Monthly Archives: September 2019

INK Inform Kent logo

Working to ensure dignity and respect for all

Everyone should feel and secure at Kent—we’re here to support you.

Inform Kent (inK) is a new confidential online service to make it easier for you to report incidents of sexual assault/rape, harassment, relationship abuse or hate crime and ensure you have access to the right support.

Or, if you prefer, your report can be anonymous. Information you provide will make our university the safest it can be.

Access inK at: ink.kent.ac.uk/

Find out more about how  else we  can support you at: kent.ac.uk/studentsupport

Helen Stokes portrait

Chair of Royal College of GPs to give Foundation Day Lecture

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), will give the University’s annual Foundation Day Lecture on Friday 27 September.

The title of Professor Stokes-Lampard’s lecture is ‘Healthcare Now and For The Future’. It will take place in the Gulbenkian Theatre on the University’s Canterbury campus 6pm – 7pm. It is free and open to all with no booking required but seating will be on a first-come basis.

The Foundation Day Lecture celebrates the University’s many achievements since receiving its Royal Charter in 1965.

Professor Chris Holland, Dean of the new Kent and Medway Medical School, a collaboration between the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University, said: ‘I am delighted that Helen will be giving this year’s lecture. She has been an exciting and inspirational leader and role model for General Practice. She embodies the vision of contemporary General Practice that will encourage our future graduates to consider this route as a career.’

The RCGP is the UK’s largest Medical Royal College, representing over 52,000 family doctors across the UK and internationally. The Chair shapes policy and leads the strategy of the College, working with politicians, policy makers and the media to ensure that the ‘voice’ of general practice and GPs is understood and represented.

During her time as Chair Professor Lampard-Stokes has built alliances and collaborated across the breadth of health and social care with the aim of improving the working life for GP’s and insuring the highest possible standards of care for all.

She is a part-time GP partner at a practice in Staffordshire and a professor in the Medical School at the University of Birmingham (Chair of Undergraduate GP Education).

Prior to training as a GP, she worked in Obstetrics and Gynaecology for several years and this experience shaped her clinical and academic aspirations. She was a personal mentor for doctors in difficulty in the Midlands until 2016, a scheme supported by the West Midlands Deanery and RCGP Midland Faculty.

Canterbury Cathedral at night

Canterbury Cathedral Welcome for Students: Tues 24 Sept

The Cathedral authorities, in collaboration with Kent University Chaplaincy, invite Kent University students a special welcome evening at Canterbury Cathedral which will include a private tour of the building after it has been closed to the public.

There will also be a reception with free food and drink; a welcome talk and a chance to hear the world famous men and boys choir.

Tickets available here: https://store.kent.ac.uk/product-catalogue/events/chaplaincy-trips/cathedral-evening-tuesday-24th-september-2019  or free of charge direct from the Chaplaincy s.c.e.laird@kent.ac.uk

University of Kent Players

University of Kent Players auditions

The University of Kent Players are back with another radio play extravaganza!  We will be taking a trip down the rabbit hole with Alice in Wonderland to be performed on 29 and 30 November 2019.

Auditions will be held on:

  • Tuesday 24 September 12.30-14.00 in CE329
  • Thursday 26 September 17.30-19.30pm in CE329 (arrive from 17.00 for a 17.30 start)

It would be great if you’re able to attend both audition dates, but this is not essential. The audition process itself is fairly informal, with a chance to meet everyone and ask questions before the audition begins.  We will ease you into the audition with a couple of warm up exercises, before breaking into small groups to work on different sections of the script which will then be performed to the audition panel and the other auditionees.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch at players@kent.ac.uk

There are a number of acting and non-acting roles available – we need everyone from cast to tech to front of house.

The Players are a super friendly group with diverse levels of experience, so everyone is welcome!

And if you’re new to The Players, or generally feeling a little unsure, then we’d be glad to meet up over a coffee and help put you at ease.

computing education conference

Inaugural computing education conference hosted at Kent

The School of Computing hosted the first UK and Ireland computing education conference (UKICER) on 5 and 6 September. The intention is for this to become the first of a series of annual conferences to create a community of computing education research within the two countries.

Conference Chair Janet Carter said: ‘The atmosphere was relaxed and supportive with presenters talking on a range of themes including transitions to higher education, assessment, environments and context.’

The University also hosted the ACM-W Inspire 2019 workshop. The theme was “Rising Together” with exciting talks on supporting, mentoring and advocating women to achieve their full potential in both tech industry and academia.

Read more on the School of Computing webpages.

Digital accessibility

Ensuring our digital content is accessible to all

The University has joined forces with other public sector bodies to ensure Kent becomes a digitally inclusive county.

The Kent Digital Accessibility Working Group – made up of the University and its ‘Kent Connect’ partners including local authorities, police and fire – aims to meet rules outlined in the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations (2018).

Members of the group from across the University are already working on a training plan for all organisations involved, as well as adding to the team of experienced accessibility auditors across the county to ensure that all Kent websites are accessible to all.

The Kent Digital Accessibility Working Group are also taking steps to ensure the University’s own digital content is fully accessible. The aim is to improve access for all and this work compliments the Kent Inclusive Practices (KIPs) that the University has already endorsed.

In addition, the new web template – Site Editor – is designed to be highly accessible, and digital guidelines are being shared with schools and departments to help prepare content for those webpages. i.e a review current content and removal of obsolete information

The following principles can and should be applied to all digital material at Kent to help ensure a fully inclusive environment. They include:

  • Keep content simple
  • Keep it efficient
  • Make sure the text is accessible to other applications
  • Structure your text with style sheets/semantic tags
  • Ensure text can be personalised and reflows when magnified
  • Use short image descriptions known as alt-tags
  • Test it!

