Did you know that National Vegetarian Week has arrived? During this annual event (11 May – 17 May 2020), we’re encouraged to try and go meat-free for a week, with vibrant and exciting dishes.

So, whether you’re a fully-fledged vegetarian, or just want to introduce one or two meat-free options to your diet, these 10 tasty vegetarian recipes are sure to be loved by all!

1. Roasted vegetable lasagne

Putting a spin on this Italian-style dish, BBC Good Food serves us up with a delicious alternative.

2. Mixed bean falafel and sweet potato hummus

Perfect for your evening meal or a lunchtime treat, this Good Housekeeping recipe is a great mix of delicious ingredients!

3. Black bean burgers

Packed with protein, Jamie Oliver’s veggie burger recipe can be whipped up in under an hour!

4. Tomato tarte tatin

From Olive magazine, this show-stopping savoury recipe is a great take on the classic French tart.

5. Acorn squash with wild rice stuffing

With squash and wild rice providing the perfect combination, this recipe from Cooking Light is sure to be a crowd-pleaser!

6. Sweet potato, chickpea and feta salad

Bursting with colour and flavour, this scrumptious salad from Delicious magazine is perfect for a warm summer evening…

7. Garden-fresh grilled veggie pizza

Providing us with a pizza loaded with fresh, flavoursome toppings, this recipe from Taste of Home is a slice of  deliciousness!

8. Broccoli and cheddar crêpes

Shake up your normal cooking routine with this hearty recipe from Good Housekeeping.

9. Summer squash and basil pasta

If you’ve not tried it already, why not add sautéed squash to your favourite pasta, and create this colourful dish from Bon appetit?

10. Roasted aubergine and tomato curry

Simple yet tasty, this vibrant dish from BBC Good Food is the ideal recipe for a quick mid-week dinner.

If you have any more vegetarian dishes you’d like to share, please send them to stories@kent.ac.uk

Entries for the Times Higher Education Awards 2020 are now open.

Entries are invited from UK higher education institutions across 19 categories, which will be shortlisted and judged by an expert panel. This year’s categories are listed below and, unless otherwise stated in the specific subject criteria, the judges will be looking for outstanding examples of best practice during the 2018-19 academic year.

• THE Outstanding Achievement Award
• Business School of the Year
• Widening Participation or Outreach Initiative of the Year
• Knowledge Exchange/Transfer Initiative of the Year
• Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
• Research Project of the Year: STEM
• Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year
• Technological or Digital Innovation of the Year
• Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community
• Outstanding Support for Students
• Outstanding Entrepreneurial University
• Outstanding Library Team
• Outstanding Estates Strategy
• Outstanding Marketing/Communications Team
• Most Innovative Teacher of the Year
• International Collaboration of the Year
• Outstanding Contribution to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
• Outstanding Technician of the Year
• University of the Year

Winners will be announced at a prestigious awards ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London on 26 November.

Corporate Communications will once again be co-ordinating Kent’s award entries this year and is happy to support schools/departments with their submissions. Please email Corporate Communications by Friday 22 May if you know of a potential entry – deadline for all completed entries is Wednesday 10 June.

Further information on the awards is available on the THE Awards 2020 website.

Picture shows: Kent’s Outstanding Library Team at the THE Awards 2019

We only have one more week until ‘Belong and Grow – it’s your BAG’ week 2020 and although our plans for BAG week 2020 have changed in line with the current situation and the need to stay safe, we still have lots on offer. Although we are not able to have face to face sessions during the week, we want to encourage you to take time during w/c 18th of May for your personal development and wellbeing, so we have redesigned ‘BAG’ week to feature remote sessions.

All of this year’s virtual events will be held by Zoom, Teams, or webinar. Please view the details of each event and book the events you would like to attend through Staff Connect. Search ‘BAG’ in Staff Connect. You will then receive a link to the event a couple of days before the scheduled date.

We also have webinars and Blogs that you can view at your leisure throughout the week.

All of the events are featured in our rolling blog, which will be updated regularly.

This event has been organised by Learning & Organisational Development, in conjunction with external providers, members of staff and students.

If you have any questions, please email LDev@kent.ac.uk

Download the Wellbeing Zone Hub. 

Follow the week on Social media and share your thoughts, using #BagWeek

Organising for Success brings together work that will ensure we are equipped to deliver our Kent 2025 strategy, including launching new academic divisions and ensuring our professional services are shaped around the needs of our students. 

Our six new Academic Divisions will be ‘live’ from 1 August 2020, with senior leadership teams appointed and budgets confirmed. New teams will then mainly be in place by September and will be fully operational by the start of November at the latest. 

