Explore every episode of the podcast Summer 2011 | Public lectures and events | Video

Contributor(s): Professor Viktor Mayer-Schönberger | Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is the Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford. His research focuses on the role of information in a networked economy. Earlier he spent ten years on the faculty of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Professor Mayer-Schönberger has published seven books, as well as over a hundred articles (including in Science) and book chapters. His most recent book, the awards-winning 'Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age' (Princeton University Press 2009) has received favourable reviews by academic (Nature, Science, New Scientist) and mainstream media (New York Times, Guardian, Le Monde, NPR, BBC, Wired) and has been published in four languages. Ideas proposed in the book have now become official policy, e.g. of the European Union.

Contributor(s): Michael Wolff | Rupert Murdoch is currently engulfed in one of the most extraordinary news stories of recent times, his own. Michael Wolff has long argued that a trend of decline for media moguls is inevitable. In this conversation, Wolff will reveal some of the unparalleled insights he has gleaned from his unprecedented access to Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation. He will also discuss how this most recent crisis will ultimately impact the most infamous of media moguls going forward. Michael Wolff is an award winning journalist, author and expert on Rupert Murdoch's global media empire. His latest and most timely book, a biography of Rupert Murdoch 'The Man Who Owns the News', is based on nine months of interviews with Murdoch, his family and associates. Wolff began his career at The New York Times and is currently the editorial director of Adweek and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. His books include the best-seller 'Burn Rate: How I Survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet' (Simon & Schuster, 1998) and 'Autumn of the Moguls' (HarperBusiness, 2003).'

Contributor(s): Mehdi Hasan, James Macintyre | Ed Miliband is perhaps the least understood political leader of modern times. Mehdi Hasan and James Macintyre's book, ED: The Milibands and the making of a Labour leader, reveals where he has come from and where he is going. It charts his unique upbringing, against the backdrop of tragedy and with a prominent Marxist thinker for a father. ED follows his coming of age at Oxford, his election to Parliament and asks whether the pressures of being Labour party leader are swaying him from deep personal and ideological convictions. But Ed’s story cannot be fully understood outside the context of his struggle to emerge from the shadow of his elder brother, David. Ed followed David to the same college at Oxford, into Parliament and into the Cabinet before, at the eleventh hour, snatching away David’s dream of the leadership. Ed Miliband’s political hero is Robert Kennedy but, unlike the Kennedys, the Milibands fought to the bitter end, rather than supporting one another. ED gets to the heart of the dramatic decision-making that led him to join that epic leadership battle and reveals the hidden truth behind the making of a Labour leader. Mehdi Hasan is Senior Editor (Politics) at the New Statesman and is a former newsstand- current-affairs editor at Channel 4. He is a regular guest on the BBC’s Question Time and The Big Questions, and also appears on BBC News, Sky News, Al Jazeera and LBC, where he is a guest presenter. James Macintyre is Politics Editor at Prospect. Previously he was a reporter at the Independent and New Statesman and producer of BBC’s Question Time and LWT’s Jonathan Dimbleby programme. He frequently appears on news and radio programmes.

Contributor(s): Tim Macartney | A lecture from a leadership expert who seeks to challenge some of our fundamental preconceptions and current ways of thinking. Tim Macartney has been working as a people and organisation development professional since 1984. He is the founder and CEO of Embercombe, a published author, and an associate of Leaders' Quest.

Contributor(s): Professor Anatol Lieven | In this talk on the subject of his new book, Pakistan: A Hard Country, Professor Anatol Lieven will analyse the Pakistani state and political system, and explain how those factors which give the state its surprising resilience in the face of revolution also hold it back in terms of economic and social development. Professor Anatol Lieven is chair of international relations and terrorism studies at King's College London, and a senior fellow of the New America Foundation in Washington DC. He was previously a journalist, who reported from South Asia, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe for The Times and other publications. His books include Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power, America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism and, with John Hulsman, Ethical Realism: A Vision for America's Role in the World. This event celebrates Professor Lieven's new book Pakistan: A Hard Country.

Contributor(s): Frank Vibert | A recent report by the IMF on why it failed to spot the 2008 international financial crisis identified what is known as 'cognitive failure' – failures in the way in which information is assessed and analysed. This is highlighted in Frank Vibert's new book, Democracy and Dissent, on international rule making. Frank Vibert is a senior visiting fellow at LSE Global Governance.

Contributor(s): Dr Hans-Gert Pöttering | These are troubled times for Europe. Where is the EU headed? Will its economy revive? Has the European Parliament found its role? Crucially: can the European 'project' be brought back to life? Hans-Gert Pöttering is former president of the European parliament. Dr Sara Hagemann is from the European Institute at LSE.

Contributor(s): Bill Turnbull | Bill Turnbull's light-hearted introduction to the world of beekeeping highlights the ups and rather more frequent downs of his ten years attempting to produce honey and keep his colonies alive. Definitely not a masterclass on the art of apiculture; more a survival guide for beginners and the casual bystander. BBC Breakfast presenter Bill Turnbull first joined the BBC in 1986, where he has remained as an investigative journalist and presenter ever since. He is a keen beekeeper, a leading ambassador of beekeeping in the UK, and the author of mishap memoir The Bad Beekeepers Club. Ian Spencer is Director of the LSE's Residential and Catering Services Division. He is keen to become an amateur bee keeper himself and was instrumental in the Passfield Hall Honey project which gave LSE it's very first roof-top hives.

Contributor(s): Professor Dan Stone | In this series, an historian, a novelist and a literary critic explore the ways in which memory, literature and history shape contemporary Europe. Dan Stone is professor of modern history at Royal Holloway, University of London. This event is part of the Jean Monnet 'Europe Beyond Governance' Lecture Series.

Contributor(s): Professor Joseph Nye | Joseph Nye is a long-time analyst of power and a hands-on practitioner in government. His concept of "soft power" has been adopted by leaders from Britain to China and "smart power" has been adopted as the bumper-sticker for the Obama Administration's foreign policy. In this lecture, drawn from his new book The Future of Power, Nye outlines the major shifts of this century: new transnational challenges such as the financial crisis, global epidemics, and climate change facing an increasingly interconnected world; a changing global political and economic landscape, including the rise of China and India; and the increasing influence of non-state actors. Nye explores what resources now confer power, and argues that, in the information age, it might be the state (or non-state) with the best story. Joseph S. Nye, Jr. is University Distinguished Service Professor and former Dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He has served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Chair of the National Intelligence Council, and a Deputy Under Secretary of State. The author of many books, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the British Academy, and the American Academy of Diplomacy.

Contributor(s): Brian Christian | Author Brian Christian will talk on the subject of his debut book The Most Human Human a superbly engaging re-evaluation of what it means to be human in the light of breathtaking advances in artificial intelligence. Brian Christian is an Author and Poet. He holds a dual degree in computer science and philosophy and an MFA in poetry.

Contributor(s): Professor Norman Stone | Joined to Europe by geography and linked to it byhistory and trade, can politics overcome religious and cultural differences so that Turkey ceases to be Europe's 'Other'? This event celebrates the publication of Turkey: A Short History| published by Thames & Hudson. Norman Stone was born in Glasgow in 1941, and is a British academic, historian and currently a Professor in the Department of International Relations at Bilkent University, Ankara. He is a former Professor at the University of Oxford, a Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, and adviser to Margaret Thatcher. He graduated with First Class Honours in History from Cambridge University in 1962, and following his undergraduate degree he did research in Central European History in Vienna and Budapest. Upon completion of his secondary degree, he was offered a research fellowship by Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he later became an Assistant Lecturer in Russian and German history and full Lecturer in 1973. In 1971, he had transferred to Jesus College as Director of Studies in History. In 1984, he accepted the position of Professor of Modern History at Oxford University until 1997, when he left to teach at the department of International Relations at Bilkent University in Ankara. Between 1987 and 1992 he published a regular column for the Sunday Times and contributed to other new services including the BBC and the Wall Street Journal. During this time, he also became Margaret Thatcher's foreign policy adviser on Europe, as well as her speech writer. He has written many books including The Eastern Front 1914-1917 (1975); Hitler (1980); Europe Transformed 1878-1919 (1983), Czechoslovakia: Crossroads and Crises, 1918-88 (1989); The Times Atlas of World History (1989); The Other Russia (1990); World War One: A Short History (2007), The Atlantic and its Enemies: A Personal History of the Cold War (2010).

Contributor(s): Professor Costas Meghir, Professor Herakles Polemarchakis | One year after Greece agreed a rescue package with the EU and the IMF, this debate considers how best Greece can secure future economic growth. Is the austerity plan working? Can Greece avoid a sovereign debt default? What new reform measures might be desirable in the future? Costas Meghir is Professor of Economics, University College London; Douglas A. Warner III Professor, Yale University; and co-director ESRC Research Centre, Institute for Fiscal Studies. Herakles Polemarchakis is Professor of Economics, University of Warwick and economic advisor to the prime minister of Greece

Contributor(s): Professor Fawaz A Gerges | Fawaz Gerges is a Professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He also holds the Emirates Chair of the Contemporary Middle East and is the Director of the Middle East Centre at LSE.

Contributor(s): Professor Simon Baron-Cohen | World-expert Simon Baron-Cohen presents new discoveries on the importance of empathy, and the problems with evil. Simon Baron-Cohen, expert in autism and developmental psychopathology, has always wanted to isolate and understand the factors that cause people to treat others as if they were mere objects. In this book he proposes a radical shift, turning the focus away from evil and on to the central factor, empathy. Unlike the concept of evil, he argues, empathy has real explanatory power. Putting empathy under the microscope he explores four new ideas: firstly, that we all lie somewhere on an empathy spectrum, from high to low, from six degrees to zero degrees. Secondly that, deep within the brain lies the 'empathy circuit'. How this circuit functions determines where we lie on the empathy spectrum. Thirdly, that empathy is not only something we learn but that there are also genes associated with empathy. And fourthly, while a lack of empathy leads to mostly negative results, is it always negative? Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor at Cambridge University in the fields of psychology and psychiatry. He is also the Director of Cambridge's internationally-renowned Autism Research Centre. He has carried out research into social neuroscience over a career spanning twenty years. This event celebrates the publication of his new book Zero Degrees of Empathy.

Contributor(s): Platon | Portrait photographer Platon shares his experience photographing an eclectic mix of presidents, politicians, celebrities and artists through to his award winning portfolios for the New Yorker. He will also discuss highlights from Power his book of over 100 Heads of State including Barack Obama, George W Bush, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg, Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mahmoud Abbas, Hugo Chavez, Robert Mugabe and Silvio Berlusconi. This event celebrates the publication of his latest book Power. Born in England to a Greek father and English mother, Platon grew up in both the Greek Isles and London. He attended St. Martins School of Art, and after receiving his BA with honours in Graphic Design, he was later awarded an MA in photography and fine art at the Royal College of Art. Now based in New York, Platon has contributed to a vast range of international publications including the New Yorker, Rolling Stone and Esquire magazines. In 2008, Platon's photograph of Russian Premier Vladimir Putin for Time magazine's Person of the Year cover was awarded first prize in the World Press photo contest. He is now a staff photographer at the New Yorker magazine. Platon's first book Platon's Republic was published in 2004 by Phaidon Press. He lives in New York with his wife, daughter and son. Charlie Beckett is Director of POLIS at LSE.

