We’re looking for enthusiastic candidates for our internship programme at 2 exciting reserves in East Kent, based around the Canterbury and Whitstable area. This is a great opportunity to get firsthand experience of working on a nature reserve and to gain valuable insight into practical habitat management practices.

You will work alongside the reserve staff and a large volunteer team assisting with the work programme at both reserves. Tasks will include:

• Woodland management: including coppicing, ride mowing, glade cutting, site infrastructure repairs to fences, styles, gates and tracks
• Wet grassland management: including grassland mowing, control of water levels, scrub bashing, invasive species eradication
• Survey experience for wintering waders and wildfowl
• Leading groups of local volunteers on tasks around both sites
• Your own projects on the reserves
• Practical training courses

This scheme is designed to give you the training and experience needed for a career in conservation. We will assist your personal development and progression towards a conservation career, but it is also important that you take advantage of the opportunities that will arise during the placement to learn new skills, gain new experiences and increase your conservation knowledge.

You will gain experience of working in a team and supervising others, and there will be some opportunity to be involved in other aspects of reserve life such as visitor experience and events.

You will get a working knowledge of the RSPB and wider conservation issues and a dedicated mentor who will monitor your progress and help with personal development throughout the placement.

Requirements:

You will need to be 18 years old or over, have the ability to work in a team & a strong work ethic.

We would like you to be enthusiastic and flexible, confident and friendly.

A keen interest in wildlife and conservation is essential, and a willingness to undertake strenuous manual labour outside in all weathers.

A full driving licence is also required for this role to be able to use the off-road vehicles.

Commitment

This is a 3-day per week commitment over a 6 month period. The internship will begin in September 2017 and go on until the end of February 2018. Interns can stay on for a longer period of time if they feel they want to gain more experience across the seasons.

Interviews will take place July 2017

Contact:

If this sounds like the role for you or you would like more information, please make contact with assistant warden, Sam Richardson, on 07770683971 or sam.richardson@rspb.org.uk

If you are keen you can come down for a ‘taster session’ volunteer work party to meet the staff, volunteers and have a look at the reserves for yourself.

Regards,

Canterbury Campus

Pop in: Careers & Employability Service, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7ND
Monday – Friday 9:00am-5:00pm
Give us a call: 01227 823299
Email: careerhelp@kent.ac.uk

Located in Montreal, Canada. Offering prestige, culture and fun, McGill University’s Study Abroad Programme provides students with unique opportunities to learn and experience something new both in and out of the classroom.

Courses vary from 3-8 weeks long taking place in July-August 2017. Subjects include International Business, Public Relations, Project Management and Intensive French Language and Culture.

http://summer.scs.mcgill.ca/images/docs/summer_program.pdf

£2,000 bursary for work experience in China

The Careers and Employability Service, in conjunction with the Dean for Internationalisation, is offering 3 bursaries of £2000 to students wishing to undertake a 1 month summer internship experience in Beijing with CRCC Asia, starting 20 July 2017.

(Pictured above are the 5 successful candidates interning in China last summer.)

In addition to the internship, pre-departure language and culture training opportunities have beenprovided through the Centre for English and World Languages. For more information click here.

You’ve got to move fast if you’re interested – applications close on Monday 3rd April 2017! APPLY NOW

Conservation society invites you to their upcoming event. It is on Thursday 16th March at 18:30 in the Swingland room. Guest speaker, Sonia Copeland Bloom (yes, Orlando Bloom’s mother!) will be speaking about her passion for invertebrates. She is a children’s nature writer and will talk about the huge importance of invertebrates to our world, and how important she believes it is to trigger a greater appreciation for them in human beings, especially the very young, and open their eyes to the essential work they do for us, as well as some fascinating facts about them. By concentrating on the very young, she believes children who appreciate nature, will grow up to become more responsible adults, who, instead of destroying our world, grow up taking extra care of it for all our futures. You can find more information here: https://www.facebook.com/events/392462481126459/

It is conservation society’s biggest claim to fame and we are very excited to be hosting so please do come along and support.

At the University of Exeter we are working on an Erasmus Plus funded project ‘Careers in Nature Conservation’. This involves working with partners at the Universities of Evora, Portugal, Eotvos Lorand University, Hungary and charity partners Ambios UK, Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds, and the Barn Owl Foundation, Hungary.

The project is designed to provide enhanced employability guidance for higher education students in the context of European biodiversity management. This is a mixture of field, enterprise and employability skills development.

