Monthly Archives: October 2014

students talking

Research Prizes launched

To recognise exceptional achievements in research, and to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the University is launching a new Research Prizes scheme.

As well as recognising the most outstanding work in each Faculty, there will be specific prizes for excellent work undertaken by early career researchers and by doctoral students.

All the details are available on the Research Services website. You are encouraged to give some consideration to your own work, or that of colleagues who you feel have produced exceptional work recently, and whose outstanding achievements deserve to be recognised by the University and the wider community.

If you have any questions about the scheme, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Phil Ward in Research Services.

Guest lecture on Activism and Homelessness in Kent

In association with Canterbury Housing Advice Centre, Kent Law School is hosting a guest lecture to mark the 50th anniversary of the one-year King Hill Hostel Campaign.

The campaign was mounted by residents in 1965 in response to rules imposed by Kent County Council that banned men from living at the hostel and imposed strict time limits on stays. Residents openly defied the council with direct action that included eviction blockades and numerous demonstrations.

The lecture entitled ‘Activism and Homelessness in Kent’, will be delivered by Laura Binger from Kent Law School on Thursday 27 November and will chart the story of the campaigners as they challenged the legal regime. It will also explore the legacy of the campaign and ask how it remains relevant in Kent today.

All are welcome to attend this event, which is free and begins at 6pm in Grimond Lecture Theatre 1 on our Canterbury campus. The lecture will be followed by a Q&A.

 

Show that Kent supports its LGBT Staff

We need you! Straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans – we need people of all sexual orientations and identities to help us show Stonewall that staff at Kent are engaged in supporting LGBT people at work.

We get useful feedback from the survey and Stonewall uses the level of feedback as part of our score in their annual ranking against other Universities and cpmpanies. So, we are keen to have responses from staff all across the University regardless of sexual orientation. Please help us do this by participating in this brief survey today (if you haven’t already).

The information you provide will, of course, be anonymous and will be sent directly to Stonewall’s Workplace Team. Once the data is collected and analysed, only the University of Kent’s average scores will be shared with us.

For instructions on how to access and complete the survey click on: https://www.kent.ac.uk/hr-equalityanddiversity/local/stonewallsurvey.html

The deadline for responses is 5pm on Saturday 15 November 2014.

KENT Staff magazine – October 2014

The October 2014 edition of KENT staff magazine is now available to view online.

This issue includes features on the launch of our 50th anniversary year and the work of the Gateways to the First World War centre based at Kent. There is also a staff profile on Margaret Sargeant from KBS at Medway campus and images of staff across the University who played a key role during our students’ arrivals weekend.

If you would rather read the magazine online and would like to be removed from the hard copy circulation, please email Karen Baxter.

We welcome feedback on the magazine – you can get in touch with the editorial team at kentmagazine@kent.ac.uk.

Canterbury Laureates perform at the Canterbury Festival

On Wednesday 29 October Patricia Debney (Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing in the School of English) will be performing alongside fellow former Canterbury Poet Laureates Sarah Salway and Patience Agbabi, and current laureate Dan Simpson, as part of the Canterbury Festival.

Each of the performers have significant links with the University of Kent. Both Sarah Salway and Patience Agbabi have taught in the School of English in recent years and Dan Simpson, spoken word poet and compere, graduated from the School of English in 2008. Dan has gone on to make a significant contribution to the local, national and international performance poetry scene, not least becoming this year’s Canterbury Poet Laureate.

‘The Canterbury Laureates: An evening of spoken word’ takes place at the Canterbury Cathedral Lodge on Wednesday 29 October 2014 at 8pm. Tickets cost £9 and can be purchased online on the Canterbury Festival website.

Autumn Telephone Campaign 2014

The autumn Telephone Campaign kicked-off on Saturday 25 October.

Over the next month, a team of student callers will be talking to a number of our UK-based alumni to share their experiences and memories of Kent and to tell them about the exciting plans the University has lined up for our 50th anniversary, including our fantastic Alumni Reunion Weekend in September 2015.

The students will also talk to alumni about the Kent Opportunity Fund, which has been established from alumni donations and supports students at Kent through funding for student projects, scholarships and hardship bursaries, enabling them to develop their skills whilst also increasing their employability prospects.

Through the Telephone Campaign, we hope to seek support for the Kent Opportunity Fund and to show how our alumni can make a real difference to the lives of those who have followed in their footsteps. Every donation received during our 50th anniversary year will receive a 25% top-up by the University, making every pound donated go even further, and therefore helping even more students.

Working alongside the Careers and Employability Service, we will also be speaking to a group of new graduates about the DLHE (Destination of Leavers from Higher Education) survey which they may be receiving shortly, and encouraging them to complete it.

The Telephone Campaign is due to end on Sunday 23 November. For any queries, please email giving@kent.ac.uk.

 

Learn a new skill with Kent Sport

Want to learn a new skill? If so, try one of Kent Sport’s weekly coach-led sports sessions led by our team of friendly, qualified coaches.

Sessions are available at lunchtimes or evenings to fit around work or study and are a good excuse to get away from your desk and get active.

Contact a member of our reception team on (01227) 823623 today to register your place on these sessions.

Find out more on the Kent Sport webpages.

Kent Enterprise & Impact Network meeting

A Kent Enterprise & Impact Network (KEIN) meeting will take place on Tuesday 4 November from 12.30-2pm in the Darwin Boardroom, Canterbury campus.

KEIN is a new network to share learning about enterprise and impact in an informal environment and to connect with like-minded colleagues.

For full details about the session see https://www.kent.ac.uk/enterprise/university-staff/kein.html or contact: enterprise@kent.ac.uk

If you would like to book a place, with lunch, please email ldev@kent.ac.uk. If you have specific dietary or access requirements, please let us know in the email.

Chaotic cabaret of Physics

‘Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?’ This was the heuristic question posed half a century ago by Edward Lorenz when trying to introduce Chaos Theory. On Wednesday 22 October, Bob Newport, a lecturer in the School of Physical Sciences, spoke the opening lines in the Canterbury Festival performance of ‘Chaos Cabaret’: an appropriately chaotic music-rich production written especially for the science theme of the Festival.

Performed in the unusual venue of the Speigaltent, the audience were treated to a gentle tale which really did begin with a butterfly and end with a tornado – all portrayed in music and words, and through some energetic actors weaving themselves expertly between the tables. Along the route, several aspects of science were subtly introduced. The project was initiated and steered by an ex-Kent academic, Frank Burnet, and was supported financially by the Science & Technology Facilities Council.

Throughout the project’s development Bob, an advocat of public engagement with science, provided some general advice wearing his physicist’s hat, but was later persuaded to play a more visible role on the night – including chairing a Q&A session afterwards (in which he was expertly helped by Kent emiritus professor Mohammed Sobhy).