International development is a field in which expert knowledge, drawn primarily from the social and natural sciences, has long been dominant. We know that complex global problems require multidisciplinary approaches and solutions, but how and where do the arts and humanities fit in?

In their new open access book New Mediums, Better Messages: How Innovations in Translation, Engagement & Advocacy are Changing International Development (OUP), co-editors David Lewis, Dennis Rodgers and Michael Woolcock present twelve wide ranging contributions that suggest that we need to further broaden our ideas about what constitutes valid development knowledge. Themes include alternative media such as literary fiction, films, theatre, radio, photography, blogging, and music. Not only do we need to widen our frame of reference about what constitutes valid knowledge, but we also should question how that knowledge is created and valued, and by whom.

Speakers: Dennis Rodgers (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva), Michael Woolcock (World Bank), Emily LeRoux-Rutledge (UWE Bristol)
Discussant: Mariz Tadros (IDS Sussex)
Chair: David Lewis (LSE)

Eminent anthropologist Keith Hart draws on the humanities, popular culture and his own experiences to help us explore our own place in history.

We each embark on two life journeys – one out into the world, the other inward to the self. With these journeys in mind, anthropologist, amateur economist and globetrotter Keith Hart reflects on a life of learning, sharing and remembering to offer readers the means of connecting life’s extremes – individual and society, local and global, personal and impersonal dimensions of existence and explores what it is that makes us fully human.

The crisis in Ukraine is a rapidly growing humanitarian emergency. How is the humanitarian community responding to this crisis, and what are the implications for humanitarian studies more broadly? Gathering together a range of researchers and practitioners with experience across the breadth of humanitarian assistance, this panel seeks to explore the implications of the Ukraine crisis on the principles, policies, and practices of humanitarianism.

Please note that this is a recording of a live event, so the sound quality may be slightly compromised.

Speakers:
Sir Mark Lowcock, Professor in Practice, LSE ID, Previously Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator for the United Nations (2017-2021) and Permanent Secretary of the UK Department for International Development (2011-2017)
Dr Stuart Gordon, Associate Professorial Lecturer in Managing Humanitarianism and Programme Co-Director International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies, Department for International Development, LSE
Dr Eiko Thielemann, Associate Professor in Political Science and Public Policy, Department of Government and European Institute, LSE
Anna Landre, The Partnership’s for Inclusive Disaster Strategies' Ukraine Crisis Focal Point and Disability Justice Activist, Department for International Development, LSE

Chair:
Dr Ian Madison, LSE Fellow and Programme Co-Director International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies, Department for International Development, LSE