A major report by the University of Kent’s Dr Adrian Pabst challenges existing thoughts on the benefits of freedom of movement and provides a different perspective – one focused on the common good and how it is placed at the heart of society.

Dr Pabst, Reader in Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations, says Brexit has raised many questions about what is going to happen regarding free movement.

The free movement of people and capital is considered fundamental to the global economy, but it has also led to widespread feelings of economic and cultural insecurity. Attempts to address this often rely on ideas about the freedom of choice for the individual or economic utility – the benefits or costs for the majority.

Dr Pabst’s report, ‘Democracy and the Common Good: A Common Good Approach to Free Movement of People and Capital’, published by St Paul’s Institute, seeks to advance an alternative approach.

It advocates addressing existing anxieties and providing a source of fresh policy ideas, adding to the ongoing work of communities, faith groups and others that mediate between the individual and the state.

The report features a foreword by Rachel Reeves MP who chairs the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee. She says that it is right that this report focuses on skills, investment and the need for closer consideration of communities in the everyday economy.

Dr Pabst’s report will be launched as part of a public debate entitled Democracy and the Common Good: What do we Value? at St Paul’s Cathedral on Monday 19 March from 18.45 until 20.30.

Sign up to attend this event here.

The report can be viewed here.

Vince Muntag is a Hungarian student doing an MA in Drama by research at Kent. His desire to pursue postgraduate research at Kent was such that he crowdfunded the money to provide a personal helper to support him at during his degree. He is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about theatre and aims to make it accessible to everyone.

Vince will be talking about theatre, activism and cultural differences in attitudes to disability and inclusion between Hungary and the United Kingdom.

FREE to attend – all are welcome.

Monday 26 March at 13:10–14:00

Jennison Lecture Theatre, Canterbury Campus

Short video about Vince’s crowdfunding.

Message from Denise Everitt, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer:

Yesterday’s failure to find support for the settlement suggested by UCU and UUK following talks at ACAS is obviously disappointing to everybody concerned.  We are aware that many staff, as well as the University itself, had high hopes that these discussions would allow us all to move forward with a better pension outcome for staff and certainty for our students.

In response to this setback, we will continue to urge all those involved at national level to return to the table to continue discussions with a view to resolving the current industrial dispute as quickly as possible, as well as lobbying for an outcome that protects the interests of our staff and students. Alongside this, our priority is to support schools in seeking to mitigate the impact of the action on students as much as we can.

We continue to be engaged in talks with Kent Union and the local branch of the UCU and will use a joint voice wherever we can to press for positive change. In the meantime, we remain committed to the sentiments underpinning our joint statement of 9 March in which we called for a solution that reflected Kent’s core values of fairness, equality, collaboration and respect. It is these values that will continue to make a career in Higher Education an attractive choice for both current staff and those just beginning their working lives.

We will continue to keep you informed with any developments relating to this situation.

Stephen Connolly, an artist filmmaker, Lecturer in Film Production, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham and Fine Art PhD student and Graduate Teaching Assistant in the School of Music and Fine Art (also a Kent 50 Scholar), has been shortlisted for a 2018 British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) Award, in the Moving Image category under Best Practice Research Portfolio for Machine Space. The results will be announced in April.

BAFTSS encourage best teaching and research practice, promoting the training of postgraduate students in research and giving researchers and practitioners the opportunity to attend and present a paper at the annual BAFTSS conference.

Connolly’s Machine Space is an essay film exploring a city as a machine; a place of movement and circulation. The city is Detroit, a place that has changed from producing the means of movement to producing space itself.  The film uses formal representational devices to explore this content, and addresses issues of complicity of audiences in the state of affairs in the city. It is a visualization of the ideas of Henri Lefebvre, philosopher of space and urban life.

The film was shown at London Film Festival and Wexner Center for the Arts at the Ohio State University.

You can read the LFF Review (in which it is described as “brilliant”) on MUBI.

Connolly’s work investigates cinema and representation through place, politics and history. His award winning single screen work which explores the interface between spectatorship, material culture and subjectivity, has been widely shown internationally since 2002. A FLAMIN award recipient, he has had solo screenings at the ICA and BFI Southbank in London, and was a juror at the Ann Arbor Film Festival (Michigan, USA) in 2011.

Image credit: Stephen Connolly

Colleagues are invited to attend the Learning and Teaching Network session on Wednesday 28 March, 13.15-14.30 in Rochester R2:09, Medway.  The session titled ‘External Examining and Boards of Examiners at Kent’ will be presented by Malcolm Dixon, Head of Quality Assurance.

This session will give an overview of regulations and requirements relevant to External Examiners and Board of Examiner meetings. Participants will be given up-to-date guidance about the Credit Framework and related examination conventions/procedures for the classification of awards, in accordance with Annexes J and K of the Code of Practice. The relevant policies and procedures will be reviewed, and there will be time for questions and discussion.

This session is for University staff and external examiners who are involved with organising, attending or recording Board of Examiner meetings. Staff new to Boards of Examiners are strongly encouraged to attend.

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