Monthly Archives: May 2018

Survivors’ Forum Friday 18 May

Silke Grygier, founder of the Not The Only One Project, will be facilitating the next Survivor Forum from 18.30-20.30 on Friday 18 May in Rutherford Ext 12.

The main aim of this format is to create a safe space for survivors of sexual abuse to come together, meet others, share experiences, and discuss the issues and themes which affect them. The experience of being in a space with other survivors, can be hugely empowering for survivors and can alleviate common feelings of shame, stigma, and isolation, and foster experiences of connection and feeling understood.

In the Survivors’ Collective, Silke has facilitated forums on themes such as ‘access to healthcare’, ‘media representation’, ‘our experience in education & the workplace’, and workshops such as ‘speaking out’, ‘connecting to our body’, as well as a ‘giving testimony session’ where survivors had the opportunity to tell their story.

Not The Only One is a project designed to reach out to university students who have experienced childhood sexual abuse (CSA). As a group, CSA survivors are often invisible, not only to society, but also to each other, and suffer stigma and isolation. At the same time, survivors tend to experience great difficulties especially in young adulthood, and are often left with a lack of understanding and support. Through workshops, presentations, info-stalls, support groups, open forums, and therapeutic support this project aims to raise awareness, create spaces for survivors to come together, and offer specialist support.

Further Survivor Forums will take place on the following dates:

15 June (Rutherford Ext 12)
20 July (Grimond Seminar 2)

You can find out more about Not The Only One here. You can also contact Debbie Worthington, Student EDI Officer for further information.

Managing Mental Health for Line Managers

Learning and Organisational Development is running six sessions on Managing Mental Health for Line Managers, which will take place on:

Tuesday 12 June am or pm session

Thursday 14 June am or pm session

Tuesday 19 June am or pm session

The sessions are targeted at members of staff with management responsibilities. If you would like to attend a session, book via the Learning and Organisational Development website.

Dr Xiaofan Amy Li awarded travel fund

Dr Xiaofan Amy Li, Lecturer in Comparative Literature, has been awarded the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation travel fund by the European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS).

The funding will allow Amy to undertake research trips to sinological libraries within the UK. She will use this opportunity to consult scholarship on classical Chinese literature and its translation history, to complete a book manuscript she is co-authoring with colleagues at the University of Oxford.

The book is provisionally entitled Translation and Literature in East Asia: Between Visibility and Invisibility. It will ask: What specific problems do the translation and circulation of Chinese-script-based literature pose? What does translation render visible and invisible, especially if we compare various modern translations of classical Chinese literature into modern vernacular Chinese (baihua), modern Japanese, English, and French? Finally, do literary translational practices in pre-modern East Asia say something about a world literature before (rather than in) the global age?

Employee award for placement student Jordan Norris

Jordan Norris, a Computer Science with a Year in Industry student, has won an employee award for exceptional contribution during his industrial placement.

Jordan is working at Zest The Agency as part of his degree and was given the quarterly ‘Besty Zesty’ award, after being nominated by his colleagues.

He said: “I was presented with the Besty Zesty statue, engraved with ‘Award Winning Effort’ and a cash bonus. When given the award, it was announced that the decision was unanimous and that I received it for the exceptional effort and contribution I had made to recent projects – DS Virgin Racing’s Season 4 updates to their website and Zest The Agency’s own website rebuild – especially noting that the Zest site was coded single-handedly and largely out of office hours.

“I had been putting in lots of late nights and long days in order to meet the strict deadlines of such a big client (DS Virgin Racing), so it was warming to be shown such appreciation, and I was proud to have made such a good impression as a relatively new member of the company.”

The School of Computing sends over 100 students on placements every year. The School has strong links with industry in Kent, nationally and internationally and has two dedicated placement officers who help students secure roles. The Industrial placement programme is available to all undergraduates and taught Master’s students in the School.

Paul March-Russell on the Arthur C. Clarke Award

Dr Paul March-Russell, Specialist Associate Lecturer in the Department of Comparative Literature and editor of Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, is on the judging panel for the Arthur C Clarke Award for science fiction literature for the second year running.

The shortlist for 2018 has just been announced. The six shortlisted books for the best science-fiction novel published in 2017 are:

Robert Cargill, Sea of Rust (Gollancz)
Anne Charnock, Dreams Before the Start of Time (47 North)
Omar El Akkad, American War (Picador)
Jaroslav Kalfar, Spaceman of Bohemia (Sceptre)
Jennie Melamed, Gather the Daughters (Tinder Press)
Jeff VanderMeer, Borne (Fourth Estate).

‘The 2018 shortlist is perhaps one of the most eclectic ever,’ commented Paul on the shortlist, ‘From a giant flying bear in a post-apocalyptic landscape, to the future of reproductive technology; from an absurdist satire on the meaning of existence, to a dystopian society where paedophilia is a virtue not a sin; and from the prospect of a second American Civil War to a post-human world of scavenging robots and global AIs, this is a list that demonstrates the imaginative possibilities of sf being written today.’

The winner will be announced at a public award ceremony held in partnership with Foyles Bookshop, Charing Cross Road, London, on Wednesday 18 July 2018.

Further details of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the shortlist are available at: www.clarkeaward.com

Angelos Evangelou publishes new translation

Dr Angelos Evangelou, Associate Lecturer in the Department of Comparative Literature, has recently translated Greek-Cypriot poet Andreas Georgallides for a bilingual (Greek and English) edition of the collection ελάχιστα περισσότερο άδειο [barely more empty] (Iambos Publications, 2018).

