In his state of the School address on Monday, Professor Craig Calhoun announced an £11 million investment in education over the next four years. The aspiration of LSE’s first education strategy is to develop our education to the world-leading standards of our research. The investment will be focussed on teaching excellence, developing courses and programmes and on LSE LIFE.
LSE LIFE will be launched at the beginning of Academic Year 2016-17. Based in the Library it will provide space and opportunity for undergraduate and masters students to develop academic, communication and research skills, learn a language and get advice on personal effectiveness and in making life choices. More information about LSE LIFE will be shared over the coming months.
To discover the detail behind the investment in education, visit the Teaching Blog and hear from Professor Paul Kelly, Pro-Director for Teaching and Learning
LSE was awarded the ‘Cutting Carbon’ Mark of Achievement by the Camden Climate Change Alliance on Thursday 4 February, at a ceremony hosted by veteran sustainability leader Sir Jonathon Porritt.
The School was recognised for reducing its carbon emissions by 7.5 per cent between 2012-13 and 2014-15 (this figure relates specifically to the four LSE buildings located in Camden, and is slightly larger than the School’s overall carbon reduction of 4.8 per cent over the same period).
Julian Robinson, LSE Director of Estates, said: "This recognises our ongoing year-on-year commitment to reducing carbon across our estate, by building energy-efficient new buildings and retrofitting our older stock."
Dogs have measurable IQs, like people, suggests new research from LSE and the University of Edinburgh.
The research, published in the journal Intelligence, looked at whether dog intelligence is structured in a similar way as in humans. When IQ, or 'general intelligence', is tested in people, individuals tend to perform comparably across different types of cognitive tasks - those who do well in one type of task, tend to do well in others.
In response to growing public interest in egg freezing, a fictional beauty brand called Timeless will ‘pop-up’ in London’s Old Street later this month following expert advice and research from LSE. The store will engage women with the issue of fertility and explore how social egg freezing may impact the world of work, relationships and wider society in the future.
Social egg freezing is the freezing of women’s eggs for lifestyle as opposed to medical reasons. The unique pop-up brings the medical and social issues around this sensitive subject to life through the products of a woman's beauty store, creating an imaginative and informative intervention into people’s daily lives.
Women's human rights experts visit LSE Library exhibition
On Thursday 4 February, members of the UN Committee on Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, and other women’s human rights experts, visited the Library’s Women, Peace and Equality exhibition.
The experts were at LSE for two days of work with the Centre for Women, Peace and Security, as part of the Centre’s HEIF 5 project ‘Tackling Violence Against Women’.
LSE Library’s Lent term exhibition displays items from its collections to look at how women were affected by different wars in the first half of the 20th century and how they responded to them. It also places the women, peace and security agenda in its historical context and brings the subject up to date. The exhibition is located at the entrance to the Library and is open until 9 April.
Undergraduate research is increasingly an integral part of students’ educational experience at LSE and, happily, the opportunities for showcasing it beyond the School are growing too.
Last week, two recent LSE graduates shared their research at ‘Posters in Parliament’. Organised annually by the British Conference of Undergraduate Research, the event brings together undergraduates from dozens of UK universities to present their work visually and conversationally to MPs, academics and members of the public in the Palace of Westminster.
IGNITE! focuses on improving teaching and learning experiences by supporting large-scale, technology-informed initiatives to have a substantial and lasting impact at course or programme level.
Applications are now open for projects to be implemented in the 2016-17 academic year.
Staff Wellbeing Week is taking place from Monday 29 February to Friday 4 March. If you haven't had a chance to, please take a look at the programme of events.
On the Monday there's a session with Ohemaa Nkansa Dwamena on 'Emotional Resilience' which will look at how you can start to develop resilience to deal with factors such as criticism, doubt, stress and lack of confidence.
On Tuesday you can take part in the 'Good Gym'. The idea is simple: run to a community project as a group, lend a hand, run back. A mixed ability group is encouraged, but you should be able to comfortably run up to 3km in one go (and twice, i.e. there and back). All speeds welcome and catered for. Up to 40 staff members can attend this event. You may also wish to use the School's Staff Volunteering Leave provision to secure the time off, with the permission of your manager. Email staffwellbeing@lse.ac.uk to book this in advance.
