Do you know someone who is applying to university for 2021, or are you thinking of further study yourself?

We are holding two special events designed to give you, your friends and family the opportunity to discover what makes Kent a great place to study.

Undergraduate Open Event: Saturday 14 November 10.00 – 14.00

Postgraduate Open Event: Wednesday 18 November 12.00 – 15.00

At each event visitors can:

• Chat to current students and lecturers on a live Q&A
• Get all the information on fees, funding and finance including the Academic Excellence Scholarship for new students with A*AA or equivalent and Research Council awards for PhDs
• Listen to a presentation about courses and subjects
• Explore the Templeman and Drill Hall Libraries and discover how their staff and facilities will help you through your studies and research
• Find out about the full range of student support services available
• Take a tour around our accommodation, there’s something for everyone

Everyone is welcome to attend so please share this invitation with your friends, family and colleagues, wherever they are studying now or if they would like to return to study in the future.

There’s even an interactive experience of the Open Day for you to enjoy!

The University’s new Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries features in a number of sessions at a leading Creative Industry event this week.

The Creative Coalition Festival (9-11 Nov) run by the Creative Industries Federation, has gone online for 2020 and is now free to attend.

So, sign up for free today and join us at one (or all) of the events below:

Multiple Towns, Maximum Impact – Tues 10 Nov at 15.10

Can cultural and creative placemaking be collaborative across our towns and cities? A panel discussion including Creative Estuary Project Director, Emma Wilcox.

Kickstarting the Arts – Wed 11 Nov, 12.10

How will the cultural and creative industries and academia work together in a post-COVID future? Above and beyond the training of practitioners and their work as research institutions, what roles does academia have in the future of the arts? ICCI brings together academics, artists, activists and arts leaders to discuss what possibilities the future might hold. A discussion panel led by ICCI Director, Catherine Richardson.

Uni of Kent Alumni Showcase – Wed 11 Nov, 14.20

Introducing the work of 5 Kent alumni, now successfully working in the creative industries. Presented by ICCI.

Also look out for this session by our partners at Pioneering Places:

Cultural Placemaking: The Urban Renewers –  Tues 10 Nov at 16.00

How have creative and cultural institutions evolved from being the beating heart of a community to the engines of heritage and culture-led regeneration?

Find out more and book your free festival pass via the website.

Peter Taylor-Gooby, OBE, Professor of Social Policy at the University of Kent, will deliver the prestigious Sidney Ball Lecture in its Centenary year on Thursday 12 November from 16.00 – 17.30 online.

His theme will be:

COVID-19 and the UK Welfare State: where next for post-pandemic welfare provision?

Professor Taylor-Gooby will argue that in recent years state welfare in the UK has become increasingly divisive. Recent governments have directed a spending to pensions and health care for older people and imposed heavy cuts on the education, housing support and child care used by young people and families of working age. The gap between skilled workers and professionals and those on low-pay and on Universal Credit grows wider.

The early days of the first lockdown cut across these divisions, in a surge of generosity, goodwill and neighbourliness embracing low-paid insecure key workers, homeless people and those in need. The lecture will analyse use new material from Professor Taylor-Gooby’s research on food banks to chart shifts in public generosity and community resilience as the pandemic developed. It will examine whether we succeeded in grasping the opportunity to build greater social cohesion or squandered it.

The Sidney Ball Memorial Lectures were established after the First World War in memory of Sidney Ball who was a philosophy fellow at St John’s College, Oxford. Sidney Ball was both a political radical and ‘an energetic university reformer’ concerned that contemporary social and economic problems should be studied at Oxford.

The lecture will be available online and you can register via the Eventbrite website.

The Talent and Organisational Development team would like to inform staff of two upcoming sessions:

1. Mid-Career Workshop 

This short workshop covers a range of issues relevant to planning your financial affairs, both now and for the future. It will take place on Wednesday 25 November between 14.00 – 16.00. 

2. Pre-Retirement Workshop

A two day workshop aiming to give participants knowledgeable advice in regards to all aspects of planning for retirement, looking at areas such as finance, health and lifestyle. It will take place on Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 November between 10.00 – 1300.

Both sessions are bookable via Staff Connect, where further information can also be found.

Please contact the team at Ldev@kent.ac.uk if you would like to understand more about the sessions.

Are you a teaching academic? Are you interested in Decolonising Your Reading Lists? Have you thought about the need to Diversify the Academy but not sure where to start? Then this is the event for you!

The University of Kent will Launch Diversity Mark Award via Zoom Live on Tuesday 24 November 2020 Tuesday 14.30 – 17.00.

The award-winning work of Diversity Mark involves a team of cross-departmental colleagues from the Library, Student Success, Academic colleagues, Kent Union and collaboration of Student Ambassadors working to encourage reflection on the demographic makeup of reading lists, and stimulate conversations on how you can diversify reading lists that represent a more universal collection of knowledge. Having run various pilots across the university we would now like to formally launch the award and invite colleagues from across the campus to hear about the work so far.

We are delighted to announce that we will be joined by guest speaker Fope Olaleye, former Black Student Officer for National Union of Students. Fope is an anti-oppression educator, who has worked extensively on centring diverse voices/experiences in HE curriculum. We are also extremely lucky to be hearing from Dr Karen Schucan Bird and Lesley Pitman from UCL about their research “How diverse is your reading list? Exploring issues of representation and decolonisation in the UK”

Attendees can register for free on Eventbrite, and the online event link will then be sent by email. If you are a member of staff with a keen interest in dismantling inequalities, then come along! Better yet, forward the invitation to a colleague who you know has not considered this yet.

Our official Employee Assistance Programme provider, Care first offers a numbers of services and provide useful advice and support, including weekly webinars.

This week’s (Monday 9 November – Friday 13 November) webinars are as follows:

Monday 9 November 2020 –  ‘How Care first can support you’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link.

Tuesday 10 November 2020 – ‘Finding positives during Lockdown’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 11 November 2020 –  ‘Changes for travelling to Europe from 1st January 2021’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 12 November 2020 – ‘How counselling can have a positive impact on
your mental wellbeing’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 13 November 2020 – Cyberbulling’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

The news at the weekend that we were entering into a second period of lockdown meant most of us have spent the week preparing for how we are going to manage it both at work and at home. Many of you have, once again, gone the extra mile to enable the University to respond to the current situation. My greatest thanks go to you for this continuing effort.

I also wanted to thank all those who have worked hard to support the delivery of O4S during this time. We have now reached a major milestone in this significant change programme with new structures in place across the organisation and a new leadership team now in place.

I know, at times, this has been challenging and it has taken a huge amount of effort to get to this point. However, I am confident that the changes we have made are the right ones and the Divisions will play a major part of our future success.

Our focus will now turn to supporting Divisions and wider teams as they come together, ensuring that they have what they need to work well together. This will take time and I know there is still a lot more we need to do – both to manage this ongoing transition period and continue to simplify how we work together.

Staff in the professional services still have a considerable amount of work to do as teams come together, and I would ask that colleagues are mindful of this, particularly over the next few weeks.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to those colleagues who have left us under KVSS, and I know there are others who are due to leave shortly. Thank you for everything you have done to support the University, it is hugely appreciated and you will be greatly missed.

My very best wishes go to you and your families,

Karen

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President