Speaker(s): Professor Danny Dorling | When we think of economic inequality we tend to think of a trend that is ever rising and destined to continue rising; that is far from inevitable. There are many statistics today that point at Britain being at a peak of inequality. However, having allowed the gaps between us to grow so wide has had dire implications for our health, housing, education, demography, politics and future. Danny Dorling highlights these and discusses what it will take to begin to descend from the peak of inequality. Danny Dorling (@dannydorling) is a Professor of Human Geography at the University of Oxford. He has also worked in Sheffield, Newcastle, Bristol, Leeds and New Zealand, went to university in Newcastle upon Tyne, and grew up in Oxford. He has published over forty books including many atlases and All That is Solid in 2014; Injustice: Why social inequalities still persist in 2015; A Better Politics: How government can make us happier in 2016; The Equality Effect in 2017; and Do We Need Economic Inequality? – in 2018. His latest book is Peak Inequality - Britain’s Ticking Time Bomb. Jonathan Hopkin (@jrhopkin) is Associate Professor of Comparative Politics, Department of Government, LSE.

Speaker(s): Jesse Norman MP | At a time when economics and politics are both increasingly polarized between left and right, this book, Adam Smith: What He Thought, and Why it Matters, which Jesse Norman will discuss at this event, returns to intellectual first principles to recreate the lost centre of public debate. It offers a Smithian analysis of contemporary markets, predatory capitalism and the 2008 financial crash; it addresses crucial issues of inequality, human dignity and exploitation; and it provides a compelling explanation of why Smith is central to any attempt to defend and renew the market system. Jesse Norman MP (@Jesse_Norman) studied at Oxford, before completing a Masters and PhD in Philosophy at University College London. Before entering politics, he ran an educational project in Communist Eastern Europe and was a Director at Barclays. He has also been an Honorary Fellow at UCL, a Governor of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, and a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. His previous books include a celebrated study of Edmund Burke. He currently serves as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Transport. Tim Besley is School Professor of Economics of Political Science and W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics in the Department 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 Simon Critchley, Dr Gerald Moore, Dr Emily Ryall | ‘All that I know most surely about morality and obligations, I owe to football’, observed Albert Camus. And it is football, above all other sports, that so many philosophers revere. So there’s everything to play for in this panel discussion exploring the relationship between football and philosophy. We give it 110% in our exploration of what makes for a ‘good game’ and whether philosophical principles can be put into play on the pitch. Simon Critchley is Han Jonas Professor of Philosophy, New School for Social Research, NY. Gerald Moore is Associate Professor of French, University of Durham. Emily Ryall is a Reader in Applied Philosophy, University of Gloucestershire. Shahidha Bari is a Fellow, the Forum; Senior Lecturer in Romanticism, Queen Mary University of 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): Liam Halligan, Dr Gerard Lyons | In their latest book Clean Brexit, which they will discuss at this event, Liam Halligan and Gerard Lyons offer a vision of how Britain, and the world, can make a great success of Brexit. If the negotiations go well, the UK could become an inspiration for voters elsewhere in Europe who have long demanded EU reform. Unashamedly optimistic about Britain’s future, they argue that leaving the EU provides an opportunity for the UK to re-invent its economy, while reclaiming our place as a premier global trading nation. Liam Halligan (@LiamHalligan) is a British economist, journalist and broadcaster. Gerard Lyons (@DrGerardLyons) is a leading UK and international economist and writer. Tony Travers is Director of the Institute of Public Affairs. 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 Helen Frowe, Issam Kourbaj, Vernon Rapley, Professor Eleanor Robson | From the recent destruction of Palmyra and the looting of the National Museum of Iraq, cultural artefacts are one of the many casualties of armed conflict. What exactly is cultural property and whose property is it? How should we weigh its value against other priorities during times of conflict? What risks should be taken to protect it, and who is responsible for rebuilding and restoring when the conflict is over? Our speakers discuss the political and ethical issues around culture in war zones. Helen Frowe is Professor of Practical Philosophy and Director of the Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace, Stockholm University. Issam Kourbaj is Lector in Art, University of Cambridge and a Syrian artist. Vernon Rapley is Director of Cultural Heritage Protection and Security, Victoria & Albert Museum and Special Advisor for Cultural Protection Fund, The British Council. Eleanor Robson is Professor of Ancient Middle Eastern History and Director of the Nahrein Network, UCL. Sarah Fine is Fellow, The Forum and 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): Shri Suresh Prabhu, Y K Sinha | Editor's note: We regret to inform you that owing to a technical problem the last few minutes of the lecture are missing from the podcast Shri Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Commerce and Industry, Government of India will in this lecture discuss the importance of trade and investment in driving sustainable growth and inclusion. He will also reflect on the future of India-UK collaborations in a changing world. Prior to his current role Dr Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) was Minister for Railways during November 2014 – September 2017. He is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India; has a Law degree; and is pursuing two PhD programs in climate change and economics, in Germany and in Mumbai. Minister Prabhu is visiting London for a meeting of the India-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee. He has been strategically leading the agenda for the future of multilateral trade at the recent WTO talks in Buenos Aires and beyond. Y K Sinha is the High Commissioner of India to the UK. Nicholas Stern (@lordstern1) is IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government and Director of LSE India Observatory. The India Observatory (@LSE_IO), set up in 2006, is a Centre to develop and enhance research and programmes related to India's economy, politics and society. It is involved in public policy engagement in, and with, India and also works in collaboration with international partners for the generation and exchange of knowledge on India and its position in the world.