Contributor(s): Rahul Hiremath | The textile sector in India plays an important role in the country's economy, providing employment to a significant population in rural and semi-rural areas. It generates sizeable foreign exchange for the country, and is a repository of the cultural heritage of the nation. The sector, however, remains largely unorganized and heavily dependent on market fluctuations. The mass production of textile goods without any effects on the environment seems utopian in these days as the available manufacturing technologies consume many different chemicals as well as high quantities of water and energy. To explain the textile sector and its impact, the seminar will consider the findings of a study of Solapur City in the state of Maharashtra. Solapur, with a population of 907,400 (2003) is the 37th most populous city in the country and eighth in the State of Maharashtra, India. There are about 25,000 power looms employing about 100,000 workers. The seminar will present key concepts and findings regarding the need for sustainability in the textile industry in Solapur City. The research provides an overview of the textile and clothing industry in a city where it is one of the biggest sectors for employment and export. The current problems exist in the city because effluent disposal facilities of these industries are very poor in turn creating environmental, health and social problems. To counteract this effect, the study reviewed the textile industry's approach adopted in the city and sought to evaluate models and methods for measuring the impact of the textile industry on the environment, human health, biodiversity and climate. The research emphasises the need for the development of an integrated sustainable model of networking for climate change mitigation using adaptation approaches related to environment, health, safety and cleaner production which can assist in building a local knowledge base to sustain the process.

Contributor(s): Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Dr Katharine Rake, Professor Anne Power, Jane Waldfogel | Family futures is about family life in areas of concentrated poverty and social problems where surrounding conditions make bringing up children more difficult and family life more fraught and limited. Home and neighbourhood carry special meaning for families, because where they live, how they fit in with their neighbours, and how their children grow up all intertwine, to build a sense of community. This timely book, by acclaimed author Anne Power and her team, is based on a unique longitudinal study of over 200 families interviewed annually over the last decade. It answers three important questions in the words of families themselves: What challenges face families in poor areas? How are the challenges being met? Have government efforts helped or hindered progress over the past decade? This event will have wide appeal to people who work with, live in and care about families and low-income areas. Margaret Hodge is Member of Parliament for Barking. Dr Katharine Rake OBE is Chief Executive Officer at the Family and Parenting Institute. Anne Power is Professor of Social Policy and Head of LSE Housing at LSE. Jane Waldfogel is a professor of social work and public affairs at Columbia University School of Social Work and a visiting professor at the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics.

Contributor(s): Dr Zack Cooper, Professor Julien Forder, Professor Mireia Jofre-Bonet, Dr Irini Papanicolas | In this lecture, organised by LSE Health and Social Care, and supported by LSE HEIF 4 Bid Fund, LSE academics will discuss quality and competition in the field of health and social care. Welcome from Chair - Professor Alistair McGuire (LSE Health and Social Care). Does Hospital Competition Save Lives? Evidence from the English National Health Service - Dr Zack Cooper (LSE Health). Payment by Results and Quality in the English NHS - Dr Irini Papanicolas (LSE Health). Measuring Quality and Outcomes in Social Care - Professor Julien Forder (PSSRU Kent and LSE). Discussant: Professor Mireia Jofre-Bonet (City University).

Contributor(s): Professor Sir Hilary Beckles | This event is part of the celebrations that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Caucus of High Commissioners are organising to celebrate CARICOM day on 1 July 2011. Several activities are being planned to mark the day from July 3-8, which aim to showcase CARICOM countries. Professor Sir Hilary Beckles was born in Barbados in 1955. He attended secondary school in Barbados and Birmingham in the UK. He received his higher education in the United Kingdom. He graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in Economic History from Hull University in 1976 and a PhD from the same university in 1980. In 2003, he received an Honorary Doctor of Letters for outstanding work as a scholar from his alma mater. He joined the History Department at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus in 1979 as a lecturer; in 1984 he transferred to the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados and was promoted to a personal professorship in 1993 at age thirty-seven, the youngest in the history of UWI. Professor Sir Hilary has served the University as Head of the History Department and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities.

Contributor(s): Liz Fekete, Dr Naika Foroutan, Dr Myria Georgiou, Nazia Hussain, Lamya Kaddor, Profressor Julian Petley | How can we formulate a vision of the future after the widely proclaimed "failure of multiculturalism"? The London Integration Forum aims at providing a fresh perspective on British and German integration debates bringing together renowned scholars and professionals and framing immigration and integration as fields of learning and exchange. Liz Fekete is the executive director and head of European research at the Institute of Race Relations in London. A leading authority on issues of racism, Islamophobia and national security legislation. Dr Naika Foroutan is director of the research project "Hybrid European-Muslim Identities" (HeyMat) at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Dr Myria Georgiou is lecturer at the LSE Department of Media and Communications, focusing on the areas of diaspora, migration, media and identity. Nazia Hussain is director of the Open Society Institute project "At Home in Europe", directing research on policies and practices relating to integration in different EU cities. Lamya Kaddor is an author on Muslim-German Identity, awarded the "European Muslim Women of Influence" prize by CEDAR in 2010. Julian Petley is Professor of Screen Media and Journalism, Brunel University, Uxbridge & co-editor of Pointing the Finger: Islam and Muslims in the British Media.

