Join us, alongside our media partner The New York Times and our content partner Kite Insights, for this virtual event and the opportunity to be part of Maryam Forum from its outset!

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged humanity like no other shock in recent memory. Every country and every individual in our deeply interconnected world has felt the impacts, with its twin health and economic crises creating widespread social disruption and unprecedented uncertainty. Even before COVID-19, it was clear many of the challenges we face today demand system change that cannot be achieved by self-interested rulers. It is urgent that we overcome this leadership gap. Since March 2020, the School of Public Policy and its Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics and Political Science have been examining the pandemic and its policy implications via a dedicated webinar series. This event will draw key lessons for leadership on global challenges, from multiple disciplinary perspectives and across emerging and advanced economies.

Programme (all timings are BST)

1-2.30pm - Opening Plenary

Defeating COVID-19 – What Needs to be Done Now?

During this Opening Plenary session, moderated by Professor Erik Berglof, Director of the Institute of Global Affairs at LSE, leading policy makers will discuss the massive challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has created across the globe and the outlook for recovery. While the G20 global leadership has taken measures to mitigate the heath and economic crisis, much remains to be done. This session will explore the next steps to be taken NOW at the global and national level to deal with the fallout from the pandemic and accelerate a sustained recovery.

Panel includes:

Maria Antonieta Alva (@ToniAlvaL) is the Minister of Economy and Finance of Peru since October 2019. She has been working in Peru’s public administration for 10 years. In 2017, she was appointed General Director of Public Budget at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, where she conducted Peru’s public budget, and the formulation of the Public Budget Acts of 2018 and 2019.

Gordon Brown (@OfficeGSBrown) is the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He is Chair of the Global Strategic Infrastructure Initiative of the World Economic Forum and also serves as Distinguished Global Leader in Residence of New York University. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2010.

Jeremy Farrar (@JeremyFarrar) is the Director of the Wellcome Trust. Before joining Wellcome in October 2013, Jeremy Farrar was Director of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Viet Nam for 18 years.

Andrés Velasco (@AndresVelasco) is the Dean of the LSE School of Public Policy. He was the Minister of Finance in Chile between 2006 and 2010 and has held professorial roles at the Harvard Kennedy School and Columbia University´s School of International and Public Affairs. He was president of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) from 2005 to 2007.

Minouche Shafik is the Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. An economist by training, she became the youngest vice-president in the history of the World Bank at the age of 36. Minouche returned to the UK in 2004 and rose to become the Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development where she was responsible for the UK’s development assistance efforts around the world.

Zhu Min is currently the Chair of the National Institute of Financial Research at the PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University. He was formerly a Deputy Managing Director at the IMF from July 2011 to July 2016. Before that, he was a Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China.

2.30-6pm - a series of thematic and geographical breakout sessions.

6-8pm - Closing Plenary

Living with COVID-19 – What have we learned?

This Closing Plenary, moderated by Professor Andrés Velasco, Dean of the School of Public Policy at LSE, will focus on the transformative global leadership necessary to bring together the lessons from how the COVID-19 pandemic interacts with other global challenges and manifests itself in different regions of the world. A panel of policymakers and academics will hear and comment on reports from the LSE students participating in 14 breakout sessions.

Panel includes:

Erik Berglof (@ErikBerglof) is the inaugural Director of the Institute of Global Affairs (IGA) at LSE. He joined the School as a Professor in Practice in the Department of Economics.

Valeria Gontareva is Senior Policy Fellow at the Institute of Global Affairs at LSE and served as the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine in 2014-2017. She was the first woman to lead Ukraine’s central bank and oversaw vital reforms to implement a new monetary policy of inflation targeting and flexible exchange rate regime, to clean up Ukraine’s banking sector, strengthen regulatory supervision, and ensure the independence of the National Bank.

Khalid Abdulla-Janahi is currently Chairman of Vision 3, with a focus on venture and infrastructure. He holds 38 years experience in banking and financial services, including serving as Group CEO of Dar Al-Maal Al-Islami Trust, Chairman of Faisal Private Bank, Ithmaar Bank and Solidarity Co.

Lindiwe Mazibuko (@LindiMazibuko) is a public leader, speaker, writer and academic fellow. She was the first black woman in South African history to be elected Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. A graduate of the University of Cape Town in South Africa (2006 and 2007) and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (2015) in the United States, Mazibuko was an elected representative in South Africa’s National Assembly until May 2014, when she resigned from active politics in order to return to higher education.

Vali Nasr (@vali_nasr) is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. Between 2012 and 2019 he served as the Dean of the School, and between 2009 and 2011 as Senior Advisor to U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke between 2009 and 2011.

Andrés Velasco (@AndresVelasco) is Dean of the LSE School of Public Policy.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEMaryamForum

The Maryam Forum is a new multi-year platform aiming to encourage the shift towards evidence-informed, transparent, accountable and inclusive leadership. Introduced on the global stage in Davos during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in January 2020, Maryam Forum is a collaboration between policy makers, academics, business leaders and media that engages the LSE across departments and disciplines. Together with our students – the leaders of tomorrow – we will convene Maryam Co-Labs, leading up to our first annual Global Conference in December. From climate change, health crises and other global emergencies, to industrial policy, populism and migration, these year-round working groups will tackle the most urgent challenges of our time - providing opportunities to exchange expertise and shape solutions, and unlocking the potential for inclusive and sustainable leadership across all regions of the world.

Why not visit the School of Public Policy COVID-19 Resource Centre.

This event has been organised by the LSE School of Public Policy and Institute of Global Affairs.

The LSE School of Public Policy (@LSEPublicPolicy) is an international community where ideas and practice meet. Our approach creates professionals with the ability to analyse, understand and resolve the challenges of contemporary governance.

The Institute of Global Affairs (@LSEIGA) aims to maximise the impact of LSE's leading expertise across the social sciences by shaping inclusive and locally-rooted responses to the most important and pressing global challenges.

Podcasts & Videos

A podcast of the opening plenary is available to download at Defeating COVID-19 Everwhere: what needs to be done NOW?

A podcast of the closing plenary is available to download at Living With COVID-19: what leadership do we need?

A video of the opening plenary is available to watch at Defeating COVID-19 Everwhere: what needs to be done NOW?

A video of the closing plenary is available to watch at Living With COVID-19: what leadership do we need?

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.