Monthly Archives: February 2020

Mandarin Chinese language and culture exchange visit

CEWL recently welcomed two students from Xi’an KeDaGaoXin University, China for a short-term exchange visit.

Yuan Xueru and Mei Yixiao, undergraduates studying International Chinese Teaching at Xi’an KeDaGaoXin University (KDGX), recently spent two weeks at Kent through an exchange programme between the Centre for English and World Languages and KDGX, which was established last academic year.

During their stay, the students observed our World Languages classes including Mandarin, Arabic and Japanese and led speaking and writing workshops to help students to improve their Mandarin language skills.They also attended various English Language and Academic Skills classes to improve their English. Above all, they worked hard to design and deliver some workshops in Chinese culture – which included music and singing – and calligraphy. Both workshops went down very well with the students who took part. Thank you to all of our teachers who made them welcome while they were here.

As they were here during Chinese New Year, they participated and performed in the Chinese New Year Gala organised by the Chinese Society on 27th January. They really appreciated this invaluable opportunity to immerse themselves in both British culture and university life, and they undoubtedly gained first-hand experience of British university culture by talking to and making friends with students at the University.

Kent student, Jason went to KDGX last spring holiday and Safron is planning to go for four weeks during the Easter holidays. They both became buddies with Yuan Xueru and Mei Yixiao and gave them great help during their stay. Well done and thank you to both Jason and Safron!

Clara, another Mandarin learner at Kent, will be also be going to KDGX at Easter. We have no doubt that she and Safron will enjoy everything KDGX and the historical city of Xi’an have to offer.

We hope to give more of our Mandarin learners the chance to improve their Mandarin language skills and enhance their Graduate Attributes by participating in the exchange programme in the future.

If you have questions related to learning Mandarin at Kent, or the Mandarin Exchange Programme, please contact World Language Tutor, Mrs Ru Su, directly.

Economic transformations and local development in contemporary Cuba

Dr Amhed León Tellez, Head of the Center for Studies in Management and Local Development at the University of Bayamo in Granma province, Cuba, is visiting the UK to develop his research and to collaborate with Dr Rebecca Ogden, Lecturer in Latin American Studies in the Department of Modern Languages, and Professor Par Kumaraswami (University of Reading) on a project about local development, heritage and tourism in Cuba, a project that has received GCRF funding.

Dr Amhed León Tellez will be hosted by the Department of Modern Languages between Monday 10 and Saturday 15 February, and on 13 February he will deliver a talk entitled ‘Economic transformations and local development in contemporary Cuba: what role can universities play?’

Cuba is experiencing extraordinary structural transformations of its economy in the midst of the recent tightening of the economic blockade imposed by the United States. Local development is an important mechanism to boost economic dynamics and social welfare within such economic shifts. This demands capacity-strengthening and knowledge, as well as raising the role of science and technological innovation. In this paper Dr León Tellez will share insights from his research in this field, including the role played by the university in local development.

LGBTQ+ History month events

February marks LGBTQ+ History Month, with the aim to promote equality and diversity. At Kent, the University and Union are running lots of events throughout the month.

Events include:

-LGBT Love Letters Exhibitions
-LGBT History Month reading lists
-How to be an effective ally: staff workshop
-LGBTQ+ Student Network open house
-Show debate: “The Commercialisation of Pride”
-1920s cabaret night at Woody’s

See the full programme of events (pdf).

Join the community

We have staff and student LGBTQ+ groups that you are welcome to join if you work or study at Kent. These include the Kent Union LGBTQ+ Student Network and LGBT+ Society for students and also the LGBT+ Staff Network.

Recruiting for the Pint of Science

The Pint of Science festival is an international public engagement festival taking place over 3 days each May. The University of Kent has been running sold-out events for the past 3 years. In 2019, 35 UK cities held over 600 events, increasing to 40 cities/towns in 2020.

Over 1,000 scientists will have the opportunity to explain their research in an accessible form to the general public – mainly in bars and pubs.

The idea is to provide a platform which allows researchers to share their research with the public. This is a fantastic opportunity to engage the public with your research and to get experience of sharing it with new audiences.

Call for expressions of interest

In 2020, we will again be holding Pint of Science events in Kent in three locations: Canterbury, Medway and Tonbridge. We have selected a number of pubs and are looking for expressions of interest from speakers, particularly Early Career Researchers and final year PhD students looking to develop their skills and experience in talking about their research.

If you are interested, please email us at  pintofscience@kent.ac.uk with the following details by  Friday 14 February:

1. Your name and school

2. A summary of your research (max 100 words)

3. Your plan for an interactive session of 20-30 minutes (max 100 words)

4. An explanation of how you will make it engaging for the public audience – an important interactive component (max 100 words).

The Big Catering Survey 2020

Want to win £200, £100 or £50 of KentOne credit?

Help Kent Hospitality improve catering services by completing their short survey and you could win 1 of 3 amazing prizes to spend in catering outlets, Blackwell’s bookshop, Templeman Library, and more!

The survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete and focuses on eating habits, nutrition and health, sustainability and environment, and technology. By leaving your email address, you will be entered into their prize draw.

First Prize: £200 KentOne credit

Second Prize: £100 KentOne credit

Third Prize: £50 KentOne credit

The survey closes on Saturday 29 February at 23:59 GMT. Good luck!

If you have any queries, please contact catering@kent.ac.uk

Drama accolade for University of Kent Players

NODA (National Operatic and Dramatic Association) have awarded the University of Kent Players an accolade for Excellence in Drama for their production of Gail Young’s Bothered & Bewildered which took place at the Gulbenkian in September 2019.

