Contributor(s): Dr Gary Klein | What are insights, and how do they happen? Observing people in their natural setting – from scientists and business people to firefighters and soldiers - Klein demonstrates what insights are, the patterns that emerge, and how you can usefully deploy them. This event marks the publication of Gary's new book, Seeing What Others Don't - The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights. Gary Klein (@KleInsight) is a research psychologist famous for his part in founding the...

Contributor(s): Assembly SE8 , Atelier d'architecture autogérée , Public Works Group | With an evening of provocations and discussion, Theatrum Mundi launched Designing the Urban Commons, an ideas competition calling for new ways to stimulate the city’s public and collective life. Three groups engaged in live projects in London and Paris presented their work, describing how commoning emerges through the spaces they have created or occupied and also examining the issues and opportunities...

Contributor(s): Yannis Stournaras | Yannis Stournaras will talk about the current developments of the Greek Economy. Yannis Stournaras is Governor of the Bank of Greece and former Greek Minister of Finance (July 2012-June 2014). Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Contributor(s): Axelle Lemaire | Axelle Lemaire (@axellelemaire) has been at the French Ministry of State for Digital Affairs since April 2014, serving as Deputy Minister for the Digital Sector. She calls her position the “portfolio for imagination”. Born in Canada in 1974, she studied political science at Sciences Po in Paris and law at the Sorbonne and King’s College London. She worked as a researcher and international lawyer before entering politics as a parliamentary assistant in the...

Contributor(s): Professor Jon Paul Faguet, Dr Shirin Madon, Dr Duncan Green, Owen Barder, Yesil Deniz, Dr Bjorn-Soren Gigler, Abha Joshi-Ghani, Leni Wild, Vanessa Herringshaw, Fredrik Galtung, Duncan Edwards | Engaging citizens has a vital role to play in the process of development. It helps to improve transparency and accountability of public policies, to build trust with citizens, to forge consensus around important reforms, and to build the political and public support necessary to sustain...

Contributor(s): Roza Otunbayeva | Roza Otunbayeva is the first female President of Kyrgyzstan and the first woman to head a country in Central Asia. In this lecture she will reflect on her journey to the highest level of public life. This event is part of the Above the Parapet project, which seeks to capture the experiences of high profile women who have shaped public life. Roza Otunbayeva is a Kyrgyz diplomat and politician who went on to head the government during its transition from an...

Contributor(s): Professor Alexander V Pantsov | Professor Pantsov will discuss why the USSR couldn’t follow the pattern of Chinese reforms in the decade leading up to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Alexander V Pantsov is the Edward and Mary Catherine Gerhold Chair in the Humanities at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. LSE IDEAS (@lseideas) is a centre for the study of international affairs, diplomacy and grand strategy.

Contributor(s): Professor Matthew Connelly | Technology has led to unprecedented state surveillance, but may also be the key to preserving the principle of open government. Matthew Connelly is Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at LSE IDEAS for 2014-15. LSE IDEAS (@lseideas) is a centre for the study of international affairs, diplomacy and grand strategy. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Contributor(s): Dr Sean Jacobs | Developments in online media point to interesting possibilities for African engagement in the global public sphere. African subjects are taking their places as audiences and agents, rather than receivers of aid and information. Sean Jacobs is a faculty member of The New School in New York City and the founder of the popular Africa is a Country blog. Wendy Willems is a Lecturer in the LSE Department of Media and Communications. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio...

Contributor(s): Professor Barry Buzan, Professor Craig Calhoun, Dr George Lawson, Professor Juergen Osterhammel, Dr Ayse Zarakol | This event marks the launch of a new book: The Global Transformation: history, modernity and the making of international relations, co-authored by Barry Buzan and George Lawson. Barry Buzan is Emeritus Professor in the Department of International Relations at LSE and a Fellow of the British Academy. Craig Calhoun (@craigjcalhoun) is Director and President of LSE....

Contributor(s): Sir Michael Barber | Billions of citizens around the world are frustrated with their governments. Political leaders struggle to honour their promises and officials find it near impossible to translate ideas into action. The result? High taxes, but poor outcomes. Cynicism not just with government but with the political process. Why is this? How could this vicious spiral be reversed? In his new book, How to Run A Government so that citizens benefit and taxpayers don't go crazy,...

Contributor(s): Professor William A Callahan | Although we live in a visual age, few actually study the role of images in international politics. This inaugural lecture will examine how maps, photographs and film can tell us much about the international politics of war, identity and sovereignty. William A. Callahan is Professor of International Relations at the LSE, and his recent publications include China Dreams: 20 Visions of the Future (2013), and the documentary video, China Dreams: The...

