Monthly Archives: October 2018

Join our new Book Club on Black History

Student Services, Information Services and Kent Union are pleased to launch the first of our Book Clubs, for students and staff who want to feed their literary curiosity and discover new books and resources outside of their academic studies.

This Book Club, launched during Black History Month, features over 30 titles, classic and modern, fiction and non-fiction, from all over the world which explore what it means to be Black both historically and in the world today.

See the books!

Some of these titles are available to borrow from the Templeman or the Drill Hall libraries, or to purchase from Blackwell’s book shop on the Canterbury campus, whilst others you will need to source yourself.

We hope you enjoy them. Challenge yourself – how many can you read in October?

Share your reading comments and pictures on social media with #KentBHM2018 #unikentbookclub

Read more about Kent Union’s activities during Black History Month.

Book clubs

The Book Clubs will feature suggested reading lists, some of which are specifically designed to recognise and acknowledge special awareness months, weeks or days, and will hopefully open new literary worlds for you to discover. Look out for further Book Clubs coming soon!

Get involved!

Is something missing? Students and staff members have the option to submit a reading suggestion via the ‘Recommend a Book’ function via www.kent.ac.uk/library/support/forms/purchase/book.html

Share your views on what you are reading with #unikentbookclub on Twitter and Facebook.

Black History Month Art Exhibition

Black History Month is the celebration of the people of Afro-Caribbean descent, their experiences and goals.

The month’s theme is “Black and Powerful” celebrating the different Black students in Leadership positions across the University.

Over the course of the month there are events run by numerous student groups aiming at teaching, nurturing and supporting students from all backgrounds here at Kent. Visit the Kent Union website to see more this month.

Keynes College, which celebrates 50 years this year, is proud to host two art exhibitions for Black History Month.

The Keynes Atrium features ‘Celebrating Amanda Nsubuga’, a multimedia artist of East African descent, born in London, England. Nsubuga completed a BA Fine Art degree at The University of Kent in 2018. Her work depicts women of colour, and their external beauty, often young girls but sometimes uses herself as a character. She has described her work as non-fictional, with her chosen subjects relating to her own narratives and still representing themselves, exploring personal anecdotes. Her work is executed in sequences, using each medium for separate objectives but the same function. Nsubuga cites Contemporary artists Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Zanele Muholi as influences. Recently, Amanda Nsubuga exhibited at the Old Truman Brewery in London.

The Keynes Teaching Foyer features ‘A History of Immigration to the UK’ by Tania McGee, a highly informative exhibition that tracks the history of immigration from pre-colonisation to the Windrush era, interspersed with photographs, documents and articles to create a high impact visual history.

Location: Keynes College

Dates: 1-31 October 2018

Time: All day

Our new Staff Guide – tell us what you think!

Our brand new Staff Guide webpages are being trialled from today (Wednesday 10 October) and we’d love to know what you think.

The new Guide has been developed following a key recommendation from the Simplifying Kent Internal Project Phase One that we need to find a better way of signposting colleagues to key information.

A team, led by Wendy Raeside and Etienne Donzelot in Corporate Communications, have therefore spent the past few months developing an alternative to the existing Campus Online pages. We have been working closely with colleagues in other key teams across the University, including WebDev and HR, to ensure the new pages contain everything you need to know about working at Kent.

On the new Staff Guide pages, you will find essential staff information in easy-to-search categories, including:

Getting Started
Employment and Benefits
Professional and Personal Development
Day-to-Day Support
Teaching and Research
Safety and Wellbeing
On Campus

You will also see an A-Z section that lists some of the things we find difficult to locate at times – including University policies and regulations, and forms, as well as a How do I? of common staff queries, from claiming expenses to booking a meeting.

A major feature is the new Search function which, in the first instance, is limited to information contained with the Staff Guide pages, and should help you find the key information you’re looking for.

There are also prominent links to key services for staff, including Online Directory, Staff Connect, SharePoint and Emails.

