A team of Kent Law School student mediators has scooped two awards at an international mediation competition in Athens.

Final-year law students Margo Sabbah, Nadia Mauro and India Hughes were one of 52 teams competing in the 18th International Law School Mediation Tournament, sponsored by the InterNational Academy of Dispute Resolution (INADR).

Together, the team won an award for 4th best International Client Team and individually, Margo won an award for being the 7th best International Mediator.

The team was accompanied to Greece by Kent Law School Lecturer in ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) Janie Clement-Walker.

Janie, an Accredited Mediator and Advanced Negotiator, convenes an extra-curricular module in Mediation. The module introduces mediation and the skills required to resolve legal disputes without recourse to litigation. It includes practical workshops to develop skills and participation in an internal mediation competition. Winners of the in-house competitions are invited to represent Kent at national and international levels.

Last year, a team of student mediators from Kent won the Lex Infinitum Negotiation/Mediation Competition in Goa. Students have competed regularly in the National Mediation Competition with teams travelling to Jersey, Glasgow and London. Student mediators from Kent have also competed at an international level in INADR competitions held in Ireland, France, Greece and America.

Mediation is one of three ADR options open to students at Kent Law School. The second is a module in Negotiation and the third is Client Interviewing. Students can also develop practical legal skills through participation in the work of Kent Law Clinic and the School’s active mooting programme.

Kent Bunny’s Epic Easter Egg Hunt is back this week and all staff, students, alumni and our neighbours have the chance to win a selection of great prizes and loads of chocolate by taking part.

It’s taking place across Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Paris and Brussels all week. Follow all the fun on Facebook, Twitter @unikentbunny and Instagram @unikentlive and @unikentbunny.

Work out the clues to find the little magic eggs and return them to the warren in Rutherford Common Room to claim your prize!

Good luck! #KentBunny

The editor of the political magazine, the New Statesman, Jason Cowley appears at the University’s Canterbury campus on Wednesday 3 April.

Mr Cowley will take part in a conversation with Dr Adrian Pabst, Head of the School of Politics and International Relations (POLIR), as part of the POLIR Public Speaker Programme.

The event will take place in the Grimond Lecture Theatre 2 at 17.00. Admission is free and open to all. There is free parking on campus from 17.00 and the talk will be followed by a drinks reception.

Jason Cowley is a journalist, magazine editor and writer. He has worked for Granta, the Observer and the Times. As current editor of the New Statesman, he is credited with revitalising it, and re-establishing it as an influential weekly publication.

He has written books about politics and football. His next book will explore England and Englishness, expanding on his essay on England Rising.

Physical Actor Training – An Online A-Z, a digital resource created by Professor Paul Allain, Professor of Theatre and Performance in the School of Arts and Dean of the Graduate School, Stacie Lee Bennett, Honorary Senior Research Associate in Arts at Kent, and Professor Frank Camilleri of the University of Malta, has been nominated for the David Bradby Award by the Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA).

TaPRA was formed by a group of senior academics in theatre and performance, including Professor Allain, to promote the growth of research in the field by fostering a cooperative and collaborative ethos that would benefit postgraduate students, early career researchers and provide a platform to share the diverse discoveries of the discipline. The David Bradby Award celebrates outstanding research, including practice-based/applied research, in any theatre or performance area or discipline.

PATAZ: Physical Actor Training – An Online A-Z establishes a foundation for physical training exercises through over 60 dynamic videos with accompanying audio commentary, reflection, and texts for today’s physical actor, teacher, and trainer. Using innovative camera work and editing processes, each film explores a term from their A-Z, ranging from specific skills like Grounding and Balance to more abstract concepts like Energy or Craft.

The winner(s) of the David Bradby Award will be invited to present a keynote lecture at TaPRA’s annual conference in 2020.

PATAZ is available via Bloomsbury Publishing’s digital platform Drama Online, a digital resource available on subscription or as a one-time purchase to schools, colleges, conservatoires and university libraries worldwide:  www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/pages/physical-actor-training-an-online-a-z

Several of the films and more about the project are available here: thedigitalperformer.co.uk

Drama Online is a constantly growing collection of drama play texts, video and audio, providing contextual and critical background through scholarly works and practical guides for theatre students, teachers and practitioners. Physical Actor Training – an Online A-Z adds bespoke actor training content of the highest quality to the collection.

Final year students Elise McMellin and Eva Rahman, from the Department of English Language and Linguistics, and Alex Davies, from the Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies, were recognised at a recent awards ceremony for their participation in the Academic Peer Mentoring Scheme this year.

The APM scheme is a chance for second and third year students to mentor first years in their subjects. This can be of great benefit to any first year struggling with their modules and getting to grips with a new subject, but can also be the difference between a 2:1 and a First. Alex Davis, a final year student and mentor for CLAS, gave a speech at the event about her positive experiences with the scheme, and spoke about how being a mentor was beneficial for her own studies as well.

Alex Davis said: ‘Before each meeting I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to help my mentees, but having met with them and talked through various things they were concerned about, I was happy to realise that I could make a genuine difference! Also, helping them refocused me on my own studies and reminded me how much I had learned during these three years.’

The scheme has been a great success this year and we are very grateful to all our Academic Peer Mentors for taking part!