What is Change Makers?

In 2022/23, the fifth year of Change Makers funded approximately £60,000 worth of student-led research projects, spanning accross areas including:

• Inclusive education
• Teaching, learning and assessment
• Student community and engagement
• Student identites and experiences

You can read last year's finished projects in the online research gallery and watch some of the projects being presentated at the 2023 End of Year Event on YouTube.

All of the 2022/23 Change Makers reports have been shared with staff from accross LSE who are in a position to consider and, wherever possible, act upon Change Makers recommendations. We will update this information about changes made in due course.

Some of the actions LSE has taken in response to previous years' Change Makers projects include:

• More funding made available to provide student opportunities (such as off-site trips) consistently across departments
• The LSE Ethics Code has been dramatized in a short film for social media
• Targeted changes made to the induction for Graduate Teaching Assistants in Economics
• Change Makers projects contributed to ongoing work in Anthropology on decolonisation. Changes in the department included a new museum trip and ‘anti treasure hunt’ for incoming first year undergraduates; revision of the curriculum for a first year core course; and a new name, and display of former staff and students, for the Old Anthropology Library.
• The introduction of a Neurodivergent Student Academic Mentoring Scheme through LSE LIFE.

Change Makers are supported throughout the duration of their project, which typically runs from December - June.

Each project receives:

• Access to a Moodle course with information about planning your project, undertaking your research and presenting your findings
• A designated supervisor to provide academic guidance and support
• A project sponsor from the area of the School you are researching
• General support with project administration and communication from the Change Makers team
• 100 hours of funding divided equally amongst team members (at an hourly rate of £21.80 as of August 2023).

Change Makers researchers are expected to:

• Take a pro-active and collaborative approach to planning and conducting their research as part of a group
• Attend relevant researcher training and development workshops
• Communicate with their project supervisor every other week during term-time
• Meet with their project sponsor (from the area of LSE / LSESU they are researching) periodically throughout their project to understand the operational context and the research questions that will be most useful. 
• Present their findings at the annual Change Makers event in Spring Term
• Organise a "Dialogue Meeting" with their supervisor and project sponsor in Spring Term to discuss research findings and collaboratively determine what actions LSE could look to take in response.
• Produce a short report or academic poster, alongside any optional additional outputs (e.g. a longer report, infographics, video recording, etc.) in Spring Term 

All current students are eligible to take part in Change Makers, whatever your level of study. 

Change Makers projects are to be conducted as part of a pair or a group. You can apply with a friend(/s), attend our launch workshop to find one or more new people to participate with, or use our Change Makers Group Finder spreadsheet to connect with others online.

Unfortunately we cannot accept applications from alumni, individual students, or students who have already participated in a previous year of LSE Change Makers.

Please note that you will need to be resident in the UK to begin working on your project.

Applications for Change Makers 2023/24 closed on Sunday 22 October 2023. Regrettably we are unable to accept late applications.

All applicants will receive a notification of the outcome of their application during the second half of November 2023.

If you are interested in applying for Change Makers 2024/25, please check back at the beginning of Autumn Term 2024.