Details of future events will be added here in due course.
Past Events
2025
Workshop: Early Interventions and Human Capital From Cradle to Capability: Evidence, Policy and Promise
Hosted by The Women in Social and Public Policy Research Hub (WISPPRH) on 24 October 2025
This full-day workshop explored cutting-edge research on early interventions and human capital, tracing pathways from maternal knowledge and healthcare to income support and family environments. Bringing together leading academics and policy experts, the sessions showcased evidence on how investments in the earliest stages of life can shape health, learning, and long-term capabilities, and sparked discussion on the promise and challenges of designing effective policies for children’s futures. More information here.
Third Workshop on Gender and Education
The Women in Social and Public Policy Research Hub (WISPPRH) at the LSE Social Policy Department co-organised the Third Workshop on Gender and Education alongside Collegio Carlo Alberto, the University of Turin, and the GRINS Foundation on 8 and 9 May 2025. Hosted at Collegio Carlo Alberto, a leading academic institution in Italy, the event brought together speakers from top universities and across disciplines—including economics, sociology, and education—to examine persistent and emerging inequalities in education.
The workshop, opened by WISPPRH Director Almudena Sevilla, focused on how societal norms and gender stereotypes shape early educational choices and contribute to long-term disparities in human capital and labour market outcomes. The programme featured Pilar Cuevas (WISPPRH Visiting Fellow) as a presenter and Ismael Sanz (WISPPRH Visitor) as a discussant, among a diverse line-up of scholars. This collaboration reflects the Social Policy Department’s strong presence in the field and shows how WISPPRH is helping to further foster its visibility and engagement with leading institutions across Europe. It also reinforces the department’s commitment to interdisciplinary, policy-relevant research on gender inequality. Read more here.
Workshop: The Economics of Education: EdTech and Gender
Hosted by the Women in Social and Public Policy Research Hub on 3 April 2025
This workshop offered a dynamic space to explore the latest research on the economics of education, with a focus on how EdTech can drive innovation and help close gender gaps in learning. Bringing together leading academics and key stakeholders, the sessions highlighted evidence-based strategies, from personalized technology-driven interventions to financial incentives and literacy programs designed to empower students.
Women and Work
Hosted by Hosted by the School of Public Policy and LSE Press on 18 March 2025
This panel event discussed some of the key policy issues pertaining women and work: from sexual harassment in the workplace, to the "motherhood penalty", to the way women in employment (and women "who quit") are represented in the media and policy discourse.
Speakers: Gabriel Leite-Mariante, PhD candidate in Economics, LSE; Shani Orgad, Professor of Media and Communications, LSE; Margaux Suteau, Fellow in the Department of Social Policy, LSE
Policy respondent: Dame Maria Miller, former Minister for Women and Equalities (2012-14), former Secretary of State for Culture (2012-14), Media and Sport and MP for Basingstoke (2005-24)
Chair: Almudena Sevilla,Professor of Economic and Social Policy, Department of Social Policy, LSE
Workshop: Gender Inequality: Navigating New Frontiers and Paradigm Shifts
Hosted by the Women in Social and Public Policy Research Hub and co-sponsored by the AXA Gender Lab at Bocconi, and NYU Abu Dhabi on 12 March 2025
This workshop explored emerging policy challenges and cutting-edge research on gender inequality in a rapidly changing world. It examined how transformative forces like technology and climate change, alongside evolving issues such as fertility, labour participation, and caregiving, impact progress towards gender equality.
Gender, Language and Performance in an International Organisation
CEP Education and Skills Seminar co-hosted with the Women in Social and Public Policy Research Hub on 3 December 2024
Speakers: Marina Della Giusta (University of Turin), joint with Sylvia Jaworska (University of Reading), Giovanni Razzu (University of Reading) and Almudena Sevilla (LSE)
Book Talk: The No Club
Hosted by The Women in Social and Public Policy Research Hub (WISPPRH) on 1 November 2024
A transformative book talk event designed to empower your career trajectory and impact organizational leadership. Learn to navigate and mitigate the assignment of low-impact tasks that can stunt professional growth, particularly for women.
Speaker: Professor Lise Versterlund Discussant: Dr Margaux Suteau Chair: Professor Almudena Sevilla
Symposium on "Multidisciplinary Perspectives and Policy Innovation in Gender Research".
18th of September 2024
Led by Almudena Sevilla, the symposium explores emerging challenges and the evolving landscape of gender research, including perspectives from law, communications, health and social policy, gender studies and economics. The convergence of these disciplines offers unique insights, enriching the policy discourse and reframing long-standing paradigms of gender roles and relationships. The symposium will cover a range of topics, from global development to public health, workplace practices and gender inequalities in the labour market as well as discussing legal concepts and media representations of women and work.
Speakers include: Shani Orgad (LSE Media and Communication); Sarah Trotter (LSE Law); Alessandra Cassarico(Bocconi) and Salvatore Lattanzio (Banca d’Italia); Margaux Sateau (LSE Social Policy), Paola Profeta (Bocconi) and Caroline Coly (Barcelona Institute of Economics); Gabriel Leite-Mariante, Sveva Manfredi, Camille Landais (LSE STICERD); Genevieve Jeffrey (LSE Health Policy); Gloria Novovic (LSE Gender Studies).
