Latest 300 | LSE Public lectures and events | Video

Contributor(s): Dr Zhamilya Mukasheva, Dr. Aaron Reeves, Dr Boris Walbaum, Lord Willetts | Is a university education still worth the investment of rising tuition fees and time spent studying towards a degree rather than gaining valuable work experience? Higher education around the world is undergoing a series of rapid transformations. The effects of AI and emerging technologies, the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on today’s job market, the complex global challenges requiring interdisciplinary attention, and the rise of campuses as the site of contestation around free speech have all led to many questioning both the form and function of contemporary universities.

Contributor(s): Professor Nava Ashraf, Nick Dalton, Dr Daniel Susskind | As the world of work evolves, so do our expectations, values, and definitions of success. How can we adapt to new ways of working while staying connected to purpose and meaning?

Contributor(s): Anthony Scaramucci | Anthony Scaramucci, LSE alumnus and American financier and broadcaster, who briefly served as the White House Director of Communications, joins LSE's President Larry Kramer for a conversation about his visions for the future. This recording contains strong language.

Contributor(s): Professor Daron Acemoglu | Daron Acemoglu, LSE alumnus and co-recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in economics, whose work has provided new insights into why there are such vast differences in prosperity between nations, will be in conversation with LSE's President Larry Kramer, on his visions for the future and will speak about Remaking Liberalism. Democracy (and in fact liberal democracy) was successful in bringing shared prosperity, reliable public services, and a voice for citizens. But there have been major problems in its agenda, hurting its support across a wide range of constituencies. The talk will present ideas about how we can bolster support for democracy, and what this involves in terms of a new conceptualisation of liberal democracy and liberalism.

Contributor(s): Dr Hilary Cottam, Dr Faiza Shaheen, Professor Jack Stilgoe | New technology and AI are transforming the labour market at an unprecedented pace, often reinforcing existing inequalities and concentrating wealth in the hands of a few. It is widely believed that without intervention, this trend will continue, creating a society where a handful of tech billionaires thrive while countless others struggle with low wages and job insecurity. But is this future inevitable? What are the potential scenarios going forward? How can we rethink the way technological innovation is structured to ensure its benefits are more widely shared? Is there an alternative to a winner-takes-all model which creates billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk while pushing many into low paid work?

Contributor(s): Mete Coban, Rowena Champion, Maanya Jones | At a time of eco-anxiety, climate scepticism, and widespread disillusionment with formal political institutions, how do diverse young Londoners connect with climate politics at a local level? How do they imagine the future of their neighbourhoods, and how can their visions and values be brought to the heart of London’s green transition? Young people arguably have the most at stake in the battle for liveable cities today, and a liveable planet for decades to come. And yet, youth voices are rarely heard in heated public and policy debates about urban green transitions. Building on recent findings from an LSE Cities peer research project in Islington, this event will discuss how young people approach the core debates of the green transition, especially how environmental justice relates to social and economic justice, and how the local green transition can open up space for a deepening of democracy.

Contributor(s): Stan Boland, Dr Robyn Klingler-Vidra, Kanishka Narayan | Driven in large part by the rapid growth of the tech sector, the US economy has diverged from other advanced economies. Despite significant strengths in research, much of Europe has been unable to translate this into the type of large digital firms which have become so important to the modern economy. What are the barriers to developing a thriving tech sector outside of the US? Can European states compete in the tech sector and should they try? What is the future of these advanced economies, if they cannot compete in the industries of the future?

Contributor(s): Natalia Domagala, Mulele Maketo Mulele, Claire Melamed | Data plays a crucial role in designing effective development policies, yet its availability and use in low- and middle-income countries remain inconsistent. In some cases, data is simply unavailable, in others it exists but remains underutilised due to limited access or awareness.

Contributor(s): Grace Blakeley, Dr Abby Innes, Ryan Shorthouse | There are frequent discussions on how our current economic system should be reformed and improved to address global challenges. But, should we be thinking more radically about the problems with capitalism? Can we imagine an alternative way of organising our societies?

Contributor(s): Abby Jitendra, Dr Abigail McKnight, Dr Thomas C. Stephens | The event challenges the old adage, 'The poor will always be with us', by envisaging a future free from poverty. The speakers will identify the gains for children and for society as a whole from ending child poverty and the gains for workers, families and the economy from ending bad jobs