Contributor(s): Felipe Larraín Bascuñán | Since March 2010, Felipe Larraín Bascuñán has been the Minister of Finance of the Government of President Sebastián Piñera. Felipe gained a PhD (1985) and Master of Arts (1983) in Economics from Harvard University, and Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Universidad Católica de Chile (1981), he has a vast experience as an international consultant, academician, editor and author of more than 10 books and 120 professional articles, both published in Latin America, U.S.A., Europe and Asia. Since 1996, he has been a Professor of Economics at Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, where he previously served as Associate and Assistant Professor. From 1997 to 2002 he was affiliated to Harvard University, first as the Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor of Latin American Studies (1997-99), then as Faculty Fellow (1999-2002). Since 1985, he has served as economic advisor to several American governments, including Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. Felipe Larraín has been a consultant on macroeconomic issues to the United Nations, the World Bank, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He is the editor and author of ten books, including: Desarrollo Económico en Democracia: Proposiciones para una Sociedad Libre y Solidaria (Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile: Santiago, 1987); Debt, Adjustment and Recovery: Latin America's Prospects for Growth and Development (Basil Blackwell: Oxford and New York, 1989); The Public Sector and the Latin American Crisis (ICS Press: San Francisco, 1991); Chile Hacia el 2000 (CEP: Santiago, Chile, 1994); La Transformación Económica de Chile (CEP: Santiago, Chile, 2000); Capital Flows, Capital Controls and Currency Crises: Latin America in the 1990s (University of Michigan Press, 2000); Economic Development in Central America, Vols I and II (Harvard University Press, 2001); and Macroeconomics at Practice (Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2004).

Contributor(s): Andrea Colantonio, Tim Dixon, Brian Field, Jan Olbrycht | Urban regeneration is a key focus for public policy throughout Europe. This launch marks an examination of social sustainability through the analysis of its meaning and significance. The authors will offer a comprehensive European perspective to identify best practice in sustainable urban regeneration in five major cities in Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, and the UK. Respondents will discuss current policy thinking and the future of the EU Urban Agenda. Andrea Colantonio is Research Coordinator at LSE Cities. Tim Dixon is Director of the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development, Oxford Brookes University. Brian Field is Urban Specialist with the European Investment Bank. Jan Olbrycht is MEP and Chair of the Urban Intergroup, European Parliament. Anne Power is Professor with the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.

Contributor(s): Michael Atherton | A conversation and Q&A with cricketer Michael Atherton, author of Glorious Summers and Discontents: Looking Back on the Ups and Downs from a Dramatic Decade. Renowned as a shrewd and resolute captain of England, Atherton moved effortlessly into the commentary box and Fleet Street, proving himself every bit as capable with the pen as with the bat. Born in 1968 and educated at Cambridge University, Mike Atherton played his entire career for Lancashire and England, winning 115 Test caps and captaining his country 54 times. After a spell writing for the Sunday Telegraph, he became Cricket Correspondent of The Times in 2008 and also commentates for Sky Sports. He lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and two children.

Contributor(s): Sir Michael Bichard, Matt Briggs, Guy Ker, Simon Boniwell, Nick Chapman, David Dinsdale, Patrick Dunleavy, Harry Metcalfe, Ivo Gormley, William Heath, Teresa Perchaud, Kevin McLean, Mark O'Neill, Jerry Fishenden, Martin Ferguson | LSE Public Policy Group, LSE Moving Social Security Online Conference, Wednesday 29 June 2011. In the present fiscal climate, governments must cut the costs of delivering services at the same time as maintaining quality. They must also cope with the demands of increasing numbers of the unemployed and the aging. A key imperative therefore is to move the bulk of social security processes and transactions online. Introduction: Designing Social Security, Sir Michael Bichard, Design Council. Session 1: Moving social security online: the current UK view, Matt Briggs (Programme Manager, Tell Us Once, Department for Work and Pensions), Guy Ker (Publishing Director, Directgov), Simon Boniwell (Strategy Unit, Department for Work and Pensions). Session 2: Government services online: other policy areas, Nick Chapman (Chief Executive, NHS Direct), David Dinsdale (ex Director of Businesslink), Patrick Dunleavy (Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, LSE). Session 3: Designing technology changes to social security, Harry Metcalfe (The Dextrous Web), Ivo Gormley (Thinkpublic) – Case study on transforming public services. Session 4: Information and citizen focused innovation, William Heath (Chairman, Mydex), Teresa Perchaud (Director of Policy, Citizens Advice Bureaux), Kevin McLean (UK Online Centres). Session 5: Designing online social security for the future, Mark O’Neill (Head of Skunkworks and CIO, CLG and DCMS), Jerry Fishenden (Advisor, PASC IT inquiry and ex Head of Technology, Microsoft).

Contributor(s): Sir Michael Bichard, Matt Briggs, Guy Ker, Simon Boniwell, Nick Chapman, David Dinsdale, Patrick Dunleavy, Harry Metcalfe, Ivo Gormley, William Heath, Teresa Perchaud, Kevin McLean, Mark O'Neill, Jerry Fishenden, Martin Ferguson | LSE Public Policy Group, LSE Moving Social Security Online Conference, Wednesday 29 June 2011. In the present fiscal climate, governments must cut the costs of delivering services at the same time as maintaining quality. They must also cope with the demands of increasing numbers of the unemployed and the aging. A key imperative therefore is to move the bulk of social security processes and transactions online. Introduction: Designing Social Security, Sir Michael Bichard, Design Council. Session 1: Moving social security online: the current UK view, Matt Briggs (Programme Manager, Tell Us Once, Department for Work and Pensions), Guy Ker (Publishing Director, Directgov), Simon Boniwell (Strategy Unit, Department for Work and Pensions). Session 2: Government services online: other policy areas, Nick Chapman (Chief Executive, NHS Direct), David Dinsdale (ex Director of Businesslink), Patrick Dunleavy (Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, LSE). Session 3: Designing technology changes to social security, Harry Metcalfe (The Dextrous Web), Ivo Gormley (Thinkpublic) – Case study on transforming public services. Session 4: Information and citizen focused innovation, William Heath (Chairman, Mydex), Teresa Perchaud (Director of Policy, Citizens Advice Bureaux), Kevin McLean (UK Online Centres). Session 5: Designing online social security for the future, Mark O’Neill (Head of Skunkworks and CIO, CLG and DCMS), Jerry Fishenden (Advisor, PASC IT inquiry and ex Head of Technology, Microsoft).