Women in the Workplace
Hosted by Department of Social Policy and the Women in Social and Public Policy Research Hub on 13 March 2024
In this engaging and insightful public forum, distinguished researchers and stakeholders came together to address the pressing issue of gender inequalities in the workplace.
Speakers: Dr Caroline Coly, Alesha De-Freitas, Alice Marchionno, Professor Paola Profeta Chair: Professor Almudena Sevilla
Women, Work and Economics: Evidence and Experience
Hosted by the Centre for Economic Performance on 28 February 2024
For International Women's Day 2024, CEP hosted an event bringing expert economists and policymakers together to discuss the effects of becoming a parent on women's and men's employment and incomes. More information here.
The Economics of Gender Stereotypes
Hosted by the Centre for Economic Performance and the Department of Social Policy on 25 May 2023
This half-day workshop offered an important and timely chance to explore cutting-edge research on discrimination and gender stereotypes in economics.
The event, brought together industry experts, aims to push the limits of existing research and pave the way for new discoveries in the field.
Time to Think: In conversation with Hannah Barnes
Hosted by the Department of Social Policy on 23 May 2023
Speakers: Hannah Barnes, Professor Lucinda Platt Chair: Professor David Kershaw
In this event investigative journalist Hannah Barnes speaks about her book: how she came to investigate the Tavistock’s gender service for children, the testimony she received, and her attempts to understand how safeguarding concerns got lost and the service unraveled.
Advancing Equality: The Power of Academia-Business Collaboration and Policy Action
Women In Social and Public Policy Research Hub (WISPPRH) Launch event
Hosted by the Department of Social Policy on Wednesday 8 March 2023
The Department of Social Policy hosted the launch of the Women in Social and Public Policy Research Hub (WISPPRH)) on 8 March, with an open roundtable discussion as the centerpiece of the event. This event brought together renowned scholars, representatives of the civil society, and stakeholders in the fields of gender, climate change, and policy. The purpose of the roundtable discussion was to start a conversation on the potential benefits of collaboration and knowledge sharing among centers and programs dedicated to gender issues, with the ultimate goal of making progress on this critical topic.
Speakers: Emma Codd, Professor Paola Profeta, Begoña Ramos and Professor Johanna Rickne.
Chair: Professor Naila Kabeer
The panel were introduced by Professor Almudena Sevilla, Co-Director of the WISPPRH.
Exploring the impact of women in economics: lessons and insights
Hosted by CEP and POID on 1 March 2023
This International Women's Day event, brought economists from LSE together to show how economics is vital to understanding the challenges women face – and celebrate the women who are working across the field.
Speakers: Barbara Petrongolo professor of economics at Oxford University and CEP associate, will discuss economic research on gender and the labour market, showing how economists help us understand the changes in women’s working lives. Tera Allas CBE director of research and economics in McKinsey’s UK office, will talk about her career in economics, sharing her decades of experience in strategy, corporate finance and public policy. Almudena Sevilla (chair) professor in economics and public policy at LSE and CEP associate, is chair of the Royal Economic Society Women’s Committee.
20 January 2023: Work and Family Researchers Network
Author-Meets-Readers: Claudia Goldin’s Career & Family: Women’s Century Long Journey Towards Equity Discussion/panel by Dr. Berkay Ozcan
This WFRN Virtual Conference Series plenary session invites discussion from both author and readers of Dr.Claudia Goldin’s new book, Career & Family: Women’s Century Long Journey Towards Equity (Princeton University Press (2021). Drs. Mary Blair-Loy, Janet Gornick, Helen Kowalewska, Kris Marsh, and Berkay Özcan will serve on our panel of readers. Dr. Claudia Goldin will begin the session with short remarks about the book and each panelist will provide 6-8 minutes of reflection on the manuscript after which Dr.Goldin will respond to the readers’ comments. Our expert panelists will then engage in a moderated panel discussion. The session will then open to the general audience. Following the panel discussion, the conversation will open to questions and comments from event participants. This event is free and open to the public.
24 March 2022 : Forgotten Wives: an alternative history of LSE by Ann Oakley
Abstract: Ann Oakley’s new book Forgotten Wives: how women get written out of history is an account of four women who were married to well-known men in the social policy and welfare world of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century. All of them had connections with the history of LSE, so the book throws new light on just how LSE managed to become the pre-eminent institution it is today. Reflecting on how historians have treated the work of wives highlights unsolved, and largely ignored, problems of biographical methodology.
3 March 2022 : Leaving Fathers Behind? The Politics of Departing from the Male Breadwinner Model in Germany and the UK by Sam Mohun-Himmelweit
Abstract: Since the late-1990s many OECD countries have reformed family policies, following the earlier Scandinavian example of expanding childcare and parental leave policies to enable families to better reconcile employment and care responsibilities. Yet the extent to which these ‘latecomer’ reformers have also followed the Scandinavian model of establishing leave for fathers is more varied. This presentation examines this variation through case studies of the politics of leave policy reform in two latecomer countries: Germany, which undertook a ‘Nordic turn’ in its policies for fathers, and the UK, where leave policy remains focused on mothers. Drawing on analysis of policy documents and interviews with policymakers, it argues that the interaction between political conditions and policy legacies led to an ideational shift regarding fathers in Germany, whereas the UK remained on a ‘maternalist’ trajectory.
