As we head into the Easter Bank Holiday, I have been reflecting on the extraordinary events of the last few weeks. You will have seen from my update earlier this week the vast amount of work that has been carried out in such a short space of time, I thank everyone for the part they have played in enabling all these things to happen.

One of things I am immensely proud of is how staff and students are responding to the impact of COVID-19 on our local community and beyond. The link to the webpages shows some of the activity that is going on across all our schools, departments and professional services. A number of you are supporting the work of the Canterbury Foodbank and more than 30 academics, postdoctoral researchers and PhD students in Biosciences have volunteered to help perform testing at hospitals across the county. Kent Hospitality has donated surplus stock to Dover Foodbank and we are working directly with the NHS across Kent and Medway to see how we can provide essential infrastructure support.

We are now all working in an adapted and dispersed way. In such an environment, it’s important to get our communications right and I am aware that, in recent weeks, I have been sending out a lot of emails to you all as well as communicating with TEAMS, Zoom and good old fashioned telephone! As we come back from the Easter break I want to ensure you have the right kind of opportunity to engage directly with me and colleagues across the senior team. We are currently looking at the best way to do this and will come back with further details.

I wish you and your families all the best for the Easter break, and look forward to working with you over the coming months as we all navigate our way through this unprecedented time.

Karen

Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President