Monthly Archives: July 2018

Student Services CARE Awards winners 2018

We are delighted to share the winners of the Student Services CARE Awards 2018, which recognises the achievements and excellence of staff members who embody the values of Student Services. This year’s winners across the five awards categories are:

Empowerment and Innovation Award: Anna Edgar-Chan (Counsellor, Student Support and Wellbeing), for her outstanding contributions to Student Support and Wellbeing including introducing e-therapy options and reducing waiting times for students.

Student Focussed Award: Hannah Greer and Jen Davey (Work-Study Scheme, Careers and Employability Service), for the Work Study Scheme, providing employability skills training, one to one mentoring and employment opportunities for students.

Partnership Award: Careers and Employability Service Team, for organising the Employability Festival at the Canterbury and Medway campuses, enhancing the employability of Kent students via links with graduate employers and developing students’ employability skills.

Spirit of Student Services Award: Cathy Myers, Specific Learning Difficulties Adviser, for her dedication to supporting staff and students during the period of industrial action and adverse weather conditions.

Team Excellence Award: Medway Master’s Office Team, for organising fundraising for the Molly McLaren Foundation.

You can read more about this year’s winners on the CARE Awards website.

Summer school in quantitative methods led by SSPSSR

Forty six students attended a two-week summer school in quantitative methods at the University from 18-30 June.

The two weeks form part of the University’s Q-Step centre’s programme, where students take a summer school so they can continue onto our degrees with minor in Quantitative Research. The programme forms part of a country wide initiative to address the shortage of quantitative skills amongst social science undergraduates in the UK. And this year our University of Kent students were joined by three external students from the UK, Hong Kong and the Nuffield foundation’s placement programme.

During the two weeks, students were given an introduction to quantitative methods, as well as having an opportunity to get to know both lecturers and teaching staff at the Q-Step centre. The two weeks consisted of teaching and social events – the latter of course coloured by the world championships. In addition to traditional seminars and lectures, the students were very lucky to attend two engaging guest seminars given by Dr Renee Luthra from the University of Essex and Rima Saini from City University reporting on their studies which relate to themes within the programme: ethnicity, race and discrimination.

Students showed great enthusiasm by interrogating and questioning these topics both in the expert seminars and in their own projects. The last day of summer school was our conference presentation day where student presentations were of a very high level- a perfect wrap up of a both socially and intellectually stimulating experience.

Thank you to all the students and to our excellent assistant lecturers Josh Townsley, Eva Sigurdardottir and Gianna Eick and Victoria Schoen for making it a great experience.

Fresher’s guide to Kent 2018

For all you newbies, here’s a helpful introduction to Kent and some of the fantastic services available to you.

Your school – is a helpful point of contact for all your studying needs. Whether you need guidance on how to reference or employability advice, your school can help, and if they can’t, they will know who can. Find your school and academic adviser.
Studying at Kent.There is a wide range of study support available across the University. You can not only go to your school for study advice, but you can also talk to one of our learning advisers from the Student Learning Advisory Service (SLAS).
Employability support. In an increasingly competitive job market, we want to make sure you have the skills and experience to stand out. From work experience opportunities to support showcasing your skills, we offer a range of services to help you bag that dream job.
Our Student Finance Team is here to help, whether your student loan is late or you just need help managing your money.
Kent is a great place to live and study. Here is some useful information to help you while you’re living in Kent over the next few years.
As a student you have access to a wide range of support and wellbeing services, including help with a disability, child care and a counselling service.
Greenwich and Kent Students’ Unions Together is your students’ union and are there to represent the student voice. They also look after a range of student activities including social events and societies at Kent.
The Student Hub at Medway is GK Unions’ newly refurbished home. It hosts a range of student events, serves a good choice of food including home-made pizzas and is a great place to relax. Read more about the Student Hub.
As well as a fully-equipped library, most our library resources are online, so you can get the information you need 24-hours a day. Visit Drill Hall Library’s website.
When you join Kent you automatically become part of a college. Joining a college community gives you a support network and your Masters’ Office is somewhere you can go for help and advice.

Fresher’s guide to Kent 2018

For all you newbies, here’s a helpful introduction to Kent and some of the fantastic services available to you.

Your school – is a helpful point of contact for all your studying needs. Whether you need guidance on how to reference or employability advice, your school can help, and if they can’t, they will know who can. Find your school and academic adviser.