Speaker(s): Jeroen Dijsselbloem | In his lecture Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem will speak about the lessons learnt from the economic and financial crises, where we are now and about the challenges for the Eurozone in the future. Jeroen Dijsselbloem (@J_Dijsselbloem) is President of the Eurogroup and former Minister of Finance for the Netherlands. 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.

Speaker(s): Dr Pablo Rodriguez | Innovation in most large companies these days is fairly incremental. There is nothing inherently wrong in this, as much of our progress as a society has resulted from such innovation. Over recent years, however, we are seeing a radical departure from incremental innovation. Instead, we look at organisations who intentionally set extremely ambitious innovation objectives, where incremental innovation cannot get the job done. The focus of this talk is to discuss the ways in which organisations mobilise resources to go after bold objectives which can move the needle: Moonshots. These are not incremental innovation activities, but instead multi-year missions that mobilise extensive scientific and technological resources to expand the horizons for both organizations and societies, and transform both in the process. From the original Apollo mission, the original IBM 360 mainframe computer, NASA, DARPA, Google X, or Telefonica´s new spinoff company — Alpha, more and more organizations are trying to inductively develop a coherent approach to creating and executing organisational moonshots. A major driving force to tackle Moonshots is the incredible advances in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. It is widely believed that global human progress depends on the collection and analysis of data to fuel our increasingly digital world. There is tangible benefit including economic opportunity to be gained. But arguably most important, is data as a force for global and impactful social good and, here, the possibilities are endless. Pablo Rodriguez (@pabloryr) is the CEO of Alpha. Prior to Alpha, Pablo led Telefonica´s corporate research lab and incubator. He has worked in several Silicon Valley startups and corporations including Inktomi, Microsoft Research and Bell-Labs. His current interests are privacy and personal data, re-thinking the Internet ecosystem and network economics. He has co-founded the Data Transparency Lab, an NGO to drive data privacy and transparency. He is on the advisory board of Akamai, EPFL, and IMDEA Networks. He has worked with chef Ferran Adria (El Bulli) on computational gastronomy and with F.C. Barcelona applying data science to soccer. He received his Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He is an IEEE Fellow and an ACM Fellow. Milan Vojnovic is Professor of Data Science with the Department of Statistics and the MSc in Data Science Programme Director. 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): Eimear McBride, Dr Kaye Mitchell | Is it possible to express the richness, variety, and depth of our inner experience, our thoughts and feelings? If so, what is the best way to do it? Should we turn to literature or to philosophy? And what can they teach each other about understanding, expressing, and performing the self? In this event, award-winning novelist Eimear McBride will discuss these questions with writer and academic Kaye Mitchell. Eimear McBride is an award-winning novelist, author of A Girl is a Half-formed Thing and The Lesser Bohemians. Kaye Mitchell is Senior Lecturer in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, University of Manchester. Danielle Sands (@DanielleCSands) is a Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture at Royal Holloway, University of London and a 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 Arne Westad | Arne Westad and Michael Cox discuss the truly global nature of the Cold War, with East and West demanding absolute allegiance around the world. For over forty years the demands of the Cold War shaped the lives of millions of people worldwide, with countries as remote from each other as Korea, Angola, and Cuba defined by the conflict. For many nations, the war was not 'cold' at all and the second half of the 20th century offered no reprieve from horrors of world war. This conversation is based on Professor Westad's new book, The Cold War: A World History. Arne Westad (@OAWestad) is the S.T. Lee Professor of US-Asia Relations at Harvard University. Michael Cox is Director of LSE IDEAS and Emeritus Professor of International Relations at LSE. LSE IDEAS (@lseideas) is LSE's foreign policy think tank. We connect academic knowledge of diplomacy and strategy with the people who use it.

Speaker(s): Professor Mike Savage, Dr Abigail McKnight, Dr Sam Friedman | We hope you’ve enjoyed listening to the autumn 2017 programme of LSE public events and that you’ll stay tuned for the exciting programme of events we have lined up for the new year. In the meantime we have a new podcast series that we think you might enjoy. LSE IQ is a monthly, thirty minute podcast, where we ask some of the smartest social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics, politics or society. Recent episodes have tackled questions such as 'What's the secret to happiness?', 'Could social entrepreneurship be the answer to world poverty?' and, 'Is our prison system broken?'. To give you a taste of LSEIQ the latest episode, which asks 'Why is social mobility declining?', is available for you here in our public events podcast feed. To listen to other episodes and to subscribe, search for 'LSE IQ' in your favourite podcast app or visit http://lse.ac.uk/iq . We’d like to hear your opinion too so why not join the discussion on social media using the hashtag #LSEIQ and please also consider leaving a review on iTunes or the Apple podcast app.

