The LSE Events Office run the School's Public Lecture Programme. The Public Lecture Programme is a key part of the 'public face' of LSE. The purpose is to position LSE at the centre of debate in all areas of the social sciences. LSE research is relevant to the real world, rather than an "ivory tower" and these lectures aim to enhance the School's reputation for intellectual, challenging ideas and discussion with a broader public audience. The PLP attracts thousands of people to LSE every term. Most of our lectures are now hybrid with both an in-person and online audience. For the majority of events, the recordings will be available to watch on the LSE YouTube channel, plus podcasts and videos available via the LSE Player, attracting audiences from across the world.
You can apply for our office to be involved in the organisation of your event, covering a percentage of the costs and assisting at different levels with the logistical planning. Please see First Steps section below on the process for applying to have an event considered for the PLP.
Please note the below PLP deadline dates:
Winter Term 2025 - 5pm, Friday 18 October 2024
Spring Term 2025 - 5pm, Friday 14 February 2025
Autumn Term 2025 - 5pm, Friday 11 July 2025
In planning your events, please ensure you join the LSE Events Network on Teams where you can liaise with other events staff across the School and get access to the PLP events planning spreadsheet which is used in order to avoid event clashes across the PLP. This network is also a great resource for finding out about best practices and sharing resources across the School.
First Steps:
1. Take a read of the Public Lecture Programme (PLP) - Important Information for full details about the application process including an update on the levels of service offered by the Events Office.
2. If you are thinking of approaching a high profile political figure to speak, please follow the Guidance on inviting a high profile political figure to LSE.
3. If you are planning an event of widespread interest and therefore you wish for it to be part of the PLP, then please get in touch with us to provisionally hold a date in the PLP events planning spreadhseet as referred to above, in the first instance (comms.events@lse.ac.uk). This should be done prior to submitting a PLP application form. You may hold one or two dates and times to offer to speakers. Provisionally booking a slot does not guarantee your event will be taken on as part of the PLP. Take a look at our list of notable dates to help plan your events here. Please note that we will not take on any more than 4 events from any one department per term so please only hold slots for those events which are highest in profile. Please also note, due to the number of events taking place during the week and due to limitations of staff we are unlikely to take on events taking place on Friday evenings or at weekends.
4. Alongside securing a provisional date with us in the PLP events planning spreadsheet, you should get in touch with the room bookings team (LSE.Roombookings@lse.ac.uk) to try and secure a venue. Please note, we will only take on events in the following venues - Sheikh Zayed Theatre/Old Theatre/Auditorium/Hong Kong Theatre.
5. Finalise the speaker line-up. Ensure you are considering diveristy in your speaker line-up. Please read through the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Public Lecture Programme: Policy Statement to ensure you are meeting LSE's expectations. Whilst we want to deliver a programme with a broad selection of external high profile speakers, we have also introduced a new KPI to ensure 50% of our PLP events include an LSE academic to deliver on our objective of promoting LSE reserach. Please do consider this when finalising your speaker line-up.
6. Confirm an eligible chair for your event. Please refer to LSE Code of Practice on Free Speech (specifically 6.15-6.20)
7. Finalise all details for the event including collating speaker and chair biographies and agreeing on a final event title and blurb.
8. Submit your PLP application using the form below. When submitting your application please ensure you have read through the guidance document for completing the PLP application form as this will make the process much easier.
After submitting the PLP application, please email a high resolution (300dpi) image of the speaker(s) to comms.events@lse.ac.uk and send through images of your main speaker in the following formats (for use online):
Avatar - 100x100 (please also send an image of all speakers and your chair in this format)
Newletter - 200x200
Promo - 747x420
Thumbnail - 386x216
What's next?
The Events Office will confirm receipt of your form and will normally advise you if your application has been successful around 10 working days following the deadline date.
Successful applications will be divided between tier A and tier B, as outlined here, and you will be emailed to advise you of the next steps. This allows our office to assist as many departments as possible.
If we are unable to include your event in the PLP then the event can still take place as a departmental event. We have provided more information for events organisers here: Events Office homepage. We have also produced a useful guide outlining event organiser responsibilities and a checklist for event organisers to guide you through the processes.
If you are planning an online departmental event, we have put together a brief Zoom guide to assist you here.