We also have the wellness MOTS with the LSESU Gym and tours of the gym running on most days, with a number of free classes provided. Make sure you book in advance by emailing a.abas@lse.ac.uk.
Further activities have been added (with more to be confirmed in due course), so be sure to check out the programme. If you would like to book on one of the events, please ensure you do so in plenty of time as, in many cases, places will be limited.
More to follow, so watch this space! If you have any questions, contact staffwellbeing@lse.ac.uk.
LGBT History Month at LSE
This February is LGBT History Month. Keep up to date with national events at #LGBTHM and LSE events at #LSELGBT.
LSE’s EDI and History blogs have joined forces to publish a post on this year’s theme, religion, belief and philosophy, by LSE Chaplain James Walters. Discover the story of William Stringfellow, who arrived at LSE in 1949. A gay man, he was also a prominent Christian leader and lawyer, describing himself as “a Christian, not a moralist.”
Did you miss ‘Not Yet Over the Rainbow’? This event, co-hosted by LSE Law, Spectrum and the LSESU LGBT+ Alliance, featured prominent speakers discussing LGBT+ progression in the legal profession. Their advice applies to minority groups in any workplace so if you’re in need of some inspiration make sure you check out the video and podcast.
LGBT+ and working at LSE? Get in touch with Spectrum, the LGBT+ staff network. We’re here to represent staff who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other minority sexual orientations and gender identities. Would you like to get involved? Email us and ask to join our mailing list.
LSE Enterprise, the consultancy arm of the School, is conducting a survey to assess the experience of LSE academic and administrative staff when working with us. More generally, it is about understanding the needs of the School in terms of consultancy research.
LSE Enterprise is undergoing a period of restructuring in order to improve the services it provides to the School, and particularly to enhance the impact of research outside LSE. Your opinion is essential to help us define our future strategy, and how we can better help LSE academics conducting research projects outside of academia.
This survey focuses specifically on the role of LSE Enterprise's Consulting team. The survey is anonymous and it will take you less than 5 minutes - and you have the opportunity to win a case of wine!
Residential Services have recently launched the 2015-16 Student Accommodation Satisfaction Survey. All students in halls have been sent a personalised email and survey link inviting them to take part.
If you have a student-facing role, particularly with first year undergraduates, we’d appreciate your help in advertising the survey and encouraging participation. Students have the chance to win a selection of prizes: Amazon vouchers from £20 to £100 and one of four iPads. The earlier students take part, the more chances they have to win.
The role will involve day-to-day web and social media updates, producing marketing materials/formating documents within brand guidelines, maintaining a database of client/participant/attendee contacts, publicising reports, and helping to promote events.
The closing date for applications is 9pm on Tuesday 1 March.
The LSE Craft Group is looking for someone to galvanise the many crafty people around the School for their lunchtime meetings.
The Craft Group welcomes all kinds of crafts from jewellery making and calligraphy, to knitting and patchwork. The coordinator role entails maintaining the mailing list, promoting the group through School channels, being the point of contact listed on LSE web pages, and sending a weekly email to remind people of the meeting time and location. Mailing lists and template emails will be provided.
For more information or to discuss the role, contact Justine Rose at j.rose1@lse.ac.uk or on ext 3634.
Who supports research, why do they do this and how do they choose which research to support? This sequence of questions underpins the topic of this short article on the research funding landscape.
Funding Highlight: Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust is one of the UK’s largest funders of research, planning to distribute somewhere close to £5bn in financial support in the five years to 2020.
Wellcome has long supported specific programme areas for research in social science and humanities and is encouraging social researchers to see Wellcome as a potential funder of their research. Read the full article here.
Open access at LSE: Are you REF compliant?
Commencing Friday 1 April, all peer-reviewed articles and conference proceedings MUST be deposited in LSE Research Online (LSERO) upon acceptance to be eligible for the next REF.
"Changes in the funding and regulatory environment for research continue. The deadline for REF open access is looming so it is important to ensure that your publications are sent to the Library as soon as they are accepted. The steering committee for the REF review, chaired by LSE’s Nick Stern, has issued its call for evidence, details in the research landscape article below, to which I hope you will respond." Julia Black, Pro-Director for Research
How is the UK Research landscape changing?