Speaker(s): Brhmie Balaram, Jason Moyer-Lee | The gig economy is on the rise and with it worries about exploitation. Leading experts will analyse how to deal with the challenges and opportunities of new ways of working. Brhmie Balaram (@Brhmie) is a Senior Researcher in the RSA’s Economy, Enterprise and Manufacturing team. She leads the RSA’s research on the sharing economy. She was previously a researcher for the Independent Review of the Police Federation and for the influential RSA City Growth Commission. She has experience exploring issues of institutional reform, economic inequality and labour market disadvantage. Brhmie joined the RSA from the Institute of Public Policy Research and was formerly at The Work Foundation. Jason Moyer-Lee (@MoyerLee) is General Secretary, Independent Workers of Great Britain union. 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): David Gauke | Beveridge offered a radical response to the social and economic circumstances of his time in a country emerging from global depression and conflict. Yet today’s world would be unrecognisable to Beveridge: the past 75 years have seen significant social and economic changes that the welfare system has needed to accommodate. We now face further significant changes as we enter the fourth industrial revolution. Our welfare system will need to change to adapt to future circumstances. David Gauke (@DavidGauke) was appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in June 2017. He was elected the Conservative MP for Hertfordshire South West in May 2005. David was a member of the Treasury Select Committee from February 2006 until he was appointed as a Shadow Minister for the Treasury in June 2007. He was appointed Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in May 2010, and promoted to Financial Secretary to the Treasury in July 2014 where he served until July 2016. He served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from July 2016 to June 2017. After qualifying as a solicitor in 1997, David worked for a leading City firm before entering Parliament in 2005. 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.

Speaker(s): Jason Farrell, Paul Goldsmith | In their book, How To Lose A Referendum, which they will talk about at this event, Sky News senior political correspondent Jason Farrell and political blogger and economics and politics teacher Paul Goldsmith identify eighteen key reasons why the UK made its choice, from Britain’s absence at the birth of the European project to the inflammatory rhetoric of one Nigel Farage, and everything in between. The book is the product of extensive and refreshingly frank interviews with the key players from both campaigns coupled with a wide-ranging exploration of the historical context around Britain’s departure. Why was a project designed for common peace and prosperity ultimately so hard to defend? Jason Farrell (@JasonFarrellSky) is a senior political correspondent for Sky News. Paul Goldsmith (@PaulGoldsmith73) is a politics and economics teacher at Latymer Upper School and author of the Goldblog. Tony Travers is Director of the Institute of Public Affairs, 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): Yasmin Diamond | Yasmin Diamond reflects on her extensive career in corporate, government and public sector communications to discuss effective female leadership, what makes a good communicator and overcoming cultural differences in the workplace. Join her in conversation with Dr Hyun-Jung Lee. Yasmin Diamond is Executive Vice President of Global Corporate Affairs of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). Before joining IHG, Yasmin was Director of Communications at the Home Office. She has held numerous government positions including Director of Communications at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Head of Communications for Welfare to Work and New Deal and Head of Marketing at the Department for Education and Skills. Prior to government communications, Yasmin was Publicity Commissioner for the BBC. Hyun-Jung Lee is Assistant Professor of Employment Relations and Organisational Behaviour in LSE's Department of Management. Dr Lee’s research is focused on cross-cultural management, multicultural identity and HR issues in multinationals. The Department of Management (@LSEManagement) is a world-leading centre for research and education in business and management.

Speaker(s): Pierre Krähenbühl | Appointed by the UN Secretary-General in November 2013, Pierre Krähenbühl (@PKraehenbuehl) became UNRWA Commissioner-General on 30 March 2014. As Commissioner-General, he serves at the level of Under-Secretary-General. A Swiss national born in 1966, Mr. Krähenbühl has 25 years of experience in humanitarian, human rights and development work. Prior to joining UNRWA, he served as Director of Operations at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from July 2002 to January 2014, responsible for the conduct, management and supervision of 12,000 ICRC staff working in 80 countries. In this position, Mr. Krähenbühl directly oversaw the ICRC response to conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Colombia and Libya among others. He led senior-level negotiations with a range of governments, armed forces and other groups to secure access to conflict-affected populations. Chetan Bhatt (@ChetanBhatt1962) is Professor of Sociology and Director of LSE Human Rights. This event is LSE Human Rights' International Human Rights Day Lecture. LSE Human Rights (@LSEHumanRights) is a trans-disciplinary centre of excellence for international academic research, teaching and critical scholarship on human rights.

Speaker(s): Professor Tim Roughgarden | The fields of computer science and game theory both trace their roots to the first half of the 20th century, with the work of Turing, von Neumann, Nash, and others. Fast forwarding to the present, there are now many fruitful points of contact between these two fields. Game theory plays an important role in 21st-century computer science applications, ranging from social networks to routing in the Internet. The flow of ideas also travels in the other direction, with computer science offering a number of tools to reason about economic problems in novel ways. For example, computational complexity theory sheds new light on the “bounded rationality” of decision-makers. Approximation guarantees, originally developed to analyse fast heuristic algorithms, can be usefully applied to Nash equilibria. Computationally efficient algorithms are an essential ingredient to modern, large-scale auction designs. In this lecture, Tim Roughgarden will survey the key ideas behind these connections and their implications. Tim Roughgarden is a Professor in the Computer Science and (by courtesy) Management Science and Engineering Departments, Stanford University, as well as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Mathematics at LSE. Martin Anthony (@MartinHGAnthony) is Professor of Mathematics and Head of Department of Mathematics at LSE. The Department of Mathematics (@LSEMaths) is internationally recognised for its teaching and research in the fields of discrete mathematics, game theory, financial mathematics and operations research.

