LSE: Public lectures and events

Speaker(s): Dr Patricia Fara, Professor Melissa Hines, Dr Cailin O’Connor | Despite progress in recent decades, women remain under-represented in many areas of science. Why is this, and what can be done about it? How do the challenges faced by women in science today differ from those faced by previous generations? Does the neuroscience of sex differences show that science requires a ‘male brain’, or does it debunk that idea? And how might the structure and culture of science be improved to help the next generation of female scientists? Historian of science Patricia Fara, philosopher of science Cailin O’Connor, and neuroscientist Melissa Hines will discuss the past, present, and future challenges faced by women in science. Patricia Fara is Affiliated Lecturer, Department of History and Philosophy of Science and Senior Tutor, Clare College, University of Cambridge. Melissa Hines is Professor of Psychology and Fellow of Churchill College, University of Cambridge. Cailin O’Connor is Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Irvine. Andrew Buskell is a Fellow in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at LSE. 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): Vivienne Westwood | Drawing on her experience as a fashion designer and activist, Vivienne Westwood discusses how we can resist propaganda through critical thinking, the collaboration of intellectuals and activists, and the arts. Vivienne Westwood (@FollowWestwood) is a renowned fashion designer and activist. She has always used her collection and catwalk shows as a platform to campaign for positive activism with regards to human rights and the effects of climate change and overconsumption. Nigel Dodd (@nigelbdodd) is a Professor and Head of Department in the Sociology Department at the 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. This is the launch event for Resist: Festival of Ideas and Actions. Resist is a campus-wide 3-day festival taking place at LSE from Wednesday 28 to Friday 30 September 2016 hosted by the Department of Sociology at LSE. Through a vibrant array of events including public discussions, film screenings, workshops, soapbox debates and art exhibitions, the festival aims to draw a wide audience into the distinct ways in which the theme of resistance has been interpreted and understood within academic research, the arts, grassroots activism campaigns, student debate and mainstream politics. For more information on the festival visit Resist: Festival of Ideas and Actions, the facebook page and follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #LSEresist. This project is supported by the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account. Vivienne Westwood will be speaking again on 28 September at The Rotten Financial System is the Enemy. We are the Opposition. Part 2.

Speaker(s): Ryan Avent | In his new book, The Wealth of Humans: Work, Power, and Status in the Twenty-First Century, which he will discuss in this talk, Ryan Avent addresses the difficult questions about the increasing abundance of labour and what this means politically, economically and socially for every one of us. The traditional solutions – improved education, wage subsidies, universal basic income – will no longer work as they once did. In order to navigate our way across today’s rapidly transforming economic landscape, Avent argues that we must radically reassess the very idea of how, and why, we work. Ryan Avent (@ryanavent) is a Senior Editor and Economics Columnist for The Economist, where he has covered the global economy since 2007. His work has appeared in the Guardian, New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Republic and the Atlantic. He has an economics degree from North Carolina State University, and an MSc in economic history from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Professor Francesco Caselli is Norman Sosnow Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. 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): Riad Sattouf | Riad Sattouf's (@RiadSattouf) graphic novel series The Arab of the Future tells the unforgettable story of his childhood, spent in the shadows of three dictators – Muammar Gaddafi, Hafez al-Assad, and his father - revealing the inner workings of a tormented country and a tormented family, taking in the sweep of Middle Eastern politics of the 1980s, the ascendency of religion, and the persistence of poverty. In conversation with best-selling author Kamila Shamsie, Riad Sattouf recounts his nomadic childhood growing up in rural France, Gaddafi's Libya, and Assad's Syria – but always under the roof of his father, a Syrian Pan-Arabist who drags his family along in his pursuit of grandiose dreams for the Arab nation. Riad Sattouf is a bestselling cartoonist and filmmaker who grew up in Syria and Libya and now lives in Paris. The author of four comics series in France and a former contributor to the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, Sattouf is now a weekly columnist for l'Obs. He also directed the films The French Kissers (winner of a César Award for Best First Film) and Jacky in the Women's Kingdom. The Arab of the Future - which was awarded the Fauve d'Or Prize for Best Album of the Year at the Angoulême International Comics Festival and has been translated into sixteen languages - is his first work to appear in English. Kamila Shamsie (@kamilashamsie) is the author of six novels, most recently A God in Every Stone, which was shortlisted for the Baileys Prize, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Three of her novels have received awards from Pakistan's Academy of Letters. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 2013 was named a Granta Best of Young British Novelist. She grew up in Karachi and now lives in London.

