Madeleine Hughes, a Kent ESRC student, recently won both the Poster Competition and the Pecha Kucha Competition at the annual South East DTC and SeNSS 2017 Conference on 13 July, 2017. The conference was the sixth SEDTC Conference and was held at CASS Business School (City University of London).
The Dean of the Graduate School, Professor Paul Allain, is delighted that the university has been awarded Gold in the UK Government’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). He commented that he was very pleased to hear that although the TEF focused on undergraduate experience exclusively, postgraduate Master’s students are also being taught in such a positive well resourced environment by staff with excellent teaching abilities.
Congratulations to Ruth Augur, the winner of the first Graduate School Prize for Public Engagement. After a hotly-contested public vote, Ruth was awarded the £400 prize to carry out her project, which will involve working closely with the Canterbury-based charity, Catching Lives, to create and restore a garden plot for the homeless to nurture, develop, and enjoy.
Laura Thomas-Walters was joined by Prof Paul Allain, Dean of the Graduate School, in welcoming the public to the event.
Professor Paul Allain hosted the event on Thursday evening, which gave three University of Kent PhD students the opportunity to showcase their work. They each identified a topical social issue and gave their proposed solution to the problem. Forty members of the public attended to discuss the potential merits and difficulties of each solution with the students over coffee, tea and cake in the beautiful La Trappiste in central Canterbury. They then had the opportunity to vote on which proposal they thought had the greatest potential to make an impact.
Hannah Newman (an interdisciplinary PhD in the Schools of Arts and Psychology)presented on autism and discussed how drama can be a powerful and positive tool in the growth and development of autistic children. Surej Mouli (a PhD in the School of Computing) spoke about the uses of medical robotics. Ruth Augur (a PhD in the School of Anthropology and Conservation) discussed homelessness in Canterbury. They all spoke very well about their research, but there could be only one winner.
One of the aims of the competition was to introduce the University of Kent to local residents, by demonstrating the real world impact of academic research and to empower the public to feel that they can influence the future of research. The entire event was the brainchild of Kent PhD student Laura Thomas-Walters, who submitted her original idea to the Postgraduate Experience Award panel, and went on to plan the whole thing – well done Laura!
From left to right: Laura Thomas-Walters (event organiser), Hannah Newman (presenter), Ruth Auger (presenter/winner), Surej Mouli (presenter), and Prof Paul Allain (Dean of the Graduate School).Winner of the Public Engagement Competition, Ruth Auger, pictured with Laura Thomas-Walters and Prof Paul Allain.
The Department for Education released a statement on 21 April 2017 announcing that EU students will continue to remain eligible for undergraduate, master’s, postgraduate and advanced learner financial support in academic year 2018 to 2019.
What this means:
EU students who apply for an undergraduate or master’s course at an English university (or further education institution) scheduled to start in the 2018-19 academic year will continue to have access to student loans and grants and home fee status (meaning they are charged the same tuition fees as UK students) for the duration of their course (regardless of when the UK fully exits the EU).
EU nationals will remain eligible to apply for Research Council PhD studentships at UK institutions for 2018 to 2019.
For further information and to read the full government announcement, visit the DfE website.
Universities UK’s response to the announcement can be read here.
Paul Allain, Dean of the Graduate School, took part in Kent in Rome’s final visit assessments from 5-6 April 2017. The Dean of the Graduate School visited Rome MA students as they showcased their assessed itineraries around the city.
Speaking about the itineraries he said:
‘It was a great privilege to be led through the overwhelming outdoor museum that is Rome by Kent’s Master’s students, budding classics detectives. I saw the city in a totally new light as they unpacked the rich complexities of its past and revealed hidden gems that I would otherwise no doubt have passed by. Many thanks to them for letting me participate and for teaching me so much.’
