About the CIVICA Staff Mobility Scheme
After a successful pilot programme launch in June 2025, the first cohort of LSE Professional Services Staff will be visiting their selected European universities later this academic year.
LSE staff were invited to submit proposals for a short visit to another CIVICA university (consisting of 2-3 days) for a learning experience and/or professional development opportunity. The short visit proposal could involve activities such as (but not limited to) job shadowing a department/division, attending a workshop, participating in meetings or engaging in informal training opportunities.
Staff were able to apply to visit one of the CIVICA institutions listed below:
- Bocconi University, Italy
- Central European University, Austria
- European University Institute, Italy
- Hertie School, Berlin
- IE University, Spain
- SNSPA, Romania
- Sciences Po, France
- SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Poland
- Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden
Application Outcomes
The CIVICA Staff Mobilty Scheme received applications from across sixteen LSE departments, and we were overwhelmed by the quality and quantity of the applications received.
Congratuations to the following colleagues who have been selected to participate in the first cohort of visits:
- Chelsea Collison, from LSE Library, will be visiting Sciences Po, Paris
- Elinor Potts, from LSE Library, will be visting SSE, Stockholm
- Kyla Davis, from PAGE, will be visiting EUI, Florence
- Nathan Tamea, from LSE Careers, will be visiting Hertie School, Berlin
- Lewis Humphreys, from LSE Careers, will be visiting Sciences Po, Paris
CIVICA Staff Mobility Scheme Application Advice
The selected applicants from the pilot programme have kindly agreed to share extracts from their applications, which potential applicants can refer to when writing their own applications.
What is the purpose of your visit?
"As part of LSE’s Shaping the World campaign, we are fundraising for thematic priorities and testing new ways of developing large multidisciplinary projects across the School. EUI are working on similar initiatives. I will be spending time with peers at EUI to understand how they are working with faculty on complex research projects and how this work is informing their fundraising activities."
What do you think the benefits of this mobility visit will be for you personally?
"Through shadowing the work of SSE I’d be exposed to how SSE craft content strategies and social media for multi lingual audiences in a way that is not possible in my current team environment at LSE Press / LSE Library. I’d also like to learn more about how SSE support and empower academics for journalistic features, and understand their most successful examples of research communications in SSE.
As an open access publisher with ambitions to strategically drive global book and journal usage, this opportunity would allow me to better shape marketing goals and tactics for LSE Press and create campaigns that best attract new global readers."
What will be the benefits of this mobility at the institutional level?
"This visit would directly benefit LSE by bringing back new insights and best practices from a peer institution within the CIVICA alliance. By learning how Sciences Po engages schools and young people with their archival collections, I can contribute to enhancing the impact and reach of LSE Library’s learning programme, particularly in areas such as evaluation and civic engagement. The visit would also support LSE’s broader strategic goals around public and community engagement, knowledge exchange, and international collaboration."
"This visit will support LSE Careers’ strategic aim to enhance our international careers provision, particularly in relation to the development of our new Careers in France offer. By learning from Sciences Po’s approach to careers education, we can bring back new ideas to inform our practice, especially around employer engagement, alumni involvement, and supporting students with international career aspirations."
Why did you choose this host institution/unit/department?
"The Hertie School is an ideal host institution due to its location in Berlin – a strategic city for our programme – its strong focus on public policy education, and the alignment between our student populations and their career aspirations. With around 70% international students, Hertie, like LSE, supports globally mobile graduates, making it a valuable partner for comparison and collaboration."
The next call for applications for the CIVICA Staff Mobility Scheme will be in Autumn 2025.
Any questions? Email civica@lse.ac.uk