Speaker(s): Dr Gary L Darmstadt, Dr Jeni Klugman, Dr Anita Raj,Dr Frances Stewart | The Women, Peace and Security Index is the first global index bridging both women’s inclusion and access to justice, as well as security. Developed by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security and the Peace Research Institute of Oslo, the Index ranks 153 countries covering over 98 percent of the world’s population. Global indices such as this are a way to assess and compare progress against goals, by distilling an array of complex information into a single number and ranking. What is the potential in this new WPS index? Does it provide more than an opportunity to spotlight achievement and failure? Could it help identify routes to transformative change around a shared agenda for women’s inclusion, justice, and security? Gary L Darmstadt (@gdarmsta) is Associate Dean for Maternal and Child Health, and Professor of Neonatal and Developmental Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Jeni Klugman is managing director at the Georgetown Institute for Women Peace and Security, and a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government’s Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University. Anita Raj (@AnitaRajUCSD) is a Tata Chancellor Professor of Medicine and the Director of UC San Diego's Center on Gender Equity and Health in the Department of Medicine. She is also a Professor of Education Studies in the Division of Social Sciences. Frances Stewart (@Some0172) was Director of Oxford Department of International Development from 1993-2003 and Director of the Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity at the department between 2003 and 2010. Paul Kirby is Assistant Professorial Research Fellow in the Centre for Women, Peace and Security. The Centre for Women, Peace and Security (@LSE_WPS) is a leading academic space for scholars, practitioners, activists, policy-makers and students to develop strategies to promote justice, human rights and participation for women in conflict-affected situations around the world.

Speaker(s): Minouche Shafik, Professor Sir John Hills, Dr Waltraud Schelkle, Professor Richard Sennett, Professor Alex Voorhoeve | In November 1942, former LSE Director William Beveridge published a report that was to lay the foundation for Britain’s welfare state, caring for its citizens ‘from cradle to grave’. 75 years on, you are invited to join new LSE Director Dame Minouche Shafik, as she considers the future of social safety nets in a very different world economy. 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. John Hills is Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and co-director of the LSE’s interdisciplinary International Inequalities Institute. He was director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion from 1997 to 2016 and is currently Chair of CASE. His work has focused on inequality, the welfare state, and the role of social policy over the life course. 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. She is an Adjunct Professor of economics at the Economics Department of the Free University of Berlin. Dr Schelkle is also a (non-resident) Senior Fellow at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS), Johns Hopkins University, Washington D.C. and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Social Policy Research (Zentrum für Sozialpolitik) in Bremen. Richard Sennett (@richardsennett) writes about cities, labor, and culture. He teaches sociology at New York University and at the London School of Economics. Alex Voorhoeve is Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at the LSE and part-time Visiting Professor of Ethics and Economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Shirley Pearce is currently Chair of Court and Council at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Beveridge 2.0 - Rethinking the Welfare State for the 21st Century The core theme of Beveridge 2.0 is to run throughout this academic year, informing how LSE shares its research and its societal impact. Engagement activities such as the LSE’s acclaimed public events programme, schools outreach work and LSE Festival will shine a light on the ‘Five Giants’ identified in the Beveridge report, re-cast for the 21st century and for the global context. Originally described as Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness, today’s giants are framed as the challenges of poverty; health and social care; education and skills; housing and urbanisation; and the future of work. LSE’s community is coming together for the LSE Festival (19 – 24 February 2018) to explore these themes as deeply as possible, and to consider the interconnectedness of the themes. Cross-cutting questions, such as the issues of rights and expectations of citizens with respect to welfare provision; questions of who decides, who provides and who pays for welfare provision; and sustainability – financial, environmental and social will be addressed, along with the identification of ‘missing Giants’ that a modern day Beveridge would prioritise instead.

Speaker(s): Dr Serena Ferente, Dr Carmen Pavel, Professor David Runciman | The Brexit debate saw a revival in talk of ‘sovereignty’. But what exactly is it, and why is it so highly prized? What are its essential features and what are its limits? In a globalized world, is sovereignty something modern states can achieve? We will explore this elusive concept, and ask whether it is still a useful concept in the twenty-first century. Serena Ferente is Senior Lecturer in Medieval European History, KCL. Carmen Pavel is Lecturer in International Politics, King’s College London. David Runciman is Professor of Politics, University of Cambridge. Sarah Fine (@DrSJFine) is a Fellow in 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 Tatiana Cutts, Professor Nigel Dodd, Dr Eva Micheler, Dr Philipp Paech | The socio-economic debate surrounding money has advanced since the early metallist days of John Locke. Money is no longer viewed as an homogenous, neutral thing; rather, theorists are wont to emphasise its pivotal role in shaping networks of social relations. Yet, in many respects, the legal analysis of money is playing catch-up, and the advent of distributed online ecosystems such as Bitcoin and Ethereum has pushed to the fore some difficult questions concerning the appropriate legal lens through which to view money, and monetary assets. If we are to produce robust answers, these questions must be explored with the benefit of interdisciplinary insight. In this conversation, law meets sociology in an attempt to lay the foundation for confronting some of these challenges. Tatiana Cutts (@TatianaCutts) is Assistant Professor of Law, LSE Law. Nigel Dodd (@nigelbdodd) is Professor of Sociology, LSE. Eva Micheler is Associate Professor in Law, LSE Law. Philipp Paech is Assistant Professor of Law, LSE Law. Jo Braithwaite is Associate Professor of Law at LSE Law. LSE Law (@lselaw) is an integral part of the School's mission, plays a major role in policy debates & in the education of lawyers and law teachers from around the world.

