Representing a range of culture, academic discipline, and personal interests, we are delighted to showcase this year’s cohort of Global Officers who are taking part in the Global Officers Leadership Development (GOLD) Programme.

Here are the Global Officers Profiles.

The programme is a co-curricular venture, designed to fit around your academic studies.  It provides a framework of activities for globally-minded undergraduate students at Kent to develop their leadership skills, global citizenship and cultural awareness.

So far this year, our Global Officers have explored their own Cultural Intelligence and how they can develop this further; engaged in various virtual exchange projects with students from across the world; participated in inspirational talks offered by our partner universities in addition to playing a key role in future culturally themed WebHangouts.

In addition to their core activity under the programme, Global Officers are available to partner with Kent staff for any divisional, school or departmental projects, events or activities on campus.  Some students are already engaged with International Recruitment on an International Experiences at Kent project as well as working with International Partnerships on supporting its activities relating to the Year Abroad.

“The Programme so far has been excellent, and I’ve been given so many opportunities to develop.  I’m looking forward to managing and organising events myself and engaging with the diverse student body” 

Jordan Pali, first year student, Finance and Investment with a Year in Industry.

If you have an activity that you would like to engage our Global Officers, please get in touch.

Did you know that you can also incorporate the GOLD Programme within your degree programmes by listing it as a wild module option, GOLD500? If your programmes do not allow for this, then students can still take this as an extra-curricular activity; applications for 2021/22 will open in the summer.

For more information about the Programme, please email deaninternational@kent.ac.uk

Despite tighter safety measures in place, the majority of catering outlets at Canterbury remain open for breakfast time treats, delicious lunches, barista coffees, and everything in between.

With the exception of K-Bar, The Street Kitchen and Create, all other units remain open for business, operating a takeaway only service.

Please remember to follow current safety and social distancing procedures when visiting an outlet, to keep yourself and those around you safe. If you would like more detailed information regarding Coronavirus and the University’s catering operations, a full list of FAQs can be found on the catering website.

Below is a list of campus outlets currently open during the national lockdown:

Origins (Darwin College)

• Monday – Friday, 12:00 – 21:00
• Saturday – Sunday, 15:00 – 21:00

Gulbenkian Café Bar (Gulbenkian)

• Monday – Friday, 10:00 – 15:00

Mungo’s (Eliot College)

• Monday – Friday, 09:00 – 14:00, 15:00 – 21:00

Dolche Vita (Keynes College)

• Monday – Friday, 08:30 – 17:00

Sibson Café (Sibson Building)

• Monday – Friday, 08:45 – 15:00

Hut 8 (Turing College)

• Monday – Friday, 12:00 – 22:00
• Saturday – Sunday, 17:00 – 22:00

Bag It (Rutherford College)

• Monday – Friday, 09:30 – 16:00

Rutherford Dining Hall (Rutherford College)

• Monday – Friday
• Lunch 12:00 – 14:00
• Dinner 17:00 – 20:00
• Wok Bar 12:00 – 20:00
• Saturday – Sunday
• Brunch 08:30 – 14:00
• Dinner 17:00 – 20:00

No.1 and The Galvanising Cafe at Medway are currently closed until the new year.

Please note, eat-in arrangements have been made for students on Bed and Bistro or Bed and Flex contracts.

Colleagues across the University continue to work to respond to the government’s plans to enable students to travel home safely before Christmas and to provide clarity for our students about how this will impact on them.

We are working to ensure those students who wish to travel during the ‘travel window’ of 3-9 December are able to do so. However, we are also very aware that this may not work for everyone, some will have travel arrangements already in place and others will have been planning to remain in their accommodation over the Christmas break. We need to make sure our students are able to decide what works and is the safest option for them and their families.

We have ‘expressed an interest’ in taking part in the national scheme for asymptomatic testing of our students and wait to hear back from the government. We are aware this scheme will be prioritised to those areas with a high incidence of coronavirus cases. We continue to work closely with our local public health team in terms of decisions we are making and on advice to staff and students at this time.

Against this backdrop of Covid-related activity, it is fantastic to hear about great work that continues to take place across the University in support of our core activity of education, research and engagement. I would like to congratulate three colleagues in the Department of Philosophy and School of Arts (Division of Arts and Humanities) who have been shortlisted across three categories in the 2020 Medical Humanities Awards.

Dr Jon Williamson, Professor of Reasoning, Inference and Scientific Method, has been shortlisted in the Best Research category for ‘Evaluating Evidence in Medicine’, an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project that aims to broaden the range of evidence considered by evidence-based medicine. Dr Michael Wilde, Lecturer in Philosophy, has been shortlisted in the Best Early Career Research category for ‘Improving evidence evaluation in medicine’. Michael’s research develops a theory of evidence to enhance the understanding of how causal claims are established in medicine. Dr Nicola Shaughnessy, Professor of Performance, has been shortlisted for the Leadership Award. Nicola has been at the forefront of new fields of research around creativity and neurodiversity, in particular, the projects ‘Imagining Autism’ and ‘Playing A/Part’. She has also demonstrated exceptional leadership of PhD students and early career researchers in the field.

The Medical Humanities Awards are a highly renowned collaboration between the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Wellcome Trust and it testifies to Kent’s strength in the Medical Humanities that ours is the only institution to be shortlisted across three categories in this year’s awards.

My very best wishes to you and your families,

Karen

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President