Monthly Archives: April 2017

Easter Egg Collection – Jobshop

This Easter, Jobshop have decided to organise a Charity Easter Egg collection to give to the children patients at the Dolphin Ward in the Canterbury Assessment Centre at Kent & Canterbury Hospital. At the centre, unwell children are given outpatient appointments and day surgery.

You can read a little more here: http://www.ekhuft.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/services/child-health/

Canterbury Hospital attend up to 30 children on the ward per day and for an unwell child to receive an Easter Egg, we can only imagine the big smiles!

We would like to invite you, if you wish, to donate any Chocolate Easter Eggs to Jobshop on central campus between Monday 3 April – Friday 7 April.

You are welcome to drop in anytime!

The following week, we will drop the Easter Eggs at the hospital for the nurses to give to the children.

We hope many of you will be able to buy an extra egg this weekend for our fantastic cause. If you know of any colleagues who may be interested in donating an Egg please pass on the information.

And…we wish you all a very Happy Easter!

Complete this survey to be entered into the prize draw!

Want to be entered into a Prize Draw to win a Sports Direct Voucher?

All you need to do is complete this short survey: http://kbs.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0JKOQo6pp4bXRHL

giving us some feedback on your sport experience whilst at University!

It will only take you two minutes and will greatly help us improve everything we offer!

The Prize Draw will be on the 8 April so make sure you fill out the survey before then!

Virtual Tour Apps available for download

The University Virtual Tours apps are now available to download from Google Play Store (Android devices) or Apple APP Store.

We have a student and conference version of the virtual tours showing of our accommodation, catering outlets and social spaces across the campus. To find the app please use the search words ‘UniKent Virtual Tours’ when downloaded and installed, users can select either the conference or student versions of the tours.

Alternatively, you can view our virtual tours on the website.

International Transgender Day of Visibility: Friday 31 March 2017

Friday 31 March was International Transgender Day of Visibility – dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide.

What is ‘transgender’?

Transgender (or Trans*) is an umbrella term used to include all gender-variant people. It can mean someone feels like the opposite gender to which they were born, or that they classify themselves as non-binary, neither male nor female, or even a mix of the two.

How does Kent support transgender people?

The LGBT+ Staff Network is proud to work with and support members of Kent’s diverse and inclusive community, and to foster cultural and policy change to advocate for LGBT+ people and their supporters.

The University’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) team work with Kent Union and other external agencies, and with colleagues and students across the University, to ensure that all staff, students and visitors are treated with dignity and respect. The team have created an e-module on Trans Awareness, are conducting a review on potential sites for gender-neutral toilets, and are working with Stonewall to provide resources and guidelines for being or supporting a trans* person in the workplace.

There is a free, confidential peer-support group run in partnership with TG Pals for all trans*, intersex and non-binary gender people at the University of Kent. The group is run by non-binary people for non-binary people. Further details, including meeting dates are here: www.kent.ac.uk/studentservices/equality.

Upcoming activities

Monday 15 May 12.30 GLT3, ‘An Introduction to Trans Awareness’, Lee Gale from Gendered Intelligence

A 90-minute session to set the wider context for trans* identities – how sex, gender and sexual orientation interact. The workshop will:

Explore key terms and uses of language
Offer basic grounding in the legislation around the rights and responsibilities around trans identities; the Equalities Act 2010, Gender Recognition Act 2004
Begin to explore how an organisation can ensure it is being trans-inclusive
Provide links to a wide range of resources

Wednesday 17 May, International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT):

Pronoun Challenge

The LGBT+ Staff Network challenges you to use non-gendered pronouns for the day! Help us raise awareness of the Trans* community by using non-gendered pronouns with colleagues for the day – if you slip up it’s 10p in the ‘swear jar’ – proceeds go to charity (TBD).

LGBT+ on the plaza…

The LGBT+ Staff Network and Student Society (Kent Union) will also be hosting a stall on Jarman Plaza 12.00 – 14.00 to promote LGBT/straight alliance and to give information and advice about sources of support and upcoming activities. Come along and see us!

LGBT+ Staff Network social

Join colleagues for an informal drink after work from 17.15 in the Gulbenkian. All are welcome, including guests/partners.

Find out more

Details of resources and support available related to Transgender people or awareness can be found here: www.kent.ac.uk/hr-equalityanddiversity/protected-characteristics/transgender.

Students can also find out more information on the Student Services webpages: www.kent.ac.uk/studentservices/equality.

About the LGBT+ Staff Network

The Network is open to all members of staff regardless of grade, function, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. We support HR in their work to make Kent an inclusive and safe environment to work in and we work closely with the Kent Union student LGBT+ Society to ensure that LGBT+ issues are represented and promoted. Check out the LGBT+ Staff Network blog to keep up to date with events and activities.

Sign up now for a Study Plus course next term

Study Plus courses are FREE to all Kent students and give you a chance to study for pleasure or improve your employability by learning new skills.

If you have summer travel plans, learn some useful phrases before you go, with Spanish (KE089), Japanese (KE090) or Arabic (KE091) for travel. You can take a beginners’ course in Business Mandarin (KE007) and if you already speak some Mandarin, you could take Discover Chinese Language and Culture (KE088).

