Yearly Archives: 2015

TEDxUniversityofKent

TEDx is coming to the University. But what is TEDx?

TED is a globally recognised non-profit organisation that hosts short, powerful talks and performances devoted to spreading ideas. Modelled after the TED format, TEDx events are independently organised to spark conversation and bring together communities around the world. The talks cover any and every topic, from science to business to global issues.

To celebrate the University of Kent’s 50th Anniversary, the theme of our event is ‘Milestones’. This theme is entirely open to interpretation. We are looking for enthusiastic speakers and performers that can address this theme in a variety of creative, exciting ways!

The event will take place on Saturday 30th May. The full-day event will comprise a series of fascinating and stimulating talks and performances broken up by a refreshment interval and a drinks reception at the end of the day.

If you are interested in applying to speak if perform please visit our website for more details, the deadline for this is the 21st March. Tickets will be released at the end of March.

If you would like any help with an application or have any questions e-mail the team.

Lunchtime Concert: jazz with the Geoff Mason Quintet

This week’s Lunchtime Concert sees trombonist Geoff Mason, a leading exponent of ‘Blue Note Era’ jazz, bringing his quintet to Colyer-Fergusson on Wednesday, 11 March.

A regular with the Ronnie Scott’s Big Band, Geoff Mason has also appeared in festivals throughout the UK and on radio. His quintet includes saxophonist Simon Spillett, pianist John Horler and drummer Trevor Tomkins.

The gig starts as usual at 1.10pm; admission is free with a retiring donation.

Further details are on the Music website.

University musicians perform Verdi’s Requiem in Canterbury Cathedral

On Saturday 14 March at 7.30pm, 250 students, staff and members of the local community will celebrate the University’s 50th anniversary with a performance of Verdi’s Requiem in the Nave of Canterbury Cathedral. They will be joined by four outstanding internationally-acclaimed soloists, Giselle Allen, soprano, Carolyn Dobbin, mezzo, Gerard Schneider, tenor and Simon Thorpe, baritone.

Conductor and Director of Music, Susan Wanless says: ‘The Nave of the Cathedral is the perfect setting to capture the Requiem’s power and drama, with its moments of exquisite poignancy contrasting with terrifying outbursts – complete with off-stage trumpets and earth-shattering bass drum. It is surely the most exciting of pieces both to perform and hear, and will be a wonderful showcase for all our talented University musicians.’

Tickets are still available from the Gulbenkian Booking Office, Tel. 01227 769075. Online bookings www.thegulbenkian.co.uk £22 (returns only), £18, £14, £10, £8.

 

 

www.kent.ac.uk/music

 

50th Canterbury parkrun

Join in on Saturday 7 March with the 50th Canterbury parkrun starting at the Kent Sport Pavilion.

Parkruns are 5km runs that happen throughout the country every Saturday morning at 09:00 with no charge.

Suitable for all, whether you want to run, jog or walk.

A great way to start the weekend with some exercise and fun with friends.

If you do plan on participating as a runner or volunteer, be sure to register.

Don’t forget to bring your barcode along on the day!

To celebrate 50 parkruns in the University’s 50th year there will be pastries and other goodies provided to participants at the Pavilion Cafe Bar afterwards, first come first served upstairs in the Pavilion.

International Women’s Day and a year of events Kent

Sunday 8 March is International Women’s day, and this year the theme is ‘Make It Happen’.

The theme and event aim to ‘encourage effective action for advancing and recognising women’. A goal shared by both the Athena SWAN Working Group (ASWG) and the 50th anniversary Project, ‘Radical Women: 50 Years of Feminism at Kent’. This year, the ASWG and Feminism Project, will be holding events to further the aim of advancing and recognising women.

  • Saturday 21 March- One day Symposium on Feminist Action at Kent (50th anniversary Feminism Project)
  • Thursday 7 May- Medway Athena SWAN Awareness Event
  • 27-28 June- ‘Austerity, gender and household finances’ conference (50th anniversary Feminism Project)

The ‘Radical Women’ events will showcase ways that feminist academics at Kent have improved women’s rights and wellbeing.

The Athena SWAN Charter, aims to advance the representation of women in science, technology, engineering, medicine and mathematics. While the focus of the Charter is on the Sciences, the work of the Kent Athena SWAN Working Group is aimed at improving the working environment of all staff- both men and women.

Engineering and Digital Arts recently submitted an application for an Athena SWAN Award, and today held a coffee morning to celebrate International Women’s Day. Profits raised from the purchase of refreshments from J’s Tea Bar on Friday 6 March are being donated to Women’s Aid, a national domestic violence charity that helps up to 250,000 women and children every year.

