was a Senior Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Associate Director of the Research and Statistics Group. Dr Adrian taught at Princeton University and New York University and has published extensively in economics and finance journals, including the American Economic Review, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Review of Financial Studies. His research spans asset pricing, financial institutions, monetary policy, and financial stability, with a focus on aggregate consequences of capital markets developments. Wouter den Haan is Co-director for the Centre for Macroeconomics and Professor of Economics at LSE. The Department of Economics at LSE (@LSEEcon) is one of the largest economics departments in the world. Its size ensures that all areas of economics are strongly represented in both research and teaching. The Centre For Macroeconomics (@CFMUK) brings together world-class experts to carry out pioneering research on the global economic crisis and to help design policies that alleviate it.

Speaker(s): Professor Alondra Nelson | Alondra Nelson will discuss her book The Social Life of DNA on how claims about ancestry are marshalled together with genetic analysis in a range of social ventures. The use of genetic ancestry testing in the United States has grown exponentially since its emergence about fifteen years ago. In this same period, U.S. colleges and universities have increasingly uncovered and confronted their ties to the history of racial slavery. Although genetic ancestry tests are principally sought to provide genealogical information, these data have been marshalled into a wider range of social ventures, including the politics of remembrance and reconciliation. In this presentation, Alondra Nelson examines the recent use of genetic ancestry testing by the descendants of nearly three hundred enslaved men and women owned by Georgetown University, whom the institution’s Jesuit stewards sold to Southern plantations in 1838 in order to secure its solvency. The case of the GU 272 will be explored as a “reconciliation project”—a social endeavour in which DNA analysis is put to the use of repairing historic injury. Alondra Nelson (@alondra) is President of the Social Science Research Council. She is also Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, where she served as the inaugural Dean of Social Science. A scholar of science, medicine, and social inequality, her recent books include The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation after the Genome and Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination. She is Chair of the American Sociological Association Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology and is an elected member of the Sociological Research Associations. Nelson received her BA from the University of California at San Diego, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her PhD from New York University in 2003. Nigel Dodd is a professor of sociology at the London School of Economics, and Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Sociology. This event is The British Journal of Sociology Annual Lecture. The British Journal of Sociology (@BJSociology) represents the mainstreams of sociological thinking and research and is consistently ranked highly by the ISI in Sociology.

Speaker(s): Steve Crawshaw | Editor's note: We apologise for the poor audio quality of this podcast. How do ordinary citizens become dissidents? As journalist and human rights advocate, Steve Crawshaw has witnessed extraordinary change, everywhere from Prague to Yangon. He explores what Vaclav Havel called the “power of the powerless”, and the role of creative mischief in achieving surprising change. Steve Crawshaw (@stevecrawshaw) is Senior Advocacy Adviser on Global Thematic Issues, Amnesty International and author of Street Spirit: The Power of Protest and Mischief. Dr Liene Ozoliņa-Fitzgerald is a political sociologist at LSE. She is a co-convener of the Department of Sociology Writing Group for faculty and PhD students. The Ralph Miliband Programme (@RMilibandLSE) is one of LSE's most prestigious lecture series and seeks to advance Ralph Miliband's spirit of free social inquiry.

Speaker(s): Pierre Gramegna | Pierre Gramegna will discuss the dynamics behind financial services firms’ decisions to relocate or grow their presence in continental Europe in the aftermath of Brexit. This lecture is part of the LSE Programme on Brexit. Pierre Gramegna (@pierregramegna) is Luxembourg's Minister of Finance. Kevin Featherstone is Head of the European Institute, LSE. 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): David Madden, Anna Minton, Alex Vasudevan | The need for a home is universal. But today, housing is dominated by economic and political logics that conflict with the ideal of housing for all. When residential space becomes a speculative investment or a tool for political repression, it raises fundamental questions about what, and whom, housing is for. Recent books by these speakers examine housing issues from various places and perspectives. Reflecting on themes from this work, this event will explore struggles over the shape and function of the housing system in contemporary cities. It will connect an analysis of the housing crisis with debates about commodification, residential injustice and rights. David Madden (@davidjmadden) is Assistant Professor in Sociology at LSE and co-author, with Peter Marcuse, of In Defense of Housing: The politics of crisis. Anna Minton (@AnnaMinton) is a Reader in the School of Architecture at UEL and author of Big Capital: Who is London for? Alex Vasudevan (@Potentia_Space) is Associate Professor in Human Geography at Oxford University and author of The Autonomous City: A history of urban squatting. Suzanne Hall (@SuzanneHall12) is Associate Professor in Sociology at LSE. 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): Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, David McAllister | 2016 was unquestionably a year of political and economic shocks with Brexit and the election of President Trump. The UK elections in June 2017 created further difficulties for the Brexit negotiations with the Conservative and Democratic Unionist party agreement which left the Brexit process in uncertain territory. This event explores what Brexit will mean for the relationship between the UK, Germany and the EU. Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska (@AgataGostynska) is a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. David McAllister (@davidmcallister) is Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the European Parliament and a vice president of the European People's Party. John Ryan is Visiting Fellow, LSE IDEAS and a senior adviser for private and public sector organisations on Brexit. LSE IDEAS (@lseideas) is LSE's foreign policy think tank. We connect academic knowledge of diplomacy and strategy with the people who use it. Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (@KAS_UKIRL) is a political foundation, closely associated with the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU).

