Staff are invited to the Global Research Opportunities Workshop (GROW), a collaborative venture between International Development, Research Services, the Graduate School and the Dean for Internationalisation.

The workshop will be held on Monday 30 November from 9.30 to 15.00 and will be an interactive way of learning about international funding opportunities to support research, education and training.

After an introduction by Professor Phillippe de Wilde and Dr Anthony Manning, the keynote speakers will lead with their chosen topics. We are lucky to have three excellent speakers to share their expertise; Tania Lima, Assistant Director of Programme and Operations, UK HE International Unit, Universities UK; Lucy Shackleton, Senior Policy Officer, UK HE International Unit, Universities UK; and John Reilly, UK Bologna Expert.

The workshop will provide an overview of international funding opportunities to support research, education and training, including the Newton Fund and Erasmus+ with case studies from both experts at Universities UK and successful award holders at the University of Kent.

This event will be free to attend and open to all in Darwin Conference Suite. Please register your attendance here; the deadline to apply is Monday 23 November.

We hope you will be able to join us at what promises to be a beneficial and engaging workshop.

If you require any further information regarding this event please email: events@kent.ac.uk

Dr Anthony Manning
Dean for Internationalisation

The allocation of tickets for staff has run out, and there is already a substantial waiting list. As a guide, it appears that applications emailed before midday on Monday 23rd November will have been successful. Tickets will be sent out later this week.

The government has announced changes to National Insurance contributions from April 2016 as a direct consequence of changes to the State Pension.

Who is affected

• Kent staff who are below State Pension Age and are members of a ‘contracted-out’ occupational pension scheme such as USS or SAUL.

For all other staff, National Insurance contributions will remain unchanged.

What this means for USS and SAUL members

From 6 April 2016, USS and SAUL members will no longer receive the 1.4% National Insurance rebate and will pay a higher rate of National Insurance, with contributions increasing from 10.6% to 12% on middle band earnings (ie earnings between £8,064 and £40,044 per annum in the 2015/16 tax year).

Why is this happening?

The change in National Insurance contributions is happening as a direct consequence of a change in the State Pension which will also take effect on 6 April 2016.

Currently, the State Pension is made up of two parts:

1. the basic State Pension
2. the additional State Pension (often referred to as the State Second Pension (S2P) or previously SERPS).

Members of USS and SAUL are ‘contracted-out’ of the additional State Pension and consequently pay National Insurance at a lower rate.

For people who reach State Pension Age on or after 6 April 2016, a new State Pension will replace the existing basic and additional State Pension, which will end the practice of contracting-out.  As a consequence, all staff will pay the same ‘contracted-in’ rate as they build up the new State Pension in addition to their workplace pension.

How can I check if this affects me?

Members of USS and SAUL will be affected.  For confirmation, staff can check their payslips to find out the rate of National Insurance contributions they are paying. Contracted-out National Insurance contributions will have the letter ‘D’ next to the National Insurance number on their payslip. Payslips could also show the letter ‘E’,’ I’, ‘K’, or ‘L’. Employees are not contracted out if the payslip has a letter ‘A’, ‘C’, ‘J’, ‘M’, ‘X’ or ‘Z’ and their NI contributions will be unchanged.

Further information

A National Insurance calculator is provided by HMRC.  Please note that this provides information based on 2015/16 NI rates but will give an indication of the additional cost.

For further information on the changes and the effect on workplace pensions, see:

• Overview of NI changes: Department for Work and Pensions: Employee Fact Sheets
• Single-Tier State Pension Fact sheet : Department for Work and Pensions
• New State Pension: GOV.uk

For more information, please contact Wendy Green in HR – W.Green@kent.ac.uk, ext 4982.

Dr James Fowler, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Modern Languages, will be giving a talk entitled entitled ‘Words and Things in Voltaire and Newton’ at King’s College London (KCL), as part of a research seminar series in ‘French Studies: Things’, on Wednesday 2 December 2015.

Based mainly on Lettres philosophiques (1734), James’ talk will show how in that text Voltaire exploits philosopher John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689) in order to frame Newton’s controversial ( and still relatively recent) theory of universal gravitation. It turns out that Voltaire wields Locke’s thought as a double-edged sword. In the Essay, Locke had devoted important chapters to the ‘ill use’ of words (in discussion of things and ideas), and also to the extent or limits of human knowledge. Voltaire implicitly uses Locke’s Essay to disentangle words qua words from things ‘as such’ throughout his discussion of Newton; but also (misleadingly) to suggest that Newton shared Locke’s ‘philosophical modesty’ concerning the limits of what is discoverable by the human mind.