Lower down the home page, you will see highlights of latest staff interest stories, together with a link to the most recent Campus Online and News Centre stories.

The Staff Guide is very much a work in progress – and updates will continue throughout the Beta phase – but we’d really appreciate your feedback on the overall design/content and particular sections you are interested in.

Your feedback is key to ensuring that we get the correct content and the right links in place before launching the Guide as a replacement for the existing Campus Online webpages later this year.

Please take a look at the Guide and tell us what you think by emailing Communications@kent.ac.uk before Friday 9 November 2018.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Etienne Donzelot and Wendy Raeside, Corporate Communications

Leadership Bulletin – latest issue now available

The latest issue of the Leadership Bulletin, designed to give an overview of key developments at Kent, is now available.

The Bulletin is distributed fortnightly to all members of the Leadership Forum to cascade to staff in schools and professional service departments. If you haven’t received your copy yet, you can read the bulletin online.

The latest issue contains a message from the Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Karen Cox, on options being discussed to address our recruitment and income challenges.

There are also updates on Executive Group meetings, Staff Connect Phase 2, our league table rankings and consultation on our masterplan for Canterbury campus.

Find out more about the Leadership Bulletin and see previous issues on the OVC webpages.

World Mental Health Day awareness lecture with EDA

The School of Engineering and Digital Arts is hosting an event on Wednesday October 10 to raise awareness of Mental Health.

The event is part of World Mental Health Day taking place on Wednesday and runs from 13.00 – 14.00pm in the Jennison Lecture theatre.

Paul Kinkaid of Selfless Leadership Ltd will be delivering the talk, focused on several key learning objectives are outlined below:

Introduction to mental health and wellbeing
How positive wellbeing enhances productivity and performance
Top tops for encouraging positive mental health
Signposting to resources for further reading and action

The event is free to attend for both staff and students. You can register online via the event page or just turn up on the day.

A History of Black People in Kent – Gulbenkian Cinema

A special screening of ‘Untold Stories: A History of Black People in Kent’, takes place at Gulbenkian Cinema on Monday 22,October at 19.00.

The short film tells the fascinating stories of some of Kent’s unsung Black heroes, and other notable Black people from, the 19th and 20th Century.

Commissioned by Medway African and Caribbean Association as part of its Black History Live project, the film has been produced and directed by Helen Curston, Associate Lecturer in the School of Engineering and Digital Arts.

The film, which had a sold-out premier at Brook Theatre, Chatham in September, has been shortlisted for an Arts and Humanities Research Council Research in Film award.

Helen Curston, Producer and Director of the film, who is also a Senior lecturer at the University for the Creative Arts ( UCA) commented: ‘I am truly thrilled that Untold Stories has been shortlisted… The Black History Live project is starting to get the recognition it deserves and this nomination recognises the important stories of some of the Black people in Kent and their contribution to the region.’

Winners will be presented with a trophy and prize fund for future projects at a ceremony at BAFTA in November.

The Gulbenkian showing at 19.00 will be followed by a post-film panel discussion. To book tickets and find out more, see Gulbenkian webpages.

HHJ David Griffith-Jones QC to give annual Tucker Millward Guest Lecture

HHJ David Griffith-Jones QC, a record-breaking skydiver with considerable expertise in Sports Law, will be offering his personal ‘Reflections on the Law’ for the Tucker Millward Guest Lecture at Kent next month.

The annual lecture, co-hosted by Kent Law Society and Kent Law School, is open to all and will be held in Grimond Lecture Theatre 1 on Kent’s Canterbury campus at 18.30 on Thursday 15 November.