Speaker(s): Professor Joachim Blatter, Professor Erik O Eriksen, Professor Sieglinde Gstöhl | As the UK and the EU look ahead to their long-term relationship post-Brexit, what might the UK learn from the experiences of other European states that are outside the EU but have endeavoured to maintain close economic ties to it? What does life outside the EU offer? Is there a trade-off between market access and sovereignty? What are the implications for domestic politics and economics? This expert panel will probe beyond the rhetoric to outline the key issues. This lecture is part of the LSE Programme on Brexit and the Dahrendorf Forum a project of LSE IDEAS. Joachim Blatter is Professor of Political Science at the University of Lucerne. Erik O Eriksen is the Director of ARENA and Professor of Political Science, University of Oslo. Sieglinde Gstöhl is Director of the Department of EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies, College of Europe (Belgium). 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): Professor Walter Scheidel | Throughout history only violent shocks have significantly reduced economic inequality: war, revolution, plagues. Walter Scheidel considers the prospects of levelling in today’s more stable world. Walter Scheidel (@WalterScheidel) is Dickason Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Classics and History, and Kennedy-Grossman Fellow in Human Biology, Stanford University. Aaron Reeves is Associate Professorial Research Fellow in Poverty and Inequality, International Inequalities Institute, LSE. This lecture is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Read about the International Inequalities Institute’s partnership with JRF here. The International Inequalities Institute at LSE (@LSEInequalities) brings together experts from many LSE departments and centres to lead critical and cutting edge research to understand why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.

Speaker(s): Kate Raworth, Professor Oriana Bandiera | Economics matters. Its theories are the mother tongue of public policy, the rationale for multi-billion-dollar investments, and the tools we use to tackle global poverty and manage our planetary home. Pity then – or more like disaster – that its fundamental ideas are centuries out of date, but still dominate decision-making for the future. Instead of criticising the past, this book takes the long view forwards, identifying seven insights to help the twenty-first-century economist bring humanity into the global sweet spot (shaped like a doughnut) that combines human prosperity with ecological sustainability. The Department of International Development is proud to be hosting Kate Raworth (@KateRaworth), Senior Visiting Research Associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and Senior Associate of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, as well as the author of Doughnut Economics, Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist. Kate will present her book that dares to take on the mainstream economics establishment with a radical rewrite of 200 years of theory. Using humour and metaphor, but always deeply grounded in the theory itself she offers a new model for a green, fair and thriving global economy. It promises that the economic future will be fascinating, but wildly unlike the past, if we equip ourselves with the mindset needed to take it on. Oriana Bandiera is Professor of Economics, LSE. Duncan Green (@fp2p) is Senior Strategic Advisor at Oxfam UK and Professor in Practice at LSE. He is the author of the From Poverty to Power blog and How Change Happens. The Department of International Development (@LSE_ID) promotes interdisciplinary post-graduate teaching and research on processes of social, political and economic development and change.

Speaker(s): Professor Jean Pisani-Ferry, Christine Ockrent | The lecture takes stock of the transformation of French economic policy following the sweeping electoral success of Emmanuel Macron, and appraises its achievements. Jean Pisani-Ferry (@pisaniferry) is a professor at Sciences Po Paris and the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, and Mercator Senior Fellow at Bruegel. He was the Director for Programme and Ideas of Emmanuel Macron’s presidential campaign. Christine Ockrent (@Ockrent) is a journalist and broadcaster; former Chief Operating Officer of France 24 and RFI; Editor in Chief of the weekly news magazine L’Express. Iain Begg (@IainBeggLSE) is Professorial Research Fellow at the European Institute. 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 Dahrendorf Forum (@DahrendorfForum) is a joint initiative between the LSE and the Hertie School of Governance, funded by Mercator Stiftung.

Speaker(s): Lady Kishwar Desai | The 70th year of Indian independence inevitably recalls Partition and the violent division that followed it. In a lecture that considers the lessons for other countries facing similar divisions, Kishwar Desai talks about establishing the Partition Museum in Amritsar, and considers whether partition and division are ever reparable. Lady Kishwar Desai (@kishwardesai) is an author and columnist and chair of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust, which is responsible for creating the Partition Museum, dedicated to the memory of the Partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947. Susheila Nasta MBE is currently Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature at Queen Mary College, University of London and Emeritus Professor at the Open University. The Migration Museum Project (@MigrationUK) is working to establish the UK’s first national migration museum, telling the long story of migration into and out of this country and providing a forum in which to discuss the impact of migration on our national identity.

Speaker(s): Dr Cristobal Young, Ed Miliband MP, Dr Andrew Summers | If taxes rise, will they leave? In his new book, Cristobal Young publishes the findings from the first-ever large-scale study of migration of the world’s richest individuals, drawing on special access to over 45mil US tax returns, together with Forbes rich lists. He shows that contrary to popular opinion, although the rich have the resources and capacity to flee high-tax places, their actual migration is surprisingly limited. Place still matters, even in today’s globalised world.