Speaker(s): Professor Saadi Lahlou | Saadi Lahlou will discuss themes from his book Installation Theory, a powerful and robust framework for nudge and intervention. Saadi Lahlou is Chair in Social Psychology, Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, LSE. Professor Dame Shirley Pearce is currently Chair of Court and Council at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). PBS@LSE (@PsychologyLSE) is at the cutting edge of psychological and behavioural science. We investigate how the mind works in different environmental, social and cultural contexts, and to make use of this knowledge to change behaviour and policy in ways that improve human wellbeing.

Speaker(s): Evan Davis | Never has there been more concern about dishonesty in public life. From President Trump to the Brexit debate, we hear constant talk of falsehoods and fake news, and appeals to alternative facts. In his new book, Post-Truth: Why We Have Reached Peak Bullshit and What We Can Do About It, which he will discuss at this event, Evan Davis steps inside the panoply of deception and spin employed not just in recent politics, but in all walks of life to explain why bullshit is both pervasive and persistent. Drawing on behavioural science, economics, psychology and his knowledge of the media, Evan will discuss why bullshit has apparently become the communications strategy of our time. Evan Davis (@EvanHD) is a well-known broadcaster, presenting the current affairs programme Newsnight, on BBC 2; The Bottom Line on Radio 4 and Dragons’ Den on BBC 2. He was a presenter on Radio 4s The Today programme for six years and prior to Today he was the Economics Editor of the BBC. Professor Charlie Beckett is Director of LSE's Commission on Truth, Trust and Technology, and Director of Polis, LSE's journalism think-tank. 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. Polis (@PolisLSE) is part of the Department of Media and Communications aimed at working journalists, people in public life and students in the UK and around the world. Polis is the place where journalists and the wider world can examine and discuss the media and its impact on society.

Speaker(s): Jorn Lyseggen | The Internet has changed the way we make decisions, but the way executives make decisions hasn't changed at all. Board members focus on internal data when every day competitors are leaving behind online breadcrumbs filled with valuable external data. This could be a job advert, filing a new patent, launching a new product, social media and more. Using insights gleaned from this data will help companies to look ahead and make more informed decisions. In this lecture, Jorn Lyseggen will talk about his new book Outside Insight, which includes case studies of the success and failures of international companies including Nike, Volvo, L’Oreal, Manchester United, the World Wide Fund for Nature, as well as the Obama 2012 campaign. Jorn Lyseggen (@jorn_lyseggen) is the CEO of Meltwater: a company that develops and markets media monitoring and business intelligence software. The company was founded in 2002 in a shack in Norway with just $15,000 start-up money. Now, Meltwater employs more than 1,000 people in 60 offices across six continents, and has over 23,000 clients across the world. The company has won various awards and Jorn also founded the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology, a training programme and seed fund for African entrepreneurs. Kenneth Benoit is Professor of Quantative Social Research Methods and Head of the Department of Methodology at LSE. SEDS (@SEDS_LSE) is an interdisciplinary research unit established to foster the study of data science and new forms of data with a focus on its social, economic, and political aspects. SEDS aims to host, facilitate, and promote research in social and economic data science. SEDS is a collaboration between the Departments of Statistics, Methodology and Mathematics.

Speaker(s): Professor Jean Tirole | When Jean Tirole won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Economics, he suddenly found himself being stopped in the street by complete strangers and asked to comment on issues of the day. His transformation from academic economist to public intellectual prompted him to reflect on the role economists and their discipline play in society. The result is Economics for the Common Good, a passionate manifesto for a world in which economics is a positive force for the common good. Jean Tirole, the winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Economics, has been described as one of the most influential economists of our time. He is chairman of the Toulouse School of Economics and of the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse and a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His many books include The Theory of Corporate Finance and Financial Crises, Liquidity, and the International Monetary System. Wouter den Haan is Co-director for the Centre for Macroeconomics and Professor of Economics at LSE. The Department of Economics at LSE (@LSEEcon) is one of the largest economics departments in the world. Its size ensures that all areas of economics are strongly represented in both research and teaching. The Centre For Macroeconomics (@CFMUK) brings together world-class experts to carry out pioneering research on the global economic crisis and to help design policies that alleviate it.

