Highlights
- Lord Desai Student Support Fund launched at memorial lecture on Wednesday evening.
- Fund designed to empower students who question assumptions and pursue transformative ideas.
- Celebrated economist served LSE for nearly four decades before retirement in 2003.
The lord Desai Student Support Fund was unveiled at the first memorial lecture organised by LSE's Department of Economics on Wednesday evening.
The fund aims to provide student support and create opportunities reflecting Desai's commitment to intellectual openness, global understanding and rigorous debate.
Professor Larry Kramer, president and vice chancellor of LSE, said "Lord Desai's intellectual independence made him more than just another teacher whose classes students liked and learned from.
He became a catalyst for transformation, someone who inspired countless students to think differently, argue boldly, and embrace complexity."
He added "Created in honour of Lord Desai's lifelong belief in the power of ideas and of dissent, the fund will champion the next generation of bold thinkers: students who can and are prepared to question assumptions, cross boundaries, and seek knowledge without fear of where it leads them."
Distinguished academic career
Desai joined LSE as a lecturer in 1965 and was appointed Professor of Economics in 1983.
He served as convenor of the Economics Department, founded the Centre for the Study of Global Governance and led the Development Studies Institute before his retirement in 2003, after which he became Emeritus professor and Honorary Fellow.
Professor Charles Goodhart, Emeritus professor of Banking and Finance at LSE who has supported the new fund, described Desai as "generous, insightful, and unforgettable."
He said, "For decades, Meghnad contributed to the intellectual fabric of LSE in ways that defy simple categorisation: economist, theorist, public intellectual, and above all a mentor."
The memorial lecture, entitled 'Power and profit: stresses and futures of market economies', brought together prominent thinkers including former deputy chairman of India's Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and several UK academics to debate the future of market systems.
Created Baron Desai of St Clement Danes in 1991, he served in the House of Lords and played a pivotal role in installing the Mahatma Gandhi memorial statue at Parliament Square in 2015.
He received the Padma Bhushan in 2008 for his contributions to literature and education.