Speaker(s): Eric Ries | Discover how to kick-start innovation and deliver sustained growth, even in highly uncertain environments. Join entrepreneur Eric Ries in conversation with Dr Lourdes Sosa as he discusses his new book The Startup Way. Drawing on his experiences of working with iconic organisations following the release of his international bestseller The Lean Start Up, Ries offers a new framework for entrepreneurial management, showing how the startup ethos can breathe new life into companies of all sizes. Eric Ries (@ericries) is an entrepreneur and author of the international bestseller The Lean Startup. He has founded a number of startups including IMVU, where he served as CTO, and is the founder and current CEO of the Long-Term Stock Exchange. Ries has also advised on business and product strategy for startups, venture capital firms, and large companies, including General Electric, where he partnered to create the FastWorks programme. He has served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School, IDEO, and Pivotal. Lourdes Sosa is Associate Professor in LSE’s Department of Management. She researches technological discontinuities, a pervasive phenomenon in which a radical change in technologies disrupts a market. Prior to academia, Dr Sosa worked in R&D management at General Electric and General Motors. 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 Michael Mastanduno, Minouche Shafik | The post-Cold War US-China “grand bargain” in economics and security is now unravelling, and faces new uncertainty in the era of Trump. Michael Mastanduno is Nelson A Rockefeller Professor of Government, Dartmouth College and the inaugural Susan Strange Professor of International Relations at LSE. 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. Peter Trubowitz (@ptrubowitz) is Head of Department and Director of the US Centre at LSE. The Department of International Relations (@LSEIRDept) is now in its 90th year, making it one of the oldest and largest in the world.

Speaker(s): Professor Riccardo Crescenzi, Martin Sandbu | The process of technological development constantly opens windows of opportunity for new innovation centres to emerge around the world. What makes it possible for some cities and regions to join the exclusive ‘world innovation club’? Why are other places persistently excluded or lose their membership? Scholarly and policy debates attempt to identify factors at the national, regional or city level to ‘ignite’ innovation and boost productivity and employment in stagnating areas of the world. Our understanding is more limited of the transformative power of the flows of capital, skills and knowledge bundled into increasingly complex value chains, often controlled by multinational firms. This inaugural lecture by Riccardo Crescenzi will discuss the conceptual foundations and new empirical evidence from across the globe on the link between internationalisation, multinational firms’ strategies and local innovation and prosperity. The lecture will first discuss how multinationals decide where to locate different types of foreign activities along the value chain and how this process leads to ‘matching’ between firms and host regions. The second part will look at the consequences of these decisions and strategies for world cities and regions, drawing upon examples from Europe, the United States, China, India, Russia and Latin America. The final part will address the role of public policies and discuss how mayors, regional governors and national governments can effectively leverage global investment flows and value chains for innovation and recovery after the Great Recession. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union Horizon 2020 Programme H2020/2014-2020) (Grant Agreement n 639633-MASSIVE-ERC-2014-STG). Riccardo Crescenzi (@crescenzi_r ) is a Professor of Economic Geography at LSE. Martin Sandbu (@MESandbu) is an economics commentator at the Financial Times. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (@rodriguez_pose) is a Professor of Economic Geography at LSE. The LSE Department of Geography & Environment (@LSEGeography) is a centre of international academic excellence in economic, urban and development geography, environmental social science and climate change.

Speaker(s): Professor Partha Dasgupta | Contemporary economics is mostly unconcerned with distortions to individual incentives that lead to population and consumption overshoots. Currently the overshoot would appear to be in consumption in the rich world and fertility in the poor world. In this lecture Professor Dasgupta will trace those distortions to an absence of adequate property rights to the biosphere and to the fact that human preferences are socially embedded. Those distortions also encourage technological advancements to be rapacious in the use of Nature’s resources, thus exacerbating the problems. Using global assessments of the biosphere’s capacity to provide humanity with the demands we make of it, he will provide crude estimates of the size of the global population that Earth can support in comfort under foreseeable technologies and institutions. Partha Dasgupta, was born in Dhaka (at that time in India) and educated in Varanasi (Matriculation 1958 from Rajghat Besant School), Delhi (B.Sc. Hons, in Physics, 1962, University of Delhi), and Cambridge (B.A. Hons. in Mathematics, 1965, and Ph.D. in Economics, 1968). He is Frank Ramsey Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge, and Professorial Research Fellow at the Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of Manchester. He taught at the London School of Economics during 1971-1984 and moved to the University of Cambridge in 1985 as Professor of Economics, where he served as Chairman of the Faculty of Economics in 1997-2001. 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.

