The University of Kent’s Athena SWAN team has grown to its full strength this month. We warmly welcome Anne-Marie Baker (Project Manager) and Camille Barbagallo (Post-doc Research Associate) to the team, that already consists of Minna Janhonen (Athena SWAN Adviser), Ellen Dowie (Data Analyst) and Sarah Vickerstaff (Athena SWAN Working Group Chair).

The University of Kent put in the Institutional Athena SWAN Bronze Renewal application last November and is expecting to hear the results from the ECU (Equality Challenge Unit) on 30 April. Since last November the team has been implementing the Athena SWAN Action Plan as well as supporting Schools with their departmental submissions.

In case you have any questions or comments, please email athenaswan@kent.ac.uk and we’ll get back to you!

In the picture: Athena SWAN team (from left); Ellen Dowie, Anne-Marie Baker, Sarah Vickerstaff, Camille Barbagallo and Minna Janhonen.

Message from David Nightingale, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost:

As you may know, the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) will be coming in from 25 May 2018, which will have a discernible impact on how we obtain, update and use the personal information we hold on our constituents and stakeholders. The Information Compliance team and Development Office have been preparing various processes and resources to support the University in remaining compliant and will deliver some information sessions for data users in schools and departments across the institution.

The following sessions are designed to give those working on employability, alumni relations, fundraising, recruitment and marketing, or anyone else using personal data, a chance to hear about the general ‘dos and don’ts’ and guidance going forward. Any colleague may go to any session, though, if you work in a faculty, it might be helpful to go the one specific to that faculty as any questions raised may be more pertinent.

If relevant to your role, I recommend you attend if you can. Please register below so that the organisers can ensure the room is fit for purpose. If you cannot attend a session and have concerns, you may contact the Development Office or Information Compliance team directly.

Tuesday 17 April 10-11am, Keynes Lecture Theatre 3 (Social Sciences) Register here
Friday 20 April 10-11am, Keynes Lecture Theatre 3 (Humanities) Register here
Monday 23 April 10-11am, Keynes Lecture Theatre 3 (Sciences) Register here
Thursday 26 April 10-11am, Medway building 3-04 (All) Register here

Kent consumer law expert Professor Iain Ramsay has been appointed to the sub-panel for law for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, the UK’s national assessment of research in higher education institutions.

The REF is the UK’s system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. Experts are appointed to sub-panels for each of the 34 subjects assessed, all working under the guidance of four main panels.

Professor Ramsay has internationally acknowledged research expertise in consumer law and policy, insolvency law, and regulation, and has extensive knowledge of commercial credit and contract law research in both Europe and North America.

Before joining Kent Law School in 2007, he was Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Canada where he was also Editor-in-Chief of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal from 2003 – 2006.

Professor Ramsay has extensive experience of policy research in the UK, Canada and EU and is frequently invited to play a leading role in a range of international and national level policy, legal, and academic bodies. Most recently he was a member of the Working Group on Financial Services for Revision of the 2016 United Nations Guidelines on Consumer Protection.

Regarded as one of the foremost world scholars in consumer law, Professor Ramsay’s research profile includes a recently commissioned World Bank report on the Insolvency of Natural Persons. He publishes widely in journals across the world and has authored 12 books, 7 substantial policy reports and over 70 refereed journal articles and chapters in edited collections. His most recent book on the comparative development of insolvency regimes, Personal Insolvency in the 21st Century: A comparative analysis of the US and Europe (Hart, 2017), engages with historical institutionalism.

Dave Jordan, Health & Safety and Food Safety Advisor for Kent Hospitality is the winner of the March Pride Award. The Personal Responsibility in Delivering Excellence Award recognised Dave’s dedicated attitude and hard work for providing additional support to a residential student on the Canterbury campus in a time of need.

Any Kent Hospitality staff (permanent or casual) may be nominated from Canterbury and Medway campuses. The award is given in March, June, September/October and December with each winner receiving £100 of shopping vouchers, a certificate and a Pride pin badge.

It’s really easy to nominate a member of the Kent Hospitality team for a Pride Award. Just visit the Pride website and complete our online form.

The closing date for the next Pride Award is Wednesday 13 June 2018 at 12 noon.

The University of Kent Players are raising money for a local stroke charity by performing Arnold Ridley’s ‘The Ghost Train’ at the Gulbenkian on 12, 13 and 14 April.

The Ghost Train plot revolves around a party of assorted railway travellers who find themselves stranded in the waiting room of an isolated country station in the evening. Despite the stationmaster’s weird stories of a ghost train, they decide to stay the night in the waiting room. Soon they regret this decision as ghostly and not so ghostly apparitions materialise, before a young man reveals the true reason behind the night’s events.

Book your tickets online now via the Gulbenkian website.

Profits from ticket and programme sales will go to Canterbury and Coastal Stroke Association.

The next step for the current USS dispute has now been announced at national level. The conciliation service Acas has made proposals which UCU and UUK will now take to consultation with respective parties. As part of the Acas proposal, UCU will consult its branches and members on ending industrial action.

The proposals are as follows:

1. A formally agreed Joint Expert Panel, comprised of actuarial and academic experts nominated in equal numbers from both sides will be commissioned, to deliver a report. Its task will be to agree key principles to underpin the future joint approach of UUK and UCU to the valuation of the USS fund.
2. It will require maintenance of the status quo in respect of both contributions into USS and current pension benefits, until at least April 2019.
3. There will be a jointly agreed chair whose first step will be to oversee the agreement of the terms of reference, the order of work and timescales with the parties. Any recommendations by the group must be based on a majority view of the panel without the use of a casting vote. A secretariat, jointly agreed by the parties, will be appointed.
4. The panel will focus in particular on reviewing the basis of the scheme valuation, assumptions and associated tests. It will take into account the unique nature of the HE sector, inter-generational fairness and equality considerations, the need to strike a fair balance between ensuring stability and risk. Recognising that staff highly value Defined Benefit provision, the work of the group will reflect the clear wish of staff to have a guaranteed pension comparable with current provision whilst meeting the affordability challenges for all parties, within the current regulatory framework.
5. The panel will make an assessment of the valuation. If in the light of that contributions or benefits need to be adjusted in either direction, both parties are committed to agree to recommend to the JNC and the trustee, measures aimed at stabilising the fund to provide a guaranteed pension broadly comparable with current arrangements.
6. Alongside the work of the panel both sides agree to continue discussion on the following areas: comparability between TPS and USS; alternative scheme design options; the role of government in relation to USS; and the reform of negotiating processes to allow for more constructive dialogue as early as possible in the valuation process.
7. Support for this process will need to be sought from the USS trustees and the pensions regulator, recognising their statutory responsibilities. Both UCU and UUK will make the necessary approaches to seek this support.