The collection is abstract and minimalistic, yet loaded with autobiographical and romantic undertones. As Georgallides writes in his preface, the poems ‘do not demand comprehension nor do they claim hospitality in the space of meaning’.

The book was launched in Nicosia, Cyprus at an event organised by the Union of Cyprus Writers, and is currently being considered for the Nana (Athena) P. Kontou Award (Academy of Athens, Greece) and for the ‘State Poetry Award’ (Cultural Services, Ministry of Education and Culture, Cyprus).

For more information, please see here.

Shane Weller on Beckett’s Endgame

Shane Weller, Professor of Comparative Literature and Head of the School of European Culture and Languages, has just co-authored a new book entitled The Making of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Fin de partie’/’Endgame’ (University Press Antwerp and Bloomsbury, 2018).

Originally written in French and first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1957, Samuel Beckett’s Endgame is widely regarded as one of his most important works. The new publication is a comprehensive reference guide to the history of Beckett’s text. It includes a complete descriptive catalogue of available relevant manuscripts, including French and English texts, alternative drafts and notebook pages, as well as a critical reconstruction of the history of the text, charting its genesis through the process of composition to its full publication history.

For more details, please see the publisher’s website.

Enjoy grass tennis at Kent Sport this summer

New grass tennis courts are now available to hire at the Pavilion thanks to the tireless work of University of Kent Groundsmen Lee Ballard and Derek Hockett. Kent Sport tennis coordinator Matthew Brears caught up with Lee and Derek to speak to them about their work.

What do you and your team do throughout the year?

Our main tasks are to maintain the sports facilities to the highest standard possible. this includes mowing the grass pitches and marking them out, and brushing the three artificial pitches we have on campus.

Derek and I really take pride in what we do and always want the people taking part in sports such as American football and now tennis to have the best experience.

How did you create these grass courts and what challenges did you face?

The biggest challenge was the time and the weather. We lost two days of work due to rain and we had a Bank Holiday. so another work day was lost. We were really excited about the challenge of setting out grass court tennis, so once we were asked we set to the job straight away.

We mowed the area with our cricket pitch mower, which hadn’t been used for three years. Our first few cuts were at 15mm so that we didn’t take the grass too short too soon. Next, we measured for three courts and over-marked them. Rolling the court took four days, but when we had finished we were happy with the end results. We have now lowered the grass cut height to 10mm and it looks great.

How are you going to maintain the good quality playing surface throughout the summer?

The biggest maintenance job will be the mowing as I think we will have to do this every other day to keep the grass to a playable height. I’m sure as we get into the summer (hopefully a hot one!) we will also have to water the courts.

Is there anything you would like to do differently in the coming years to improve on what you have achieved this year?

Hopefully this really takes off and we can have a few extra courts next year!

The only job we couldn’t do this year was scarify the courts. If we do this next year it will take out the weeds and thatch that is in the ground. Removing this should help with the bounce of the ball and make the court quality better.

Matthew Brears, Tennis Coordinator and Head Coach, said: “The work that Derek and Lee have done in such a short space of time has been exemplary and I’m grateful for their efforts over the last three weeks, and of course the work they will put in over the summer. They have shown a glimpse of what we can achieve here at the University and I’m looking forward to working with them to provide a great grass court tennis offering for years to come.”

Sean Edwards, UKC Tennis Society President, said: “The new grass courts installed by Lee and Del are a huge step forward for UKC Tennis this year and have great potential for years to come. I’d like to thank them for their efforts as the courts are incredibly flat and have a bounce that nobody expected.”

The new grass tennis courts can be booked by Kent Sport members at the Pavilion reception. For more information about tennis and other activities visit the Kent Sport website and follow @UniKentSports on social media.

Kent Experiences – Learning at Work Week

As part of our Learning at Work Week (LAWW), we are launching our ‘Kent Experiences’.

The theme for the national LAWW campaign 2018 is ‘Networked for Learning’ and to link in with this theme we would like to provide opportunities for staff to get involved with and network with colleagues in areas of the organisation they don’t usually get the opportunity to interact with. Better understanding of the organisation and broader network relationships help in improving communication, appreciating diversity and creating a culture of respect among many other benefits.

These Kent Experiences are being offered from areas across the University on both Canterbury and Medway campuses and include a diverse range of activities, some taking as little as an hour which could be undertaken in a lunch hour if required. We will have further activities being launched from our Estates department and potentially other areas in the next week or so, so keep an eye out for more announcements.

You can view a brief descriptor of all the current opportunities by clicking on this link and then register your interest by following the outlined instructions or by completing this poll. Once your interest has been registered you will be contacted with more information and details of who to contact to finally agree your activity date and time.

If you have any further queries related to this ‘Kent Experiences’ launch, or you would like to offer an experience in your area of work, please do not hesitate to contact Ali Whelan: a.j.whelan@kent.ac.uk .

Win Free Tickets to City Sound Project

University of Kent Arts & Culture are supporting City Sound Project 2018, and have 5 pairs of wristbands to this brilliant day of live music to give away to staff.

City Sound Project takes place on 16 stages across Canterbury city centre on Sunday 27 May, and your wristband will get you access to all venues.

To win a pair of wristbands, worth £35 each, simply email d.yard@kent.ac.uk with the subject line “Arts&Culture”. The first 5 to respond will win the wristbands.