LSE: Public lectures and events

Speaker(s): Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick | Western Scholars are non-commital. Putin's Russia is embarrassed. How should the centenary be commemorated? Sheila Fitzpatrick is Professor of History at the University of Sydney and Professor emeritus at the Univeristy of Chicago. She is a widely acclaimed expert on modern Russia. Robin Archer is Director of the Ralph Miliband Programme at LSE. 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): Dr Marco Cinnirella, Dr Katharine Jenkins, Joe Mulhall, Dr Amir Saeed | With recent political events and a spike in the reporting of hate crime, the concept of prejudice has become prominent once more. But are we more or less prejudiced than at other points in our history? And is prejudice always wrong, or even avoidable? If it is avoidable, how can this be achieved? We put these questions to a philosopher, psychologist, sociologist, and activist. Marco Cinnirella is Senior Lecturer of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London. Katharine Jenkins is Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Nottingham. Joe Mulhall (@JoeMulhall_) is Senior Researcher, Hope Not Hate. Amir Saeed is Senior Lecturer in Media Studies, University of Huddersfield. Peter Dennis is a Fellow, Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, LSE and Forum for European Philosophy Fellow. 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): Professor Michael Cox, Dr Abby Innes, Professor Mike Savage | Can we learn something about Europe's future by turning to its past? Prominent scholars reflect on a year in history that has analogies with 2017. Michael Cox is Director of LSE IDEAS and Emeritus Professor of International Relations at LSE. Abby Innes is Assistant Professor of Political Economy at LSE's European Institute. Mike Savage (@MikeSav47032563) is Martin White Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of LSE's International Inequalities Institute. Lucia Rubinelli is a Fellow in Political Theory at the LSE Government Department. 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): Professor Charlie Beckett, Gideon Rachman, Dr Leslie Vinjamuri, Professor Joan C. Williams | Join the US Centre for a roundtable debate about the 45th US President’s first 100 days in office. A panel of academics and journalists will discuss the new administration’s priorities and the international implications of the current US political landscape. Charlie Beckett (@CharlieBeckett) is Director of POLIS and Professor in the Department of Media & Communications at LSE. Gideon Rachman (@gideonrachman) is Chief Foreign Affairs columnist for the Financial Times. Leslie Vinjamuri (@londonvinjamuri) is Director of the Centre on Conflict, Rights and Justice and Associate Professor in International Relations at SOAS, University of London. Joan C. Williams (@JoanCWilliams) is Distinguished Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Center of WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Peter Trubowitz (@ptrubowitz) is Department Head of International Relations and Director of the US Centre at LSE and Associate Fellow at Chatham House, Royal Institute of International Affairs. The United States Centre at LSE (@LSE_US) is a hub for global expertise, analysis and commentary on America. Its mission is to promote policy-relevant and internationally-oriented scholarship to meet the growing demand for fresh analysis and critical debate on the United States.

Speaker(s): Professor Susan Buck-Morss | In the twenty-first century any world war is a civil war, and any civil war affects the world. Does this mean the end of the Age of Revolutions, or a whole new understanding of what revolution entails? Susan Buck-Morss is Distinguished Professor of Political Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center, NYC, where she is a core faculty member of the Committee on Globalization and Social Change. She is Professor Emeritus in the Government Department of Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Her training is in Continental Theory, specifically, German Critical Philosophy and the Frankfurt School. Her work crosses disciplines, including Art History, Architecture, Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, German Studies, Philosophy, History, and Visual Culture. She is currently writing on the philosophy of history: History as the Cosmology of Modernity. Ayça Çubukçu (@ayca_cu) is Assistant Professor in Human Rights in the Department of Sociology and the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at the LSE. ICPS research group presents this lecture, which is co-sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Human Rights (@LSEHumanRights) and the Department of Sociology (@LSEsociology). Internationalism, Cosmopolitanism and the Politics of Solidarity (ICPS) is constituted as an interdisciplinary research group. It aims to explore the politics of transnational solidarity by addressing the complications that arise in attempts to define, critique, and practice various strands of internationalism and cosmopolitanism. The Centre for the Study of Human Rights at LSE is a trans-disciplinary centre of excellence for international academic research, teaching and critical scholarship on human rights.

