Spring 2011 | Public lectures and events | Audio and pdf London School of Economics and Political Science

Contributor(s): Joshua Foer | Once upon a time remembering was everything. Today, we have endless mountains of documents, the Internet and ever-present smart phones to store our memories. As our culture has transformed from one that was fundamentally based on internal memories to one that is fundamentally based on memories stored outside the brain, what are the implications for ourselves and for our society? What does it mean that we've lost our memory? Joshua Foer studied evolutionary biology at Yale University and is now a freelance science journalist, writing for the National Geographic and New York Times among others. Researching an article on the U.S. Memory Championships, Foer became intrigued by the potential of his own memory. After just one year of training and learning about the art and science of memory, he won the following year's Championship. Foer is the founder of the Athanasius Kircher Society, an organization dedicated to 'all things wondrous, curious and esoteric' and the Atlas Obscura, an online travel guide to the world's oddities. Moonwalking with Einstein is his first book.

Contributor(s): John Cullen, Professor Zhang Xinmin, Robin Bellis-Jones, Andrew Shilston | 10.30, John Cullen, University of Sheffield, Innovation in the NHS - Can Accounting Stimulate and Facilitate Innovative. 11:30, Professor Zhang Xinmin, University of International Business and Economics, Corporate Governance and Strategic Cost Management: A View from China. 14:00, Robin Bellis-Jones, Director, Bellis-Jones Hill Group, Costing in the NHS - From Measurement to Management. 15:00, Panel Session. 16.30, Andrew Shilston, Chief Financial Officer, Rolls Royce, ICAEW Distinguished Practitioner Lecture. The theme for the 32nd MARG conference is Cost Management Strategies: Shifting Gears. The aim of the conference is to promote the discussion and development of leading edge ideas between researchers and senior practitioners.

Contributor(s): John Cullen, Professor Zhang Xinmin, Robin Bellis-Jones, Andrew Shilston | 10.30, John Cullen, University of Sheffield, Innovation in the NHS - Can Accounting Stimulate and Facilitate Innovative. 11:30, Professor Zhang Xinmin, University of International Business and Economics, Corporate Governance and Strategic Cost Management: A View from China. 14:00, Robin Bellis-Jones, Director, Bellis-Jones Hill Group, Costing in the NHS - From Measurement to Management. 15:00, Panel Session. 16.30, Andrew Shilston, Chief Financial Officer, Rolls Royce, ICAEW Distinguished Practitioner Lecture. The theme for the 32nd MARG conference is Cost Management Strategies: Shifting Gears. The aim of the conference is to promote the discussion and development of leading edge ideas between researchers and senior practitioners.

Contributor(s): John Cullen, Professor Zhang Xinmin, Robin Bellis-Jones, Andrew Shilston | 10.30, John Cullen, University of Sheffield, Innovation in the NHS - Can Accounting Stimulate and Facilitate Innovative. 11:30, Professor Zhang Xinmin, University of International Business and Economics, Corporate Governance and Strategic Cost Management: A View from China. 14:00, Robin Bellis-Jones, Director, Bellis-Jones Hill Group, Costing in the NHS - From Measurement to Management. 15:00, Panel Session. 16.30, Andrew Shilston, Chief Financial Officer, Rolls Royce, ICAEW Distinguished Practitioner Lecture. The theme for the 32nd MARG conference is Cost Management Strategies: Shifting Gears. The aim of the conference is to promote the discussion and development of leading edge ideas between researchers and senior practitioners.

Contributor(s): Thomas M Hoenig | Thomas M Hoenig is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He assumed the role of president on October 1, 1991, making him the longest serving of the 12 current regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents. He is senior member of the Federal Reserve System's Federal Open Market Committee, the key body with authority over national monetary policy in the United States.

Contributor(s): Joan Clos | Urban areas will have to play an increasingly important role as part of strategies addressing global climate change: due to their wealth, they disproportionately contribute to global carbon emissions. At the same time, dense, compact cities have repeatedly shown to be far more carbon efficient than other settlement types of similar affluence. The need for urban areas to adapt to some of the unavoidable consequences of climate change is acute due to the particular threats of extreme weather that come with it. Without addressing the risks associated with complex urban systems and infrastructure, an ever-increasing urban population might end up living in the more vulnerable locations of cities and mega-cities, potential disaster traps. Joan Clos, United Nations Under Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-HABITAT examines climate change in an urban context and discusses UN Habitat’s new Global Report on Human Settlements: Cities and Climate Change.