.svg)
Leaders in politics, business, and academia require knowledge that goes beyond the limitations of our current higher education system.
Help create a new university focused on empowering students with the knowledge and skills necessary to tackle social and global issues head-on. Join us in shaping the future and make a real impact.
.webp)
The modern workplace needs people who can tackle these kinds of issues and make a real impact on the world. The current university system can’t evolve quickly enough, so we need a new solution.
We place a premium on teaching rather than research. We’ve brought together a diverse and outstanding group of academics, entrepreneurs, and educationalists. The LIS team includes philosophers, epidemiologists, artists, journalists, behavioural scientists, and mathematicians, as well as entrepreneurs and professionals.
Meet the team
The sharing of mental models from across boundaries of expertise can create new and relevant modes of understanding and experiencing the world.
Interdisciplinarians join forces to achieve more together than disconnected minds can do on their own. The future is interdisciplinary (ID). You will be at the forefront of the ID movement—challenging what is possible, being able to cut across disciplinary boundaries, make new connections, and find new solutions.
The workplace of tomorrow will look totally different and demand more of you than ever before. You’ll need to be balanced, entrepreneurial, and resilient to be at the forefront of this movement.
At the heart of LIS, we’re building a university designed to give you the knowledge and skills to enter the modern workplace. This is your chance to take the lead and make your impact on the issues that matter to you.
The process isn’t a piece of cake… But we weren’t fazed. In 2018, we brought together a group of academics, entrepreneurs and investors to think deeply about what it would take to create a new kind of institution.
LIS was born just two years later, becoming the first UK university since the 1960s to receive Degree Awarding Powers from inception (the last one was Warwick in 1965).
LIS is founded upon a core belief: the 21st-century leader requires a broad set of interdisciplinary approaches and methods to tackle the world’s most complex problems.
We built this university the LIS way: through a problems-first, interdisciplinary approach, grounded in rigorous methods, with real-world applications. And we’re already directly competing with the Russell Group.
.webp)
The world lacks leaders who understand material science, energy transition, AI, and human behaviour. Who can commission code-based data science research, ChatGPT-powered content and data visualisation. Who can frame problems in original ways, using superconcepts to create powerful analogies.
Yet too many institutions teach outdated frameworks and oversimplify context. A modern leader embraces complexity. They understand the systemic nature of business.
Leaders in the modern world need a richer intellectual hinterland than ever before. Organisations that succeed will be those with the fewest blind spots and the best ideas. This points to leaders with range, who can take multiple perspectives, make fewer errors, and spot the next big shift. This is where our students are heading.
.svg)
Our values
Be kind: Above all else, be kind
Be brave: Speak up, take brave decisions, push yourself outside your comfort zone
Be honest: Be transparent, tell the truth, have integrity
Keep learning: Never stop learning; continually evolve and update your understanding
Welcome difference: Actively seek different and conflicting perspectives on a problem and on life; encourage and support diversity in the staff and student body
A shared vision
LIS works with outstanding academics, industry experts, and entrepreneurs in a range of fields who all see the need for this new type of further education in our society.
Our Co-Founders
Like so many founding stories, this one begins with a good meal… Back in 2018, Ed & Chris met at a Big Change dinner.
They started talking: Ed shared his dream of setting up a revolutionary university, and Chris, whose son was applying to college at that time, was hooked.
Two weeks and three flat whites later, they decided to cofound LIS.
Ed Fidoe | CEO
Growing up, Ed went from being a regular pupil at his local school in a Leicestershire village to being one of the UK’s most recognisable faces as one of the main actors in hit children TV show Woof!
After branching out of acting, Ed went on to study at Engineering at Imperial and business at LSE — but left both institutions deeply underwhelmed. He first went into theatre producing with Academy-award winner Matt Charman; and then pivoted to strategy consulting to join McKinsey & Co.
McKinsey was always a means to an end though, and as soon as he had saved enough money, Ed founded a school.This school —School21— is an innovative 4-18 school in Stratford, East London, designed for children from all starting points and backgrounds. The school was achieved Outstanding Ofsted in 2014.
Ed has advised several education institutions including Cambridge University, LSE, Teach First and Eton College; and serves as a board trustee for Ashoka UK.
Chris Persson | Executive Chair
Chris’ upbringing is the cliché of the serial entrepreneur. Starting at the age of 15 at a bakery, to selling bicycles and truck washing equipment in Stockholm to owning a pub in London, his early career gave him a lot of training in the art of sales.
And —as one does—, Chris was a national tennis player for Sweden, and the soloist of the leading Swedish boys’ choir in his spare time. Get yourself a chairman who can do both!
Chris moved to London to set up the UK office for BTS (which then IPO’d), and later tried his luck with digital healthcare at Vielife (sold to Cigna Healthcare). He then digitised the restaurant industry when founding Bookatable (now TheFork), which he sold to Michelin.
Since the acquisition, Chris has built a significant track record in early-stage investing. Notable investments include Virtusize (sold to Japan’s Mitsui); Bokio (sold to Visma) and Planday (sold to XERO). He is an Advisory Board Member at youth charity Big Change, a mentor at Seedcamp and Singularity University SU Labs, and part of the Founders Network.
The LIS Network
We’ve previously worked with a diverse range of private and public sector organisations, including NHS trusts, Innocent, KPMG, Transport for London and The Conduit, to collaborate on a range of opportunities. These include guiding our top talent into their companies, boosting the interdisciplinary skillsets of their existing talent and collaborating on unique research projects.
Sign up for our newsletter
Don't miss out on important updates including course information, new announcements, Open Day dates and the latest LIS news.
.svg)
