SPP Connections Newsletter - Beginning of Summer 2022

We're looking forward to seeing you back on campus! Invitations are already going out, so do mark your diaries - we'd love to see some of you as summer begins.

'Communicating Effectively in the Media' Alumni Workshop

Monday 23 May; 6-8PM BST; The LSE Alumni Centre

In-person workshop around writing for non-academic audiences and using the media to promote your work.

Registration for this event is now open.

Summer in the City Drinks

Tuesday 31 May; 6.30 - 8.30PM BST; CBG 6th Floor

Relax, enjoy the sun, and join us for a drink or two at our end of year celebration! Open to all SPP alumni and academics.

Registration for this event is now open.

'Learning From Each Other's Background' Discussion

Tuesday 21 June; 6-8PM BST; The LSE Alumni Centre

Discussion event where alumni share their expertise on a range of policy topics in order to better share knowledge and interests amongst our community.

Registration for this event will be open closer to the date.

If you have any questions about an upcoming event, please get in touch at spp.alumni@lse.ac.uk.

Can you help our students?

'Ask an Alum' Support Scheme

We are launching the pilot of an informal mentoring scheme next academic year: designed to help students gain valuable insight into the professional world, and helping alumni build connections with future policy professionals.

Our support scheme will be an informal arrangement based around regular, small conversations. Alumni will be matched with students and asked to commit to three 30-45 minute conversations spread across the year, based around answering student questions and providing relevant professional advice.

We're really excited about providing this opportunity for greater connection between our students and alumni: our students are always incredibly eager to hear from our alumni and really appreciate the chance to talk with you. This pilot scheme will begin with the MPA cohort and then is planned to spread out across the SPP, so watch this space.

In order to launch our support scheme we need alumni volunteers - if you're an MPA alumnus and interested in taking part, we would love to hear from you! Please email Hannah Shearer at h.c.shearer@lse.ac.uk to register your interest or if you have any questions.

Meet Victor Steenbergen

This edition's Alumni in Action is Victor Steenbergen who took part in the MPA in 2013, focussing on International Development. Victor was drawn to the MPA due to its interdisciplinary focus, wide range, and practical tools - he now uses these in his role as an Economist at the Global Investment Climate Unit at the World Bank.

You can read more about Victor's story here.

Do you know an alumnus whose story should be shared with the SPP community? It could be a friend, a colleague, someone whose work you admire from afar - it could even be yourself! Drop us a line to recommend the next alumni profile.

Alumni Benefits in the Spotlight

With campus re-opened to our alumni, don't forget to make the most of the LSE Alumni Centre - our dedicated home away from home for all LSE alumni.

The Centre is a space where you can work remotely, hold meetings, and get more information about the School’s philanthropic and alumni engagement. You can find out more online.

Congratulations to the SPP student team EmpowHer Capital, who recently took part in the Turner MIINT (MBA Impact Investing Network & Training) competition and won the runners-up prize! LSE's first all-female team - Alvira Rao, Julie Rubenstein, Gabrielle de Haan Montes, Prebhjot Kaur, Emilie Drop and Ana Isabel Abad - also won an audience choice award and got honourable mention for best due diligence out of forty-five competing schools.

The competition is a training and networking programme designed to give students hands-on experience in impact investing, with the winners' chosen firm receiving investment funds. Thanks to the students' hard work, their chosen start-up Kami (a mobile app supporting parental wellness in the workplace) will be receiving £25k - a huge congratulations to all involved!

You can find out more about the competition and read an interview with the winning team online.

Lynette York leaves the SPP

In April the SPP said goodbye to Lynette York, our Student Advisor and Life Coach. After seventeenteen years with the LSE, Lynette retired this year.

Lynette passes on this message: 'I would like to thank all the students who have come to me for life coaching during the past couple of years. I have enjoyed meeting you and learning so much about your lives. I have been impressed with your commitment to academic work and future careers - you all deserve to do very well, and I wish you all the best.' Goodbye Lynette - you will be sorely missed!

SPP Student awarded Young Diplomat of the Year

Congratulations to current SPP EMPA student Rasha Haddad, who has been named Young Diplomat of the Year by Diplomat Magazine at their IHG DIPLOMAT Of The Year Awards 2022!

Rasha is the First Secretary at the Embassy of Lebanon to the United Kingdom. You can read more about the awards online.

Growth Co-Lab Activities - Promoting Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in Namibia.

The research project 'Promoting Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in Namibia' (an initiative seeking to disentangle the factors that inform Namibia’s economic prospects) is a joint effort between Harvard and LSE, where Miguel Santos and Sheyla Enciso Valdivia are members of the team.