Speaker(s): Dr Muhammad Yunus | The capitalist system, in its current form, is broken. In this lecture, Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Dr Muhammad Yunus outlines his radical economic vision for fixing it, as explored in his new book A World of Three Zeroes. Muhammad Yunus (@Yunus_Centre) is the economist who invented microcredit, founded Grameen Bank, and earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his work towards alleviating poverty. He was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science (Economics) by LSE in November 2011. 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 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 Brian Epstein, Dr Thomas Pradeu | The Lakatos Award is given for an outstanding contribution to the philosophy of science, widely interpreted, in the form of a book published in English during the previous five years. The 2015 award winner Dr Pradeu will speak on Why Philosophy in Science? Re-Visiting Immunology and Biological Individuality and the 2016 award winner Dr Epstein on Rebuilding the Foundations of the Social Sciences. Brian Epstein is an associate professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. Thomas Pradeu is Research Director in Philosophy of Science, CNRS Immunology Unit and University of Bordeaux.

Speaker(s): Victoria Dutchman-Smith, Emmy Eklundh, Professor Matthew Ratcliffe | At the intersection of the personal and the political, we explore the relationship between mental health and economics, politics, and society at large. Is it even possible to distinguish between mental illness that derives from an individual’s physiology or childhood experience and that which has broader social or political causes? Why do particular mental illnesses appear to characterize certain eras? Could social change limit the spread of mental illness in contemporary society? Victoria Dutchman-Smith (@glosswitch) is a journalist and commentator. Emmy Eklundh is a Teaching Fellow in Spanish and International Politics, King’s College London. Matthew Ratcliffe is Professor for Theoretical Philosophy, University of Vienna. Danielle Sands (@DanielleCSands) is a Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture at Royal Holloway, University of London and a 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): Jane Connors, Professor Aoife O’Donoghue, Rosalyn Park, Navanethem Pillay | The United Nations has developed a strong focus on gender balance and gender sensitivity throughout all of its work. Yet the UN itself has significant problems in relation to gender within its Secretariat, Funds, Programmes and Agencies. Despite the UN Charter arguably setting out legal obligations to ensure gender parity within the UN and initiatives aimed at addressing the lack of gender parity, there have been few concrete changes to the lack of gender parity at senior levels. That impacts on the UN’s work, and on its legitimacy and credibility. This panel discussion will focus on why the UN remains deeply unequal in relation to gender, and suggest methods for addressing this issue. The event is part of the AHRC-funded UN Gender Network, which brings together academics, civil society, member states and UN staff to achieve a deep understanding of the causes and impact of gender inequality within the UN and the impact this has on its global leadership and work. Jane Connors is the inaugural Victims’ Rights Advocate for the United Nations and Assistant Secretary-General and Visiting Professor in Practice at the Centre for Women, Peace and Security. Prior to that she was the International Advocacy Director (Law and Policy) of Amnesty International, based in Geneva. Aoife O’Donoghue is a professor at Durham Law School. Rosalyn Park is Director, Women's Human Rights Program, The Advocates for Human Rights. Navanethem Pillay served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014. Christine Chinkin is Director of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security. The Centre for Women, Peace and Security (@LSE_WPS) is a leading academic space for scholars, practitioners, activists, policy-makers and students to develop strategies to promote justice, human rights and participation for women in conflict-affected situations around the world.

Speaker(s): Dr Maxim Bolt | This lecture will reflect on an apparently dated concept: structure. Spanning institutions of state and market, it will focus on formality as a kind of structuring, and a lens for understanding the production of difference. This event is the annual Malinowski Memorial Lecture. Maxim Bolt is Reader in Anthropology and African Studies, University of Birmingham. Katy Gardner trained at Cambridge and the LSE. After spending much of her career at the University of Sussex she has returned to the LSE. Her work focuses on issues of globalisation, migration, & economic change in Bangladesh and its transnational communities in the UK. LSE's Anthropology Department (@LSEAnthropology), with a long and distinguished history, remains a leading centre for innovative research and teaching. Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEMalinowski

Speaker(s): Dr John Collins, Misha Glenny, Dr Sasha Jesperson, Tuesday Reitano, Dr Anja Shortland | From the 70 year old "War on Drugs", to the more recent "War on Human Smuggling", politicians use militarised responses to look decisive on crime. The deployment of armies, navies, military assets and militarised approaches can send a powerful message, but have produced mixed results. This debate, co hosted between the LSE US Centre and the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime will discuss four different areas of criminality – wildlife crime, piracy, human smuggling and drug trafficking – to see how effective a militarised response can really be, and what might be lost as collateral damage. The International Drug Policy Unit (IDPU) is a cross-regional and multidisciplinary project, designed to establish a global centre for excellence in the study of international drug policy. John Collins (@JCollinsIDPU) is Executive Director of the International Drug Policy Unit and Fellow of the LSE US Centre. Misha Glenny (@MishaGlenny) is an investigative journalist and author of McMafia. Sasha Jesperson (@SashaJesperson) is Director, Centre for the Study of Modern Slavery, St Mary's University Twickenham. Tuesday Reitano (@Tuesdayjaded) is Deputy Director, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime. Anja Shortland is Reader in Political Economy, King's College London. Michael Cox is Director of LSE IDEAS and Emeritus Professor of International Relations at LSE.

