Once again the University is celebrating excellent teaching and learning support with the announcement of 2016 University Teaching Prizes. The winners are:

Barbara Morris Prize for Learning Support
Jacqui Double, Ben Watson, Will Wollen, Dr. Sophie Quirk, Dr. Freya Vass-Rhee and Dr. Helen Brooks (School of Arts)
Dr Vinita Joseph (School of English)
Dr Kirsty Horsey, Ben Watson, Callum Borg, Katia Neofytou and Jonjo Brady (Kent Law School Skills Hub)
Jude O’Connor, Jo Harvey, Hattie Peacocke and Dr. Paul Hubert (Kent Law School Student Advice Office)

Humanities Faculty Teaching Prize
Dr Henrik Schoenefeldt (Kent School of Architecture)
Lawrence Jackson, (School of Arts)
Dr Lavinia Brydon (School of Arts)

Sciences Faculty Teaching Prize
Dr Chris Shepherd (School of Physical Sciences)
Professor John Batchelor, Dr Richard Guest, and Dr Kostas Sirlantzis (School of Electronics and Digital Arts)

Social Sciences Faculty Teaching Prize
Dr Caroline Chatwin, Dr Marian Duggan, Professor Roger Matthews and Dr Camille Stengel (School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research)
Dr Ian Bride (School of Anthropology and Conservation)
Dr Harmonie Toros (School of Politics and International Relations)

You can find further details of the awards at: https://www.kent.ac.uk/teaching/reward/index.html.
The prizes will be presented by the Vice-Chancellor at a lunchtime ceremony on
Wednesday 5 October 2016, from 12.30-14.00 in Darwin Conference Suite.

All colleagues are welcome. Please email cpdbookings@kent.ac.uk if you wish to attend.

Kent Law School Lecturer Janie Clement-Walker has described a surprise opportunity to coach a team of Syrian refugees for a mediation tournament in Greece as one of the ‘most emotional and heart-warming experiences’ of her life.

The request was sprung upon Janie on her arrival at the American College of Greece (ACG) in Athens by competition organiser Elena Kolsaki, a Greek based mediator and board member of the International Academy of Dispute Resolution (INADR).

Janie is an accredited practitioner with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) in the UK and works closely with INADR in support of mediation competitions organised around the world. The young men she coached had all had their studies interrupted by the war in Syria. They were selected by Elena for the annual Greece Mediation Tournament from amongst a pool of English-speaking Syrian candidates living in refugee camps in and around Thessaloniki.

Mohammed, Ibrahem, Mutasem, Geema, Ahmed and Ebrahim were offered clothes and hotel accommodation by INADR for the duration of the competition. Sadly, after the first day of coaching with Janie, a serious bombing incident affecting a family member in Syria meant Geema, Ahmed and Ebrahim had to return to their camp.

Ibrahem, Mohammed and Mutasem remaind in Athens and continued their intensive coaching sessions with Janie. They went on to compete in three separate rounds of the tournament, reaching the semi-final and earning themselves a trophy and ‘Spirit of Mediation’ medallions.

Janie, who has also been invited to coach and judge at the International Negotiation Competition in Switzerland next month, said: ‘For the boys it was an amazing opportunity. But for me too, it was one of the most emotional and heart-warming experiences I have ever had.’

Sent in by A.P.Shieber@kent.ac.uk

We will be selling cupcakes and other sweet treats at the Medway Building reception to raise money for Alzheimer’s Society on Thursday 16 June.  Please pop along and support this worthy cause by buying a cake or two (there may be boxes if you wish to take more home).

Sent in by J.Innes@kent.ac.uk

I am sure that we have all been shocked and deeply saddened by recent events in Orlando and that the family and friends of the victims are in our thoughts.

To show solidarity with the LGBT community there, and around the world, the rainbow Pride flag will be flying at half-mast today and tomorrow above Rutherford College and I would like to invite all staff and students to have a minute in silent reflection tomorrow, Wednesday 15 June, at 12 noon.

Our colleagues at Canterbury Christ Church University will be hosting a vigil tomorrow at 17.30 to remember the victims and to show support for those still suffering from all hate crimes. Details of the event are on the CCCU website. I will be attending with fellow colleagues and invite you to join us.

If you have been affected by these events, please do seek support from our University Counselling or Chaplaincy services.