Speaker(s): Dr Rizal Sukma | Emerging from domestic political turmoil of 1966, Indonesia sought to re-orient its foreign policy of anti-west and regional confrontation. It pursued a policy of self-restraint for the benefit of regional reconciliation, through its role as a founding member of ASEAN in August 1967. Indonesia's credentials as a regional partner were cemented by its enthusiastic and active engagement in every aspect of ASEAN's activism ever since. Fifty years on, however, there is a need for a strategic reassessment of Indonesia's role in ASEAN and the extent to which ASEAN remains the main platform --the cornerstone--for the attainment of Indonesia's changing national and international priorities. Rizal Sukma (@DrRizalSukma) has been Indonesian Ambassador to the UK and Ireland since February 2016. Jürgen Haacke is Director of the Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre, within the Institute of Global Affairs at the LSE, and Associate Professor of International Relations. This is the first in a series of public lectures commemorating ASEAN’s 50th anniversary. Please click here for more details. The Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre (@LSESEAC) is a cross-disciplinary, regionally-focused academic centre within the Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics and Political Science. SEAC is LSE’S gateway to understanding Southeast Asia.

Speaker(s): Dr Jennifer Cirone, Winnie Li, Dr Tiffany Page, Professor Alison Phipps, Fiona Waye | Through discussion, the panellists will examine the work that is underway to reform academic institutions, with a focus on reporting mechanisms, cultural change, and the importance of creating the right conditions to report. The event will be expressly concerned with intersectional identities. It connects with a HEFCE-funded project that LSE has underway, in response to the Universities UK Taskforce’s recommendations on tackling violence against women, harassment and hate crime affecting university students. Jennifer Cirone manages community based services for Solace Women’s Aid in Camden for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. Winnie Li (@winniemli) is a PhD researcher in Media and Communications at the LSE and author of the novel Dark Chapter. Tiffany Page (@t_haismanpage) is co-founder of The 1752 Group. Alison Phipps (@alisonphipps) is Professor of Gender Studies, University of Sussex. Fiona Waye (@FionaCWaye) is Senior Policy Lead in Inclusion, Equality and Diversity at Universities UK. Marsha Henry (@mghacademic) is Associate Professor in the Department of Gender Studies and Deputy Director of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security. The EDI Office (@EDI_LSE) serves as a vital resource and leader in promoting and furthering LSE’s commitment to equity and diversity for all members of its community. LSE’s Department of Gender Studies (@LSEGenderTweet) is the largest gender studies centre in Europe. With a global perspective, LSE Gender’s research and teaching intersects with other categories of analysis such as race, ethnicity, class and sexuality; because gender relations work in all spheres of life, interdisciplinarity is key to LSE Gender’s approach.

Speaker(s): Philippe Legrain, Professor Helen Thompson, Professor Jonathan White, Waltraud Schelkl | Creating the European monetary union between diverse and unequal nation states is one of the biggest social experiments in history. Waltraud Schelkle's new book, which will form the basis of the discussion at this event, offers an explanation of how the euro experiment came about and was sustained despite a severe crisis, and provides a comparison with the monetary-financial history of the United States. Philippe Legrain (@plegrain) is founder of Think Tank OPEN and Senior Visiting Fellow, European Institute, LSE. Helen Thompson (@HelenHet20) is Professor of Political Economy, University of Cambridge. Jonathan White (@JonathanPJWhite) is Professor of Politics at the LSE European Institute. Waltraud Schelkle is an Associate Professor of Political Economy, European Institute, LSE and author of The Political Economy of Monetary Solidarity. Sara Hobolt (@sarahobolt) is Sutherland Chair in European Institutions at the European Institute and the Department of Government, LSE. 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.

Speaker(s): Catherine McKenna | Catherine McKenna, Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change will speak to Canada’s climate actions and the importance of clean growth, and why the Paris Agreement is crucial to international success in fighting climate change. Catherine McKenna (@ec_minister) is Canada's Minister of Environment and Climate Change, a position she has held since November 2015. Catherine practiced competition and international trade law in Canada and Indonesia and was senior negotiator with the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in East Timor. She also served as senior advisor on the former Chief Justice Antonio Lamer’s review of Canada’s military justice system. Catherine co-founded Canadian Lawyers Abroad, a charitable organization that works in developing countries and with Indigenous communities in Canada. She served as Executive Director of the Banff Forum, a public policy organization for young leaders. Catherine taught at the Munk School of Global Affairs. Catherine has degrees from McGill University and the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the New York Bar. Sam Fankhauser is Director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Deputy Director of the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy. The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment(@GRI_LSE ) was established by the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2008 to create a world-leading centre for policy-relevant research and training on climate change and the environment, bringing together international expertise on economics, finance, geography, the environment, international development and political economy.