Colleagues are invited to attend the CSHE Research Seminar taking place on Thursday 30 November 2017, 13.00-14.00 in the UELT Seminar Room.

Anne Edwards, Professor Emeritus, Department of Education, University of Oxford will be presenting the seminar titled ‘Relational expertise in inter-professional collaboration: what is it and what does it offer?’

Collaborating within and across practices is expected of professionals who are tackling complex problems. In this seminar Anne will explain the concept of relational expertise, how it arose in her work on inter-professional collaborations. She will also point to examples of how it has been used as an analytic resource in research studies in a range of settings including knowledge exchange in UK higher education.

These and other examples are to be found in her recent book: Working relationally in and across practices – a cultural-historical approach to collaboration with Cambridge University Press.

To book a place please email cpdbookings@kent.ac.uk

The University Christmas Carol Service in Canterbury Cathedral is on Monday 11 December at 20.00.

It consists of a traditional programme of readings, carols and choir items, atmospherically lit by candle-light. Entry is by free ticket only.

Staff members must email their ticket requests direct to Chaplaincy, following the guidelines here.

Demand for tickets continues to increase, so please send in your requests as soon as you can. This year’s appeal is for East Kent homelessness charity Porchlight.

Pantomime season is almost here, and this year Canterbury is celebrating the history of this popular British institution in a brand new interactive exhibition at The Beaney.

Panto came to Britain in the 16th century having started out as a form of Italian street theatre, or ‘commedia dell’arte’. Over the centuries it has developed into a much loved tradition, and for many people, this popular genre is the first experience of the world of theatre.

Developed in partnership with the University of Kent Special Collections and Archives department, the new exhibition, titled ‘Oh Yes It Is!’, opens on Saturday 25 November and features items from the David Drummond collection.

Recently acquired by the University of Kent, it is one of the largest collections of pantomime related material in the UK and includes posters, props, programmes and costume designs spanning over two hundred years.

The exhibition has a special section presented by David Drummond celebrating the life and work of Joseph Grimaldi. An influential figure from the world of pantomime, Grimaldi expanded and developed the role of the clown within the harlequinade genre throughout the early 1800s.

The Beaney is also showcasing items from its own collection as part of the exhibition. Interactive spaces allow visitors of all ages to immerse themselves in the genre and include Widow Twankey’s launderette, Dick Whittington’s road to London and the Giant’s library.

Children and the young at heart can enjoy pantomime-themed dressing up and colouring as well as a Dick Whittington-themed trail around the Beaney. There is also a graphical timeline tracking the people and wider historical events that have shaped and influenced pantomime since the 1700s.

The timeline concludes with an area featuring current set and costume designs kindly loaned by Evolution Productions. Emily Wood and Paul Hendy started Evolution Productions in 2005 and have since built a reputation for superior, bespoke pantomimes with the emphasis on high quality production values, strong casting and genuinely funny scripts.

Chairman of Canterbury City Council’s Community Committee, Cllr Neil Baker, said: “Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre is home to one of the best pantomimes in the country, so it makes perfect sense for The Beaney to host this celebration just around the corner. It’s a must-see exhibition for all panto fans and I’m sure it’s going to prove very popular.”

Dr Oliver Double and Dr Helen Brooks from the University of Kent’s School of Arts said: ‘We are very honoured to take possession of David Drummond’s wondrous Pantomime Collection. It’s the most comprehensive collection of pantomime materials outside of the national collection housed by the Victoria and Albert Theatre Archive and the possibilities for research and teaching are vast. The collection will benefit students and researchers alike.’

Canterbury City Council’s Director of Museums and Galleries, Joanna Jones, said: ‘We’re delighted to be working with key partners to celebrate Canterbury’s long association with pantomime through this interactive show. The Beaney exhibition and the Marlowe Theatre’s pantomime are complementary activities, providing a great day out for families and other audiences to enjoy during the festive season.’

The exhibition coincides with Canterbury’s 2017 pantomime, Peter Pan, which runs from Friday 24 November at the Marlowe Theatre.

‘Oh Yes It Is!’ is free to visit and runs from Saturday 25 November to Sunday 18 February 2018 in the Special Exhibitions Room at The Beaney. It is organised in partnership with the University of Kent Special Collections and Archives department, with special thanks to Evolution Productions, and co-curated with Jo Dyer from Animate Arts Company.

Full details of the exhibition at www.thebeaney.co.uk or call 01227 862162

The Templeman Library’s Gallery will be hosting an exhibition of some of Kent’s other pantomime collections from December. More information coming soon.

Kent Senior Law Lecturers Dr Hyo Yoon Kang and Dr Sara Kendall have been awarded a grant of more than £35,000 to establish a new interdisciplinary and international research network exploring legal materiality.

The Research Network Grant, from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), will help bring together a community of scholars with a shared focus on studying and thinking about law’s matters and their materialities.

The network is holding a symposium on ‘Articulating Law’s Matters’ to launch the network at The Warburg Institute on Friday 12 January 2018. This event will offer an overview and map some of the positions, approaches and tensions which the notion of ‘legal materiality’ has raised in contemporary legal scholarship.

Attendance is free, but attendees are required to register online.

The Legal Materiality Research Network includes a broad range of members: from emerging junior scholars and research students to world-leading scholars who have studied the specificity of legal techniques and objects and have engaged deeply with questions of materiality and interpretation. Their disciplinary homes are in fields as diverse as anthropology, English literature, legal studies, media studies, politics, political theory, rhetoric, science and technology studies and sociology. The network also includes artists who are concerned with the force of law and its physical and virtual manifestations.

For questions and enquiry, please contact Dr Kang or Dr Kendall. Follow the network on Twitter @LawsMatters.

The University of Kent’s Templeman Library was ‘Highly Commended’ at last night’s Concrete Society Awards for the use of concrete in its new extension. Collecting the award were John Sotillo, Director of Information Services, John Morley and Mark Ashmore from the University’s Estates Department, Suzi Winstanley and Mara Monteiro (Penoyre & Prasad – project architects) and Helen Page (Structural Engineer, Price and Myers).

Suzi explains: “Our design exploits the aesthetic and formal properties of concrete to knit together the new extension with the existing brutalist building to create a vibrant, contemporary building at the heart of the University of Kent campus.”

Judges take into account such factors as visual impression and integration with the surrounding landscape, functional suitability, concrete properties exploited in the design, innovation in concrete composition, structure or form, execution and finish, sustainability credentials client satisfaction, and value for money.

Picture by Jim Higham. Cropped from original.

Professor Jeremy Carrette, Professor of Philosophy, Religion and Culture and Kent’s Dean for Europe, featured in The Guardian newspaper last Friday (10 November).

The article, entitled ‘How To Do a Postgrad Course for Free in Europe’ examined the opportunities for postgraduate study on the continent in a post-Brexit era.

As Dean for Europe, Jeremy has responsibility for the engagement strategies in Kent’s postgraduate centres in Paris, Rome, Athens and Brussels.

To read the full article, please see The Guardian’s webpage here.