You can see the digital guidelines for more detailed support and information. The working group also have created a Digital Accessibility e-learning package in Moodle to give more detail about the regulations and how they will be rolled out across the University of Kent.

Talk to Me seated figure by Steuart Padwick

Will Wollen contributes to ‘Talk to Me’

Will Wollen, actor and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Drama and Theatre, has lent his voice to a series of talking sculptures to go on display in King’s Cross from this Friday.

The installation ‘Talk to Me’ has been designed by Steuart Padwick and will be displayed as part of the festival ‘designjunction‘, running from 19 to 22 September 2019 in the N1C area of London.

The installation consists of two monumental interactive sculptures of cuboid wooden figures. As people walk by, a proximity sensor is triggered, and the figures will begin to voice poignant and uplifting words. These conversations start to crack the ‘burden’, provoking conversations about mental health. ‘Talk to Me’ is a hopeful piece, reminding us that through communication with one another the weight so many of us carry, can be lessened.

Will joins actors and perfomers Niamh Cusack, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Tom Goodman-Hill, Joelle Taylor, Adam Kammerling and Chris Thorpe, in voicing the talking sculptures.

‘It’s been a pleasure to be involved in this important project,’ said Will. ‘Being available to talk and listen to our fellow human beings can be life-saving.’

The sculptures will be situated along King’s Boulevard in Kings Cross, London, until 22 September.

For more details, please see:
http://www.steuartpadwick.co.uk/talktome/

Film by alumna Nimasu Namsaren

Film by alumna Nimasu Namsaren features at Pushkin House

Nimasu Namsaren, who graduated with a BA (Hons) in Film this summer, will feature in an ongoing series of events on ‘Exploring Identity in Student Filmmaking’, at Pushkin House in London on Friday 27 September 2019.

The series aims to explore questions around the concept of modern Russian identity and how it has evolved and manifests in young people. The first in the series will feature a presentation by Nimasu followed by a screening of her short film Mavzhuda.

Mavzhuda, which won the Best Film award at the Canterbury University Film Festival 2019 and was selected for the Lift-off First-time Filmmaker Sessions and the Zlaty Voci Student Film Festival, tells the story of the eponymous 12-year-old girl who immigrates to Russia from Uzbekistan with her family. Her new life in St Petersburg is challenging and in order to fit in she starts to forget her own culture and language and loses the connection with her grandmother. One day after school, Mavzhuda ignores her while walking together with other kids, and the pain that she inadvertently brings to the family helps her to find her own place in the hectic world around.

Pushkin House is a Registered Charity which aims to support and promote Russian culture in London and beyond, and provides a focus for Anglo-Russian cultural exchange, education and information about the Russian language, arts, literature and music. In pursuit of these aims, Pushkin House has developed a varied cultural programme on Russian literature, art, film, music, theatre and dance, as well as history, philosophy and politics. Events include lectures and talks, seminars, conferences, exhibitions, films, concerts and readings.

To attend the event, you need to become a member of Young Pushkin. Membership includes free entry to thought-provoking talks, £5 tickets to Music Salon concerts, a curated programme of completely free events and creative networking opportunities. You can sign up for membership here: www.pushkinhouse.org/young-pushkin

More information about the event is available here:
www.pushkinhouse.org/events/exploring-identity-in-student-filmmaking

 

Two students with back to camera and one student smiling to camera

A returning student’s checklist

Welcome back! If you’re returning to Kent after the summer break, here’s a helpful summary for settling back in.

Timetables will be on the Student Guide before term starts on the 23 September 2019.

Lectures for all modules and stage 2 & 3 module group allocations will be released on Monday 9 September 2019.

For Stage 0 & 1 modules, group allocations will be finalised by Friday 20 September 2019.

You must be registered on your modules for your personal timetable to show. Continue to go back and check your timetable regularly for updates including other events. Read our Timetabling FAQs.

You will need to register on SDS from Tuesday 17 September 2019 (now OPEN) so we know you’re definitely coming back. You don’t need to register in person or attend arrivals weekend. This is for new students. Please pay any outstanding fees to the University so you can register and delays are avoided. To ensure swift payment of your student loan, you are advised to re-register by Wednesday 18 September 2019. It takes 3-5 working days from the point of registration for funds to be released to your account. Read more.

Term starts on Monday 23 September 2019. Welcome Week is the week before (16-20 September). View term dates

If you’ve got a new phone, tablet or laptop, get it Kent WiFi-ready before you come back to campus by running our WiFi setup tool. For friends or family visiting campus, WiFi Guest is available for those who don’t have a Kent IT Account, an eduroam account or govroam account.

Living off campus is very different from living in University accommodation. Read our community webpages for information on bills, bins, neighbours and much more!

Highlights and new developments include:

The new Kent and Medway Medical School – with their first students starting in September 2020.

The Mandela Building is becoming the new home of Kent Union’s Jobshop, the Full Time Officers, the Advice Centre, sports, societies and volunteering. Mandela will also have a small study/social space, a student kitchen, student toilet facilities and union offices.

There have been renovations to the Sail and Colour Loft, home to Kent Business School at Medway.

There are more places to study in Templeman library including study pods and techno-booths for group work, and individual study carrels for private study.

Medfest doubled the number of visitors attending the festival and was a great success, with rides and live performances.

The School of Economics has moved to the Kennedy Building, which is located between the Sports Centre, Jennison and opposite Sibson. The Kennedy building provides more dedicated social and meeting spaces for students and staff. There are also 11 new central teaching rooms in the building including an IT suite.

Team Medway won the inter-campus Varsity 8-4 against Team Greenwich.

Over at the Pavilion in Parkwood, Kent Sport is working on a brand new indoor tennis and events area open to members.

Have a great 2019-20 at Kent!