A huge well done to all those who donated at the appeal at the University Carol Service, which raised £2,004 for the local homeless charity, Porchlight (including the Gift Aid element).
Revd Dr Stephen Laird FSA FHEA, University Chaplain and Honorary Lecturer says: ‘Thank you, Sasha, for doing the speech! And thanks to others for the high standard of their active contributions’
The University’s new Ethics Code is now available to read online. The Code – first published in May 2019 – was drafted by the Ethics Committee, a sub-committee of Council, and approved by both Senate and Council.
The Code applies to the University of Kent community – students, staff and members of Council – who are expected to adhere to, uphold and apply the Code during their day-to-day activities.
The Code aims to help community members make decisions where there are ethical implications. These are a common feature across all areas of University life – from staff members deciding whether to accept a gift from an external supplier, to behaviour and decisions taken during elections for student and staff committee posts. The Code also identifies how and where ethical concerns should be raised.
The Code has guidelines built around the following headings:
1 – Responsibility and accountability
2 – Integrity, honesty and transparency
3 – Academic freedom, critical thinking and intellectual creativity
4 – Equality, diversity and inclusivity
5 – Collegiality
6 – Sustainability
7 – Making a positive impact
Sarah Gibson, Chair of the University’s Ethics Committee and a lay member of the University’s Council, said: ‘We all face ethical decisions in our professional lives, and this Code provides a clear framework to help the University community identify and work through these issues. It demonstrates the University’s commitment to the highest standards of ethical behaviour in all aspects of university life.’
Membership of the Ethics Committee includes University representatives from the areas of research ethics and governance, fundraising, anti-bribery and corruption and international partnerships alongside lay members of Council and students.
Dr Rory Loughnane, Senior Lecturer in Early Modern Studies, has won the 2019 The Calvin & Rose G Hoffman Prize for distinguished scholarly work on Christopher Marlowe.
The title of Dr Loughnane’s winning entry was ‘Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Traces of Authorship’. His essay investigated the authorship and early publication history of the Henry VI play cycle. It builds upon his earlier research into the canon and chronology of Shakespeare’s works for the New Oxford Shakespeare (2016-17).
Dr Loughnane has recently been appointed as General Editor of a new Collected Works of Christopher Marlowe for Oxford University Press, an international editorial project that will be primarily based at the University of Kent. On this project, he will be collaborating closely with colleagues in the School of English, Professor Catherine Richardson and Dr Sarah Dustagheer, as well as a team of over 20 international scholars.
On receiving the 2019 Hoffman Prize, Dr Loughnane said: ‘I am deeply honoured to receive this prize, and grateful to all those involved in its adjudication. I would like to thank especially my colleagues on the New Oxford Shakespeare and Marlowe projects.’
Now in its 30th year, the Hoffman Prize was established by a bequest of the late Calvin Hoffman. The prize is highly competitive and open to Marlowe scholars the world over.
Find out more about the prize on the Marlowe Society’s website.
Dr Henrik Schoenefeldt and the Kent School of Architecture and Planning (KSAP) hosted an event at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) on Thursday 5 December to launch the new film by Dr Henrik Schoenefeldt, titled Restoring the Palace of Westminster.
The film, based on Dr Schoenefeldt’s research project Between Heritage and Sustainability for the Restoration and Renewal Programme was followed by a panel debate led by KSAP Head of School, Professor Gerald Adler, ‘Can Victorian architecture be sustainable?’
Panel guests included:
-Hannah Parham, member of the Historic Building Consultancy team at Donald Insall Associates
-Edonis Jesus, BIM4Heritage
-Sebastian MacMillan, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
-Richard Lorch, Editor-in-chief, Building and Cities
-Fionn Stephenson, Chair in Sustainable Design (University of Sheffield)
-Henrik Schoenefeldt, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Architecture (University of Kent)
-Adam Watrobski, Principal Architect at Houses of Parliament
The event was live streamed on YouTube and is available to watch online.