Contributor(s): Nicola Sturgeon | Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) is Scotland’s first female First Minister and the first female to lead any of the devolved UK administrations. Born in Irvine in 1970 and educated at Greenwood Academy, she studied law at the University of Glasgow where she graduated with LLB (Hons) and Diploma in Legal Practice. Before entering the Scottish Parliament as a regional MSP for Glasgow in 1999 she worked as a solicitor in the Drumchapel Law and Money Advice...

Contributor(s): Professor John Hills, Dr Polly Vizard | John Hills will present new findings from the Social Policy in a Cold Climate programme of research on the ways in which patterns of economic inequality changed in the UK over the economic crisis 2007-13. Dr Polly Vizard will present new findings on the patterns of inequality in London, and how the distribution of key economic outcomes - including income and wealth, employment and unemployment, earnings and wages, and educational...

Contributor(s): Professor Julia Black, Dr Jon Danielsson, Professor Charles Goodhart, Professor Katharina Pistor | In financial markets law and finance are intrinsically connected. When markets collapse, however, legal rules are pushed into the background and other forces take over. Julia Black is a Professor of Law and Pro-Director for Research at LSE. Jon Danielsson (@JonDanielsson) is Director of the Systemic Risk Centre. Charles Goodhart is Emeritus Professor of Banking and Finance at...

Contributor(s): Professor Julie Cohen, Anne Barron | The problem of control over information flows has emerged as a doubly critical vantage point from which to interrogate the exercise of power and the pursuit of justice. Scholars of law and communications have come to recognize that in the networked information society, the dialogue between truth and power is mediated by the code. The Internet has been hailed as the ultimate medium for speaking truth to power, but networked information...

Contributor(s): Professor Jonathan Holslag, Dr Mareike Kleine | This discussion will explore the vexed question of the demos of European citizenship and the democratic deficit. Jonathan Holslag is Professor of International Politics at the Free University of Brussels. Mareike Kleine is Associate Professor of EU and International Politics in the European Institute at LSE.

Contributor(s): Professor Jeff McMahan | The annual Auguste Comte Memorial Lecture will be delivered by a leading scholar in social and political philosophy. Jeff McMahan is White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford and the author of The Ethics of Killing: problems at the margins of life and Killing in War. Mike Otsuka is a professor in the philosophy department at LSE. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Contributor(s): Professor Bob Hancké, Professor David Soskice | This discussion will explore the pressures facing Europe’s welfare states in a time of austerity, an aging population and global economic competition. Bob Hancké is Associate Professor of Political Economy in the European Institute at LSE. David Soskice is Professor of Political Science and Economics at LSE.

Contributor(s): Dr Selina Todd | Drawing on the testimonies of hundreds of people, Dr Todd refutes the claim that class is dead and exposes some of the myths that animate contemporary politics. Selina Todd (@selina_todd) is History Fellow and Vice Principal of St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford. Robin Archer is the Director of the Postgraduate Programme in Political Sociology at LSE. The Ralph Miliband Programme (@rmilibandlse) is one of LSE's most prestigious lecture series and seeks...

Contributor(s): Professor Sir Richard Blundell | Even before the financial crisis many developed economies were facing growing inequality and struggling to maintain employment and earnings. This lecture will dig deeper into the background to these trends and will examine the evidence on how tax and welfare reform impacts on human capital, inequality and earnings. It will ask two general questions: What are the key margins where we might expect tax and welfare reform to have most impact on...

Contributor(s): Katrine Marçal | Katrine Marçal charts the myth of ‘economic man’ – from its origins at Adam Smith’s dinner table to its adaptation by the Chicago School and finally its disastrous role in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis – and looks forward to a new, more inclusive type of economics. Katrine Marçal (@katrinemarcal) is the lead editorial writer for the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet and author of Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner? Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE...

Contributor(s): Eric Ries | Eric Ries (@ericries) is an entrepreneur and author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses, published by Portfolio Penguin. He graduated in 2001 from Yale University with a B.S. in Computer Science. While an undergraduate, he co-founded Catalyst Recruiting. Ries continued his entrepreneurial career as a Senior Software Engineer at There.com, leading efforts in agile software development and...

Contributor(s): Dr Kristina Spohr, Sir Rodric Braithwaite, Sir Roderic Lyne, Professor Arne Westad | Personal summitry, more than structural factors, shaped the peaceful ending of and exit from the Cold War. This lecture shows how meetings between international leaders in the period 1985-91 fostered rapprochement and creative dialogue, and reflects on their continuing importance today. Kristina Spohr is Deputy Head of the International History Department and Associate Professor at LSE. Rodric...