Autumn 2017 connect Rise of the machines 2 / LSE CONNECT LSE CONNECT / 3 CONTENTS MESSAGE from the Director It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to LSE Connect. NEWS roundup Breaking indifference 4 26 Michael Bruter and Sarah Harrison report how age affected voting in From its inception, LSE has embraced diversity. The first truly international 8 THE BIG picture recent UK elections university, the School continues to welcome students and staff from across the globe. When I joined LSE in 1985 we numbered 540 staff and 10 Rise of the machines 30 Give women credit 4,575 students. Today we are a community of over 14,000 with 142,000 Erica Field and Rohini Pande examine Andrew Murray discusses advances alumni in 190 countries worldwide. how to strengthen microfinance’s in artificial intelligence beneficial impact Our founders sought to bring the emerging disciplines of social science together to find novel solutions to challenging social questions; a maxim 12 Challenging 33 LSE community the cyberbullies that has served us well for over 120 years. Ellen Helsper on social media’s impact on bullying and harassment STUDENTS making So as we mark the 75th anniversary of former LSE Director Sir William 36 a difference Beveridge’s blueprint for the modern welfare state, it seems fitting to 16 Fake news is like a draw on his welcoming address to students from the 1924/25 academic canary in a digital coalmine 38 LSE history: year as we start another almost a century later. In that address he warned Charlie Beckett and Bart Cammaerts LSE and Ratan Tata against treating the School as “a shop which sells learning and degrees” look at the rising trend of hoax stories and instead urged LSE students to view their institution as a 40 RESEARCH update “living society whose life is in its traditions”. He defined those Meet the new director traditions in terms that sound incredibly relevant to today: 18 An interview with Dame Minouche Shafik “keenness, fairness to all points of view and friendliness to IN memoriam 43 all nations”. 21 PHILANTHROPY BOOK shelf From its earliest days, LSE expected its graduates to be 44 engaged with ideas and with the world – as I am sure LSE and me: Orlando von 24 all of you are. I hope you find much in these pages that Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara 46 STAY connected will remind you of what makes the School a special place and that LSE Connect will inspire, educate and entertain you. LSE Connect is published once a year at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 7060. Email: [email protected]. Minouche Shafik Published by The London School of Economics and Political Science (‘LSE’), Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. LSE holds the dual status of an exempt charity under Section 2 of the Charities Act 1993 (as a constituent part of the University of London), and a company limited by guarantee under the Companies Act 1985 (Registration no. 70527). Director of LSE Copyright in editorial matter and in the magazine as a whole belongs to LSE ©2017. Copyright in individual articles belongs to the authors who have asserted their moral rights ©2017. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be issued to the public or circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published. Requests for permission to reproduce any article or part of the magazine should be sent to the editor at the above address. In the interests of providing a free flow of debate, views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor, LSE alumni or LSE. Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of material published in this magazine, LSE accepts no responsibility for the veracity of claims or accuracy of information provided by contributors. Freedom of thought and expression is essential to the pursuit, advancement and dissemination of knowledge. LSE seeks to ensure that intellectual freedom and freedom of expression within the law is secured for all our members and those we invite to the School. 4 / LSE CONNECT LSE CONNECT / 5 NEWS roundup Public authority in fragile GENERATION LSE RISES One of the Generation Brexit project AFRICAN COUNTRIES leaders, Dr Jennifer Jackson-Preece from IN WORLD RANKINGS BREXIT LSE’s European Institute, said: “We’re going to invite millennials from across LSE has risen in the latest World University Rankings LSE has been awarded £5 million funding from the Economic and A crowdsourcing project inspiring the UK and Europe to debate, decide compiled by higher education data specialists QS. Social Research Council (ESRC) to study how societies are governed millennials in Britain and the EU to help and draft policy proposals that will be in impoverished and unstable places in Africa. The new Centre for shape the upcoming Brexit negotiations sent to parliaments in Westminster and Despite a national trend of decline for UK universities Public Authority and International Development (CPAID) will study has been launched by LSE. Strasbourg during the negotiations.” in the rankings, the School rose two places to 35th how families, clans, religious leaders, aid agencies, civil society, rebel in the world, and has surged 33 places since 2014. militia and vigilante groups contribute to governance, along with The social media-based project hopes Dr Roch Dunin-Wąsowicz, another The result also places LSE in the top ten of universities formal and semi-formal government institutions. The research will to engage 3,000 people aged 35 project leader, said the pan-European ranked within Europe. Within the rankings, QS places mainly focus on the lives of ordinary people, in particular vulnerable and under in order to give a voice to project would seek views from a whole LSE as seventh in the world for its reputation among and marginalised groups and populations. It will look at countries British and European millennials on cross section of millennials, including employers, achieving a maximum score of 100 out of involved in prolonged conflict, such as the Democratic Republic the future of Europe in the Brexit Leavers, Remainers, left and right-wingers, 100. The School was also ranked seventh in the world of Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Somalia and negotiations and beyond. European federalists and nationalists. for its international students, and ranked highly for Burundi, as well as the now relatively peaceful states of Rwanda, international faculty, achieving the maximum score of Sierra Leone, Uganda and Ethiopia. 100 in both categories. These two factors are used by QS to measure the international appeal of universities. The centre is funded for five years and will be led by Professor Tim We want to come up with millennial proposals for a mutually Allen (pictured), Director of the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa, where beneficial relationship, reflecting the diverse political, cultural, Earlier this year, the QS World University Rankings by CPAID will be hosted. He said: “If the pessimistic headlines and Subject placed LSE as the top university in Europe for official statistics about Africa were all true, most people in Africa religious and economic backgrounds in the UK and EU. We are especially the social sciences, and second in the world overall. would be dead. Yet, when you travel to places where the reach of Commenting on the news, LSE Interim Director governments are limited and political upheavals make the provision keen to engage the forgotten, the apolitical and the apathetic – for whom Professor Julia Black said: “LSE’s rise in this year’s of formal services limited, we encounter vibrant social lives. Brexit has become a moment of political awakening. rankings is a richly-deserved credit to our community of staff, students and alumni. It is particularly pleasing “Mutuality is possible even in circumstances in which it appears Dr Roch Dunin-Wąsowicz to be commended for our international outlook. to be impossible from the outside. How it happens is unclear. While deeply rooted in London, we are proud to be a What is apparent is that ideas about good governance are globally-facing and diverse institution. Wherever you tangential. Something else is clearly going on. That is what come from in the world, you will find LSE welcoming we will investigate in this project.” and stimulating.” Professor Allen will lead a team Beveridge identified “Five Giants” blocking progress: LSE Festival launched The School also retained its place as London’s leading of African and international Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness. university in the Complete University Guide rankings researchers who have accumulated BEVERIDGE 2.0: for 2018. The Complete University Guide is produced a wealth of experience over many By re-imagining Beveridge’s ideas for 2018, the LSE RE-THINKING BEVERIDGE annually and assesses universities by a number of years in the study of governance on Festival hopes to stimulate interest in the social sciences measures, including employment data, non-continuation the ground in Africa and elsewhere. FOR THE 21ST CENTURY through a programme of thought-provoking events rates, research quality and student satisfaction. Working together they will rooted in research at LSE and its impacts across the world. LSE has announced its newest public engagement produce research that will inform initiative to be a social science festival in February local, national and international 2018, exploring themes from the 1942 Beveridge LSE Festival co-chair Adrian Thomas said, “At the heart Wherever you come development policies so that they Report re-cast for the 21st century.