Contributor(s): Sir Michael Bichard, Matt Briggs, Guy Ker, Simon Boniwell, Nick Chapman, David Dinsdale, Patrick Dunleavy, Harry Metcalfe, Ivo Gormley, William Heath, Teresa Perchaud, Kevin McLean, Mark O'Neill, Jerry Fishenden, Martin Ferguson | LSE Public Policy Group, LSE Moving Social Security Online Conference, Wednesday 29 June 2011. In the present fiscal climate, governments must cut the costs of delivering services at the same time as maintaining quality. They must also cope with the demands of increasing numbers of the unemployed and the aging. A key imperative therefore is to move the bulk of social security processes and transactions online. Introduction: Designing Social Security, Sir Michael Bichard, Design Council. Session 1: Moving social security online: the current UK view, Matt Briggs (Programme Manager, Tell Us Once, Department for Work and Pensions), Guy Ker (Publishing Director, Directgov), Simon Boniwell (Strategy Unit, Department for Work and Pensions). Session 2: Government services online: other policy areas, Nick Chapman (Chief Executive, NHS Direct), David Dinsdale (ex Director of Businesslink), Patrick Dunleavy (Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, LSE). Session 3: Designing technology changes to social security, Harry Metcalfe (The Dextrous Web), Ivo Gormley (Thinkpublic) – Case study on transforming public services. Session 4: Information and citizen focused innovation, William Heath (Chairman, Mydex), Teresa Perchaud (Director of Policy, Citizens Advice Bureaux), Kevin McLean (UK Online Centres). Session 5: Designing online social security for the future, Mark O’Neill (Head of Skunkworks and CIO, CLG and DCMS), Jerry Fishenden (Advisor, PASC IT inquiry and ex Head of Technology, Microsoft).

Contributor(s): Sir Michael Bichard, Matt Briggs, Guy Ker, Simon Boniwell, Nick Chapman, David Dinsdale, Patrick Dunleavy, Harry Metcalfe, Ivo Gormley, William Heath, Teresa Perchaud, Kevin McLean, Mark O'Neill, Jerry Fishenden, Martin Ferguson | LSE Public Policy Group, LSE Moving Social Security Online Conference, Wednesday 29 June 2011. In the present fiscal climate, governments must cut the costs of delivering services at the same time as maintaining quality. They must also cope with the demands of increasing numbers of the unemployed and the aging. A key imperative therefore is to move the bulk of social security processes and transactions online. Introduction: Designing Social Security, Sir Michael Bichard, Design Council. Session 1: Moving social security online: the current UK view, Matt Briggs (Programme Manager, Tell Us Once, Department for Work and Pensions), Guy Ker (Publishing Director, Directgov), Simon Boniwell (Strategy Unit, Department for Work and Pensions). Session 2: Government services online: other policy areas, Nick Chapman (Chief Executive, NHS Direct), David Dinsdale (ex Director of Businesslink), Patrick Dunleavy (Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, LSE). Session 3: Designing technology changes to social security, Harry Metcalfe (The Dextrous Web), Ivo Gormley (Thinkpublic) – Case study on transforming public services. Session 4: Information and citizen focused innovation, William Heath (Chairman, Mydex), Teresa Perchaud (Director of Policy, Citizens Advice Bureaux), Kevin McLean (UK Online Centres). Session 5: Designing online social security for the future, Mark O’Neill (Head of Skunkworks and CIO, CLG and DCMS), Jerry Fishenden (Advisor, PASC IT inquiry and ex Head of Technology, Microsoft).

Contributor(s): Rudy Demotte | In the 19th century the Belgian region of Wallonia was the second industrial power of the world after England. Then, in the 1950s, came rapid and seemingly unstoppable decline. Now, with exports and investment rising, there is a growing perception that Wallonia is finally turning the corner. How is it doing so? Rudy Demotte is Minister President of the Belgian region of Wallonia and President of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Before becoming Minister President, Rudy Demotte previously served as Minister for the National Health System and for Social Affairs, Minister for Budget, Culture and Sport for the French-speaking community, and Federal Minister for Economy and Scientific Research. Maurice Fraser is Director of the LSE European Institute. This event is organised in association with the Belgian Embassy in London and the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain.

Contributor(s): Suzanne Moore, Max Mosley, David Price, Hugh Tomlinson | A public debate to celebrate the launch of the new issue of Index on Censorship magazine, Privacy is dead! Long live privacy. Index editor Jo Glanville chairs a panel featuring Hugh Tomlinson QC, who represents Ryan Giggs, former F1 president Max Mosley and Imogen Thomas' lawyer David Price, who will discuss gagging orders, tabloid intrusion and the right to a private life. Are injunctions a means to uphold our human rights or an unjust anachronism after the recent Twitter exposés? Should Article 10, the right to freedom of expression, trump Article 8, the right to respect for a private life? Are celebrities' personal lives fair game? Suzanne Moore is an award-winning columnist for the Guardian and the Mail on Sunday. Max Mosley is the former president of Formula One. David Price QC is the founder of London media law firm David Price Solicitors & Advocatesis. Hugh Tomlinson QC of Matrix Chambers is a noted specialist in media and information law including defamation, confidence, privacy and data protection. His practice also includes advisory work and litigation in the freedom of information field.

