Medway Student Services would like to ask for your support again this year for The Open House Project Christmas Appeal by donating items of food, non-perishable goods and Christmas treats to help those in need over the Christmas period.

Collection point: Gillingham Building room G0-05
In Canterbury, please take your items to Student Support & Wellbeing Reception where they can be kept for Lynne to collect when in Canterbury on Thursday 17 December.

The Open House Project is a drop in centre for those people in our community living alone or who are homeless. It is located in the Quaker Meeting House Rochester and is open every Saturday 14.00 – 16.00, when other local support agencies are closed. They aim to provide food, shelter and companionship in a peaceful and friendly environment.

They will be opening over the Christmas Holiday period. The project is run by local volunteers who come from a variety of backgrounds; interested individuals, local churches and secular groups – a true community project.

Donations of food such as biscuits, cakes, Christmas food treats and other non-perishable goods with long sell by dates including toiletries and Christmas items would be much appreciated. Donating basics such as sugar, pickle, tinned meats, tinned soups etc means they can use any cash donations to pay for rent rather than buying these items weekly.

Please bring donations to Lynne, Theresa or Sarah in G0-05 between now and Friday 18 December (Thursday 17 December at SS&W Reception for Canterbury). That is only two weeks away, so please rummage through your cupboards at home to provide any items you can spare, or if you are willing to purchase an extra item when you do your shopping this weekend and bring these in, it would be very much appreciated.

Staff, students and families are warmly invited to the Medway Campus Carols Service and FREE festive food at St George’s Centre (at campus entrance) on Thursday 10 December at 17.00.

Sally Apokis the campus chaplain with Professor Adrian Dobbs on organ, and an impromptu choir of students and staff will be leading a fun and festive occasion.

Please join us!

The Kent Student Awards are back for a third year to once again celebrate students’ outstanding extracurricular achievement.

Last year, Sociology student April-Louise Pennant was awarded ‘Student of the Year’ for educating her peers in the UK and Hong Kong on cultural diversity. You can view all of last year’s winners on the Kent Student Awards webpages.

If you know an amazing student like April-Louise, nominate them for a Kent Student Award when nominations open on Monday 11 January 2016.

The Kent Student Awards recognise and celebrate student achievement in extracurricular areas of university life. View the award categories.

Kent Student Award winners receive cash prizes, official recognition from the University and unique opportunities to gain new experiences as students and alumni.

Read more on the Kent Student Awards webpages.

You are cordially invited to join us for a screening, and post-screening discussion with SAC alumnus Gonzalo Chacon, for the screening of his award winning documentary El Silencio de las Moscas / The Silence of the Flies.
Gonzalo Chacon, an alumnus of the MA in Visual Anthropology, has served as executive producer on the film which has been screened internationally and won several awards, including best cinematography at the Moscow International Documentary Film Festival (DOKer), and a special prize for mental health awareness at the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival earlier this year.

The Silence Of The Flies will be screened on Wednesday 9 December at 16.00 in Marlowe Lecture Theatre 2. Gonzalo will be in attendance to participate in a post-screening discussion.

All are welcome.

Synopsis: The Silence Of The Flies takes place among small agricultural communities located in Venezuela’s Andes region, where suicides have become a very significant part of their everyday. The film explores through different cases the motives, means, places, and most important, the silence surrounding this delicate matter. Countries seem to ignore that several rural communities in Latin America face a sort of suicide outbreak, probably associated with the contradictions presented by cultural globalization. This is a documentary that challenges our prejudices about life in a rural environment.

A trailer for the documentary can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/79933800

It is now time for you to have your say and name the new GK Unions building and the café/bar.

Throughout the term you provided us with over 100 great names and the Student Hub Steering Group recently met to shortlist the suggestions.

To vote, you must be a student of the University of Greenwich or the University of Kent.

The shortlisted names are:

Building:

• The SU
• The SUB (Students’ Union Building)
• Student Hub

Café/bar:

• The Deep End
• The Lifeguard
• Periscope

VOTE HERE

You will also have the opportunity to vote around the Medway campus. More details of when and where will follow.

Voting closes on Monday 14 December at 17.00.

This is your chance to make GK Unions, your union. Thank you for all of your input so far into this exciting chapter of GK Unions history.

Two Kent graduates are the latest to benefit from one of the most successful graduate recruitment programmes in the UK.

Working as Associates in separate Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) projects, the graduates will have the opportunity to work at a senior level whilst developing specialist technical skills and knowledge.

Additional training is provided as part of the programme and the Associates will be able to contribute to research publications emerging from the projects.

University academics from the Centre for Logistics and Heuristic Optimisation are partnering with Dover Harbour Board and Priority Freight – a leading time-critical freight specialist – to deliver the KTPs.

The KTP programme is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and continues to foster successful innovation. For more information email enterprise@kent.ac.uk or phone +44 (0)1227 827376.

Due to industrial action, Arriva buses are unlikely to be operating in Medway tomorrow and Monday (4 and 7 December).

We advise that you make alternative travel arrangements for these days. You may want to consider alternative bus services, car sharing or walking. Please see below for further information.

If you are a member of staff and believe your journey will be disrupted, contact your line manager to make arrangements.

If you are a student and believe your journey will be disrupted, contact the person you would normally report an absence to.

Arriva have stated that any person who has purchased weekly, four-weekly and longer-period tickets will be recompensed for the dates on which no service is provided due to this dispute. Contact Arriva directly for further information.

Other bus services are running as normal. Read more on the transport webpages.

The University Carol Service in Canterbury Cathedral is on Monday 14 December at 20.00.

Free tickets for students will be given out in the foyer of the Grimond Building on Monday 7 December at 12.45 (prompt); and at Woolf College Lecture Theatre on Tuesday 8 December at 19.00 (prompt).

In order to stand the best chance of getting a ticket on either occasion you will need to arrive earlier than the distribution time and join a queue. Strictly one ticket issued per student presenting themselves in person, with ID, at the ticket distributions.