Judge David Griffith-Jones QC was appointed a Circuit Judge at Maidstone Crown Court in 2007. Earlier this year he became Resident Judge and Honorary Recorder for Maidstone. He is a keen sportsman with interests in triathlon and golf and, this summer, was one of a group of skydivers who broke the UK, European and Commonwealth record for the number of skydivers over 60 in a completed formation (at 15,000ft over Lincolnshire). His interest in sport is reflected throughout his long legal career which includes: being a Committee Member of Bar Sports law Group from 1999 – 2007; joining the Sports Disputes Resolution Panel in 2000; and, as a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, serving on the Panel of Sports Arbitrators since 2002. He has also served as Chairman of the International Criminal Court’s Drugs Appeal Tribunal from 2004 – 2007 and was Chairman of the Lawn Tennis Association Appeals Committee from 2004 – 2006. He has been a contributor for Sport: Law and Practice, a major UK textbook on Sports Law, and is the author of Law and the Business of Sport (Butterworts, 1998).

The lecture will be preceded by refreshments, served in Grimond Foyer, from 18.00. All are welcome, and attendance is free, but attendees are asked to register in advance online.

Science and Society: Ethical concerns in the development of new technologies

Are you interested in the ethical concerns surrounding the development of new technologies? We are in a rapidly-changing world, so how do we view the future? Science and technology have often provided new developments to solve old problems but we can not necessarily rely on answers being available for all situations. Furthermore, there may be ethical issues to consider about the use of new techniques, so where are the boundaries between science and society? What kind of world do we want?

This FREE course aims to provide you with the opportunity to learn more about the above and discuss with fellow colleagues the issues surrounding the following topics:

KE185: Energy
KE186: Conflict and Warfare
KE187: Health and Medical Developments
KE188: Biotechnology
KE189: Artificial Intelligence
KE190: Machines, Robots and A.I.

Employability Points will be awarded to students that attend the course.

For more information, please visit the Study Plus webpage.

Or book your place via SDS.

Introduction of pink zone car share parking bays (trial)

The Estates Department are running a trial to introduce pink zone car share bays at the Canterbury campus. The aim of the trial is to encourage car sharing and reduce single car occupancy where possible, in accordance with the University Travel Plans.

How will the trial work?

From 11 October, 16 parking bays within the Estates car park will be designated for the car share bay trial. These bays will be operated and enforced as follows:

Monday to Friday 8.00-9.30 vehicles displaying two (or more) car share parking permits can park here. No other permit holder (or non-permit holders) can park here during this time.
Monday to Friday 9.31- 17.00 vehicles with a pink zone parking permit or displaying car share permits can park here.
At all other times permit holders and non-permit holders can park here.

As this is a trial, some changes may be made in order to make the car share bays work more effectively. We will regularly review the use of the car share bays. Please send any feedback to TransportTeam@kent.ac.uk

Why has the Estates car park been chosen for the trial?

The Estates car park has been chosen for the trial due to its central location on campus and because it is easy to monitor during the trial period.

What are the benefits of car sharing?

There are many benefits to sharing your journey. Car sharing helps the environment by reducing pollution and congestion, and is a great way to save money.

How do I find someone to car share with?

We have teamed up with the University of Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church University to create UniShare South East (Liftshare.com) – a place to find other staff and students to car share with.

This week is also Liftshare week (1-7 October 2018). If you form a Liftshare team between 24 September and 14 October you will be entered into a prize draw to win a year’s cinema pass for you and a friend.

How do I change my permit to a car share permit?

You will need to complete the car share application form with the people you will be car sharing with and return this to the Transport Team. Please ensure you have read the car share guidelines and agree with these before applying. Once your car share permit has been processed please contact the Transport Team to cancel your previous permit.

Will blue zone car share bays be introduced in the future?

If the trial for pink zone car share bays is successful we may look into the possibility of introducing car share bays in the blue zone car parks.

Learn a language with Language Express

There’s still time to book your place on our Language Express courses starting on Tuesday 9 October 2018! Choose from a wide variety of languages at a number of different ability levels.

Learning a language is a great way to enhance to your CV whilst improving your communication skills and opening your eyes to a different culture.

The courses run throughout the autumn and spring terms and take place in the evening from 18:00 – 20:00.

For more information please visit the Language Express webpages or email languageexpress@kent.ac.uk.

Or if you would like to book your place, please visit our Online Store.