Contributor(s): Phillip Blond, Jonathan Douglas, Professor John White | Three debates will examine the theoretical, practical and policy implications of teaching philosophy to children in primary and secondary school settings in the UK. Phillip Blond is director of ResPublica. Jonathan Douglas is director of The National Literacy Trust. John White is emeritus professor of philosophy of education in the Institute of Education, University of London.

Contributor(s): Dr Rami Zurayk | In his lecture, Rami Zurayk will discuss his current work on food and de-development in Gaza and the use of food insecurity as a weapon of siege. He will also look at Egypt and its post-revolution agricultural policies. Rami Zurayk is an agronomy professor at the American University of Beirut and a longtime activist for political and social justice. Born in Beirut during the 1958 U.S. Marines' landing in Lebanon, he has witnessed two Israeli-Arab wars, one protracted civil war, one major Israeli invasion, one Israeli retreat and one Israeli defeat. He studied at AUB and at Oxford University. He has published over a hundred articles, monographs and technical reports on agriculture, food, environment and education. His most recent book Food, Farming and Freedom: Sowing the Arab Spring was published this May.

Contributor(s): Dr Katerina Deligiorgi, Dr Angela Hobbs, Dr Vivienne Orchar | Three debates will examine the theoretical, practical and policy implications of teaching philosophy to children in primary and secondary school settings in the UK. Katerina Deligiorgi is senior lecturer in literature and philosophy at the University of Sussex. Angela Hobbs is senior fellow in the public understanding of philosophy at the University of Warwick. Vivienne Orchard is lecturer in French at the University of Southampton.

Contributor(s): Dr Mary Healy, Dr John Taylor, Peter Worley | Three debates will examine the theoretical, practical and policy implications of teaching philosophy to children in primary and secondary school settings in the UK. Mary Healy is senior lecturer in education at Roehampton University. John Taylor is director of critical studies at Rugby School. Peter Worley is chief executive officer of The Philosophy Shop.

Contributor(s): Professor David Miles | The banking sector across many developed economies proved fragile – insufficiently robust to prevent worries about the value of bank assets generating a banking crisis. This caused a downturn which in the UK has been severe and prolonged. But this has happened while inflation has stayed relatively high. This creates huge challenges in setting monetary policy. David Miles will analyse those difficulties and consider how banks can be best made more robust. Professor David Miles joined the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England in June 2009. He is also a Visiting Professor at Imperial College. Miles was formerly a professor of financial economics and head of the Finance Department at Imperial. As an economist he has focused on the interaction between financial markets and the wider economy. He was Chief UK Economist at Morgan Stanley from October 2004 to May 2009. He has been a specialist economic advisor to the Treasury Select Committee. In Budget 2003, the Chancellor commissioned Professor Miles to lead a review of the UK mortgage market. The result, published at Budget 2004, was the report: "The UK mortgage market: taking a longer-term view". He is a council member of the Royal Economic Society, a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research and at the CESIFO research institute in Munich. He is a former editor of Fiscal Studies.

Contributor(s): Jean-Michel Severino, Martin Wolf | Two of the world's top commentators on economics, development and finance discuss some of the most pressing global imbalances and the social challenges that they pose in the years ahead. Jean-Michel Severino is general inspector of finances, French Ministry of Finance. Martin Wolf is associate editor and chief economics commentator at the Financial Times.

Contributor(s): Michael Shackleton, David Curry, Sara Hagemann, Hugo Brady | The launch of the 8th edition of the "The European Parliament" by Richard Corbett, Francis Jacobs and Michael Shackleton offers a timely opportunity to reflect on the development of this fascinating institution. Following the Lisbon Treaty, has the European Parliament reached the apogee of its powers, or is there still more for the MEPs' to influence? And, after a record low in voter participation in the 2009 European Parliament elections, what can or should the European Parliament do to increase its legitimacy?

Contributor(s): Philip Davies | It is almost thirty years since the American social scientist Carol Weiss noted that social science findings and evaluation evidence "were not having visible impacts on policy decisions". Weiss went on to suggest that "this is not the same as saying that research findings have little influence on policy", but that the influence that they do have is more subtle and indirect. This seminar will consider the various ways in which research gets into policy and practice, as well as the barriers to the successful transfer of research evidence. It will argue that there are some structural reasons why there is a gap between the research and policy making communities, but that this gap can be filled if the subtle and indirect methods of knowledge translation and knowledge transfer are understood and respected.

Contributor(s): Professor Stephen Nickell | This lecture will look at immigration and its economic effects including the contribution to population growth. Why does housing not keep up with population growth? More generally, why do we find it so hard to house our population decently? Stephen Nickell is warden of Nuffield College, Oxford and a member of the Budget Responsibility Committee at the Office for Budget Responsibility. Professor John Van Reenen is Director of the Centre of Economic Performance (CEP) at LSE.