About the Kent School of Architecture and Planning:
With its innovative programmes, studio-based teaching, professional links and excellent facilities, KASP creates an inspirational learning environment. Students benefit from one of the most advanced learning environments in the UK. As well as a creative studio culture, they gain experience in using the latest facilities and equipment, which prepares them to work in the industry or further study.
Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year and what better time to get into the festive spirit and do something charitable?
A research group at Kent, led by Professor David Wilkinson, has pioneered and shown the amazing potential benefits of therapeutic neurostimulation. This is a technique to stimulate the brain from the outside (i.e. no surgery), using tested devices developed in our laboratory.
In order to raise £165,000 to establish a free service for those with neurodisabilities to receive experimental neurostimulation, please buy these wonderful charity season’s greetings cards and help them get a step closer to achieving their vision.
The cards, which feature a snowy view of the cathedral from campus and a snowy sheep, are available for a suggested donation of £3.50 for a pack of 10 or three packs for £9 from the School of Psychology Reception, G22 in Rutherford Annexe or by contacting K.A.Barnsdale-65@kent.ac.uk. All proceeds will go towards supporting this vital research.
Carbasse Implant and Dental Centre, a family run dental practice based in Whitstable, has kindly sponsored charity season’s greetings cards to sell in aid of our World of Discovery Campaign.
The Practice Manager at Carbasse Implant and Dental Centre said “I have personal experience of the impact a brain injury can have on an individual and their family. As soon as I heard about this groundbreaking research I knew I wanted to get involved to potentially help change the lives of those living with neuro-disabilities.“
For more information about the campaign please visit https://giving.kent.ac.uk/discovery/neurostimulation.
For more information about Carbasse Implant and Dental Centre please visit https://carbassedental.co.uk/
Our Adverse Weather Policy has been updated and reissued to clarify pay arrangements for staff during periods of severe weather conditions when the University may not be able to operate normally.
The policy includes advice on additional payments to recognise the efforts of ‘essential services’ staff who may have to come to work when others cannot.
A copy of the updated Policy can be found on the HR webpages.
Would you enjoy helping new students feel welcome? Fancy earning some Employability Points along the way?
International Partnerships are looking for student volunteers to assist with three key parts of welcoming our new international student arrivals in January 2020.
If you are interested in any of the above opportunities, please email internationalevents@kent.ac.uk with your selected event, full name, student email address and mobile phone number.
Note: We will need your mobile phone number in case we need to contact you during the day regarding the event. This will not be shared with any other students without your permission.
We look forward to hearing from you.
International Partnerships
A date that is sure to be printed on your mind is 12 December 2019 – General Election Day. Making history for a local television station is KMTV as they will be broadcasting live for twelve hours throughout the night.
Coverage will be from: 22:00 on Thursday 12 till10:00 on Friday 13 December.
Programme will appear on: Freeview channel 7, Virgin Media channel 159
Live stream on: KentOnline, kmtv.co.uk and the KMTV App (available on Apple & Google Play stores)
Keeping you up to date with the outcome, the station will have reporters and student interns at all 11 counts across Kent, bringing live results of 17 different constituencies. From other locations KMTV will also include live cameras and on-screen reporters at four counts, giving live reactions and comments over the phone, on FaceTime or via Skype.
‘One of our core values is to bring more local democracy to Kent and there’s no better way to deliver that than by giving in-depth coverage of Kent’s results at December’s general election,’ says KMTV’s Editor-in-chief Andy Richards. ‘We’ve proven since we launched in 2017 that for a small channel we can produce quality news coverage with our young professional team. This will be no different and we believe we’ll be the first region to broadcast live on television through the night from various locations on a general election night.’