Speaker(s): Robert Peston | To celebrate the release of his new book WTF: What the F--- Happened and What Happens Next? Robert Peston will be helping us make sense of the significant events which are changing our lives. It has never been a scarier time and never has there been more uncertainty in every arena of public life. Peston will go through it all, answering the questions everyone is asking around their breakfast tables. He will explain what happened, how it happened and where we might be going. Peston will be in conversation with LSE Director Minouche Shafik. Robert Peston (@Peston) is ITV's political editor, presenter of the politics show Peston on Sunday and founder of the education charity, Speakers for Schools. He has written three books, How Do We Fix This Mess?, Who Runs Britain?, and Brown's Britain. For a decade until the end of 2015, he was at the BBC, as economics editor and business editor. Previously he was City editor at the Sunday Telegraph, political editor and financial editor at the FT, a columnist for the New Statesman, and at the Independent in various roles. Peston has won more than 30 awards for his journalism, including Journalist of the Year from the Royal Television Society. His blog is itv.com/robertpeston. 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 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 Sara Hobolt, Philippe Legrain, John Rentoul | What will a Brexit deal look like? How does the British public view controversies over budget, jurisdiction and immigration? What are the risks of a breakdown of the Brexit negotiations? To address these questions, our panel of leading experts will look at the negotiation stance of the British government and the EU, and present new evidence on British public attitudes towards Brexit. Sara Hobolt (@sarahobolt) is Sutherland Chair in European Institutions at the European Institute, LSE. Philippe Legrain (@plegrain) is former advisor to the European Commission President and Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE European Institute. John Rentoul (@JohnRentoul) is Chief Political Commentator for The Independent and visiting professor at King's College London. James Tilley is Professor of Politics and Fellow of Jesus College at the University of Oxford. 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): Darren Walker | Philanthropic organisations play a key role in challenging the causes, effects, and consequences of inequality, funding projects that aim to directly and indirectly reduce the inequality gap. However questions have been raised about the approach, direction and priorities of such wealthy organisations when funding projects to tackle inequality, and the effect of these projects on the beneficiaries and the economy as a whole. The Ford Foundation has identified inequality as the central issue of our time. Darren Walker, President of Ford Foundation, will discuss the work and focus of the Ford Foundation, and the greater role of Philanthropy in reducing inequality. Darren Walker (@darrenwalker) is President of the Ford Foundation, the US’s second largest philanthropy. Prior to joining Ford, he was Vice President at the Rockefeller Foundation. Julia Black is Pro Director for Research at LSE. The International Inequalities Institute at LSE (@LSEInequalities) brings together experts from many LSE departments and centres to lead critical and cutting edge research to understand why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.

Speaker(s): Rolf Dobelli | Editor's note: At time code 11:00 please note ‘about 1400 years old’ should state ‘about 2400 years old’ and research discussed between time codes 34:16 - 37:30 should be attributed to Matthew Syed. Rolf Dobelli, the bestselling author of The Art of Thinking Clearly returns to the UK to discuss his new book The Art of the Good Life. Join us for a talk in which Rolf will provide some surprising and indispensable mental shortcuts for better decision-making in life, work and business. Rolf Dobelli (@dobelli) is a Swiss writer, novelist and entrepreneur. He has an MBA and a PhD in economic philosophy from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and is a co-founder of getAbstract, the world's leading provider of book summaries. Helena Vieira (@helenavieira1) is LSE Business Review’s managing editor. LSE Business Review (@LSEforBusiness) is a blog that promotes the dialogue between researchers and society on topics related to business and economics.

Speaker(s): Frances O'Grady | While the general election result left the Prime Minister significantly weakened, publically the government has stuck to its Brexit negotiating red lines set out in her Lancaster House speech. As the clock ticks on talks, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady argues that it’s time for the government to level with the British public on the realistic trades and compromises that will be needed to reach a new deal with the EU. The TUC is lobbying hard on both sides of the table for a Brexit deal that prioritises jobs, investment, living standards, rights and public services. With the rate of net migration falling but no sign of a wages recovery and growing public alarm about spreading insecurity at work, the government should rethink its negotiating strategy and style. A Brexit deal that’s best for workers will be best for Britain too. This lecture is part of the LSE Programme on Brexit. Frances O’Grady (@FrancesOGrady) is the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) since 2013. She has been an active trade unionist and campaigner all her working life. She has been employed in a range of jobs from shop work to the voluntary sector. Tony Travers is Director of LSE London, a research centre at LSE. He is also a Visiting Professor in the LSE’s 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. 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): 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): Professor Olmo Silva, Amy Finch | Olmo Silva will discuss the conceptual framework and empirical evidence underpinning the idea that autonomy and choice can lead to improvements in education standards in England. Recent reforms in many countries around the world have injected ‘private sector’ elements in the provision of public education – in particular school autonomy and school choice – with the aim of improving education standards. But do these initiatives work? The answer to this question sparks lively debates among academics and policy makers alike – and resonates vividly among parents worried about taking the right decisions for their children’s learning and development. In England, ‘quasi markets’ have long been part of the education landscape. However, recent policy initiatives – in particular the mass academisation of secondary education – have brought these and related ideas centre stage. This dynamism makes the country an ideal “open-air laboratory” for studying these issues and provide a timely answer to some pressing questions. Olmo Silva is Professor of Real Estate Economics and Finance, LSE. Amy Finch (@amy_finch) is Head of Strategic Development, Ofsted. Julian Le Grand is a Professor of Social Policy at LSE. The LSE Department of Geography & Environment (@LSEGeography) is a centre of international academic excellence in economic, urban and development geography, environmental social science and climate change.

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).