Studying at Kent. There is a wide range of study support available across the University. You can not only go to your school for study advice, but you can also talk to one of our learning advisers from the Student Learning Advisory Service (SLAS).

Employability support. In an increasingly competitive job market, we want to make sure you have the skills and experience to stand out. From work experience opportunities to support showcasing your skills, we offer a range of services to help you bag that dream job.

Our Student Finance Team is here to help, whether your student loan is late or you just need help managing your money.

Kent is a great place to live and study. Here is some useful information to help you while you’re living in Kent over the next few years.

As a student you have access to a wide range of support and wellbeing services, including help with a disability, child care and a counselling service.

Kent Union is your students’ union and is there to represent the student voice. They also look after a range of student activities including the Summer Ball and societies at Kent.

Find out all you need to know about the Templeman Library and IT services on Canterbury Campus. Welcome sessions run all Welcome Week in the Templeman Library. Check your timetable to see if there is a session for your subject booked. If not, or if you miss it, join any session during the week. Visit Hello IT and Library! for more information.

Both Canterbury and Medway have good transport links, so you don’t necessarily need a car to get around. You can also benefit from a range of discounts on local transport. Discover some of your options for getting around.

When you join Kent you automatically become part of a college. Joining a college community gives you a support network and your Masters’ Office is somewhere you can go for help and advice.

Athena SWAN Charters Award Ceremony 2018

The University attended the Advance HE’s Charters Awards Ceremony on 17 July at the new Swansea University’s Bay Campus in Swansea, Wales, together with 120 colleagues across the Higher Education sector in the UK.

With these awards, Advance HE’s Athena SWAN Charter and Race Equality Charter recognises and celebrates the commitment and hard work that’s being done at the Institutions and Departments in advancing good practices in these fields.

Kent was successful in renewing its Institutional Athena SWAN Bronze award.The redacted version of the submission can be accessed here.

In addition to the Institutional Award, three of our Schools got their departmental awards; the School of Mathematics, Statistics, and Actuarial Science collected their Athena SWAN Silver award. SMSAS is the first department at the University of Kent to hold a Silver award. The School of History collected their Athena SWAN Bronze award. The School of History is the first department in the Faculty of Humanities at Kent to hold an Athena SWAN award.

The Athena SWAN Team also collected the Medway School of Pharmacy’s Athena SWAN Bronze. The Athena SWAN Team and the University of Kent know from experience that these awards are not a given and that getting an award is just the beginning. However, we would like to take this moment to celebrate the success, but also acknowledge that there is still a lot of work to do in advancing Gender Equality and in creating a fair work environment for all.

Canterbury Nightline – We’re here – we hear

Are you missing home? Struggling to make friends at university? Not sure who to contact about something? Feeling low or upset? If so, Nightline is here for you!

Canterbury Nightline is a student-run listening and information service. You can contact us about anything and one of our trained volunteers will help and support you. Everything you say will be completely anonymous – you don’t even have to tell us your name.

You can contact us during term-time via phone (01227 824848) or instant messenger (www.canterburynightline.org) between 20.00 and 08.00 on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Or email us 24/7 on listening@canterbury.nightline.ac.uk.

For more information, find us on Facebook (Canterbury Nightline) or Twitter (@CanterburyNL)

Any problem, no matter how serious or small, Nightline is there for you

Double award success for POLIR

The School of Politics and International Relations is celebrating a double success in the annual British International Studies Association (BISA) awards.

PhD student Tom Watts won the Postgraduate Excellence in Teaching International Studies Prize, while Reader in International Relations, Dr Sean Molloy was joint winner of the Susan Strange Book Prize.

The Postgraduate Excellence prize recognises postgraduate students who have contributed to the positive learning experience of students in International Studies, raised the profile of learning and teaching in International Studies and shared best practice among BISA members.

Head of School, Professor Richard Whitman describes Tom as an “extremely worthy winner”. Tom has been teaching at Kent for several years and won the University’s Social Sciences’ seminar teaching prize in 2017. His application included an exceptional commitment to reflective practice, widespread innovations and work beyond the classroom including blog posts for the BISA PGN website.