Speaker(s): David Smith | Most economists argued against Brexit, on the grounds that it would significantly damage Britain’s economic prospects, both in the short-term and the long-term. Three months on from the referendum, are these adverse consequences inevitable, or are there any reasons for optimism? David Smith (@dsmitheconomics) has been Economics Editor of The Sunday Times since 1989. He has written a number of books, including The Rise and Fall of Monetarism, From Boom to Bust, Will Europe Work?, The Age of Instability, Free Lunch and, most recently, Something Will Turn Up. Kevin Featherstone is Head of the European Institute, Eleftherios Venizelos Professor of Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor of European Politics at LSE. This event is part of LSE's 'After Brexit: the future of the UK in Europe' series. An exploration of the issues raised by the UK’s vote to leave the European Union through lectures, panel discussions and debates. The series will cover the broad range of political, economic, legal, and social issues as preparations for the negotiations on Brexit are underway. Brexit represents an unprecedented agenda for Europe and an historical milestone for the British state: as such, the need for informed debate is paramount. Keep up to date with what Brexit means for the UK and the wider world at LSE Brexit blog (@lsebrexitvote).

Speaker(s): Dr Pippa Malmgren | Economics would be better served by complementing the backward looking approach inherent in algorithms, models and data with plain English, common sense and forward looking signals. Signals can help us identify trends as they unfold in the world economy, which data only confirm after it's too late to invest or to form a policy solution. Pippa Malmgren (@DrPippaM) is a former Presidential advisor, bestselling author, robotics manufacturer, advisor to institutional investors, former Chief Currency Strategist at Bankers Trust and Deputy Head of Strategy at UBS. She was the winner of the 2015 Intelligence Squared Robotics Debate. She is an alumna of LSE. Her latest book is Signals: How Everyday Signs Can Help Us Navigate the World's Turbulent Economy. Michael Cox is Director of LSE IDEAS and Emeritus Professor of International Relations at LSE. The Department of International Relations (@LSEIRDept) is now in its 88th year making it one of the oldest and largest in the world. LSE IDEAS (@LSEIDEAS) is a foreign policy think-tank within LSE's Institute for Global Affairs.

Speaker(s): Nick Clegg | A cautionary tale. An exposé. A defence of the centre-ground. An appeal to reason. A call to arms. An honest account from the top and bottom of British politics. Come along to this public conversation with former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg who will be speaking about his new book, Politics: Between the Extremes. Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) was Leader of the Liberal Democrats for eight years from 2007 and Deputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2015. He has been the Liberal Democrat MP for Sheffield Hallam since 2005, and was previously MEP for the East Midlands. Simon Hix (@simonjhix) is Harold Laski Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics. British Government @ LSE (@lsegovernment) is an initiative currently based in the Government Department to promote and develop research on British Government being conducted at the LSE. So far world class speakers have attended our events, talking on a range of topics.

Speaker(s): Professor Yehuda Bauer | Professor Bauer will explore the fault lines and distinctions between radical criticism of the Israeli government's policies, anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, touching on the anti-Semitism controversy that has rocked the UK Labour Party in recent months. He will delve into issues related to radical Islam and hate speech more generally, that impacts on Jews and other minorities. Yehuda Bauer is a world renowned expert on anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, having served as the Founding Chair of the Vidal Sassoon center for the Study of Anti-Semitism and the Chair of the Yad Vashem Research Institute. He has advised countless governments and international institutions on anti-Semitism and Holocaust remembrance. A winner of the Israel Prize, the highest accolade bestowed by the State of Israel, Professor Bauer, who emigrated to what was then Palestine in 1939, is an outspoken patriotic critic of the Israeli government. Kevin Featherstone is Head of the European Institute, Eleftherios Venizelos Professor of Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor of European Politics at LSE. 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. This event is supported by the LSE Annual Fund.

