The theme for this year’s LSE Festival was “How do we get to a post-covid world?“. Events were held both in person at the Marshall building and online. While I attended most of the sessions online, I did manage to make it in person for the talk on “Russia, America, and the Future of European Society“. I reached the venue five minutes early hoping to get myself a good spot, but it was already packed when I got there! This was a session on a Wednesday evening at 7pm so I was slightly surprised to see the massive turnout. The event started promptly, and the audience was given plenty of time to interact with Dr Fiona Hill, the keynote speaker. After the talk, there was a drinks reception too where I got the opportunity to speak to Dr Hill about her latest book and pick her brain about the session. The option of attending sessions online certainly helped me as it allowed me to join in on many sessions which I may have had to miss on account of my schedule. However, I am glad I managed to attend this session in person as it was the one I was most looking forward to.
Another event I attended in person was the “Knowledge beyond boundaries” student research conference held during the LSE Festival. I was only able to make it post lunch as I am currently in the process of house hunting and had viewings booked all morning. I attended two sessions, one on “Social transformation, welfare and change” and the other on “Power and position in international contexts”. There was also a poster presentation on the first floor of the Marshall Building. I especially enjoyed the closing reception as I was able to interact with the students who presented their work and talk more about their ideas. Since I am currently writing my own dissertation, I thoroughly enjoyed talking to students from different disciplines and backgrounds and learning more about their research. It got the wheels turning in my own brain and I actually ended up going to the library and issuing some books after the conference.
Sadly, I was unable to attend the last two days of the festival as my department was hosting a student research conference on those days. Nonetheless, all the sessions I managed to attend were immensely interesting and different from one another. I had a look at the Research Showcase Exhibition on the day I attended the in-person event and I was fascinated by the interdisciplinary nature of most projects. The exhibition on Resistance Doesn’t Walk Alone in the atrium gallery of the Old Building is running till 24 June and I highly recommend having a look if you are interested in the diversity of the research being conducted at LSE. In fact, LSE Festival shorts may be a great introduction to anybody interested in learning more about LSE research.
Overall, I had a great experience of attending the LSE Festival and I feel more in touch with my peers and the LSE community in general.
