Seven years of sparking dialogue

“On the seventh anniversary of the LSE HE Blog, Lee-Ann Sequeira , the editor, and Michelle Pauli , the assistant editor, set themselves the near impossible task of picking just five blog posts from the past 12 months that showcase the range and relevance of the blog in terms of topics, perspectives, and formats Teaching with AI is not binary Lee-Ann says : It’s no understatement to say academia is having an AI moment. This podcast with Claire Gordon, Maurice Chiodo, Emma McCoy, and Maha Bali, a former LSE HE Blog Fellow , goes beyond the prevailing debates of GenAI as the latest shiny new thing or the downfall of modern academia. It explores the ethics, disciplinary cultures, and responsibilities and mindset of educators. In this first part of the podcast, the guests look at the big picture, but also get into the weeds of what it means to teach students when using AI in different disciplines. Don’t miss: the discussion on AI ethics courses as a bolt-on (20:20, 25:55) and the analogy of cakes and baking (28:53) Dismantling HE’s sonic straitjacket Michelle says : This post on accent discrimination genuinely opened my ears: it made me think differently and hear differently. What makes it powerful is Aymen Idris writing from his own experience of code-switching and linguistic insecurity while anchoring the argument in research and structural analysis. The Stormzy contradiction he highlights captures the hypocrisy perfectly: universities name-drop the grime star in press releases and pocket his donations, yet “there’s no chance in hell for anyone who actually sounds like him making it in academia.” Aymen examines that gap between diversity rhetoric and sonic reality throughout the post. University mergers: head, heart, and hidden costs Lee-Ann says : Another podcast with another brilliant roster of guests. In this podcast, Michelle Pauli invites Elisabeth Hill, Chris Husbands, and Huw Morris, a 2025 LSE HE Blog Fellow, to share their experiences of and insights into the mergers between higher ed institutions (HEIs). With three- quarters of UK HEIs facing financial deficits, there has never been a more important time to discuss this solution from different perspectives. Don’t miss: the role of culture in university mergers (14:20-20:51) Why can’t classrooms be playful? Michelle says : In an age of AI anxiety and relentless productivity demands, playfulness has never been more needed – nor felt more radical. This podcast, curated by Ijeoma Njaka, another 2025 LSE HE Blog Fellow, brings together Julia Watts Belser (Georgetown), Lars Strannegård (Stockholm School of Economics), and Matthew Pavesich (Johns Hopkins) to explore why universities promote detached learning when education requires experimentation and joy. What’s delightful is the playfulness within it: Julia’s outdoor classroom where crows descended mid-lecture on wonder. Lars recounting crying in front of a Mark Rothko painting. Matt’s students discovering audience through designing escape rooms for librarians. The Fellows programme enables exactly this – new voices, different networks, unexpected discoveries. As Julia declares: “Life is too short to teach boring classes.” ‘The biggest danger for universities comes from autocrats, wannabe autocrats, anti-scientists, and pseudoscientists’ Lee-Ann says : The LSE HE Blog features a number of posts on academic freedom and pluralism, which most often are conceptual or sociological critiques. This interview by Tamas Dezso Ziegler, a 2025 LSE HE Blog Fellow, with Katrin Kinzelbach, who has been leading the Academic Freedom Index (AFI), brings a different perspective to the discussion. The AFI, which has been measuring academic freedom globally, is a comparative, data-driven, systematic, quantitative study that goes beyond national contexts and rhetoric. Don’t miss: the last question and answer, which illustrates how there are different positions on these issues and how to disagree constructively. Michelle says : Academic freedom has been an important theme on the blog, and Tamas has explored it from different angles from his position as an academic in an authoritarian regime – Orban’s Hungary. What makes this interview such a compelling read is the robust intellectual exchange that comes across strongly in the Q&A format, which allows real disagreement to surface, offering nuanced analysis beyond typical academic freedom narratives. This post is opinion-based and does not reflect the views of the London School of Economics and Political Science or any of its constituent departments and divisions. The post Seven years of sparking dialogue first appeared on LSE Higher Education .

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