The UK Government has recently announced a flurry of new developments which will affect how higher education research is managed in future.
Have you had a look at the events taking place as part of this year's Festival Fringe?
Coming up next week a LSE Faith Centre discussion on "Faithful Visions" with Mark Lawson and Jonathan Moore; a BBC Radio 3 'Free Thinking' recording "Getting Real about Utopia"; and a lecture by LSE Director Craig Calhoun "Can Imagination Change the World".
Sunday 21 February from 6.30-8pm in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building Speakers: Yanis Varoufakis, academic, economist and former Syriza Finance Minister of Greece; Caroline Lucas MP, Green Party; and Zoe Williams, Guardian journalist and writer
The creation of the EU set the direction for peace and trade in the 20th century. It is failing to adequately respond to the huge crises we now face, from Syria to Greece, refugees to austerity, and climate change. Please join us as we ask what is the purpose of the EU in the 21st century? This event will explore how it can meet the demands for social justice, democracy and sustainability as part of a vision for a good Europe.
This is a registration only event. To register, click here.
Come and see James Clay, Project Manager for the Building Digital Capability R&D project at JISC, talk about how mapping the curriculum could result in a more coherent approach to the embedding of digital technologies. The talk will also explore the potential enablers that will create new solutions, enable changes in behaviours and build digital capability.
This month's contributions to LSE Perspectives are now online. The online gallery features images contributed by students and staff, reflecting some of the fascinations, concerns, quirks and artistic sensibilities of the LSE community.
Submissions include this photo by second year undergraduate Nathanael Didillon. This photo was taken just before reaching the top of Primrose Hill last year. Nathanael was too late for the sunset, but observed another fascinating phenomenon: 'a human rise'.
Training
Learn to code with LSEPUG
The LSE Python User Group (LSEPUG) is a new monthly meetup for those interested in learning and understanding Python programming.
Python is free open-source software which allows you to code easily, using fewer lines than languages such as C++ or Java. This general purpose, high-level programming language is used by sites like YouTube, Dropbox and Instagram.
If you would like to meet other local Python developers, learners and enthusiasts, join us at the launch event on Monday 22 February from 6-8pm (location tbc). All skill levels are welcome: if you are interested in Python, we are interested in you!
Using Learning Technologies in Your Teaching Wednesday 17 February from 12-1.30pm How can technology enhance teaching and learning in higher education? This course aims to answer that question and give you the inspiration to go off and start making the most of learning technologies in your own teaching.
Flipping Lectures Thursday 18 February from 12-1.30pm Discover/explore the concept of the flipped lecture and how to make it work.
Moodle Basics Friday 19 February from 2-4pm This course is open to all LSE staff who need to update/edit Moodle courses. It provides an introduction to basic skills required to update/edit a course in Moodle.
Research Division training
All staff interested in research funding or already with an award are invited to attend the following events:
What is Horizon 2020? Tuesday 16 February from 12-1.30pm Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over seven years (2014-20). This session will provide an overview on:
Horizon2020 schemes
Information about EC’s programmes, how they work and what sorts of approach to be taken
Upcoming calls in 2016
Research Incentives Schemes Tuesday 23 February from 12-1.30pm Learn about the LSE’s Research Incentives Policy, which includes the Personal Financial Rewards (PFR) and Research Infrastructure and Investment Funding (RIIF) schemes. This policy provides financial rewards for staff who win research funding to enhance their salaries and/or buy out their time from teaching.
If you have some news, an achievement, or an aspect of LSE life that you would like to share, we would love to hear from you - get in touch at communications.internal@lse.ac.uk or on ext 7582.
The next edition of Staff News is on Thursday 18 February. Articles for this should be emailed to us by Tuesday 16 February. Staff News is emailed every Thursday during term time and fortnightly during the holidays.
"Changes in the funding and regulatory environment for research continue. The deadline for REF open access is looming so it is important to ensure that your publications are sent to the Library as soon as they are accepted. The steering committee for the REF review, chaired by LSE’s Nick Stern, has issued its call for evidence, details in the research landscape article below, to which I hope you will respond."