Academic Divisions 

We will shortly begin recruiting to the core academic leadership roles within each Division, which were recently discussed at Senate. These key roles will be part of each Division’s Senior Management team, helping develop strategy in areas such as education, research and postgraduate study. 

Alongside this, work is ongoing to confirm framework agreements between Divisions and central professional services, with divisional Directors of Operations and Heads of Profession working closely to agree where resource and responsibility will best sit in the new structure. 

Central professional services 

Recruitment is ongoing to outstanding senior leadership positions in central professional services, with appointments regularly updated on the organisation chart on the HR website.

We are also currently working with Learning & Organisational Development on a second series of engagement events for managers following the ‘Town Halls’ earlier in the year, with invites to follow in the coming weeks. These will again be focussed on making sure managers have the information they need to support their teams in the coming months, including project updates and HR information. 

Transition planning 

A dedicated project team is now working to bring together the different aspects of transition activity already underway as we move to the new divisional structures, including plans for key areas such as appeals, systems and support for students at the start of next year. More information on this will follow shortly, including a detailed timeline showing how this will be managed in the interim period before Divisions are fully operational. 

For latest updates, see the Organising for Success staff webpages 

Professor Shujun Li has been working with the Association of British Chinese Professors (ABCP) to raise funds to support the NHS in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The money raised has been used to buy personal protection equipment (PPE) for ten UK hospitals.

As well as being a Professor of Cyber Security at the University of Kent, Shujun is also the Vice President for Internal Communication and Public Relations of ABCP.  With the joint effort of its members and associated members across the UK, the following has been achieved so far:

1000 FFP2 face masks, donated to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London

1000 FFP2 face masks, donated to UCL Hospital London

400 FFP2 face masks, donated to St Mary Hospital, Imperial College London

3500 safety goggles and 7000 full face visors donated to seven hospitals in London, Cambridge, Birmingham and Coventry.

Shujun commented: ‘I have been lucky to be able to play my part in such a great project organised by the ABCP. I have been deeply moved by many British Chinese who have kindly provided their help in many different ways, e.g., donating money, providing information about potential PPE vendors in China, liaising with NHS hospitals and other organisations in need of PPE, liaising with Chinese donors to arrange purchase, validation and transportation of PPE, and helping forwarding information and PPE to NHS staff and other essential workers.’

He added, ‘Together with a number of other Chinese academics working at the University of Kent, we also helped receive hundreds of PPE items from China and re-distributed them to local people in need, some working at NHS hospitals or medical clinics.’

For more information and to find out how to help, please go to the Association of British Chinese Professors website. 

Kent Hospitality were proud to win the ‘HHH Green Award’ at The Triple H Awards 2020 (Hotel Housekeeping Honours) held at the Hilton Metropole NEC Birmingham on 12 March.

Seeing off competition from Royal Holloway University of London, who were Highly Commended in the category, the Kent Hospitality Housekeeping team were thrilled to win the HHH Green Award. The Green Award is presented to the institution best demonstrating ecological and environmental initiatives and innovation.

Gary Sayles, Executive Housekeeping Manager, collected the award on behalf of his team and said ‘I am exceptionally proud of all my team and that our efforts to provide a high quality and environmentally friendly service to our students has been rewarded. We will continue to build on our services and always seek the latest innovations, but this is a sure sign we are moving in the right direction’.

The award recognised the Kent Hospitality Housekeeping team’s significant shift away from their previous methodologies and cleaning products to be more eco-friendly. The department now predominantly utilises Aqueous Ozone, Thermostar steam cleaning, and InnuScience biological products, all of which serve as environmentally friendly alternatives for their staff to use across the University. Additionally, as well as being eco-label certified and cruelty free, one noted advantage of InnuScience’s products is that they are not classified as hazardous, or as an irritant, meaning the cleaning products can be freely included in all campus student accommodation kitchens.

This was not the only success for Kent Hospitality at the 2020 awards as Durga Rai was shortlisted for the ‘Cleaning Technician of the Year Award’ following Hayley Dyer’s Highly Commended acknowledgement in the same category at the 2019 awards.

See the HHH Awards 2020 website for further information.

The Joint Staff Negotiating and Consultation Committee (JSNCC), is the main forum for consultation between the University of Kent and its staff, on all matters of mutual interest.

The next meeting for the JSNCC is due to take place online (via Microsoft Teams) on Tuesday 12 May. The agenda and papers are now available for you to view on the JSNCC webpages.

The JSNCC pages provides details of the full membership of the JSNCC, meeting dates, its terms of reference, documentation for submission to the JSNCC and minutes of previous meetings. You’ll also find details on Staff and Trades Union Representatives on the there too.