Speaker(s): Professor Arne Westad | The election of Donald Trump as President signals a profound change in US foreign relations. Basic US approaches to the world in place since at least 1945 seem to be shifting, as are traditional concepts of friends and enemies. In this lecture, Professor Arne Westad of Harvard University asks what the reactions to the Trump presidency are likely to be in eastern Asia and whether we are facing a fundamental power shift in the region. He will also discuss how the current situation compares with earlier cases of dramatic global change. This event is part of the Rethinking the Cold War series with the University of Sheffield. Arne Westad (@OAWestad) is ST Lee Professor of US-Asia Relations at Harvard University. Michael Cox is Director of LSE IDEAS. LSE IDEAS (@LSEIDEAS) is a foreign policy think-tank within LSE's Institute for Global Affairs. The Department of International History (@lsehistory) is one of the top five university history departments in the UK.

Speaker(s): Dr Jean-Yves Duclos | While being a university professor, Jean-Yves Duclos had the opportunity to comment on governmental decisions. Now that he is the one making the decisions and as an economist, he sees the process in a much different perspective. Elected to the Canadian Parliament in October 2015, Jean-Yves Duclos (@jyduclos) currently serves as Canadian Minister of Families, Children and Social Development. Prior to politics, Minister Duclos was the head of the Department of Economics at Université Laval. He earned his master's and doctoral degrees in Economics at LSE. 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 Jim Yong Kim | On the eve of the World Bank Group – International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim will discuss how we must fundamentally shift development finance to meet the aspirations of the world's 7 billion people and become the first generation in history to end extreme poverty. Jim Yong Kim (@JimYongKim), M.D., Ph.D., is the 12th President of the World Bank Group. Soon after he assumed his position in July 2012, the organization established two goals to guide its work: to end extreme poverty by 2030; and to boost shared prosperity, focusing on the bottom 40% of the population in developing countries. In September 2016, the World Bank Group Board unanimously reappointed Kim to a second five-year term as President. During his first term, the World Bank Group supported the development priorities of countries at levels never seen outside a financial crisis and, with our partners, achieved two successive, record replenishments of the World Bank Group’s fund for the poorest. The institution also launched several innovative financial instruments including facilities to address infrastructure needs, prevent pandemics, and help the millions of people forcibly displaced from their homes by climate shocks, conflict, and violence. Kim’s career has revolved around health, education, and delivering services to the poor. Before joining the World Bank Group, Kim, a physician and anthropologist, served as the President of Dartmouth College and held professorships at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. From 2003 to 2005, as director of the World Health Organization's HIV/AIDS department, he led the '3 by 5' initiative, the first-ever global goal for AIDS treatment, which greatly to expand access to antiretroviral medication in developing countries. In 1987, Kim co-founded Partners In Health, a non-profit medical organization that now works in poor communities on four continents. Kim has received a MacArthur 'Genius' Fellowship, was recognized as one of America's '25 Best Leaders' by U.S. News & World Report, and was named one of TIME magazine's '100 Most Influential People in the World'. Zeinab Badawi (@bbczeinabbadawi) is a Sudanese-British television and radio journalist, currently the presenter of Global Questions and Hard Talk for the BBC. Through her own production company she has produced and presented many programmes, including currently the definitive TV series of African history in association with UNESCO. Zeinab is one of the best-known broadcast journalists working in the field today. In 2009 she was awarded International TV Personality of the Year by the Association of International Broadcasters, and was named in Powerlist 2012 and 2015 as one of Britain's top 100 most influential members of the black community. She is the current Chair of the Royal African Society, a Queen's appointment to the Board of the Historic Royal Palaces, a trustee of BBC Media Action (the charitable arm of the BBC), a Vice-President of the United Nations Association UK, and a board member of the African Union Foundation. She is also a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council for Africa.

Speaker(s): Tiffany Dufu | At this event Tiffany Dufu will talk about her new book, Drop the Ball, which is a memoir, manifesto and map for women who want to uncover what matters most to them and discover how to have it all by doing less. Tiffany Dufu (@tdufu) is Chief Leadership Officer of Levo League and Launch Team member to Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In. She was formerly president of the White House Project and was included in Fast Company's League of Extraordinary Women. Tiffany Dufu is a widely sought-after speaker who has lectured at Fortune magazine's Most Powerful Women Summit, TEDWomen and MAKERS. Dr Tara Reich is Assistant Professor of Employment Relations and Organisational Behaviour in LSE’s Department of Management. Tara researches employee well-being, with a specific focus on the psychology of workplace mistreatment. The Department of Management (@LSEManagement) is a globally diverse academic community at the heart of the LSE, taking a unique interdisciplinary, academically in-depth approach to the study of management and organisations.