Sean Molloy received the Susan Strange Book Prize for his book Kant’s International Relations: The Political Theology of Perpetual Peace (University of Michigan Press, 2017). The prize is for the best book published in any field of international studies during 2017. The prize aims to honour the work of Susan Strange and to recognise the best current work in the discipline.

BISA is a learned society which develops and promotes the study of International Studies, Politics and related subjects through teaching, research and facilitation of contact between scholars. Find out more on its website.

Pay Gaps and Thigh Gaps: SMFA graduating Fine Art students exhibit in London

Between 6th – 10th July, Pay Gaps and Thigh Gaps, an exhibition by a group of graduating SMFA Fine Art students was on at Old Truman’s Brewery in Brick Lane, London, as part of Free Range – A season of Graduate Art & Design Exhibitions.

Established in 2001 to showcase the work of emerging creatives, thousands of students have exhibited at the shows, taking over Old Truman Brewery spaces each summer and connecting with a London audience. It aims to celebrate talent and provide a platform for UK artists beyond education. The show was extremely successful, with an amazing turn out.

SMFA Students featured were:

BA (Hon) Fine Art

Amanda Nsubuga, Alexandra Aldham, Ayesha Chouglay, Angel Obi and Rachael Willis

MA Fine Art

Deborah Abbott

About Pay Gaps and Thigh Gaps:

There seems to be a growing precedent that in order to be recognised as a female artist you must limit your practice to being ‘feminist’. But why can’t a woman speak beyond her gender to gain recognition? We are a group of proud feminists who would like to share varying concerns beyond our genitalia (and possibly surrounding our genitalia- we would like the option). From, childhood imagination, to personal illness, we come together with uniquely different practices, to support each other as artists… who happen to be female.

More at http://www.free-range.org.uk/cgi-bin/exhibition.pl?yearID=27&exhibitionID=1443 and Instagram at pay_gapsandthigh_gaps

Kent Gives Back at bOing festival August- We need you!

Kent Gives Back, in partnership with Kent Union, is a great opportunity to enhance skills and networks whilst working together for a local community cause that matters to you.

On Saturday 25 August we are asking a group of Kent students and alumni to come and support us and volunteer at the bOing! Festival from 09:00 -17:00. But, we still appreciate it if you can only come along to volunteer for a couple of hours.

The festival takes place on the beautiful University of Kent campus in Canterbury. It will be an amazing day showcasing the very best in theatre, dance, music, films and fun for all the family, packed with magical performances and experiences.

There are many volunteering opportunities with bOing! that you can get involved in, such as being a production volunteer or a technical volunteer. You will gain extraordinary insight into the running of a venue/event. We are committed to helping you develop your skills and your confidence concerning the task of your choice. You will have the opportunity to meet others with a shared passion and also watch quality performances and screenings.

Last year’s volunteer, alumna, and current PhD student, Kasia Senyszyn (Keynes 2004), said of the experience: “…it’s so much fun, it’s a valued contribution to the fantastic programme, and seeing young and old being inspired for life right here in our city was incredible. Plus I met wonderful people and watched amazing work – for free!”

Join us at this event in August, to network, donate your time and share stories with Kent students and fellow alumni. Also, join our Facebook event page to stay up to date or email alumni@kent.ac.uk – click here to register!

Nostalgia podcast with Graeme Forbes

Nostalgia podcast with Graeme Forbes

Dr Chris Deacy, Reader in Theology and Religious Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, has just released a new episode of his podcast series on ‘Nostalgia’.

In the latest instalment, Chris interviews Dr Graeme Forbes, Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, and talks about which other professions he considered entering before becoming a professional philosopher.

Before coming to Kent Graeme worked at a small liberal arts college in Kansas which leads him to make a number of insightful comments about the differences between the US and UK university systems. Graeme has also worked for Iceland supermarket, been a delegate for the National Union of Studies, and also has experience of stand-up comedy as well as being a life member of Keele Drama Society. Graeme also discusses his Scottish ancestry and he lets us into the secrets of the ‘wall of suspicious family rivalry’. Graeme discusses the way in which a family member used to speak to him in the form of parables. This is then followed by a wider conversation about the extent to which the lack of religion was an influence on Graeme’s life and how drama was an influence on his philosophical career.

Finally, Graeme reveals why he feels the need to be an imperialist when it comes to philosophy and we learn whether, as a philosopher of time, Graeme is a backward-looking or a forward-looking type of person.

The podcast is available here.