Monthly Archives: July 2014

News

Workshop: Nanomaterials and Human Health

The University of Kent is hosting, in association with IUPAC, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the workshop Nanomaterials and Human Health: Trends and Future, on the 15th and 16th September 2014 at Keynes College. This 1.5 day workshop will engage in a broad critical discussion on cutting edge nanotechnology methods and concepts based on polymers, lipids, conjugates, and advanced multicomponent nanoengineered systems used in a wide range of applications.

The workshop will be provided for up to forty people and the registration will be free of charge (but please register by 15 August). The workshop will provide a dynamic, diverse and collegial environment with academic, industrial and regulatory viewpoints. Importantly, the meeting will also offer a unique opportunity for junior scientists to present their work in poster format and to exchange ideas with leaders in the field. We intend to critically assess the very timely and popular topic of nanomaterials within broader professional networks.

One of the specific goals is to create opportunities for collaboration and to strengthen the valuable relationship between basic and applied researchers working in the field of nanomaterial science.

Tentatively, there will be several well-recognised speakers, including Dr Didier Bazile (Head of Drug Delivery Technologies and Innovation. Sanofi-Aventis); Prof. Lisa Hall (Deputy Head of Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge); Prof. Clive Roberts (Head of School of Pharmacy, Nottingham University); Dr Xavier Le Guevel (BIONAND, Spain); Prof. C. Nogues (Uni. Autònoma de Barcelona); and Dr Dave Smart (Smart Dx Consulting Ltd).

For more information, go to www.msp.ac.uk/research/iupacnanomat.html.

Click here to download event poster

News

Medway Community Scholarship

The Medway Community scholarship is a new opportunity available to all students registered or due to register at the Medway campus. A number of awards of up to £1,000 are made on the basis of project proposals put forward by each applicant.Projects are pitched, delivered and evaluated by the student and must benefit the Medway local and/or student communities.

Additional financial and staff provision is available in order to help support the scholar to achieve the objectives of their project. The experience represents an excellent opportunity to showcase and deliver the skills employers want to see and could be based in art, music, sport, environment or any discipline in which the applicant is interested.

Projects are only restricted by the imagination of the applicant and what is realistically achievable within the academic year with available funding.

Projects must be new voluntary activity for which the applicant is not receiving financial payment or academic credit.

Previous projects have included; the creation of a Record label, album and live performances, a creative community day for local families, curation of an international film festival and sensory experience for children, hands-on training in music creation and production for local young people and sports training for pupils in a local junior school.

For more information or advice on how to apply online please go tohttp://www.kent.ac.uk/scholarships/postgraduate/departmental/medway.html or email to communityscholarships@kent.ac.uk.

News

Postgraduate Research Festival 2014

A look back at the day’s success

The 4th Annual Postgraduate Research Festival was held in Woolf College on Monday 23rd June 2014 and attended by postgraduate students from a variety of disciplines across all three Faculties.

The day began with an interesting talk from Prof. Alex Stevens on how Twitter can be used to raise the profile of ones research. This was followed by Dr. Jim Groombridge providing practical insight into how to win research funding; both talks provided valuable information for postgraduates that is bound to reap long-term benefit in their current and future academic careers.

Those in attendance were then able to network and chat whilst enjoying drinks and a buffet lunch, followed by a number of poster presentations.

Following on from lunch, attendees enjoyed a panel presentation led Prof. Bob Newport , Dr. Rebekah Higgitt, Nancy Gaffield and Sian Stevenson, on interdisciplinary approaches to public engagement, including the opportunity for a brief Q&A session at the end. This was followed by a series of eleven postgraduate Pecha Kuchas where students presented across a range of topics including the evolution of stars, equine influenza, assemblage in in artists cinema, and of course the winning presentation titled “We Fought Cancer…But Cancer’s Fighting Back” presented by Stephanie Ashenden (Photo: Bottom right). The Pecha Kucha styled presentations meant students had only 3min 20sec to present their topic. All presentations were innovative and an exciting opportunity to engage with research areas across a wide spectrum of academic subjects.

Following the Pecha Kuchaas, the rest of the poster viewings took place in three presenting rooms, one for each Faculty. The posters were of a very high-standard and they were all presented with enthusiasm and passion. The posters were assessed by Dr. Iain Mackenzie (Social Sciences), Dr Colin Johnson (Sciences) and Dr. Michael Hughes (Humanities), all of whom commented on the excellent quality of the posters, making it difficult to choose just one winner from each faculty. After much deliberation the poster awards were given to: Gail Austen-Price from SAC for her poster “Seeing is bee-lieving” (Photo: Top left), Rosemary Walters from School of English, for her poster “On the boarder: locating Charles Causley in 20th Century poetics” (Photo: Bottom left) and Natoya Jourdain from SMSAS for her poster “New Analytical Methods for Camera Trap Data”(Photo: Top right).

The Festival concluded with an Awards Ceremony presented by Dr. Colin Johnson (Sciences Faculty Director of Graduate Studies) where the poster and the Pecha Kucha winners each received a £100 gift voucher for Blackwells. The evening closed with a drinks reception and the chance to reflect upon the quality of talks, presentations and interactions of the day, and enjoy the company of fellow students and academics.