Yearly Archives: 2015

Law student shortlisted in national competition

Congratulations to second year Kent Law student Abla Seckley, who has been shortlisted for the Future Legal Mind 2015 competition run by National Accident Helpline and CTTS-Colemans Solicitors.

Dr Karen Devine, Senior Lecturer in Law, commented:

‘Kent Law School is extremely proud of Abla’s achievement – it is testament to the hard work and dedication that she has committed to her competition entry. Abla is in her second year of the LLB and came to our Canterbury campus as a direct-entrant having successfully completed the Certificate in Law programme at our Medway campus in June 2014. By being shortlisted for the National Accident Helpline’s Future Legal Mind award 2015 this award, Abla has shone a beacon on the Certificate in Law programme and to Kent Law School as a whole. Abla should be very proud of her shortlisting, as are we of her, and we wish her every success as she continues in the competition. Good Luck Abla!’

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on 30 March.

The winner will receive £5,000 in cash, a week’s work experience at Colemans-ctts Solicitors and will see their winning essay published on the Laywer2B website.

Good luck Abla!

Image credits

Author: Snap
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Link: https://flic.kr/p/HgoTx
Source: Flickr

Paintballing Champions

UKC Chimera takes the top spot on the podium in the National Paintball Student Cup!

The Cup held at CPPS in Birmingham is a chance for university teams across the UK to play against each other in a tournament.

The event was attended by 16 teams from 12 universities, who competed in Masters’ or Bachelors’ divisions. It is not only the first time that UKC has participated in the Student Cup throughout the ten years it has been running, but it was also Chimera’s first official tournament.

Paintballing Society President Alexander Long said: “The team couldn’t have achieved this tremendous win without the superb coaching received from Gary Maker, financial support provided by Kent Union, and sponsorship from Empire and Just Paintball.”

Kent Union Vice President (Activities) Tom Currie said: “We are incredibly proud of the Paintballing Society for winning the Paintball Student Cup; it is testament to the hard work and effort they put into running their society. We look forward to seeing their future achievements.”

New Kent Extra Courses

There’s still time to book your place on this Kent Extra course starting from Monday 16 March (week 21):

KE060: Woodland Coppicing – Understanding and Practice
This course will comprise of a field workshop in which students will be given a brief introduction to the history, value and practice of coppicing as a productive form of woodland management, instruction in coppicing tool use, and hands-on practice in collaboratively coppicing several trees.

There are three sessions running for this course – you will only need to attend one as the course material will be repeated at each session.
Session 1: Monday 16 March: 12:00pm-16:00pm
Session 2: Monday 23 March 2015: 12:00-16:00pm
Session 3: Wednesday 25 March 2015: 10:00am-14:00pm

Please have a look at the Kent Extra website for more information together with details of how to sign up for this course.

Kent llm info session

Playwriting with Prof. Brean Hammond

On 31 March and 1 April, Paddy Bullard (English) and Helen Brooks (Arts) are hosting a visit from Emeritus Professor (Nottingham) Brean Hammond as part of the KIASH visiting experts scheme.

Brean is currently writing a fascinating play about witchcraft, Ben Johnson, and politics and is going to be developing it as part of his visit here.

There are a number of events that may be of interest to you. You are welcome to attend as many, or few as you like.

More information and booking to reserve seats can be found at the following Eventbrite website links:

Rehearsed Reading

Open Rehearsal

How to write a play

Jill Andrews’ funeral arrangements

The funeral arrangements for Jill have now been finalised. This will take place at Barham Crematorium at 2.40pm on Tuesday 31st March 2015. There will be tea and sandwiches available after this at nearby Broome Park for those that want to stay on.

Jill’s husband Grahame has confirmed that this is an open invite to any colleagues of Jill’s from the University that would like to attend. Please RSVP to d.bowman@kent.ac.uk so that arrangements for catering can be made.

Jill in her own indomitable way had specified that she would like this to be a celebration of her life and had asked that the following be observed:

  • That there are no flowers; and
  • No wearing black.

If anyone would like to make a donation in her memory, these can be made to Pilgrims Hospice, who treated her with such kindness in the last few weeks of her life. You can do this here: http://www.pilgrimshospices.org/donation/donate.

Whilst Grahame has asked that flowers are not sent to his home, condolence cards can be sent to his home address. Please email  d.bowman@kent.ac.uk if you would like to know the address.

Record Turnout at KBS’s Enterprise Day 2015

Kent Business School’s highly anticipated Enterprise Day received a record number of attendees in 2015. 160 students and guests filled the lecture theatre to hear three award-winning Kent alumni guest entrepreneurs speak about starting a business and participate in creative workshops on start-ups.

