LSE International Relations

📣 Join us at the LSE Festival for “Saving the world one family at a time: screening and discussion of Gone South Village.”

With growing tensions between and the United States, new "third spaces" are emerging beyond great-power competition. Gone South Village is a short documentary film that explores how overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia create social and global orders that are neither wholly Chinese nor Thai.

📅 Wednesday 17 June 2026
⏰ 6.00–7.30pm
📍 LSE campus

🔗 Find out more and register: https://www.lse.ac.uk/events/lse-festival/2026/saving-the-world-one-family

Congratulations to our BSc International Relations student, Will Weston, on receiving the Longstanding Commitment to Volunteering Award and being highly commended in the Outstanding Contribution to the LSE Community category 🎉

Over the past two years, he has contributed as a Student Volunteering Ambassador. He also serves as Head of Volunteering at LSE’s Raising and Giving (RAG) Society, alongside his role as an elected student member of the Board of Trustees. During his time at LSE, he has shown outstanding commitment to volunteering, spearheading initiatives including food bank programmes and the global Giving Tuesday campaign.
 
“Volunteering has been a great way to put the skills and knowledge I have learnt whilst studying IR into practice. It has also allowed me to connect with communities across London and find a network of people that have supported me throughout my studies. For those reasons, winning this award is incredibly special to me and I couldn’t think of a better way to round off my time at LSE,” Will shared.
 
🔗 You can read more about the LSE Volunteer Awards via the link in our bio.

This lecture by Marwa Daoudy, held in honour of the renowned scholar Fred Halliday, will explore the entanglement of , , and environmental exploitation that has shaped the modern global order in ways that continue to structure global inequality.

Drawing on Fred Halliday’s critique of narratives that portray the Arab world as inherently locked in conflict, economic failure, or cultural clashes, this lecture situates climate and human vulnerabilities within the region’s (settler-) colonial, extractivist or war-torn past and present in contexts such , and .

Following the lecture, we will host a reception in celebration of what would have been Fred Halliday’s 80th birthday, recognising his enduring contribution to the Department and the field of International Relations.

🗓️ Thursday 11 June 2026
⏰ 6.30pm - 8.00pm
📍Sheikh Zayed Theatre, Cheng Kin Ku Building

🔗 Register here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/events/plp-11-june

Congratulations to our Emeritus Professor Michael Cox and Former Montague Burton Professor at The London School of Economics and Political Science - LSE, Christopher Hill, who have edited the newly released book, Chatham House: The First Hundred Years 👏

The book features contributions including “Chatham House during the Second World War” by Dr Peter Wilson and “Chatham House and the Global Climate Crisis” by Professor Robert Falkner.

This is the first comprehensive treatment of the history and impact of Chatham House, formally known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Founded in 1920 and based in St James’s Square since 1923, Chatham House has long been recognised as one of the world’s leading think tanks on international affairs.

🔗 Find out more and order the book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/chatham-house-9780198984962?q=Chatham%20House&lang=en&cc=gb #

📣 Join us for the upcoming event "Papacy in Global Politics: Pope Leo XIV and Peacemaking Today" with Professor Massimo Faggioli, Professor Carmody Grey, Professor James Walters, and Dr Luca Tardelli.

Pope Leo XIV has been elected at a time of disruption in the international order, also originating from changes in foreign policy. The international situation has implications for the diplomatic activity and relations of the with the different continents, but also in the priorities of the papacy both at the religious and political level.

Massimo Faggioli’s lecture will analyse the new role of the papacy in global politics at the time of Pope Leo XIV, the first pope from the USA.

🗓️ Wednesday 6 May 2026
⏰ 6.30pm - 8.00pm
📍MAR.1.10, Marshall Building

🎫 This event is free and open to all. No registration required.

🔗 Learn more: https://www.lse.ac.uk/international-relations/events/2026/papacy-in-global-politics-pope-leo-xiv-and-peacemaking-today

🎉 Huge congratulations to our PhD student Manas Chawla on being named to this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list in the Social Impact category!

Manas is part of a select group of innovators who are “systemically and sustainably transforming education, business and beyond.” As the founder of London Politica, a geopolitical risk advisory firm, he helps NGOs and international organisations stay ahead of political, regulatory, and security challenges in the world’s most complex environments.

We are proud to see Manas' remarkable work recognised by Forbes and we look forward to his continued impact. 👏

🔗 Check out his full profile: https://www.forbes.com/profile/manas-chawla/?list=30under30-europe-social-impact/

📷 Photo courtesy of Manas Chawla

The London School of Economics and Political Science - LSE

🎉 We are proud to announce that Nicolas Valladolid (BSc International Relations), Eisa Faisal (BSc International Relations), and Pranav Harish (BSc International Relations and History) represented LSE in the finals of the Entente Cordiale Day Challenge at the Sorbonne in Paris, and were awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Prize, out of 700+ competitors.

For this year’s theme, “Conflicts, Technologies, and World Security,” they proposed a tiered framework to help Global South states reassert regulatory leverage over critical mineral supply chains, promoting more equitable technological sovereignty.

“We are deeply grateful for the education we have received in the Department of International Relations, which gave us the analytical grounding and interdisciplinary perspective that made this achievement possible,” Nicolas Valladolid said.

👏 Congratulations to our students for representing The London School of Economics and Political Science - LSE and the Department of International Relations with excellence!

Happy Spring Break from all of us in the IR Department! 🌷

We’ll be closed until Thursday 9 April (inclusive) for LSE’s spring closure. Building access will be limited, so please check the link in our bio for the latest information. The IR Department staff will be back to assist you with online queries from Friday 10 April, and with in-person queries from Monday 13 April.

➡️ Need support over the break?
LSE offers resources on mental health, wellbeing, and academic support — link in bio.

As the term comes to a close, here’s a throwback to when our BSc students Felicity Tisdall, Diego Toderi and Matilde Roquette took part in the at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

Representing the Netherlands, they took part in discussions within the Military Committee and the North Atlantic Council, where the agenda centred on reviewing draft proposals aimed at bolstering deterrence and defence along the Alliance’s eastern flank.

Students on our Foreign Policy Analysis course, led by Dr Federica Bicchi, recently had the chance to hear directly from Peter Kalotai and Stephen Halstead about the global operations of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and its engagement with member states.

Opportunities like this give our students first-hand exposure to international policy work and valuable insights into potential career paths.