Speaker(s): Professor Alexander Betts, Professor Paul Collier | At this event in which they will talk about their new book, Paul Collier and Alexander Betts will discuss how the world is facing its greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War, yet the institutions responding to it remain virtually unchanged from those created in the post-war era. As neighbouring countries continue to bear the brunt of the Syrian catastrophe, European governments have enacted a series of ill-considered gestures, from shutting their borders to welcoming refugees without a plan for their safe passage or integration upon arrival. With a deepening crisis and a xenophobic backlash in Europe, it is time for a new vision for refuge. Going beyond the scenes of desperation which have become all too familiar in the past few years, Paul Collier and Alexander Betts will look to show that international policy-makers should be focussing on delivering humane, effective and sustainable outcomes – both for Europe and for countries that border conflict zones. Refugees need more than simply food, tents and blankets, and research demonstrates that they can offer tangible economic benefits to their adopted countries if given the right to work and education. This event marks the launch of Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System. Alexander Betts (@alexander_betts) is the Leopold W. Muller Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs at the University of Oxford, where he is also Director of the Refugee Studies Centre. He has written for the Guardian, New York Times and Foreign Affairs and appears regularly on news channels including CNN, Al Jazeera and the BBC. He has also given two TED talks, which have garnered over a million views. Paul Collier is the Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government. His book, The Bottom Billion, won the Lionel Gelber Prize, the Arthur Ross Prize awarded by the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Corine Prize. Collier has served as Director of the Research Department of the World Bank. His other books include The Plundered Planet and Exodus. Silvana Tenreyro is Professor in Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She obtained her M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. She is currently Co-Director and Board Member of the Review of Economic Studies and Chair of the Women’s Committee of the Royal Economics Society. In the past, Tenreyro worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and served as external MPC member for the Central Bank of Mauritius; she was Director of the Macroeconomics Programme at the International Growth Centre; Chair of the Women in Economics Committee of the European Economic Association; Member at Large of the European Economic Association; Panel Member for Economic Policy; and Associate Editor for JEEA, the Journal of Monetary Economics, Economica, and the Economic Journal. She is a Lead Academic at the Centre for Macroeconomics, and Research Associate at CEP and CEPR. Her main research interests are Macroeconomics (and in particular Monetary Policy), Macro-Development, and International Finance. The International Growth Centre (IGC) (@The_IGC) aims to promote sustainable growth in developing countries by providing demand-led policy advice based on frontier research.

Speaker(s): Julia Hardy, Andrew Keen, Martha Lane Fox, Professor Sugata Mitra, Sue Palmer | In this new series of debates entitled Glass Half Full, being recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 4, Fi Glover pits optimists against pessimists in a new topical debating format. A lead speaker on each side presents their argument, and both question expert witnesses to support their point of view. At the end of the debate, the audience votes and declares in favour of an optimistic or pessimistic view of the subject – Glass Half Empty – or Full! In this debate on digital technology, Fi Glover pits optimists against pessimists. Is digital technology damaging children and hindering their development, or is it providing them with exciting new opportunities for education and enriching their lives? The first debate, We Can Look Forward to a Healthier Future, takes place at LSE on 9 March. The second debate will be on 15 March, the topic is A Global Population of 9 Billion is Sustainable. Julia Hardy (@itsJuliaHardy) is a TV and radio presenter specialising in technology, video games and “the online self”. She is currently Radio 1’s video games presenter and was previously Sky Sunrise’s technology expert. She runs the blog Misogyny Monday, dedicated to fighting sexist abuse online. Andrew Keen (@ajkeen) is one of the world’s best-known commentators on the digital revolution. He is the author of three books, most recently The Internet Is Not the Answer. He is executive director of the Silicon Valley innovation salon FutureCast, and a Senior Fellow at CALinnovates. Martha Lane Fox (@Marthalanefox) is an entrepreneur and philanthropist, co-founder of Lastminute.com and founder Executive Chair of Doteveryone, an organisation devoted to using technology to change the world for the better. In 2016, she was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Twitter. Sugata Mitra (@Sugatam) is Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. He was given the $1m TED Prize in 2013 in recognition of his groundbreaking work and to help build a “School in the Cloud”. Sue Palmer, a former headteacher in Scotland, has written more than 250 books, TV programmes and software packages on aspects of literacy. She is a frequent contributor to the Times Educational Supplement and Child Education, and in 2016 was one of 40 senior figures to write an open letter calling on the government to introduce national screen-use guidelines. Fi Glover (@fifiglover) is a multi-award winning broadcaster. She is one of the country’s best-known radio voices, having worked on BBC Radio 4, 5 Live, Radio 2, Radio 1 and GLR. She currently presents BBC Radio 4’s The Listening Project.