Our website is now open and available to students and Careers professionals from all Universities to engage with, and benefit from the work of the project. You will be able to access information on:
• Employability Skills
• Biodiversity Management Skills
• The Biodiversity Conservation Sector in Europe
Login to the website at http://careersinconservation.elte.hu/moodle/login/

Follow the twitter feed #careersinconservationka2

Please feel free to forward this to colleagues and students whom you think would be interested.
Regards

Dr Dawn Lees SFHEA
Curriculum and Work-Related Learning Manager

01392 72 4428
Professional Development Suite, University of Exeter, Room 9, Old Library, Prince of Wales Road, EX4 4SB
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Whichever career path you decide to embark on after university it’s likely that you will be asked to complete a Video Interview.

FDM Group’s Video Interview Workshop is your chance to discover what to expect, how to prepare and excel.

Participants at this event will be sent a link after the session to a mock video interview and a chance to get invaluable feedback from a graduate recruiter.

Booking link is https://careers.kent.ac.uk/leap/event.html?id=1595&service=Careers+Service

We would like to remind you that the applications for the Student Projects Grant Scheme will be closed on Friday 16 December, 2016. In January 2016, grants totalling almost £50,000 were made to a range of projects across the University. We are delighted that in the 2016/17 academic year we are able to award £50,000, with individual grants up to a maximum of £5,000.

The Student Projects Grant Scheme is funded by the Kent Opportunity Fund, which supports students by providing scholarships to enhance their academic studies, offering bursaries to assist individuals who are suffering financial hardship, and funding projects that help students to develop their personal and professional skills.

The Student Projects Grant Scheme encourages individuals to bid for funds to run projects that will enhance the student experience and employability of Kent students, offering them the opportunity to hone their skills and gain vital experience outside of the seminar room.

Applications are welcome from student groups in Kent Union, departments, faculties and schools across the University, including our campuses at Canterbury and Medway, our centre in Tonbridge and our European centres in Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome.

Application forms and guidelines can be obtained from the Development Office or downloaded from the Kent Opportunity Fund webpage at www.kent.ac.uk/giving/opportunityfund/projects/

Please note that applicants will be notified of their application results by late January. Should you have any questions, please contact me on 01227 824547 or at W.K.E.Chow@kent.ac.uk

The last six months have seen two cataclysmic events in politics. The UK voted to leave the EU, and Donald Trump was elected to the White House. Most polls saw neither result coming. In 2015, after the general election polling ‘miss’ in Britain, questions were raised over the value of polling, with one Labour peer saying polls were ‘corrupt’ and should be banned during election campaigns. After the polling fiascos of 2016, this debate is set to ignite once again.

In light of this, Q-Step are excited to host a panel discussion followed by a Q&A on the future of opinion polling in politics. Should polls be banned? Are they reliable anymore? What worth do they have for democracies today?

Josh Townsley, Dee Goddard, Jack Bridgewater and Tom Barton will lead the discussion on Thursday 1st December at The Jolly Sailor please arrive from 7pm for a 7.30pm start. As always, the evenings are free to attend and anyone is welcome to attend.

If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch or you can get up to date information via our website or mailing list.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Keli Jenner/ Joe Warriner
Kent Q-Step Centre, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, Cornwallis North East, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NF
Website: www.kent.ac.uk/qstep
Twitter: @UniKentQstep
Tel: 01227 827716 | E-mail: qstepinfo@kent.ac.uk

Civil Service Fast Stream are excited to offer selected students the opportunity to visit Whitehall. You will gain an insight into working at the heart of Government and the variety of work carried out by over 420,000 Civil Servants, whose aim it is to make this country run as efficiently as possible. The day will consist of presentations, workshops and networking opportunities that will give you an opportunity to meet with and speak to current Fast Streamers about their experiences of the application process and being on the Fast Stream programme.

The Civil Service is a modern and diverse workplace, which is truly reflective of this country. Our core values are something that set us apart from other employers; we are accountable to the tax paying public and to the Government of the day, and our values underpin everything we do to fulfil that responsibility.

This prize is just for Kent Students and places are limited to 10 so if you would like to be in with a chance to attend please submit a 250 word application telling us about a time when have you taken the initiative and made a decision that resolved a problem?

Please email your application to placements@kent.ac.uk by 5pm on Friday 25 November!

Transport will be free and leave from the University of Kent at Canterbury at 9am, returning 5pm.