Contributor(s): Professor Yves Tiberghien | In the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008 and at the time of major impasses regarding both the future of the global trading regime and the Kyoto protocol, the global economic governance is in the midst of major uncertainties. The G20 process presents the most systematic effort since 1971 to rebalance the relation between market and governance and to establish an integrated structure of global governance. It has also become the key focal point of a new geopolitical "Great Game". At stake is not just the long-term sustainability of both the global financial and global trading systems and the balance between these two systems; but also the distribution of gains among nations and the transition of power from the US (and to a secondary extent Europe and Japan) to China and other emerging powers (India and Brazil). This talk offers both a conceptual approach to the balance between global rules and global markets at a time of major rebalancing and an empirical review of large issues embedded in the G20 process. It argues that China is the pivotal player in the G20 game and raises questions about the role and preferences of China and Japan in this larger process. As well, it raises question about the strategic position played by the UK. Professor Yves Tiberghien (Ph.D. Stanford University) is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia and a Research Associate at Science Po Paris. He specializes in comparative political economy and international political economy with empirical focus on Japan, China, and Europe. In 2007, Cornell University Press published his new book Entrepreneurial States: Reforming Corporate Governance in France, Japan, and Korea. Professor Tiberghien is currently working on a new multi-year project on the roles of Japan and China in global governance, as well as a project on the political consequences of economic inequality in Japan.

Contributor(s): Eli Pariser | Imagine a world where all the news you see is defined by your salary, where you live, and who your friends are. Imagine a world where you never discover new ideas. And where you can't have secrets. Welcome to 2011. Google and Facebook are already feeding you what they think you want to see. Advertisers are following your every click. Your computer monitor is becoming a one-way mirror, reflecting your interests and reinforcing your prejudices. The internet is no longer a free, independent space. It is commercially controlled and ever more personalised. In this talk, Eli Pariser will reveal how this hidden web is starting to control our lives – and shows what we can do about it. Eli Pariser is a pioneer in online campaigning. He helped start Avaaz.org, one of the world's largest citizen organizations, and is now President of the five-million member MoveOn.org. He's a Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. He has written for the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. This event celebrates the publication of his new book The Filter Bubble: What The Internet Is Hiding From You.

Contributor(s): Ed Balls | Ed Balls is the Labour & Co-operative MP for Morley and Outwood and Shadow Chancellor. He was previously MP for Normanton (2005-2010) and Labour's Shadow Home Secretary (2010-11), Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (2007-2010) and Economic Secretary to the Treasury (2006-2007). Ed brought together schools and children's policy for the first time in the Children's Plan and pushed through radical and progressive policies including raising the education and training age to 18, reform of the social work profession, establishing the support staff negotiating body and extra investment in youth services and short breaks for disabled children and their families. In opposition (1994-1997) and then as chief economic adviser to the Treasury (1997-2004) Ed worked on policies including independence of the Bank of England, the windfall tax and New Deal jobs programme, Sure Start, tax credits and the national minimum wage.

Contributor(s): Professor Michael Cox, Fadi Hakura, Professor Şevket Pamuk | Turkey's international role has grown in recent years as its economy has boomed under the direction of Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Davutoglu's much-vaunted 'Strategic Depth' foreign policy doctrine. But as Turkey goes to the polls in a general election, what will be the impact of the result on its international role? This event marks the launch of a major new research report from LSE IDEAS entitled 'Turkey's Global Strategy'. Professor Michael Cox is Co-director of LSE IDEAS and Professor of International Relations at LSE. Fadi Hakura is the manager of the Turkey Project at the Chatham House. Professor Sevket Pamuk is Chair of Contemporary Turkish Studies at the European Institute.

Contributor(s): Professor Benny Morris | The lecture will look at various aspects, some of them innovative, of the 1948 War, the first between the Arabs and Israel. Benny Morris is professor of Middle East history at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and is the author of several books on Israeli history, including The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited.

Contributor(s): Lord Glasman, Jesse Norman MP | David Cameron has championed the 'big society' as his big idea for government; Ed Miliband has countered with the 'good society'. Two of the thinkers behind these concepts debate what is at stake in rethinking the role of the state in contemporary Britain. Maurice Glasman was raised to Baron Glasman of Stoke Newington and of Stamford Hill in 2011. Jesse Norman is the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire and author of The Big Society.

Contributor(s): Professor George Selgin, Professor Lord Skidelsky, Duncan Weldon, Dr Jamie Whyte | How do we get out of the financial mess we're in? Two of the great economic thinkers of the 20th century had sharply contrasting views: John Maynard Keynes believed that governments could create sustainable employment and growth. His contemporary and rival Friedrich Hayek believed that investments have to be based on real savings rather than fiscal stimulus or artificially low interest rates. BBC Radio 4 will be recording a debate between modern day followers of Keynes and Hayek. George Selgin is Professor of Economics at The Terry College of Business, University of Georgia. Selgin is one of the founders of the Modern Free Banking School, which draws its inspiration from the writings of Hayek on the denationalization of money and choice in currency. He has written extensively on free banking, the private supply of money and deflation. George Selgin is the author of The Theory of Free Banking: Money Supply under Competitive Note Issue (1988), Less Than Zero: The Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy (1997), and Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage (2008). Robert Skidelsky is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick. His three-volume biography of the economist John Maynard Keynes (1983, 1992, 2000) received numerous prizes, including the Lionel Gelber Prize for International Relations and the Council on Foreign Relations Prize for International Relations. He is the author of The World After Communism (1995) (American edition called The Road from Serfdom). He was made a life peer in 1991, and was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1994. His latest book is Keynes: The Return of the Master. Duncan Weldon is a former Bank of England economist and currently works as an economics adviser to an international trade union federation. He has a long standing interest in and admiration for Keynes but also a respect for Hayek. He blogs at Duncan's Economic Blog. Jamie Whyte was born in New Zealand and educated at the University of Auckland and then the University of Cambridge in England, where he gained a Ph.D. in philosophy. Jamie remained at Cambridge for a further three years, as a fellow of Corpus Christi College and a lecturer in the Philosophy Faculty. During this time he published a number of academic articles on the nature of truth, belief and desire, and won the Analysis Essay Competition for the best article by a philosopher under the age of 30. Jamie then joined Oliver Wyman & Company, a London-based strategy consulting firm specialising in the financial services industry, for which he still works, as the Head of Research and Publications. Jamie has published two books: Crimes Against Logic (McGraw Hill, Chicago, 2004) and A Load of Blair (Corvo, London, 2005). Jamie is a regular contributor of opinion articles to The Times (of London), the Financial Times and Standpoint magazine. In 2006 he won the Bastiat Prize for journalism.He is on the advisory board of The Cobden Centre. The debate will be chaired by Paul Mason, economics editor of BBC 2's Newsnight and author of Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed.