Speaker(s): Professor Marianne Bertrand | Marianne Bertrand is an applied micro-economist whose research covers the fields of labor economics, corporate finance, and development economics. Her research in these areas has been published widely, including numerous research articles in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Political Economy, the American Economic Review, and the Journal of Finance. This event is the Economica-Coase Lecture 2017. Oriana Bandiera (@orianabandiera) is a Professor of Economics and the Director of the Suntory and Toyota Centre for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD) at the London School of Economics.

Speaker(s): Dr Joseph Cohen, Professor Simona Forti, Dr Brian Klug | Nazism pervaded every level of German society, and philosophers were not immune. While much scholarship has understandably focused on recriminations of key figures, tonight's panel reflect on some broader questions raised: Can philosophy help us understand the nature of evil? And does thinking philosophically really help us live better lives? Joseph Cohen is a Lecturer in Continental Philosophy, University College Dublin. Simona Forti is Professor of Philosophy, University of Piedmont and Visiting Professor of Philosophy, The New School for Social Research, New York. Brian Klug is Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy, St Benet's Hall, University of Oxford. Dr Peter Dennis is a Fellow, Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, LSE and Forum for European Philosophy Fellow. 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 Alex Gillespie, Dr Tom Reader | Public services such as healthcare receive large volumes of complaints. Traditionally these have been seen as something to manage or even hide. However, from a social psychological standpoint, listening to complaints can potentially provide independent, practical, and unique insights. This lecture reports evidence using the Healthcare Complaints Analysis Tool, which is the first reliable tool for systematically analyzing and benchmarking the severity of complaints received by hospitals. It shows that complaints from patients and families highlight systemic problems in the provision of healthcare and are associated with hospital-level mortality rates. This evidence supports the idea that complaints have high validity and can be used both as an early warning system for identifying systemic institutional failures, and as a catalyst for organisational learning. Alex Gillespie is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research focuses on communication, divergences of perspective, misunderstandings and listening. Tom Reader is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research examines the relationship between organisational culture and safety management in high-risk organisations. Krysta Broughton-Munford is Clinical Governance Lead at Bupa Global Market Unit. Chandru Dissanayeke is Deputy Director at the Cabinet Office. Sandra Jovchelovitch is Professor of Social Psychology at LSE where she directs the MSc in Social and Cultural Psychology. Her book on “Underground Sociabilities: Identity, culture and resistance in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro” informs the LSE-UNESCO toolkit on bottom-up social development, which was launched for a global audience at HABITAT III in Quito, Ecuador. She currently directs an ESRC-funded multiple stakeholder research partnership studying resilience and porosity of city borders in Brazilian cities. A new edition of ‘Knowledge in Context: Representation, community and culture’ is coming out with Routledge Classics in 2017. The Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science (PBS) (@PsychologyLSE) is a hub for more than 50 psychological and behavioural teachers and researchers in other disciplines across the LSE as well as a cutting-edge centre of expertise in its own right. The department is committed to building a diverse group of psychological and behavioural researchers whose collective expertise ranges ‘from the field to the lab and back’, conducting and disseminating research which makes a significant contribution to tackling the social problems of the day. LSE Works is a series of public lectures, that will showcase some of the latest research by LSE's academic departments and research centres. In each session, LSE academics will present key research findings, demonstrating where appropriate the implications of their studies for public policy. A list of all the LSE Works lectures can be viewed at LSE Works.

Speaker(s): Professor Olivier Blanchard | Professor Blanchard will discuss the main forces interacting to shape the world economy, and the uncertainties associated with them, namely the legacies of the financial crisis; the decrease in productivity growth; and populism and populist policies. Olivier Blanchard (@ojblanchard1) served as Chief Economist of the IMF from 2008 to 2015. He is now the Fred Bergsten Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute in Washington and Robert M Solow Professor of Economics emeritus at MIT. Silvana Tenreyro is Professor of Economics at LSE. This lecture is in memory of Josiah Charles Stamp who obtained a degree in economics from LSE in 1916. His thesis was published as British Incomes and Property in 1916 and launched his academic career. In 1919 he served on the Royal Commission on Income Tax and in the same year he joined Nobel Industries Ltd as secretary and director from which Imperial Chemical Industries later developed. In 1926 he became the president of the executive of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and two years later he was appointed director of the Bank of England. He also served as a governor and vice chairman of LSE. Stamp also held lectureships in economics at several universities, including Cambridge, Oxford and Liverpool. In 1938 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Stamp of Shortlands, Kent. Stamp died on 16 April 1941. In 1942 a trust was set up jointly by the Bank of England, the London Midland and Scottish Railway, ICI and the Abbey Road Building Society to pay for the organisation of a Stamp memorial lecture. This event is supported by the Department of Economics at LSE (@LSEEcon) and the Centre For Macroeconomics (@CFMUK).