Dr Bike is back on campus this Wednesday 12 October.

The team will be located at the new Cycle Hub outside The Pavilion and will be open from 08.30 through to 15.00.

Bring along your bikes for a health check.

The new HR and payroll system, Staff Connect is scheduled to launch in January 2017 and, with it, online payslips.

Much work has been undertaken over the summer by HR, Payroll, Pensions, Kent Union, IS and the Staff Connect Project team. The functionality of the system has undergone extensive testing, data has been migrated and rigorously tested to check its accuracy in moving from the current system to the new Staff Connect one.

But much much more testing is about to be undertaken. In addition to the system testing, business processes are also being tested on the new system and if these all pass, the current and new systems will be run in parallel during November and December. This does not affect staff across the University. It is to gain a further level of confidence in the new system and to ensure that there is a seamless transition between the old and new.

How you can find out more about Staff Connect

Staff demonstrations
To ensure all staff are confident using Staff Connect, all schools and departments have been offered a demonstration(s) of Staff Connect. Your department will let you know when your demonstration is scheduled.

If you are unable to make your departmental demonstration, the Staff Connect project team are also providing additional demonstrations from November through to February.  Take a look at the Staff Connect support site for the dates of these demonstrations, and email Su Westerman the Staff Connect Employee Communication & Engagement manager, to book yourself onto your chosen session.

FAQ, videos and user guidance for staff
In addition to the Staff Connect demonstrations, a range of support resources have already been developed ahead of launch.

• If you would like to learn more about Staff Connect, and see what the system will look like, watch a video screencast available on the project website.
• If you have questions about Staff Connect, look at the frequently asked questions (FAQ) page on the project website.
• Nearer launch you might like to undertake a full tutorial on how to use the system. This is available either as an online user guide, which is also available in print-format, or as a series of video screencasts.

Regular updates
Be sure to read the regular Campus Online updates from the project team.  They will provide progress reports on the project and planned launch date.  If you have any questions on Staff Connect, do look at the Project Information and Support Website.

Kent Hospitality will be hosting a Showcase Event on Wednesday 2 November to showcase the wide variety of services offered by the team. The event will take place at Darwin Conference Suite, between 11.00 and 14.00.

There will be food and drink to sample from our new menu range as well as the opportunity to meet the team, chat about your forthcoming events and find out about the wide range of services and facilities we can offer including:

• Event Management and Delegate Registration
• Conferences and Events
• Leisure and Special Interest Groups
• Bed & Breakfast
• Beverley Farmhouse accommodation
• Delivered Catering
• Beagle Fine Dining
• Our Catering Venues
• KentOne Card
• Student Accommodation

Book your place today by clicking here.

Be prepared to be invited to coffee by a stranger!

You may be surprised to receive an invitation for a coffee in the next few weeks from a colleague you may not know! This is all part of a new initiative called “Coffee with Colleagues” jointly funded by the Academic Division and Commercial Services, which aims to enhance the partnership between professional staff in Schools and Faculties and their colleagues in Central Services.

In October, staff from some parts of the University have been given the opportunity to invite a colleague they have never met in person, or do not know very well, for a drink. For more information, click here.

Participants will be encouraged to take a selfie of their coffee encounter to be entered into a draw for a chance to win a lunch for two.

This opportunity will culminate with a networking coffee morning for all participants on 23^rd November in Canterbury and 25^th November in Medway (both to take place between 10am and 11am). Those of you who took part in the Shadow Matching scheme are encouraged to also invite to this event your shadow match, as well as your new coffee partner.

This is part of the Excellence Initiative and follows on from the very successful Shadow Matching pilot scheme which facilitated reciprocal visits between Schools and Central departments earlier this year. Participants in the Shadow Matching scheme reflected on how nice it had been to put a face to a name, and commented on how useful the visits had been in better understanding the other person’s role. This gave rise to the “Coffee with Colleagues” idea in order to provide colleagues across the University with a further opportunity to meet one another.

The Excellence Initiative events team

In the November issue of Social Policy & Administration, Professor Peter Taylor-Gooby reviews divisive welfare state policies in relation to taxation, benefits for working age people and for immigrants and between pensioners and non-pensioners. Professor Taylor-Gooby argues that the divisions created by policy mask a further neo-liberal long-term project, facilitated by Brexit, of reducing the proportion of national resources going to all recipients of social spending.

Read the full article, ‘The Divisive Welfare State’, here: http://ow.ly/7Uhp304WHkF

Shakespeare 400 Canterbury: Chapter and Verse
A collaborative open lecture series, part of the University’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death

Professor Catherine Richardson (Professor of Early Modern Studies at the University of Kent)
‘The Provincial Bard: Shakespeare outside London’
Tuesday 11 October 2016, 18.00
AV Theatre Cathedral Lodge, Canterbury Cathedral
Hosted by Canterbury Cathedral Library and Archive

Abstract
What places do you imagine when you think of Shakespeare? What kind of lifestyle, what social relationships, go with your thoughts about early modern playing – was he a court favourite, playing and mixing in circles way above him socially, for instance? This lecture explores other places, suggesting that Shakespeare would never have become a world-famous playwright without the provinces – that they shaped him as a man and a writer, affecting the way his plays were put on in his lifetime, and that they have had a considerable and largely unsung hand in determining his legacy.’

For further details about the Shakespeare 400 project please see the School of English website.

The Joint Staff Negotiating and Consultation Committee is the main forum for consideration and negotiation between the University and its staff. Its membership includes management, union and staff representatives who meet each term. The first meeting of the new academic year is due to take place on the 19th October 2016. There is a website for this committee where the papers for this and previous meetings can be viewed at; http://www.kent.ac.uk/hr-staffinformation/jsncc/index.html

If you would like to comment on any of the Agenda items/papers then please contact your Staff representative (either union or non-union).

GMB – LOU COGGER l.cogger@kent.ac.uk
ROBIN HORNSEY r.k.hornsey@kent.ac.uk

UCU – OWEN LYNE o.l.lyne@kent.ac.uk
PAUL HUBERT p.j.hubert@kent.ac.uk
MARK DEAN m.dean@kent.ac.uk
SIAN LEWIS-ANTHONY s.lewis-anthony@kent.ac.uk

UNISON – DEREK BALDWIN unisonbranchsec@kent.ac.uk
PHIL ROGERS p.rogers@kent.ac.uk
KATIE NORTON k.norton@kent.ac.uk

UNITE – TREVOR REECE t.w.reece@kent.ac.uk

Non Union Representatives

LINDA LOUGH l.lough@kent.ac.uk
SARAH HYDE s.hyde@kent.ac.uk

Denise Church
Secretary to JSNCC

To mark Mental Health Day on Monday 10 October there’s a range of events you can get involved in at the University of Kent, including:

• Cake sale in SMSAS foyer, Cornwallis Maths building, 12.00 14.00, for the charity Mind.
• Your Welfare Sabb, the student Mental Health Group, Turing College Student Committee and the Medical Centre will be in Jarman Plaza from 13.00-16.00 challenging mental health stigmas and promoting the services available at Kent. Read more on the Facebook event.
• Mental health event in the Gulbenkian from 16.00. The event includes an information fair and an open plenary session at 18.00 with Professor Eleni Hatzidimitriadou, Head of Public Health followed by a film screening of Some Voices.