The Vice Chancellor, Dame Julia Goodfellow was also in attendance to present prizes to the winners of the University of Kent’s 50th Anniversary Pitch It! t-shirt competition along with the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Phillipe de Wilde.

The afternoon featured presentations from three entrepreneurs and alumni of University of Kent, Bal Sandher, Young Business Entrepreneur of 2014; Sebastian Brock, Chatoo App Developer and Neil Westwood, BBC Dragons’ Den winner.

Neil Westwood, the brains behind Magic Whiteboard ™  , coined by Theo Paphitis as ‘most successful Dragons’ Den investment of all time,’ shared top tips on how to make £1 million profit with aspiring entrepreneurs. He commented, “It was good to come back to Kent and interesting to hear from [other enthusiastic young entrepreneurs].”

The feedback received from the audience was also encouraging as one student reported, “I wasn’t sure how to start my business, but after today it became clear.”

The workshops and Q & A session with the panel members also proved successful as students discussed their own business start-up ideas including a cooking app for students on a budget.

Another participant said, “I feel it will help me in my future career. Meeting successful entrepreneurs and doing workshops has really helped to develop my commercial awareness.”

This year’s successful Enterprise Day was also part of the University’s 50th anniversary.

As competition winner, Jacob Roberts-Mensah of KBS was awarded the top prize of £500. His t-shirt design will be available to purchase as official University merchandise this year.  Shanell Grandez-Vitaliano and Manuel Crepin were also congratulated for their designs and received a £100 prize.

“Enterprise Day gets bigger and bigger each year,” said David Williamson, the School’s Director of External Services. “More than ever before, our students are showing an interest in starting their own business and this reflects a growing national trend. Perhaps the key takeaway from this year’s event was the importance of market research and anticipating customer demands”

Kent alumna taking part in Eton Swim for Kent Law Campaign

We would like to thank Hannah Bignell, former Chair of the Kent Law Campaign Student Group and current Young Alumni Group member, for signing up to take part in the Eton Swim on Monday 25th May. This is a gruelling 3km open water swim and she hopes to raise a total of £500 to be split between the Kent Law Campaign and Prostate Cancer UK.

Hannah said: “I was the Chair of the 2012/13 Kent Law Campaign Student Group and have decided to raise money for the Campaign as it is an absolutely fantastic cause which will benefit students and the community greatly. I was involved in the Kent Law Clinic and the Mooting Programme throughout my time at Kent and these experiences have enhanced my passion for pursing a legal career.

“I am definitely not a natural speed or stamina swimmer and when I first went training back in October 20 lengths was a struggle let alone 120 outside! This will most definitely be a huge personal challenge for me but I am really excited about taking part for two such worthy causes.”

The University of Kent will match each donation Hannah receives pound for pound including Gift Aid so we would be extremely grateful if you would sponsor her online at justgiving

We wish her the best of luck with her fundraising and the challenge itself.

Summer housekeeping vacancies

We are looking to recruit team members who will share our passion for delivering service excellence. Successful candidates will be highly motivated, reliable and flexible regarding both the days and hours worked and the range of tasks to be covered. You will enjoy working as part of a team and be able to work on your own initiative when required.

The role is very physically demanding and involves a considerable amount of manual handling. The hours of work are typically between 20 and 30 per week to be worked between 9am and 3pm or as the business requires. Hours will vary from week to week and are not guaranteed. Weekend working will be required and you must be available to work on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June 2015.

Duties involve the thorough cleaning of campus accommodation for our external visitors. This will include kitchen areas, toilets, showers, bathrooms, bedrooms, communal and public areas. The role includes the deep cleaning of walls, paintwork, furniture and fittings, electrical appliances, windows, floor and carpets, the changing of curtains and bed making. This work has to be carried out to an exceptionally high standard, in keeping with our 3 and 4 star rating. Previous commercial cleaning experience would be an advantage but is not essential as full training is provided.

Successful applicants will be required to:

  • Attend one of our HR inductions (approx. 45-mins), w/c 11 May or 18 May (you will be notified which session to attend)
  • Attend a ½ day Housekeeping induction w/c 1 June
  • Attend training for 12 – 18 hours w/c 8 and 15 June

If you can meet these requirements and think this summer vacancy is for you, please apply by completing our online questionnaire.

Our HR department will then email you by Friday 1 May, to let you know whether or not your application has been successful. Please do not contact the HR department to check the status of your application, as they will be unable to answer individual enquiries.

More information on the role and training provided.