EXTERNAL SPEAKER EVENTS
LSESU Societies invite hundreds of external speakers to campus every year, to discuss a wide variety of issues and topics. If you're looking to host an event involving an external speaker, you'll need to complete and submit a 'Large / External Speaker Event Form' - see here. All External Speaker Events must adhere to LSE's Code of Practice of Free Speech, which sets out the legal requirements and responsibilities of the School with regards to upholding Freedom of Speech across LSE - see here.
- Once you've submitted your Event Form, inclusive of your external speaker's details, a background check will be conducted on them as part of the event's overall risk assessing and approval process.
- This is done so that, if necessary, measures can be put in place to ensure that your event goes ahead as safely as possible for involved - including yourselves, the speaker(s), your attendees, and the wider LSE community.
- Additional mitigations will not always be needed, but may be required if your external speaker is of a higher-profile nature, or if there've been previous issues/controversies related to them, their events, or the topics of your event's discussion.
- In cases where extra considerations are required, you may need to meet with LSE Security alongside your 'staff lead', in order to go over and confirm any updates to your event's preparation, on-the-day logistics, and Risk Assessment.
- Once your external speaker event is fully approved, you'll need to email their details to the Security reception of the building in which it will be taking place the day before it's due to happen at the latest (copying in either your 'staff lead' or su.societies@lse.ac.uk), alongside any other external (non-LSE) names, so that they can be given access on the day - see reception emails here.
NOTE: External Speaker Events will also require an Academic Chair in some cases - see below.
ACADEMIC CHAIRS
As per LSE's policies, Academic Chairs are required for all events involving External Speakers on the LSE campus if they're open to a public audience (i.e. anyone that's not a current LSE student or staff member). External speakers themselves are not included in this, but any of their guests/entourage are.
- For further clarity here, 'the public' includes LSE Alumni and other University Students (inc. NYU).
- For events that are open to an LSE audience only, but are of a higher-profile nature, or could attract strongly differing views based on the topics of discussion, an Academic Chair may still be a requirement in these cases, too, as one of the risk mitigations put in place.
- Academic Chairs hold the responsibility for upholding good order, and Freedom of Speech at events.
- Academic Chairs must be full-time, established (not 'Visiting') members of LSE Academic Staff. PhD students are therefore not eligible to be Academic Chairs.
- The directory below may help you find a suitable candidate, as you can filter by 'Academic' staff.
FIND LSE EXPERTS
BRIEFING NOTES FOR ACADEMIC CHAIRS
It is your Group's responsibility to fully brief your Academic Chair in advance of an external speaker event. In doing so, you may wish to discuss its structure, the topics of discussion, and details of your invited speaker(s). The briefing notes and responsibilities above must also be shared with them.
- Sourcing an Academic Chair for events like this is an LSE requirement, as a condition of using their spaces, so if you're looking to organise an event which would need one, it's strongly advised that you reach out to potential options as early as you can, to ensure you're able to confirm one in time.
- If you're unable to secure an Academic Chair where required, your event will unfortunately have to be rearranged, or closed to an LSE audience only.
EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS
Society events involving external organisations must clearly be led and fully organised by the Society itself (to the benefit of LSE students), and not be something that's organised on behalf of the external organisation. The reason being that LSE's Room Bookings Policy only permits Societies to host events in LSE spaces for free if this is the case. If your proposed event is not deemed to meet this criteria, it won't be possible for us to approve it, unless the external organisation books the space themselves via LSE's Events Team. See below for the rules on employer-based events specifically.
Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS)
Under UK law, Student Groups must register certain activities funded by a foreign government or foreign entity. If your group receives funding or support from a foreign entity, you must declare this when submitting your sponsorship form. Most general student activities are exempt, but it's important to check and let us know. See more guidance on FIRS for LSESU Student Groups here, or contact su.societies@lse.ac.uk.
Student Group x Employer Events
Whilst this will mainly be applicable for Societies that have sponsorship from external organisations (see here), the rules regarding Student Group x Employer events remains the same for all events regardless of whether there’s a sponsorship involved or not – that is:
- Student Group x Employer events must not solely be promotional (of the Employer), or hosted for the purpose of recruitment only. Events of this kind must more widely incorporate skills-development, education about a particular sector/issue alongside, and/or general networking into the agenda. These events must be a true collaboration between Student Group and Employer – not just something organised on behalf of the external organisation. Furthermore, on-campus Careers Fairs can only be arranged through LSE Careers (careers.employers@lse.ac.uk).
- The reason for this being the case is that LSE's Room Bookings Policy requires Employer Events which are solely promotional to be organised via LSE Careers only. In order for Society events of this kind to be approved, therefore, the criteria above will need to be met and made clear on your Event Form(s).
- For more details on how LSESU Societies can work with LSE Careers, please see here.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS)