What is Change Makers?

You can read last year's finished projects in the online research gallery and watch some of the projects being presented at the 2024 End of Year Event on YouTube.

Please note that this year, all of the research projects will be on topics proposed by LSE members of staff.

At the end of each Change Makers project in 2023/24, student researchers met with their staff partners to develop and agree a set of actions that LSE would take forward in response to their findings. This page will be updated during 2024/25 with details of the changes made.

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.

Cange Makers researchers receive support from LSE throughout the duration of their projects, which typically run from January - June each academic year.

Each project receives:

• A staff partner who proposed the project the students are researching
• A designated supervisor to provide academic guidance and support
• 100 hours of funding per project, divided equally amongst team members and paid monthly (£23.53 per hour, as of 1 August 2024)
• Project resources to incentivise research participation
• Access to a Moodle course with information about planning your project, undertaking your research and presenting your findings
• General support with project administration and communication from the Change Makers team

Change Makers researchers are expected to:

• Communicate with their project supervisor every other week during term-time
• Meet with their staff partner (from the area of LSE / LSESU they are researching) periodically throughout their project (at least once at the beginning, middle and towards the end) to understand the operational context and the research questions that will be most useful. 
• 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
• Attend the mid-way formative Change Makers Progress Showcase in Winter Term
• Present their findings at the annual Change Makers event in Spring Term
• Organise a "Dialogue Meeting" with their supervisor and staff partner 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 (log in with your LSE username and password to access it) 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 2024/25 are now closed - the deadline was 27 October 2024.