LSE: Public lectures and events

Contributor(s): Alexandra Chesterfield, Elisabeth Costa, Professor Oliver Hauser, Dr Dario Krpan, Professor Susan Michie, Professor Robert West | Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming various aspects of behavioural science. For example, AI-driven models are being used to predict human behaviour and decision-making, and to design personalized behavioural interventions. AI can also be used to generate artificial research participants on whom behavioural interventions can be tested instead of on humans. AI is creating many new opportunities and challenges in behavioural science, disrupting the discipline to the degree that researchers, practitioners, and any behavioural science enthusiasts are trying to keep up with the new developments and understand how to best navigate the rapidly changing landscape. In this public event, speakers who are associated with pioneering work on AI in relation to behavioural science, as part of their own research or organisational initiatives, will discuss their views on how AI will change and is already changing behavioural science. This will involve touching upon topics such as the implications of AI for behavioural scientists in academia, public, and private sectors, new skills that will be required by behavioural scientists of the future, and impact on behavioural science education.

Contributor(s): Professor Sir John Curtice, Professor Anand Menon, Professor Paula Surridge | Has Labour’s election marked a real turning point?This is a thought-provoking event as we provide an early assessment of the new Labour government’s actions and goals.

Contributor(s): Professor Eric Maskin, Professor Amartya Sen, Dr Suzanne Bloks, Professor Richard Bradley, Rudolf Fara | As authoritarianism and political violence threaten democracies throughout the world at levels not seen since the 1930s, attacks on free and fair elections are rife. Democracy is about choice, and achieving a legitimate democratic system of government relies on making representative social choices. Join us to find out about VoteDemocracy, which is a new global education initiative featuring a comprehensive course on the central role of voting in democracy. In support of the new project, Nobel Laureates Amartya Sen and Eric Maskin address core democratic principles. Professor Sen revisits the foundational ‘rule by the people’ with his talk, Democracy—Why, and Why Not? Professor Maskin offers an electoral prescription in response to his topic, How Should Members of Parliament (and Congress) be Elected?

Contributor(s): Hashi Mohamed, Dr. Aaron Reeves, Professor Lauren Rivera, Dr Faiza Shaheen | In Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman’s new book, which they launch at this event, they provide a uniquely data-rich analysis of the British elite from the Victorian era to today: who gets in, how they get there, what they like and look like, where they go to school, and what politics they perpetuate.Think of the British elite and familiar caricatures spring to mind. But are today’s power brokers a conservative chumocracy, born to privilege and anointed at Eton and Oxford? Or is a new progressive elite emerging with different values and political instincts? Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman combed through a trove of data in search of an answer, scrutinizing the profiles, interests, and careers of over 125,000 members of the British elite from the late 1890s to today. At the heart of this meticulously researched study is the historical database of Who’s Who, but the authors also mined genealogical records, examined probate data, and interviewed over 200 leading figures from a wide range of backgrounds and professions to uncover who runs Britain, how they think, and what they want.

Contributor(s): Rory Stewart, Professor James Walters | While religion continues to be perceived as of diminishing significance by many in Western Europe, religious nationalisms are on the rise around the world and the religious dimensions of many conflicts are becoming more pronounced. While the early twenty-first century focused on political Islam, we now see new political formations across all the world’s faith traditions, as well as new faith-based initiatives to engage more constructively with global issues such as conflict and climate change. Rory Stewart – academic, podcaster and former politician – will share his perspectives on why this happening and what can be done about it, in this conversation with James Walters, founding director of LSE Faith Centre, chaired by LSE's Mukulika Banerjee.