Monthly Archives: October 2019

Professor Amina Memon

Annual psychology lecture to focus on police witness interview technique

Professor Amina Memon will give the University of Kent’s School of Psychology Annual Lecture 2019.

itled ‘Interviewing witnesses of crime: State of the science and future directions’, her lecture will take place on 31 October in Sibson Lecture Theatre 1 at 6.15pm. It is free and open to all.

Professor Amina Memon is director of the interdisciplinary Research Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law at Royal Holloway. She conducts robust and ecologically valid research on the use of cognitive techniques in police investigations. Her work has important implications for how children, vulnerable adults and seniors are interviewed and how these interviews are undertaken and processed by police officers, judges and other professionals within the judiciary system.

She has served as an expert witness in civil and criminal cases where she has been consulted on her expert knowledge on child witnesses, memory, eyewitness identification and historic abuse in the UK and USA.

For her lecture she will review the impact of the cognitive interview (CI), an ethical and effective model of interviewing that draws on the science of memory and communication. The appeal of the CI lies in its flexibility to be adapted for use in different contexts. Within the policing and criminal justice context, it’s been invaluable in inspiring research with different populations to examine how cognitive deficits and other challenges may compromise witness testimony. When used appropriately the CI results in a questioning style that minimises bias that can come from interviewers or misleading information.

Professor Memon will also consider the future applications of the tool including its potential for gathering information about human rights abuses and the benefits for interviewers as well as interviewees.

Kent’s Dr Emma Alleyne, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology, will provide the welcome and introductions.

Signature Research Themes

Signature Research Theme selection: 29 November

Over the summer, many of those involved in the Expression of interests for Signature Research Themes have been developing their ideas and expanding their scope by talking to researchers across the University and beyond. We now need your help as we prepare to select our first Themes.

Shortlisted groups will be asked to present their vision for their Theme to all interested colleagues from across the university on the morning of 29 November in Colyer-Fergusson. Everyone across the University is invited to attend – please put this date in your diary.

This will be a chance for all those present to ask questions, and then to sign up to be a part of any themes to which they think their work might contribute. Later on that day, a panel of internal and external, national and international  experts, chaired by our Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Karen Cox, will select the themes that currently best reflect who we are and give the chance to expand upon Kent’s research excellence.

These are our Research Themes, and our chance to shape what research at Kent looks like and how it works. Please come along and have your say on them.

Tim Hopthrow, Catherine Richardson, Dan Mulvihill and Sarah Slowe

Professor Irma receives award for economic research

Congratulations to the School’s Professor Irma Clots-Figueras who received the XVIII Banco Sabadell Foundation Award for Economic Research at an awards ceremony on 8 October 2019.

Irma received this highly prestigious award for her quantitative research on gender aspects of political economy. The award, which includes an endowment of 30,000 euros, aims to encourage and recognise the work of researchers in the fields of economic, business, legal and social knowledge and contribute to the analysis and formulation of alternatives that promote social welfare.

Established in 2002 and presented annually, the award is aimed at researchers under 40 who have an outstanding research curriculum in the aforementioned fields. Candidates for the award can be proposed by universities, academic and research centres, foundations, companies and other national and international institutions.

Irma was presented with the award by the president of Banco Sabadell, Josep Oliu, during an event at the headquarters of Sabadell Herro, in Oviedo, Spain, which was attended by the president of the Principality of Asturias, Adrián Barbón. Antonio Cabrales, Professor of Economics and Director of the Department of Economics at University College London and Executive Vice President of the European Economics Association, described Irma as “a special researcher in our country [Spain] in that her work highlights the interaction between political, social and economic development institutions”, and highlighted “her contributions to understanding how the participation of women in political life contributes not only to the well-being of women but to general well-being ”.

About the Banco Sabadell Foundation

The Banco Sabadell Foundation was established as a private foundation in 1994 with the aim of stimulating excellence and promoting knowledge of culture. Its objective is to promote dissemination, training and research activities in the educational, scientific and cultural fields, as well as to promote and support young talent.

Image of Nora Laraki

PhD student Nora Laraki curates exhibition on the Berlin Wall

Doctoral student Nora Laraki, who is completing a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Art, has curated and produced an exhibition at the 12 Star Gallery in Europe House, London, entitled ‘”If Only You Could Be Here…”: Love Letters Across the Berlin Wall’.

