University of Kent alumna and honorary graduate Fi Glover returned to Kent last week to interview current students about their opinions on how far relations between men and women are being redefined in the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and #MeToo. The interviews took place in the Student Media centre and will be aired on Wednesday 14 February at 1.45 on Radio 4.

Fi Glover and Peter Curran are traveling around the country to find out if, and how relations between the sexes are being redefined in the UK’s workplaces, from call centres, to comedy clubs to student unions.

Says Fi Glover: “Social change is usually only identified in the rear view mirror of history but we are going to try and run alongside this one and find out if we are living through one of the most significant cultural shifts of recent times.”

SMFA music lecturer Anna Neale has released a new single Evolution which is available on all the usual music platforms (Spotify, iTunes etc). The video was filmed at the Dockyard and the Church, and featured University of Kent (Medway) students

Evolution  is taken from Anna’s forthcoming album Wide Sky, due for release on the 23rd March, featuring performances from Syrian musicians and the members of the English National Opera (ENO) chorus. Fusing together Middle Eastern music with Western pop, and continuing the world music theme featured in her pervious album ‘River Man’.

Anna Neale is a multi-talented singer/songwriter, composer, session vocalist, and voice over artist, and has performed at most of the major music conferences, released two albums and two EP’s to critical acclaim, written songs for other artists, radio and TV advertising, and provided vocals for many TV animations, songs and adverts. As well as her composing and performing credits, Anna has lectured at the University of Cambridge, The British Museum, BIMM (Brighton & London), Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Hertfordshire. She is also a member of the Oxford Brookes’s music industry board.  Her research interests include songwriting and the music of Ancient Greece.

For more information:  http://www.annaneale.net
The video: https://youtu.be/GrWcMpNOMko

All staff, and especially those with a student facing or support role, are invited to an interactive workshop and information session on Wednesday 21st February in the Templeman Library with Tony Giles, blind global traveler and author, sharing his experiences of studying, living and travelling with sensory impairments.

Tony is totally blind and severely deaf in both ears, and gained a BA in American Studies from the University of Northampton in 2001 and a MA in Transatlantic Studies from the University of Birmingham in 2003.

He has written about some of his travel adventures in two published Ebooks: Seeing The World My Way, 2010 (republished 2017) and Seeing The Americas My Way, 2016.

You can follow Tony’s adventures at www.tonythetraveller.com

Book your free place here.

The Estates Department carried out another year of fantastic fund raising in 2017 for their chosen charity, ‘Mind’.  Estates choose a different charity each year and Mind was nominated by Emily Mason, Environmental Sustainability Assistant.  Emily explained why she had put forward Mind, “I nominated Mind as they are a charity that, now more than ever, are crucial for helping people at crisis point, and preventing people who struggle with their mental health, from reaching crisis point”.

Estates collected various donations throughout the year as well as holding a successful Estates staff raffle and raised the tremendous total of £1834.14.  On receipt of the cheque, a spokesperson from Mind said, “We would like to say a huge thank you. It is important for us to make sure everyone with a mental health problem has somewhere to turn for support and advice”.

To find more out about Mind and the great work they do, you can visit their website.

The project team for the Simplifying Kent Project 1: Programme Approval and Curriculum Design has undertaken and completed a great deal of work in the last twelve months including:

• the introduction of a revised programme and module approval process (for details on the pilot, please see the QA website)
• the preparation of recommendations to the University in relation to timetable planning
• a regular review of taught programmes to ensure they are viable

At every stage, these recommendations have been informed by feedback received from the SK1 Stakeholder Group, and feedback from colleagues in academic schools and professional service departments across the University. The project team is now preparing to draft the final recommendations report, and we would welcome your input on these areas:

• The structure within which taught programmes of study are organised and run
• Reviewing the pilot of the revised PMAS processes, and considering whether any further changes are necessary
• The impact of proposed recommendations on staff, students, marketing and recruitment, and other areas

Therefore, we invite all interested members of staff to a “town-hall” style meeting to give your input on the project’s proposals. These will be held on the following days:

• 15:00-17:00 on Thursday 15 February in M2-28, Medway Building, Medway campus
• 14:00-16:00 on Wednesday 21 February in SLT2, Stacey Building, Canterbury campus

We hope to see you at one of these sessions. If you are not able to come along, and/or would like more information about the Simplifying Kent programme or this project, please see our SharePoint site or email us.