Speaker(s): Professor Joseph Stiglitz | In his new book The Euro: And its Threat to Europe, Nobel Prize-winning economist and bestselling author Joseph Stiglitz argues that saving Europe may mean abandoning the Euro. Stiglitz dismantles the prevailing consensus around what ails Europe and dismisses the champions of austerity. Instead, Stiglitz will show that Europe’s stagnation and bleak outlook are a direct result of the fundamental flaws in the euro project – economic integration outpacing political integration with a structure that actively promotes divergence rather than convergence. Money relentlessly leaves the weaker member states and goes to the strong, with debt accumulating in a few ill-favoured countries. The question now is: can the euro be saved? Joseph Stiglitz (@JosephEStiglitz) was Chief Economist at the World Bank until January 2000. He is currently University Professor of the Columbia Business School and Chair of the Management Board and Director of Graduate Summer Programs, Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester. He won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001 and is the best-selling author of Globalization and Its Discontents, The Roaring Nineties, Making Globalization Work, Freefall, The Price of Inequality and The Great Divide, all published by Penguin. Waltraud Schelkle is an Associate Professor of Political Economy at the European Institute and has been at LSE since autumn 2001, teaching courses on the political economy of European integration at MSc and PhD level. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is celebrating its Twenty Fifth Anniversary in 2016. It 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): Ryan Pyle | Join adventurer and TV presenter, Ryan Pyle as he talks about his two months traveling through the most remote and exciting locations in Brazil, on his latest season of Tough Rides: Brazil. Born in Toronto, Canada, Ryan Pyle (@RyanPyle) spent his early years close to home. After obtaining a degree in International Politics from the University of Toronto in 2001, Ryan realised a life long dream and traveled to China on an exploratory mission. In 2002 Ryan moved to China permanently and in 2004 Ryan became a regular contributor to the New York Times. In 2009 Ryan was listed by PDN Magazine as one of the 30 emerging photographers in the world. In 2010 Ryan began working full time on television and documentary film production and has produced and presented several large multi-episode television series for major broadcasters in the USA, Canada, UK, Asia, CHINA and continental Europe.

Speaker(s): Sir Malcolm Rifkind | For almost forty years, Malcolm Rifkind served at the forefront of British politics. In this lecture, Sir Malcolm will give a lively account of his years in government and opposition, detailing his involvement in some of recent history’s most important events. This event marks the launch of Sir Malcolm's new book, Power and Pragmatism: The Memoirs of Malcolm Rifkind. Sir Malcolm Rifkind was born in Edinburgh in 1946. He served for 33 years in Parliament and was a Minister for 18 years under Margaret Thatcher and John Major. He has been Secretary of State for Scotland, for Transport, for Defence, and Foreign Secretary. In 2005 he was appointed by David Cameron as Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, which has oversight of MI6, MI5 and GCHQ, and served in that role until 2015. Michael Cox is Director of LSE Ideas and Emeritus Professor of International Relations at LSE. LSE IDEAS (@LSEIDEAS) is a foreign policy think-tank within LSE's Institute for Global Affairs.

Speaker(s): Chrystia Freeland | In a world of growing protectionist trends, how can trade respond to the concerns of people who feel they were left behind, and how can we shape the 21st century inclusive trade agenda that everyone will benefit from. Chrystia Freeland (@cafreeland) is Canada’s Minister of International Trade. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, and continued her studies on a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University. Before becoming a Member of Parliament in 2013, she was a successful author and journalist for the Financial Times, The Washington Post and The Globe and Mail, as well as editor-at-large for Thomson-Reuters. Karen Smith is Professor of International Relations and Director of the European Foreign Policy Unit at LSE. The Department of International Relations (@LSEIRDept) is now in its 88th year, making it one of the oldest and largest in the world.

Speaker(s): Ruchir Sharma | Ruchir Sharma explores the forces triggering political revolts and economic slowdowns in every major region. By narrowing down the thousands of factors that can shape a country’s future, he spells out ten clear rules for identifying the next big winners and losers in the global economy. Ruchir Sharma will also discuss what light his analysis and data casts on our economic prospects after Brexit. This event marks the launch of his new book, The Rise and Fall of Nations: Ten Rules of Change in the Post-Crisis World. Ruchir Sharma is Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. His acclaimed book, Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles (2012), an international bestseller, foretold the slowdown in the celebrated “BRIC” economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Jonathan Black is Europe Director at HM Treasury. He has held a number of senior economic policy roles in the UK government, including Press Secretary and Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. His is an alumni and governor of the LSE.

Speaker(s): Dr Gabriel Zucman | This lecture will discuss how big the wealth hidden in offshore tax havens is, what are the consequences for inequality, how tax havens work and are organized, and how we can begin to approach a solution. Gabriel Zucman (@gabriel_zucman) is Assistant Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley. He's the author of The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens. Camille Landais is Associate Professor in Economics, London School of Economics, and Co-Editor, Journal of Public Economics. 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 Adam Perkins, Dr Kitty Stewart | In this lecture Dr Perkins argues that welfare policies which increase the number of children born into disadvantaged households risk proliferating dysfunctional, employment-resistant personality characteristics, due to the damaging effect on personality development of exposure to childhood disadvantage. Adam Perkins (@AdamPerkinsPhD) is a Lecturer in the Neurobiology of Personality at King’s College London. Kitty Stewart (@kittyjstewart) is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy at LSE. Jason McKenzie Alexander is Professor of Philosophy, LSE. LSE's Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CPNSS), established in 1990, promotes research into philosophical, methodological and foundational questions arising in the natural and the social sciences, and their application to practical problems. The Centre's work is inherently interdisciplinary, and a full calendar of events contributes to a lively intellectual environment.