The Graduate School is delighted to learn that Professor Nicola Shaughnessy (School of Arts) has been nominated as Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year in the Times Higher Education (THE) Awards 2018. Professor Shaughnessy was nominated by the Graduate School, with valuable help from Michelle Ulyatt (Corporate Communications), after she won our prize for a Research Degree Supervisor this summer.
Since her appointment to Kent in 1999, Professor Shaughnessy has nurtured several generations of neurodiverse postgraduate students to success through creative and interdisciplinary approaches. This includes offering twice-monthly shorter tutorials and making use of Skype, interactive and open space technologies. Over the years, she has also developed a network of postgraduates working across disciplines and institutions on autism and gender. This online community offers cross-disciplinary research exchange and peer support.
The Graduate School has decided to extend the deadline for the second round of applications to the Postgraduate Experience Award to Friday 27th April.
We are looking to fund projects with an aim of building the postgraduate community, so if you have a good idea for an event you would like to put on, with an interdisciplinary feel to it, put in an application! Previous funded projects include yoga and writing retreats, an external engagement competition, and an ethnobotanical nature trail round campus to name but a few.
Whatever your discipline, poster presentations are a powerful and widely used means of disseminating research in both academic and non-academic contexts. Distilling your research into a poster that is engaging and visually appealing is an excellent way to stretch your creativity and demonstrate the impact of your work.
You are warmly invited to showcase your research in our Poster Presentation Competition at our Postgraduate Festival launch on Monday 18 June 2018 in the Sibson building, Canterbury campus.
If you wish to display your poster please contact Felicity Clifford, Postgraduate Experience Officer at f.clifford-254@kent.ac.uk. In your email please state the following information:
Your full name and subject of study
School/faculty and supervisor name
Title of poster
Whether you are attending the PG Festival launch event (attendance is not required, however you will not be eligible for our event poster competition).
Poster Guidelines
Only one poster allowed per entrant. Posters must relate to an aspect of the entrant’s research.
Posters can be landscape or portrait orientation.
Printed posters do not have to be laminated.
Entrants attending the PG Festival launch event must set up their poster presentation between 11:00 and 12noon on the day.
Entrants attending the PG Festival launch event must present their poster to fellow students and judges throughout the PG Festival networking lunch.
Judging Criteria
Posters will be assessed according to two criteria:
Poster design – presentation and visual communication
Research content – how easily this can be understood by non-subject specialists
The second round of the Postgraduate Experience Award is now open for this academic year. If you have an idea for an event or project which will share your expertise to build the postgraduate community then now is the time to submit an application. Funding is available, up to £1500, to cover materials, room hire, publicity etc. If you need a little inspiration take a look at the webpage for details of previous winning projects.
The deadline is Thursday 29th March, for project to take place during the summer.
More details and the application form are available here
The Kent Tree Ogham Trail, a Postgraduate Experience Award project led by Joana Canelas, will be opened this weekend. This is a new nature trail around campus, inviting walkers to consider the ancient significance of the tree species we have around us.
The Tree Ogham is an ancient bardic alphabet where each letter is named after a tree. During this open weekend the team will ask why trees are so important to us, walking through their stories, flavours and shapes to discover the ethnobotany, ecology and folklore of our Ogham trees.
Walks along the trail will start at 2pm on Saturday and Sunday, meeting at the Labyrinth beside Eliot on Saturday, and behind the School of Arts on Sunday. Warm clothing and outdoor footwear is advisable. Jams, teas and cordials will be available along the way.
The winners of this year’s Kent Student Awards were announced at a Gala Dinner on Friday 5 May 2017.
The event, which was held at Darwin College on the University’s Canterbury campus, was attended by more than 130 students, staff and guests and celebrated the outstanding co-curricular achievements of Kent’s students.
The overall Student of the Year Award was awarded jointly to Rowena Bicknell, a second year PhD student in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, and Tom Ritchie, a second year PhD student in the School of History.
Rowena and Tom were chosen as Students of the Year for the exceptional contribution they have made to the postgraduate student experience in their roles as President and Vice-President of the Kent Graduate Student Association (KGSA).
Many congratulations from the Graduate School to Tom and Rowena!
The next networking lunch for the International Families Network will be held in the Gulbenkian on Friday 26th May. This is a social event to support the families of our international students – small children are welcome to come along.
In order to help us with catering, please confirm if you/your family wish to attend by emailing Deborah Molloy at d.molloy@kent.ac.uk. We look forward to seeing you!
Do you have a great idea for a postgraduate event? Apply for funding through the Postgraduate Experience Awards and it could turn it into reality!
Funding of up to £1,500 can be awarded for applications to run events or projects which have an interdisciplinary and/or external focus and will enhance the postgraduate experience at Kent. All events or projects must take place at Kent and be held by the end of the academic year it was awarded.
How to apply: Applications for funding are invited from postgraduates (both taught and research) and postdoctoral researchers (up to 2 years). Further details on the selection criteria are available on the application form. Applications for the 2016-17 Second Round are now welcome, please use the application form here and note the application criteria. The deadline for applications is Friday 24th March 2017.
PhD student Sumio Kobayashi won the first prize of nearly £20,000 at the International Composers’ Competition of the European Capital of Culture 2016 at Wroclaw in Poland.
The top prize of nearly £20,000 was the third international music prize Sumio won last year. He previously won first prize in composition at the Busan Maru International Music Festival competition in South Korea and third prize at the Weimar Spring Festival of Contemporary Music.
The International Composers Competition in Wroclaw attracted entrants from around the world, and was judged by established classical music composers from France, Italy and Poland. Sumio’s winning composition was entitled ‘Music by Krasnale’.