The Berlin Wall divided East and West Germany for nearly 30 years until its fall in 1989. East and West Germany only had limited opportunities to visit each other, and even less for East and West Berliners. Families, friends and lovers were divided and many people tried to escape from East to West.

The exhibition features works by the Berlin art collective Tape That, and focuses on three special love stories between East and West Germans that took place in the shadow of the Berlin Wall. Three couples fell in love during the German division. Their stories, of love that defied a time of isolation and separation, were kept alive through letters. Here, in this exhibition you will have the opportunity to see Germany’s Cold War history from a new and unexpected perspective. This is a story about devotion without borders, without walls, told in the words of the lovers themselves.

The exhibition is supported by the German Historical Institute of London and the Goethe-Institut in London, and was produced in partnership with the European Commission.

Nora’s research project is entitled ‘What is the Impact of Corporate Art Collectors on the West-European Contemporary Art Market (and its Art Production)?’, and is supervised by Dr Ben Thomas, Reader in the History of Art.

The 12 Star Gallery is open from 10am-6pm, Monday to Friday and is located at 32 Smith Square, London SW1P 3EU. The exhibition runs until 31 October and will then move to the German Historical Institute London, where it can be visited between the 5th November and 5th December at 17 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2NJ. The German Historical Institute is open Monday to Friday from 9.30am – 5pm and Thursdays from 9.30am – 8pm.

More details are available here: https://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/events/12-star-gallery_en

Image of Joy Martindale

School of Arts hosts ‘Lilacs in Bloom’ artwork

The School of Arts is currently hosting an artwork installation as part of the Platforma 5 festival, currently running across the Kent and Medway region.

The biennial Platforma festival for the arts by, with, and about refugees and migration is produced by Counterpoints Arts. It brings together artists, organisations, funders and others for discussions, workshops and the chance to share practice and showcase new work.

The piece, entitled ‘Lilacs in Bloom’ by artist Joy C Martindale, is a participatory artwork made in collaboration with survivors of modern-day slavery and human trafficking. The participants of the project were a gentleman from Lithuania and a mother from West Africa and her three young children. Working with paint and scraps of colourful cloth collected by Joy along the tidelines of the coast in Southeast Kent, the artist and the participants explored creativity as a means of being free in the moment to choose how to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas.

You can read more about the process of putting together the artwork here.

The artwork is currently on display in the Jarman foyer, until 25 October 2019.

Fitness Instructors attend massive Fitness Fiesta

Kent Sport prides itself on the knowledge of its staff in and out of the Fitness Suite. In order to keep up on trends, open itself to new ideas and provide first-rate classes, Kent Sport Fitness Instructors attend various fitness events throughout the year.

For the 10th year running, Jeni Dexter-Mullane, Emma Cooke and Liz Coult attended the Fitness Fiesta in Camber Sands at the beginning of October. It’s a gruelling schedule with up to six hours a day of back-to-back classes. Classes included everything from Yoga to Spinning to Dancing to even Nordic Walking (perhaps not one that you’ll see one of our timetables soon). Each instructor did more than 36,000 steps a day!

The team attend these events to upskill themselves, learning tricks of the trade and insider secrets to make their classes the best they can offer.

Why not have a go at one of the many fitness and dance classes available at Kent Sport and experience how fun they are for yourself?! Visit www.kent.ac.uk/sports/events for class information or pick up a copy of Active Kent in the Sport Centre or Pavilion receptions.

The crew expect to check out the next event in the upcoming months of November 2019 and March 2020. To learn more about the event, visit fitnessfiesta.com.

Not a member yet? We have new membership options to suit your fitness journey. For Kent Sport news, events and special offers, Like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter @UniKentSports.

To stay up to date with Kent Sport news, Like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter UniKentSports. If you have any questions you can email sportsenquiries@kent.ac.uk.

Kent-Ghent 2020: Joint call for projects

The University of Kent, with one of our longstanding international partners, Ghent University, Belgium, is pleased to announce the call for joint Kent-Ghent collaborative projects taking place in 2020.

The funding will support mobility between colleagues at the two institutions (for example short-term staff/student exchange, seminars, workshops, preparatory meetings to establish longer-term collaboration such as double degrees, joint research projects and other activities such as those funded through the Erasmus+ Key Actions).