If you’re looking to develop your employment prospects, look no further than Employability Skills (KE043), or Careers in the third sector (KE070). Post grad students can also sign up for Who are you? Improving your prospects by knowing your strengths (KE094). Our intensive 5-day course: Journalism (KE044) gives you the chance to experience the pressure and the pleasure of making real journalism to real deadlines under professional leadership.

The very popular Digital Photography course (KE122) is back, allowing you to get to grips with your digital SLR camera and learn to take better photos of people.

Dirty History (KE004) will appeal to Game of Thrones fans and anyone interested in separating medieval fact from fantasy.

Finally, Big Ideas (KE128-KE131) is a series of 4 stand alone workshops offering an introduction to western philosophy.

Most of the courses are on the Canterbury campus, but Journalism is at Medway. You can sign up for a course at Canterbury or Medway and use the free shuttle bus to travel to the course if it is not on your home campus.

You can sign up for a course via Workshops in the Student Data System. Please make sure that you are definitely able to do the course before signing up for it!
Find out more about Study Plus here.

Books by School of English authors on display

Kent’s got talent! You may notice, while you wait for your coffee or cake in the Library Café, a display of books for you to browse or borrow.

These publications show off our in-house talent, as they are all written by Kent academic staff from the School of English.

This display will be there until 6 April. We’ve put a few book reviews up from the national newspapers, but we’d love to hear your thoughts on the books too. Tweet or email a review, and we’ll fill in a reader-to-reader card and add it to the display.

We hope you enjoy this collection!

Violence Against Women and Men Staff Forum

The University will be hosting a Violence Against Women and Men Staff Forum on Thursday 20 April 2017, in Keynes Lecture Theatre 1 from 9.45 until 13.00 (a buffet lunch is included) where staff can learn more about the initiatives implemented to date to address issues of sexual assault and sexual harassment on campus.

The Forum will also introduce staff to the Intervention Initiative. Developed by the University of the West of England, this active bystander programme is “an evidence-based educational programme for the prevention of sexual coercion and domestic abuse in university settings, through empowering students to act as prosocial citizens”. The programme was run in March and October 2016 through Study Plus and, following a recent £50,000 grant, from HEFCE (Higher Education Council for England) will be further developed and expanded in 2017.

Attendees will hear from Prof April McMahon, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education, Dr Wayne Campbell, Director Student Services and Dr Sinead Ring, Lecturer in Law.

This Forum is part of our commitment to ensure that Kent remains a safe place to live and study.

Please email directorstudentservices@kent.ac.uk by Thursday 13 April 2017 to register your attendance at the Forum, specifying any dietary requirements.

China’s central science newspaper reports on Joy Zhang’s work

On 27 March 2017 China’s official science newspaper, Science and Technology Daily, reported on Dr Joy Zhang’s ESRC workshop in Wuhan. The workshop stems from Dr Zhang’s ESRC funded project, ‘Governing Scientific Accountability in China‘.

Extensive fieldwork from the study has found that although there is good will from both scientific practitioners and civil society groups, as well as heavy investment from the Chinese government, a key hindrance for (re)building trust and accountability of science in China is a lack of public engagement skills amongst scientists. The event addresses this gap by bringing together 50 delegates (i.e. policy advisors, scientists, bioethicists, sociologists, public engagement experts and relevant civil society staff) from both China and the UK, arguably for the first time, to identify a roadmap for public engagement that is pertinent to Chinese particularities.

As an official media outlet, Science and Technology Daily is a key communicative channel of the Chinese government for its scientific strategies. The newspaper cited Dr Zhang’s vision of China’s public engagement of science at length and echoed her view that promoting a state-society collaboration in the building of risk communication and a risk responsive system is crucial for China’s global research competitiveness.

In addition, Professor Xian’en Zhang, China’s former Director General of Basic Research at the Ministry of Science and Technology, highly commended Dr Zhang’s event for it made a convincing case of how social research can contribute to the rational governance of scientific practices in China.

Read the full report (in Chinese) on the Science and Technology Daily website.

Summer housekeeping vacancies

You will be required to work 20 to 30 hours per week between 9am and 3pm (this will vary in accordance with business needs). 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 17 and Sunday 18 June 2017.

Successful applicants will be required to:

Attend one of our HR inductions approx. 45 mins. on either 2,5,6,7,8 or 9 (returners only on 9) June 2017
Attend a ½ day Housekeeping induction on either 5,6,7,8 or 9 (returners only on 9) June 2017

For the health, safety and welfare of staff and conference guests, all successful applicants will be required to attend a ½ day Housekeeping induction. Applicants must be able to demonstrate the required level of understanding in all areas covered in the training. Any staff not achieving the required standard will not be permitted to work.

Start working on 12 June 2017

If you think this summer vacancy is for you, please apply by completing our online questionnaire: https://kent.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/summerhk2017

Closing date for applications: 24 May 2017 this may close early if we receive a large number of applications.

Our HR department will then email you by Tuesday 30 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.