For further details of the talk, please see the King’s College London webpage here:
www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/modlangevents/eventrecords/french/2015-16/frenchressem3.aspx

Composer, producer, sound design practitioner, lecturer and researcher Richard Lightman, Lecturer in Popular Music, in the School of Music & Fine Art, has written the music for Tear Me Apart, the debut movie from Cannibal Films. Described as a post-apocalyptic cannibal love story set on the English coast, and directed by Alex Lightman, the film was shown recently at the International Ravenna Nightmare Horror Film Festival , at the Palazzo del Cinema e dei Congressi, Largo Firenze, Ravenna, Italy after its World Premiere at the annual Austin Film Festival in Texas on 31 October.

Founded in 1993, Austin Film Festival (AFF) was the first organization of its kind to focus on the writers’ creative contribution to film. Past participants of the Festival & Conference include Sydney Pollack, Wes Anderson, and Oliver Stone.

Set in the wasteland of post-apocalyptic rural England, Tear Me Apart tells the story of two young brothers who turn to cannibalism to survive, only to fall for their prey, a teenage girl, and possibly the last girl alive.

Hailing from Montreal, Canada, Richard Lightman has composed for a myriad of artists, films and television series including Eldorado, America’s Most Wanted and The Big Miracle, news and current affairs programs, TV and radio commercials, and contributed to the sound design of a number of Hollywood films including An American Werewolf in London, Herbie Goes Bananas, Superman II, III & IV, Flash Gordon and Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Chief Executive Officer of the Music Producers Guild, Richard has produced over 35 albums, covering a wide spectrum of music including Heavy Metal, Reggae, Blues, Bollywood, Bhangra, Rock and Roll,New Age, Jazz, Pop and Garage, and played on over 170 recordings and performed in 28 countries on 5 continents.

https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/musicandaudio/news.html?view=1834

A new partnership agreement between Kent Law School and a leading university in Brazil sets the seal on a long-term collaboration that will benefit academics and students alike.

The agreement has been signed this month with the Law Faculty of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Belo Horizonte.

Head of Kent Law School Professor Toni Williams said: ‘This exciting new partnership with one of South America’s pre-eminent law schools builds on existing research activities with Brazilian colleagues (such as the Bingo Project and Inclusionary Practices in Europe and Latin America) to strengthen further the Law School’s international reputation and create a host of new opportunities for our students and staff to study, learn and research in collaboration with academics and students in one of the world’s largest and most diverse societies.’

Five undergraduate law students from Kent have already benefitted from the partnership through participation in an inaugural five-week Winter School in August. The Winter School enabled students to enjoy an academic and cultural exchange visit with both UFMG and the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Porto Alegre. Kent Law School students studied aspects of Brazilian law (constitutional law, private law, criminal law) and international legal studies as well as learning about Brazilian legal culture and taking lessons in Portguese.

In addition to providing opportunities for exchange visits between undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty members from both universities, the partnership is intended to be a long-term strategic collaboration, focused on research.

Professor Williams said: ‘This partnership contributes to our global objectives of strengthening the capacity of both schools to contribute to policy debates in Brazil and Europe, increasing the international exposure of the research conducted in both our schools and deepening understanding between EU and Latin American scholarly circles.’

Writing, producing, recording, mixing and mastering for his band, Real Life Charm, a self contained Pop and Art Collective that bring together video, illustration and music as one experience, Frank Walker, Music & Audio Technician in the School of Music and Fine Art is now curating an innovative arts, music and performance exhibition called The Tame Modern. Taking place on 12th December at Norwich based Dove Studios, the event seeks to distort, critique and compliment the idea of high brow and low brow and comment on its existence in Western culture, a major influence being the works of Herbert Gans and in particular his seminal book Popular Culture and High Culture.
Run by Dyad Creative in partnership with East Street Arts, Dove Street Studios works with writers, video and sound artists, installation artists, performance artists, prop makers and multi-disciplinary artists.

Real Life Charm’s music has been played on BBC Radio 1 (Huw Stephens, Phil Taggart, Annie Mac), BBC Radio 6, XFM, and playlisted on amazing radio, I-D magazine, Clash magazine, Indi shuffle and were hailed as ones to watch in 2016, playing the Radio 1 Academy at OPEN in the build up to the 2015 BBC Big Weekend.

Members of the band are Frank Walker, TP Hyland, Adam Avery, Jason Naylor, George Welsh, Dan Fretwell and Narayan O’Hanlon. Their recent releases can be heard over at spotify

More information and tickets available at www.reallifecharm.com
Venue information http://dovestreetstudios.com/dovestreetstudios/

Staff Tennis Ladder

Staff tennis ladder aims to encourage University staff to play fun yet competitive matches. The players can challenge, accept challenges and report scores online, which makes it flexible. The players can arrange their matches between themselves whenever is best suitable for them.

The ladder is open for all levels!

To sign up please contact the Tennis Coordinator, Teele Annus at t.annus@kent.ac.uk