Since 2009, the Universities of Kent and Ghent have enjoyed a strategic international partnership covering activities in student exchange, Erasmus Mundus, co-supervision of research, joint research and the exchange of knowledge and best practice between staff in professional services.

Marking the tenth year of this partnership, we are increasing the funding available and seeking to support both small scale and/or exploratory initiatives as well as collaborations at a more advanced stage.

To date, over forty projects have been funded in a wide range of Kent Schools and Centres.  These include Anthropology and Conservation, Arts, Economics, Engineering and Digital Arts, English, European Culture and Languages, History, Kent Business School, Kent Law School, Medway School of Pharmacy, Physical Sciences, Politics and International Relations, Psychology, Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, Sport and Exercise Sciences, Centre for Journalism, Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Film and the Moving Image.

Funding available: up to £3,000 per project (subject to meeting certain criteria)

How to apply: Applications are now open via the International Partnerships website.

Application deadline: 31 January 2020

Further information can be found on the website.

Alternatively you can contact Jan Lowe, International Partnerships Email:

j.lowe@kent.ac.uk  Tel: 01227 824108

Medway Student Support Bursary

The Universities at Medway have been awarded a further significant donation to The Medway Student Support Bursary.

This donation will provide bursaries to home (UK/EU) students from Canterbury Christ Church University, University of Greenwich and the University of Kent each year.  This is an excellent opportunity to apply for additional funding and the selected recipients will receive a bursary of either £2,500 (Autumn applications) or £1,250 (Spring applications).

To be eligible you must meet the following criteria:

  • Be a home student (UK/EU)
  • Be currently registered full or part-time on an undergraduate degree programme based at the Medway Campus
  • Demonstrate a household income of £42,875 or less

Application form can be found below:

Medway Student Support Bursary application form 2019-2020 Academic Year

To be considered you must submit a 350-500 word statement explaining your financial circumstances, what you intend to do with the award, and your future aspirations. You may also want to include some extracurricular activities or work you might have done e.g. voluntary work.

This award is for those struggling financially and is intended only for the student’s use and not for family support.

If successful, you would be required to:

  • Write a thank you letter to the donors explaining how the Bursary will be used to support you before being awarded your first payment
  • Before the second payment, you will need to submit a report outlining how the Bursary has supported you and impacted your studies by 1st March 2020 (Autumn applications) and 24 May 2020 (Spring applications)
  • Sign a Bursary Agreement which sets out the conditions of the bursary award

Successful recipients will be able to hold other awards whilst in receipt of the Medway Student Support Bursary such as the NSP and may reapply for a further bursary in subsequent years.

Students out on a placement year are not eligible for that year, but may apply once academic studies are resumed.

All applications confirmed as meeting the eligibility criteria will be taken forward. The bursary recipient(s) will be chosen by the Medway Student Support Bursary Board which will meet in early December (Autumn applications) and early March (Spring applications) and all applicants will be advised of the outcome shortly afterwards.

Your completed application along with all required evidence can be scanned and emailed to us at medwaymastersoffice@kent.ac.uk or a paper application can be submitted to M2-25 (Medway Building 2nd Floor).

Deadline: 12 noon on the 8 November 2019 (Autumn applications) and 7 February 2019 (Spring applications).

 

Join the Kent Language Exchange Community

Do you speak Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin or Russian?

There is a Language Exchange event from 15:00-17:00 on Wednesday 6th November 2019 (Week 7)

Venue: Chipperfield Building Atrium

This is an opportunity for students learning world languages with the Centre for English and World Languages to meet students who are native or fluent speakers of their target language at the University.

Come along to share your cultural knowledge and help other students with their language practice.

Further information can be found here.

Shane Weller on ‘Europe: The History of an Idea’

Professor Shane Weller, Head of School and Professor of Comparative Literature, has given a talk titled ‘Europe: The History of an Idea’ at St John’s College Old Divinity School in Cambridge as part of this year’s Cambridge Festival of Ideas.

The 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union triggered a passionate debate about the advantages and disadvantages of EU membership. However, in that debate, the distinction between the European Union and Europe more generally was blurred. What exactly do we mean when we refer to ‘Europe’?

In his talk, Shane sought to answer that question by considering the long history of the idea of Europe, which extends back to ancient Greece. He says: ‘I believe that, as we attempt to imagine possible futures for Europe, we have much to learn from the past.’