Kasia Senyszyn,  Supporter Engagement Officer | EDI Representative | Chair, LGBT Staff Network

Professor Gordon Lynch, Michael Ramsey Professor of Modern Theology in the Department of Religious Studies, featured in the Guardian on Monday 13 June, commenting on the Goddard inquiry which is looking into claims of child sexual abuse in the UK among young people transported to Australia and Canada between 1920 and 1970.

The Goddard inquiry was set up in 2014 to examine the abuse of children in public and private institutions and is urging those men and women transported to Australia and Canada who may have been victims of sexual and physical abuse before being removed from the country to come forward as a priority.

In the Guardian, Gordon commented: ‘It is about historic justice. These people experienced the really horrendous trauma of being removed from the UK as children without proper warning, being sent to Australia and being placed in residential establishments where they experienced physical and sexual abuse. It is an emotional burden, which is still with them today. They are visibly marked by it.’

Gordon recently curated an exhibition at the V&A Museum of Childhood about child migrants based on his research and new book entitled Remembering Child Migration (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016), which looks into the ways in which the humanitarian motivations of child migration schemes in American and Britain were implicated in the suffering that children experienced through them.

One thing Gordon hopes the Goddard inquiry can do is really nail the issues about what went wrong with the post placement supervision of children. ‘Why were organisations in the UK not concerned and not checking up on what was happening to these children and what did the organisations themselves know about what was going on?’

The full article can be found on the Guardian website.

Congratulations to Phil Ward, Deputy Director of Research Services, on recognition for his influence, via social media, across UK higher education.

Phil was presented with the prize for best Technology Innovation and Application at the annual ARMA (Association of Research Managers and Administrators) Awards in Birmingham on 7 June.

Phil has been active in social media in research management and administration for almost ten years, developing the well-regarded Research Fundermentals blog. He has posted over 700 entries on the blog and tweeted, as @frootle, over 13,000 times.

The award judges said: ‘This prolific output has raised the profile of research administration as a profession at the same time as “keeping it real” and seeing the funnier side of our jobs.

‘At the end of last year, he (Phil) was recognised by Jisc as one of the top 50 social media influencers in UK higher education as a whole. He has raised the profile of the profession and shown others how to emulate this success.’

We’re really impressed with the response to our summer membership offer we’ve had over the last week. We’d like to welcome all our new members and hope you’re enjoying the facilities here at Kent Sport. If you’re new to Kent Sport, and you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to come in and have a chat to our friendly staff.

If you’re undecided about whether to take out membership, why not come and chat to our reception staff, pick up a booklet or visit kent.ac.uk/sports/facilities to learn about what’s on offer. Or you can visit kent.ac.uk/sports/events to see all the great activities that are going on.

Summer membership is available to all at 50% of the usual price. You can sign up by visiting the Sports Centre or Pavilion reception. Visit kent.ac.uk/sports/membership for more information.

To stay up to date with Kent Sport news, events and special offers, Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter UniKentSports.

Santander Universities hosted University of Kent students at their headquarters in central London this week.

Students enjoyed a Financial Masterclass from Santander’s Regional Director for the South-East. The talk covered topics around the basics of beginning trading, sources of capital and how they suit different types of businesses.

Talent Cupboard, a Graduate Employment Facilitator, delivered a second session which explored digital marketing techniques and approaching growth and targets.

The event at Santander followed this year’s success of the KBS Business Start-Up Journey (BSUJ). The BSUJ saw almost 200 students engaged in a programme of activities to accelerate their business idea.

Students and staff look forward to moving into the new academic building in early 2017 and making use of a new enterprise facility – the Accelerator Space for Innovation and Responsible Enterprise (ASPIRE). ASPIRE will facilitate BSUJ activity and support research into entrepreneurship.

Sent in by J.McDonnell-773@kent.ac.uk.

This year the annual UCAS Exhibition is being hosted by the University of Greenwich at the Medway campus on Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 June 2016.

To assist with traffic management for this event, there will be some changes to transport and parking on these days:

• There will be a temporary one way system to assist coaches attending this event only. Please be aware that the coaches will be exiting the campus along New Kent Road.
• The 116 Arriva bus will not serve the campus during this time and will be diverted along Pier road. The closest stops to the University of Kent campus will be St George’s Centre Dock Road and Bridge Road Gillingham.
• The 10 Pink Zone parking bays on Central Avenue next to the barrier will not be in use and South road on campus will be closed.

Some parking bays are also being used within Drill Hall car park for events on campus but due to the time of year, we do not anticipate parking on campus to be adversely affected.