In the afternoon of June 5th, students, academics, and members of the wider public attended the LSEUPR Conference 2023 to engage with a wide range of leading research topics.
The LSEUPR Conference 2023 has received registration of over 70 students from the United Kingdom, the United States, France, India, Hong Kong, Turkey, and other countries. We are proud to be able to host it online with the participation of talented undergraduate researchers and passionate students.
The slogan of the conference this year is ‘Coalesce Ideas. Ignite Research’. We hope to unite ideas from researchers with different expertise and backgrounds and ignite passion about the study of politics.
The conference started with an opening speech by LSEUPR’s Research Director Bosco Hung, who talked about the importance of constructive criticism and critical engagement in promoting progress. He emphasized the need of questioning both what seems to be wrong and what seems to right, since we can fall vulnerable to manipulation when logical justification is absent. Then, our keynote speaker Professor Paul Kelly delivered a speech on the value of an academic conference, the significance of the research being covered by the conference, and the importance of examining political issues from multiple perspectives (including non-Western lenses) critically. He also highlighted the growing importance of language and self-awareness in understand technical data related to politics.
This year, we have divided the 15 selected presentations into six main categories, namely International Politics, Political Behaviour, Political Sociology, Comparative Politics, Gender, and Public Policy/Contentious Politics. Presentations cover a wide range of topics, including China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Hong Kong National Security Law, US Police Violence, UK economic elites, Indian coalition politics, etc. We hope to demonstrate the multi-faceted nature of politics and provide a platform for researchers with different interests to showcase their quality research. The presentations given by our presenters have vividly reflected the rigour of undergraduate research, while also allowing undergraduate researchers from different countries to learn from each other’s practice.
Our conference was wrapped up by a prize-giving ceremony of the Annual Essay Competition, hosted by LSEUPR’s Academic Director Giola Serena Wang. Magnus Alexander Gravell’s essay was chosen from 300 pieces of submissions to be the winning essay this year. He has shared his insights into whether Russia’s war on Ukraine provides the European Union with a chance to reunite its member states. Finally, our Editor-in-Chief Meghna Abrol delivered the final farewell speech, in which she highlighted the vibrancy of undergraduate research.
We hope to see more people supporting high-quality undergraduate-led research, and we are certain that our conference has promoted academic research. We would also like to thank all participants for their participation, our helpers for their contribution, the Department of Government for its coordination, and Professor Kelly for accepting our invitation. The conference will not be a great success without the presence of any one of you.