Staff in EDA will also be ‘Getting Their Purple On!’ Purple is the domestic violence awareness colour and was also one of the colours adopted in 1908 by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) to symbolise the plight of the Suffragettes.

New bus service for Liberty Quays

Catch the new 140/141 bus from Liberty Quays and Pier Road to:

  • Dockside Outlet Centre
  • Universities at Medway
  • Chatham Town Centre
  • Chatham Station
  • Rochester
  • Strood
  • Strood Estates

The service will run every 20 minutes between approximately 08.30 and 18.00 hours.

This service is an extension of the 140/141 service on Mondays to Fridays that previously terminated at Dockside Outlet Centre.

Arriva’s full range of money-saving day, weekly, four-weekly, annual and student tickets will be valid on the extended service.

View Arriva bus discounts.

Full details of all Arriva services in Medway can be found on Arriva’s website.

Student publishes on poetry in the Third Reich

Stefanie Hundehege, a PhD student in the Department of German, has just published a chapter in an anthology about writers in the Third Reich.

The chapter is published as part of the volume Dichter für das Dritte Reich Band 3 [Poets Writing for the Third Reich Volume 3](Aisthesis, 2015).

The article, entitled ‘Baldur von Schirach der “Sänger der Bewegung”‘ [‘Baldur von Schirach The “Singer of the Movement”‘], highlights Baldur von Schirach’s impact as head of the Hitler Youth, the Reich’s Governor of Vienna and as a self-proclaimed poetic authority on literature and culture during and before the Third Reich.

Schirach, who was an early follower of the National Socialist movement and later a high-ranking party member, first became active as a writer as a student in Munich in the late 1920s. He produced a great number of poems, which he devoted to the service of the National Socialist party and its leader. Previous studies on Schirach focused almost exclusively on his political role in the Third Reich.

By focusing on a literary and ideological analysis of his main poetry anthology, Die Fahne der Verfolgten [The Flag of the Persecuted] (1931), Stefanie’s chapter is an attempt to place him as writer in the National Socialist movement and focus on his cultural and ideological contribution to the establishment and stabilisation of the Nazi dictatorship.

 

PhD student to give Sylvia Naish lecture

Melanie Dilly, a PhD student in German and Comparative Literature, has won the 2015 Sylvia Naish Lecture Competition and will deliver her lecture entitled ‘One Eye is not Enough: Stereoscopic Writing after WWII’ on 19 March 2015 at the Institute of Modern Languages Research.

The Sylvia Naish Lectures were launched in memory of Sylvia Naish, an accomplished linguist, translator, Friend of Germanic Studies, and benefactor of the former Institute of Germanic Studies.

Research students in the field of Germanic studies at universities across the UK are invited to submit proposals for this annual lecture. The winning entry carries a prize of £100.

The lecture is also published in abridged form in the next issue of the newsletter of the Friends of Germanic Studies.

In her lecture Melanie will argue that, owing to the rapidly increasing lack of first-hand witnesses, alternative paths for accessing memories of the Holocaust have to be found. These new paths are primarily defined by distance, understood in temporal, spatial and cultural terms. Read full details of Melanie’s lecture.

Coffee event for Ovarian Cancer awareness month

There will be a coffee and cake event in Keynes Senior Common Room at 10.30-11.30 am on 6 March 2015 in aid of ‘Target Ovarian Cancer’.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women; the good news about ovarian cancer is that if diagnosed at an early stage, the outcome is good. Ovarian Cancer can affect any woman but is most common in woman who have gone through the menopause

Ovarian Cancer is sometimes called ‘the silent killer’ because the early symptoms are often dismissed as being part of growing older or diagnosed as something else, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Most women are not diagnosed until the disease has spread, which is why it is important that women know about the symptoms, so that they can seek advice as early as possible.

The most common symptoms of ovarian cancer are:

  • Bloating that is persistent and does not come and go
  • Difficulty eating and feeling full more quickly
  • Abdominal or pelvic pain that is experienced most days
  • Needing to wee more

Other symptoms such as urinary symptoms, changes in bowel habit, extreme fatigue or back pain may also be experienced.

If you regularly experience any of these symptoms, which are not normal for you, it is important that you see your GP. It is unlikely that your symptoms are caused by a serious problem, but it is important to be checked out. You should also mention if there are two or more cases of ovarian or breast cancer in either side of your close family, as ovarian cancer can sometimes run in families.