More than 40 students from the University of Kent will be involved, working alongside a team of twelve television professionals, as well as Kent Messenger reporters. ‘It’s such a unique opportunity for our students,’ says the Head of the Centre for Journalism Ian Reeves. ‘Some trainees get to help out on election coverage as runners or as an extra pair of hands, but our students will be directly involved in the coverage, many making live TV contributions. We’ve been training them intensely to prepare as multimedia reporters for the night’s events.’
Joining them on the night will be other students from across the university’s departments including Kent Business School, Politics and International Relations, School of Arts, Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research.
Look out for the special programme at 08.00 called ‘Paul On Politics: Election Breakfast’, hosted by KM & KMTV Political Editor Paul Francis. Paul will also be on the KMTV sofa at various points throughout the night, alongside presenters Louisa Britton and Keilan Webster, as well as political pundits from across the various parties, Kent businesses and institutions.
“Let me introduce myself. My name is Rianna and I’m the founder of Dominica Dementia Foundation, we are the only Dementia Foundation in Dominica and the only foundation in the Caribbean. In 2017 I was very lucky to visit Buckingham Palace where I was awarded with the Queens Young Leaders award by Her Majesty the Queen. I also got to speak on BBC1 with Prince Harry about the work I do in Dominica.
“I have been a TEDx speaker and have previously spoken at the University of Kent. In 2017 I was was also honoured to win the Youth in Volunteerism and Professional Development award by the National Youth Council of Dominica. Now I am the membership officer of the Northern District Toastmaster Club and am also part of the Royal Commonwealth Society Network and Young Leaders of the Americas (YLAI).
“I am currently in the process of producing a documentary film on dementia. The idea of launching an organisation came as a memory of my grandfather who passed away with dementia in Dominica. My grandmother passed this year May. I want to share my story with the world in an effort to rewrite the narrative of those with dementia.”
The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme was established by The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, in partnership with Comic Relief, The Royal Commonwealth Society and The University of Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education, in honour of Her Majesty The Queen’s lifetime of service to the Commonwealth.
Over the past four years 60 awards have been given to exceptional young people aged between 18 and 29 to honour those addressing the urgent challenges facing their communities – including mental health, education, climate change, employment opportunities and gender equality.
Quantum technologies range from more efficient computers, to better and more accurate measurements and images, to faster and more secure communication.
The School of Computing is celebrating a £445,000 grant award for research into quantum physics. Professor Julio Hernandez-Castro and Lecturer Carlos Perez Delgado will research into quantum random number generators (QRNGs) as part of the EPSRC Quantum Communications Hub.
Joining the project’s Hub Leadership Executive, that will oversee the management and delivery of the project, Julio explained, “Our grant is basically to investigate QRNGs, and to analyse, improve and develop new statistical tests of randomness leading to new certification schemes that would help in guaranteeing the ‘quantumness’ and security of new QRNGs. We are hoping to flood the market with new and better extensively tested products over the next five years or so. This will enable the UK to become world market leaders in this promising new way of commercialisation for quantum technologies
“We are a small part of a much larger project, and together with Queen’s University Belfast we will investigate the security of the products the physicists will develop, including against side-channel attacks.”
Carlos’ main area of work has been to further our knowledge of the advantages and limitations that quantum theory conveys to communication, computation, metrology, and security.
He explained, “Quantum physics is a mathematical theory of the universe that is extremely successful. It however, predicts behaviour that is wildly non-intuitive. Some of this surprising behaviour has permeated into pop-culture. Most have heard of Schrödinger’s cat, which can be alive and dead simultaneously, and of photons that act as both particles and waves.
“For decades, both scientists and philosophers have tried to better understand this behaviour. In the last few decades, however, we’ve begun to try exploit this behaviour in the form of quantum technologies. These technologies range from more efficient computers, to better and more accurate measurements and images, to faster and more secure communication.”
The UK is poised to become an international leader in quantum technologies. As part of its strategy it has funded four Quantum Hubs where universities and private entities have come together to develop these technologies. The University of Kent is now part of the Quantum Communications Hub, which focuses on a more efficient and secure communication using quantum effects including random number generators.