Colleagues are invited to attend the CSHE Seminar taking place on Thursday 7 March 2019, from 16.00-17.00.  The speaker, Michelle Grue from Girvetz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will be live streamed to the UELT Seminar Room in Canterbury and M1-16 in Medway.

The call for diversifying academic curriculum has been sounding on both sides of the Atlantic and scholars are heeding it. Yet, the reality remains that the majority of faculty members in both the United States and United Kingdom are white and trained in traditional, Western academic canons. For academics who want to diversify the curriculum, determining how to actually do so can be challenging. Michelle Grue will explain the perspectives, questions, and methods that framed a collaborative research project on which she and her colleagues examined the degree requirements and course offerings in the top-50 Ph.D. granting sociology departments in the US.  She will also briefly summarise and discuss the findings. With these frameworks and methods in hand, attendees should be equipped to begin a similar examination of their own program’s course offerings and canon.

To confirm your attendance please complete the online booking form.

Kent Sport has the perfect way to keep your children entertained this Easter holiday, with five days of professional sports coaching, led by qualified and DBS checked coaches and supported by sports supervisors.

If your children are aged five to 14 and would enjoy taking part in a variety of sporting activities on a daily basis, including football, kwik cricket, tag rugby, hockey and tennis, then book them on EasterZone 2019! An introduction to new sports and activities will be on offer along with the opportunity for children to develop their skills in specific sports and make new friends in a fun environment.

EasterZone 2019 runs from Monday 8 to Friday 12 April. Prices are £30 per day / £110 for one week per child. University of Kent staff and student discounts are available. Late pick-ups from 3pm to 5pm are also available for an extra £10 per day per child.

Closing date for applications will be Friday 22 March 2019 and we will be unable to accept bookings after this date. Find out more about EasterZone and book your places online.

Please contact sportsdevelopment@kent.ac.uk if you have any queries or call 01227 816391.

Immerse yourself in Word Birds, featuring a selection of luminaries from the world of music journalism and authorship. Line-up includes Punk Girl Diaries, acclaimed biographer Zoë Howe, Guardian Staff feature writer and music columnist Laura Barton, author Lucy O’Brien and author of The Guardian’s Best Music Book of the Year for her recently published memoir ‘First Time Ever’, Peggy Seeger.

Marking International Women’s Day weekend, Song Bird / Word Bird is a mini festival at Gulbenkian on Sat 9 March and designed to celebrate women in music, whether you want to explore what makes a female icon or enjoy cutting edge sounds from the musical fringes. You can book a ticket to either element, or buy a ticket that gets you into everything! Song Bird / Word Bird is a Glass Ceiling Production.

Part of #InternationalWomensDay Festival at Gulbenkian. Find out more online.

Dr Deborah Gabriel, Founder/Director of Black British Academics, will be the speaker at the 3D Pedagogy Workshop on Wednesday 27 February.

The workshop takes place from 14.00 to 15.30 at the Rochester Boardroom (R2-0), Medway campus.

The event forms part of the Student Success Strategy within the School of Sport and Exercise Science and supports the current curriculum review within the school.

Book early to avoid disappointment; limited spaces available. You can register for the above event via Eventbrite.

We look forward to seeing you at this exciting event.

An event co-hosted by the University of Kent’s ‘Understanding Unbelief’ project, the Pontifical Council for Culture (the Vatican department responsible for dialogue with non-believers), and the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network, will explore ground-breaking new research advancing the scientific understanding of atheism and nonreligion.

Taking place at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from 28-30 May 2019, the ‘Cultures of Unbelief’ conference presents findings from the multidisciplinary research programme, aiming to map the nature and diversity of ‘unbelief’ across the world.

Gordon Lynch, Michael Ramsey Professor of Modern Theology for the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Kent, said: ‘The growth of different forms of non-religion has been a significant development in many societies across the world in recent decades. This conference, drawing together findings from the most substantial international programme of research in this field, promises to be a genuinely landmark event in taking forward both our understanding of the varieties of non-religion and the social implications of these.’

Dr Lois Lee, Senior Research Fellow in Religious Studies in SECL, is Principal Investigator for Understanding Unbelief. The project, which is supported by a £2.3 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation is co-led by psychologist Dr Miguel Farias (Coventry University), anthropologist Dr Jonathan Lanman (Queen’s University Belfast), and sociologist Professor Stephen Bullivant (St Mary’s University).

Recent popes have repeatedly voiced a desire for greater understanding between ‘those to whom religion is something foreign, to whom God is unknown’ as Pope Benedict XVI put it in 2009 when he announced his new initiative for Christian-atheist dialogue known as the Court of Gentiles. More recently, Pope Francis has written of ‘a sincere and rigorous dialogue’ with nonbelievers as being ‘nothing other than positive, not only for us individually but also for the society in which we live’.

The current collaboration comes at a time when rates of unbelief and non-religion appear to be rapidly rising across the world, with potentially significant social, cultural, and political implications. New figures published last year by Understanding Unbelief researcher Stephen Bullivant revealed that 70% of UK 18-29 year-olds identify as having ‘no religion’.

Chris Morrison would like to invite you to a session of Copyright the Card Game which will be held on Thursday 28 February (10.00 – 12.30) in Room A108 (Templeman Library).

Aligned with the themes Personal development and Policy and legislation, the Learning outcomes will be:

• Understand how copyright really works in HE
• Encounter existing licences and the new legislative framework
• Practice using the exceptions and licences in specific HE examples
• Discuss the role of risk management in making decisions

Further details are on the Kent Copyright Literacy blog. If you’re interested in attending please contact copyright@kent.ac.uk

We look forward to seeing you there!

Graduating this year and not sure what to do next?

Want to improve your skills through further study?

Have an interest in technology?

Come along to the Postgraduate Open Event to find out more about the MSc Computer Science conversion course. Open to students from any degree.

Visit the School of Computing stand at the Postgraduate Open Event on Tuesday 5 March, 17.00-19.00, Darwin Conference Suite

Further details can be found online.

This workshop aims to provide a very practical approach, utilising interaction and discussion, providing opportunity to interact with other managers/supervisors from across the University, share common experience and knowledge and increase internal networks, whilst developing an understanding of the induction, probation, appraisal (RPD) processes, as well as how to consider and create development plans for staff across your team.

Aimed at Line Managers, the workshop is taking place on Friday 22nd February, 9.30-12.30. Please book your place by logging onto Staff Connect.

The Learning and Organisational Development Team will be running a seminar on HRT and The Menopause on Friday 8 March 2019 in the Rochester Board room, Rochester Building, Medway campus starting at 09.30 until 11.15. This important seminar will provide information, advice and guidance on the Menopause, how it affects women and the impact of this from a work perspective.

This seminar will be delivered in two parts:

• Part 1 a presentation by Anita Ralph MSc (Herbal Medicine), MNIMH MCPP, who will share and open for discussion holistic medical approaches in treating the symptoms of The Menopause.
• Part 2 of the seminar will be a presentation by Miss Anne Henderson – Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, who will share information and discuss The Menopause and Prescription HRT, medications etc.

This seminar is open to everyone (this includes men). The menopause is something that affects not only those who are going through it but also colleagues, managers and others who are there to support people who are going through it.