During the past month two publications in the Harvard Faculty Working Paper Series relating to the project have been shared:

The latter comes accompanied by an online tool (Namibia Industry Targeting Dashboard) that allows policymakers to make a practical use of research insights: in this case to identify sectors with potential to lead structural transformation and inclusive growth in Namibia. Recently Sheyla and Miguel travelled to Windhoek, Namibia to conduct training sessions with the personnel of the Namibian Investment Promotion and Development Board.

New Role for Vanessa Rubio-Marquez

Vanessa Rubio-Marquez was recently appointed by Associate Dean for Extended Education within SPP - congratulations, Vanessa, we look forward to hearing more from you in the future.

Public Sphere Journal team launches its 10th edition

Congratulations to the team for all of their hard work on releasing the 10th edition of the Public Sphere Journal. The journal is produced by SPP students, and this edition centres around the theme of 'social impact' - where contributors take a global outlook to explore pressing policy issues in locations around the world including Nigeria, Syria, US and Argentina.

The launch of the 10^th edition was celebrated last term with a special launch event, featuring expert panellists Dr Alexander Evans OBE (Strategy Director, UK Cabinet Office), Laila Takeh (Head of Net Zero Transformation, Deloitte UK), and Professor Lant Pritchett (LSE SPP Professor in Practice, Research Director, Blavatnik School).

A massive well done once again to everyone in the team who brought the 10th edition together. You can find out more about the journal online.

How Mexico's Middle Class Holds the Key to 2024

How Chinese social media sentiment about COVID changed during 2020

Professor Vanessa Rubio-Marquez explores the upcoming Mexican presidential election, arguing that the results will hinge on middle-class voters who have been hit hard by COVID-19, inflation, and lack of economic growth.

Read Online

Chinese social media sentiment about the pandemic fluctuated during 2020. Dr Yan Wang and Dr Yuxi Zhang from the LSE-Fudan Global Public Policy Hub use platform data to analyse how these waves of sentiment emerged and shifted.

Read Online

SPP Public Events and Podcasts

Summer Term 2021-22 Public Events

Justice Across Ages

Wednesday 18 May 2022, 6.00-7.30PM

Age shapes social institutions, roles, and relationships, as well as how we assign obligations and entitlements within them. Each life-stage also brings its characteristic opportunities and vulnerabilities, which spawn inequalities between young and old. How should we respond to these age-related inequalities?

Speaker: Dr Juliana Bidadanure, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and of Political Science, Stanford University and Ludwig Lachmann Research Associate Professor of Philosophy, LSE.

Find out more

Today's Fight for Open Society

Thursday 19 May 2022; 4.30-6.00PM

Today, 38 percent of the world’s population live in countries which are not free – the highest proportion in a quarter of a century. As the enemies of open society further accelerate their attacks, and Ukraine becomes the frontline in a systems-breaking clash between democracy and authoritarianism, where do we turn next in today’s fight for open society?

Speaker: Mark Malloch-Brown, President of the Open Societies Foundations.

Find out more

The UK during the 70-year Reign of Elizabeth II

Monday 30 May 2022; 6.30-8.00PM

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee occurs during a period of remarkable social, economic and political upheaval, both in the UK and globally. We will explore how the UK’s economy, government and politics, social policy and foreign relations have evolved between 1952 and 2022.

Speakers: Professor Tim Besley, Professor of Economics and W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics, LSE; Professor Michael Cox, Emeritus Professor of International Relations LSE; Professor Anna Whitelock, Professor of the History of Monarchy at City, University of London and Director, Centre for the Study of Modern Monarchy; Sir Anthony Seldon, British educator, contemporary historian and author.

Find out more

LSE Festival: Financing Social Care

Thursday 16 June 2022; 6.30 - 7.45PM

The pandemic has highlighted long-known vulnerabilities of the social care sector, and amplified the urgency for reforming its funding system. This panel will examine the government's proposal to increase funding through an increase in National Insurance contributions, as well as possible alternatives.

Speakers: Professor Nicholas Barr, Professor of Public Economics in the European Institute at the LSE; Andrew Dilnot, Warden of Nuffield College Oxford; Michelle Dyson, Director General for Adult Social Care; Lord Nicholas MacPherson, served as the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury from 2005 to 2016.

Find out more

Thank You for Supporting the SPP

Support from alumni and friends enables us to form a strong and ambitious education community, and is very much appreciated by everyone at the SPP. Whether that be donating financially or through donating your time by volunteering with student support, you are helping us keep the SPP a truly fantastic place to learn.

A particular thanks to everyone who donates financially, either to the SPP or to the wider LSE. Your support helps us do wonderful things for our student community, and we are thrilled to offer an outstanding policy education experience to those who come to our School - everyone at the SPP really appreciates your kindness.

If you are interested in supporting us or would like to find out more, contact us at spp.alumni@lse.ac.uk or visit our website.