Contributor(s): Dr Rajiv Shah | In the process of implementing one of the most sweeping sets of reforms in its history, the U.S. Agency for International Development is transforming the way it delivers development assistance. Administrator Rajiv Shah will discuss how fundamental reforms, coordinated approaches, and new U.S. Presidential initiatives on food security and global health are helping achieve more effective, cost-efficient, results-oriented development. Dr Rajiv Shah was sworn in as the 16th Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on December 31, 2009. USAID, a U.S. Government agency, has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for almost 50 years. Dr Purna Sen is a Senior Visiting Fellow at DID and Head of Human Rights, Commonwealth Secretariat. Prior to his Dr Sen was with Amnesty International as Director for the Asia-Pacific Programme and had previously taught Gender and Development at the Development Studies Institute (DESTIN) at LSE.

Contributor(s): Professor Chris Frith, Dr Alex Gillespie, Professor Dermot Moran | How do we create our world through shared experiences? What are the psychological and physiological mechanisms that underlie our abilities to relate to and interact with others? Chris Frith is emeritus professor of psychology in the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL. Alex Gillespie is senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Stirling. Dermot Moran is professor of philosophy at University College Dublin.

Contributor(s): Jean-Claude Trichet | The Stamp Memorial Lecture is in memory of Josiah Charles Stamp, an alumnus and former governor of LSE. The recent financial crisis has been a turbulent period for policy-makers around the world. Originating in and mostly affecting the financial sector, it has forced central banks to take unprecedented steps to contain the situation and its fallout for the real economy. Overall, this has been achieved, and economic activity is gradually recovering around the world. Risks remain, however, including systemic risks, and the advanced economies are still a long way from achieving sustainable economic growth and job creation. Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), explains how his institution reacted swiftly to the challenges of the financial crisis through non-standard measures. However, at the same time, it has continued to remain faithful to its mandate of maintaining price stability in the euro area over the medium term through standard monetary policy measures. Looking ahead, Mr Trichet also argues that the unwavering actions of the ECB and its decision-making bodies need to be paralleled by a quantum leap in the economic governance of the euro area. The citizens of the euro area want stronger and better coordination of economic and financial policies and are calling for governments to deliver a deeper and more effective economic union.

Contributor(s): Various - see description for details | Academics are increasingly being pressed to provide evidence of impact from their research on the world outside academia. And universities will have to provide evidence of impact as part of the new Research Excellence Framework. But there is confusion about the different definitions of impact that exist amongst funding bodies and research councils, and also about methods of measuring impact. This one day conference will look at a range of issues surrounding the impact of academic work on government, business, communities and public debate. We will discuss what impact is, how impacts happen and innovative ways that academics can communicate their work. Practical sessions will look at how academic work has impact among policymaking and business communities. Also how academic communication can be improved and how individual academics can easily start to asses their own impact. 11:30 – Welcome and introduction, Professor Patrick Dunleavy. 11:45 – Panel 1: Current Thinking in Assessing Impact - Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Professor Alan Hughes (Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge), Tomas Ulrichsen (Public and Corporate Economic Associates), Chair: Simon Hix, Government Department, LSE. 12:45 - Panel 2: Innovative Methods for Impact and Engagement, Charlie Beckett (Director of POLIS, London School of Economics), Professor Stephen Curry (blogger, Imperial College London), Paul Manners (Director, National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement, UWE), Dr Martyn Lawrence (Senior Publisher, Emerald Group Publishing), Mike Peel (Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics / Wikimedia UK), Chair: Dr Bart Cammaerts, Media and Communications, LSE. 14:00 - Session A: Academic impact on policy-making, Maria O’Beirne (Analysis and Innovation Directorate, Department for Communities and Local Government), Jill Rutter (Better Policy Making Programme Director, Institute for Government), James Johns (Director of Strategy for Civil Government, HP), Chair: Dr Edgar Whitley, information Systems Group, LSE. 14:00 Session B: A 'how to' guide to measuring your own academic impact, Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Jane Tinkler (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics). 16:00 Session C: Knowledge transfer and the role of research mediators, Nick Pearce (Director, IPPR), Professor Judy Sebba (University of Sussex), Daniel Lindsay (Senior Economic Analyst, Shelter), Chair: Professor Sonia Livingstone, LSE Media, LSE. 16:00 Session D: Improving academic communication, Professor Patrick Dunleavy (Impact of Social Sciences project, London School of Economics), Chris Gilson (Managing Editor, British Politics and Policy blog, London School of Economics). 17:15 Concluding Panel: Research Impact and the REF, Professor Rick Rylance (Chief Executive, Arts and Humanities Research Council), David Sweeney (Director of Research, Innovation and Skills, HEFCE), Professor Paul Wiles (Panel Chair, social work and social policy panel, REF impact pilot), Astrid Wissenberg (Director of Partnerships and Communications, Economic and Social Research Council), Chair: Tony Travers, LSE Greater London Group.