This is the second time in as many years that the group have been recognised in this way, their production of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility in 2018 also received this accolade.

Their latest production, JB Priestley’s Dangerous Corner, takes place at the Gulbenkian 27-29 February 2020, so go along and see this double award-winning group in action.

Tickets priced at £12 (£10 for concessions) are on sale now on the Gulbenkian website.

Student Case study Dan Bird- EP points Beats by Dr Dre

When you sign up to the Employability Points Scheme, you never know where it may take you. For Dan Bird, he has gained a range of videography rewards with organisations such as the Historic Dockyard Chatham and Landmark London, leading to an amazing opportunity to work with Beats by Dr Dre in their LA office. This opportunity arose from a chance meeting at a summer camp as part of their year in industry, where Dan and his friend Joe, met Beats Head of the Marketing. From this meeting, both Dan and Joe were invited out to LA to do promotional filming.

Dan and Joe, took their personal videoing equipment out to LA to film educational unboxing videos designed to give an in depth detailed review and educate the selling points of the product. These videos are stored on the company iPad App, which all staff have access to and can use to help enhance and develop productivity. Unfortunately the videos are not available to the wider public, but Dan was able to log the experience on his Employability Points portfolio.
Dan started to collect Employability Points in his first year after meeting the team and talking about the scheme, activities that could be logged and potential rewards that could be gained such as internships.

Dan has logged points for his freelance videography and photography. He has worked for a furniture company and hotels in London, recording promotional videos. One of Dan’s most memorable events was filming a Bar Mitzvah in American, which was obtained through contacts he met at summer camp. His work at Beats by Dr Dre has earnt him 50 points, which has pushed Dan’s points to over 500, which can be converted into rewards, such as internships and work experience, over the summer.

Visit our EP blog to read the full article.

Afro-Diasporic Legal Network Black Discussion Series

Law students Khaliq Martin and Siena Phillips and their team were successful with being awarded a Community Scholarship for a project aimed to empower and uplift BME students at the University of Kent – the Afro-Diasporic Legal Network (ADLN) Black Discussion Series.

What is the ADLN?

The ADLN is a collective of law students that encompass the intersection of being Black and from the African-Diaspora. It was created in recognition of a lack of Black legal supportive infrastructures at the University of Kent despite the fact that such systems exist in many institutions.

The network aims to provide opportunities for Black students in the academic/professional legal sphere, to conduct knowledge exchanges, and provide peer-to-peer support in hopes of decreasing the social attainment gap at the University recognized in the 2016 EDI Report.

The network was developed with 3 principles in mind: to support the political and legal education of Black law students, to provide academic, career, and wellness support, and to continue to push the bounds of inclusion for black students.

As an informal society the network is not registered with Kent Union.

What is the ADLN’s Black Discussion Series?

The Black Discussion Series is a pilot project that was developed by the ADLN after an internal assessment, conducted by its committee, highlighted that black students suffered from anxiety and stress as a result of institutional shortcomings. The Series seeks to mitigate these pressures which correlate with the social attainment gaps recognized by the EDI Report.

The discussions are designed for young black men, women, and non-gender binary individuals to deconstruct their university experience through a space created to resolve issues, establish peer-to-peer support, and incorporate academic dialogue from a political/legal lens.

The Series will take place this spring term 2020, for further information please email afrodiasporiclegalnetwork@gmail.com.

Drill Hall Dialogue – Tuesday 11 February

Professor Colin Hills from the University of Greenwich will be taking part in the first Drill Hall Dialogue event of the year.

His talk on ‘Working with CO2 is a gas: mineralising carbon in industrial waste’ takes place on Tuesday 11 February 2020 in the Drill Hall – room DA002.

The University of Greenwich has been researching carbon capture and utilisation through mineralisation technology.

Developing from the treatment of contaminated soil and then hazardous waste, high volume wastes can be useful feedstocks for making carbonated construction products. By producing limestone in the reaction between CO2 gas and alkaline wastes into benign construction materials, the associated risks are managed and the wastes are diverted from landfill and given value. Commercial production of carbonated construction products is in kT range, with new materials under development.

The background to our award-winning carbonation technology, its current status and future direction will be presented and discussed.

Drill Hall Dialogues is a monthly series of talks held at the Drill Hall Library, the learning resource centre for the Universities at Medway collaborative project. A wide variety of topics has been covered including prison libraries, NHS libraries, Dickens and Christmas, Medway regeneration, the Medway Floods of 1953 and Fort Amherst. We have also received talks from academics based on the campus including the Centre for Journalism (UKM) and the Faculty of Education (CCCU).

The talks take place on the first or second Tuesday of the month and usually last no longer than 45 minutes with 15 minutes allotted for any questions and answers. All staff are welcome to attend.

Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week #ITSNOTOK

It is Sexual Abuse & Sexual Violence Awareness Week which is the UK’s national week to raise awareness of sexual abuse and violence. During this week up till Sunday, hundreds of events will take place all over the country to raise awareness of the issue and shine a spotlight on what is normally a very hidden subject.

Here at the University, we want to make sure everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As part of our continued work towards this, we have developed Inform Kent (InK) which is an online reporting tool which empowers students to record details of incidents such as sexual assault, harassment, relationship abuse or hate crime.

The most vital use of InK is to ensure that you gain access to the support that is available to you in the aftermath of an incident.

InK also gives you the option to have your voice heard. You are given the option to record an incident and give your name, so that you can be contacted by specialist support. Or you can choose to remain anonymous.

The information that you provide will help us to make continued progress in making our University the safest it can be. You are in control here. Have your voice.