LSE Research Online is a service provided by LSE Library to increase the visibility of research produced by LSE staff. It contains citations and full text, open access versions of research outputs, including journal articles, book chapters, working papers, theses, conference papers and more.

In their report, A Global Apollo Programme to Tackle Climate Change, the contributors, who bring together experience from business, academia and government, argue that anything less would make it impossible to contain the world’s temperature rise within the crucial 2˚C limit that has been internationally agreed.
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New study finds 75 per cent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions covered by national targets
Three-quarters of the world’s annual emissions of greenhouse gases are now limited by national targets, according to a new study published by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE.

The 2015 Global Climate Legislation Study, covering 98 countries plus the European Union which are together responsible for 93 per cent of global emissions, was presented to delegates on Tuesday 2 June 2015 in Bonn, Germany, where the latest round of United Nations climate change negotiations were taking place. The study has been sponsored by GLOBE, the Global Legislators Organisation, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the world organisation of parliaments which was established in 1889. Its results will be distributed to policy-makers around the world.
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Internet use translates into greater economic than social benefits in real world
Using the internet helps people benefit financially in the ‘real world’, but not necessarily socially, according to research from LSE, the University of Oxford and the University of Twente in the Netherlands.

The ‘From digital skills to tangible outcomes’| project looked at the tangible benefits people gain from using the internet and which groups of people profit, through a series of in-depth interviews and surveys in the UK and the Netherlands.

The researchers found that 47 per cent of people questioned said that their internet use had translated into an economic benefit. In contrast, only 24 per cent said that the internet had improved their social lives offline.
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Top tips

Google Scholar Citation Profile
In an increasingly competitive research and scholarship environment, creating yourself a researcher profile allows you not only to showcase your research to the world but also to help avoid misidentification. Additionally, if you have worked with multiple granting agencies, research groups, or institutions, a research profile will help you maintain the link between you and your research outputs.
 
Google Scholar Citations is one of the tools currently available to assist you in doing exactly this by pulling all your publications together in one place. A Google Scholar Citation profile will list your name, chosen keywords of research interests, generated citation metrics, and citations (including links to citing articles).
 
To create a Google Scholar Citation profile: 
1. You need a Google Account (once the profile is set up, it will automatically update).
2. Then, you can quickly add citations found in Google Scholar as well as delete inaccurate citations, merge duplicate citations, and manually add citations.
3. Once you're done with adding articles, it will ask you what to do when the article data changes in Google Scholar. You can either have the updates applied to your profile automatically or you can choose to review them beforehand.
4. A couple of minutes later, you will have created your own profile. Once you are satisfied with the results, make your profile public.
 
For more information, visit the Google Scholar Citations Help Page or contact Nathalie Cornée, the Library research information analyst for any assistance or queries.

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60 second interview

Kath Scanlon is a Research Fellow in LSE London and Chair of LSE's Research Staff Association (RSA).
 
As the Chair of the LSE Research Staff Association (RSA), can you tell us a bit about the association?
The association is made up of all research staff at LSE. There are currently just over 200 salaried research staff, ranging from Band 6 research officers to professorial research fellows, although the number fluctuates because there’s very high turnover—up to 30% a year. James Ker-Lindsay and I started the association a few years ago, so we’re still very young. We thought there was a particular need at LSE because research staff often work in very small groups, or alone.

In your opinion, what would you say is the biggest obstacle for research staff at LSE?
Two things: one, not everyone in the School is familiar with the role of researchers. There is a common misperception that we’re here to assist the teaching-and-research academics; in fact most of us design and carry out our own research. Second, the eternal question of funding—unlike academics who teach, we’re not paid for out of the central university budget, so we must secure funding from external sources, which is never easy.  

What is the next step for the RSA? Are you currently campaigning against a particular issue or is there something you would like to see change for research staff here at LSE? 
UCU, which is the recognised trade union for academic staff at LSE, recently agreed with the School the details of the New Research Staff Career (NRSC) for research staff in Bands 7 to 10 (research fellow and above). The RSA worked closely with UCU throughout this process. The NRSC brings the salaries and job titles of researchers into line with the New Academic Career (NAC); in return researchers who move over to the new career structure will have to meet the same expectations with regard to peer-reviewed publications as NAC staff do. The issue has taken up almost all of the Association’s time over the last 18 months and we regard the agreement as a real achievement. In terms of next steps, the priority will be to ensure that there is a clear and achievable route for research officers (who make up the vast majority of the Association’s membership) to move into the NRSC. 

Apart from the issue of career structure, we’d like to see a greater sense of community among research staff, and more engagement between the wider School and its researchers. That’s happening, but slowly.

Do you have any tips or advice for research staff?
1) come to Academic Board; 2) Field’s gives a discount if you have an LSE card; 3) make use of all that LSE provides—there’s training and expert advice from TLC, the library, HR, Research Division and the Press Office. It’s not for somebody else, it’s for you.

Are the RSA holding any events soon?
We’ll be hosting a lunch for research staff on Tuesday 23 June 2015 – we hold these about once a term. It’s an opportunity for research staff to network and enjoy LSE’s world-famous sandwiches. We’ll also be talking about the promotions criteria under the NRSC, which will be finalised in mid-June. Details of the time and room will come out shortly. And we’re very open to suggestions from research staff about future events—what would you like to see?

How can research staff at LSE get in touch with the Research Staff Association? 
Easiest thing is to e-mail me directly: k.j.scanlon@lse.ac.uk.
 
What, or who, makes you laugh?
Playing Dixit with my kids—it’s an indescribably surreal German board game.

Which book shaped your childhood?  
The collected oeuvre of Enid Blyton, which my mother assembled as a girl living in various then-British colonies. I was very probably the only kid in Douglas, Arizona who dreamt of midnight feasts at boarding school.

If you could do it all again, what alternative career would you have chosen? 
I would have followed my father’s advice and become a mining engineer.