Our next staff webchat, on the theme of ‘Kent Summer’, takes place on Teams this Thursday (10 June), from 12.00-13.00.

The webchat focuses on plans to mark the end of summer term with a fortnight of fun and community on our Canterbury and Medway campuses from 21 June to 21 July.

Primarily for students, the wide-ranging programme includes a host of activities, including music, food, sport, outdoor cinema and workshops. Plans may need to be flexed depending on the outcome of the Government’s review of lockdown restrictions next week, but it’s an exciting programme with something for everyone.

The webchat will be chaired as usual by Professor Richard Reece, DVC Education & Student Experience. He will be joined by members of the Kent Summer team, including Victoria Edwards, Sarah Slowe, Richard Bradford, Annikki Laitinen and Jacqui Double.

Ahead of the session, it would be helpful to have as many questions as possible so we can do our best to cover everything in the time. To do this, please sign-up via this form where you can include your question when prompted.

Recordings and slides from all previous sessions are available on our staff webpages.

From Claire Chapman | Talent & Org Development Consultant:

A lot has changed in our workplace in the past year. But the importance of diversity and inclusion hasn’t gone anywhere. And neither has the joy and power of recognizing the full value of everyone. June is pride month even though most of us are still working remotely we can still celebrate LGBTQIA+ employees in the workplace.

What is Pride Month?

Around the world, June is recognized as LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) Pride Month to commemorate a tipping point in queer history — the Stonewall Uprising, which lasted 6 days in Manhattan in June 1969 as police clashed with LGBTQ protesters.

It’s important to celebrate Pride in the workplace because we must acknowledge and recognize the accomplishments of the gay rights movement and our brave LGBTQ advocates. It’s about the people in the LGBTQ community and our allies who fight and continue to fight for equality’.

It must not be forgotten that the first Pride was not a celebration. It was a riot led by queer people of colour. Pride was born out of a struggle. And now, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought struggle back to LGBTQIA+ communities, as they are forced to lock down with families who may not be accepting.

Ideas for celebrating Pride Month in the remote workplace

• Get educated

Educate yourself in the history and weight of Pride and the LGBTQIA+ rights movement.

• Update your company email signatures

Add your pronouns to your email signature, (Pronouns means how you identify — he/him, she/her, they/them, for instance — and how you’d like other people to refer to you. This is a great, inclusive practice for everyone, even or especially if you’re cisgender!)

• Change your online meeting background

So celebrate with your background!

P-eople – Pride is about the people in the LGBTQ and allied community. Remember that our shared humanity is what is both celebrated and at stake in the global fight for full LGBTQ equality

R-esilience Pride stands as a powerful claim of self-worth and community celebration in contrast to historic ostracization of LGBTQ people.

I-nformation – Pride serves as an important milestone for employers to share information with their own workforce, customers and clients about the meaningful ways they engage with the LGBTQ community and are advocates for equality.

D-iversity Pride is the culmination of struggle to fully recognize the diversity of the community.

E-xpression – The visuals that often come to mind from Pride month are colourful, campy and fun. From tiaras to boas to floats and DJs, Pride is a celebration of individual and community

Why not increase your education and complete the Online training in Staff training Moodle on – Transgender Awareness and LGBTQI

Lynne Regan, Disability Adviser and Student Support and Wellbeing Administration Manager at Medway campus, tells us more about her role.

When did you join the University and why?

I joined the University in January 2008, initially in an administrative role within what was then the Disability and Dyslexia Support Service. I have stayed in the same department – what is now Student Support & Wellbeing, part of the Student Services Directorate – changing over the years from an administration role to a Disability Adviser role, alongside managing the office and administration for the Medway team.

Before joining Kent, I worked in freight forwarding for 10 years until leaving to have my children. I then held various home-based admin roles, which meant I did not have to return to the workplace until the children were older.

Can you tell us what your current role involves?

My current role has two elements. As a Disability Adviser, I support students with physical/sensory disabilities, long-term medical conditions and Autistic Spectrum conditions. This includes talking to students about their support needs, writing Inclusive Learning Plans, and helping students with their eligibility for support from the Disabled Students’ Allowance. I also handle enquiries from academic division staff and other central services, and present our services to new intake students at the start of each academic year.

As Student Support & Wellbeing Administration Manager for Medway, I manage a team of Educational Support Assistants and Administrators at the Medway campus, and work with the Head of Student Support & Wellbeing and Team Managers in Canterbury to ensure an equal and effective service for all students. I also oversee the running of the Student Services office at Medway, which includes the Mental Health and Specific Learning Difficulties Advisers for Medway, Study Skills Tutors and Mentors, Counselling team and the Careers and Employability Team.

Gillingham Building, Medway, where Lynne’s team is based

How has Covid affected your work and what sort of measures have you taken to overcome these extra challenges?

Covid-19 restrictions have changed the way we work in Student Support & Wellbeing and across the Student Services Directorate. Where appointments were previously in-person, we have had to adapt to providing support remotely. Some students benefit from this support method, whereas others have struggled with not being able to meet support staff in person.

Most of the Student Services team at Medway are currently working from home, with the exception of the Mental Health Adviser and Specialist Mentor. As Admin Manager, I have kept in weekly contact with the Administrators and we have a WhatsApp group for the Student Services team at Medway – mostly for social chat and daily challenges – which has helped to keep us all connected throughout this time. It also helps us keep up-to-date with changes in the University’s response to Covid where this has an impact on our service. 

Looking ahead, what are your plans for the next year or two?

To continue supporting students at Medway – hopefully, resuming in-person appointments soon – and supporting the Student Services team at Medway who do a fantastic job.

Away from my role in Student Support & Wellbeing, I have been actively involved, along with Medway Student Services colleagues, in Green Impact/Green 15/FutureProof, working on sustainability projects.

Biodiversity garden at Medway

Our biggest project at Medway is plans to bring a little bit of biodiversity to our rather concrete campus – by way of a woodland walk (through woods that have, until recently, been totally inaccessible), accessible seating areas, plants and other additions to help improve wellbeing and provide staff and students at Medway with somewhere nice to sit, gather, contemplate and enjoy the nature around us. After a false start and funding issues due to Covid interruption, this now looks as though it will be going ahead and I’m looking forward to being involved in the planning and development of this exciting project.  

Covid-restrictions permitting (!), what are your interests away from work?

I am a serial-studier! I started studying with the Open University in 1994 and have completed two undergraduate degrees and a postgraduate degree there, and also an MA in Higher Education at Kent. I am currently in the final stages of completing a Doctorate in Education at the Open University, with my research investigating the experiences of transgender students in higher education. Aside from this, I enjoy live events such as concerts and theatre, and I am looking forward to filling my diary with events again once Covid restrictions are lifted.

Lynne receiving her MA in Higher Education

What would be your idea of a perfect day?

Spending time with my family, something that I’ve missed over the last year and that I am looking forward to, hopefully, this summer.

Verifiable Credentials Ltd (VCL), a University of Kent spin-out, has recently been purchased by technology commercialisation company, Crossword Cybersecurity Plc, following CEO and Professor David Chadwick’s work to prove the commercial viability of the cyber security technology developed at Kent.

Crossword Cybersecurity was first introduced to VCL when David Chadwick, as Professor of Information Systems Security at the University of Kent, brought his academic team to participate in the InnovateUK / UKRI CyberASAP programme in 2019. The programme aims to help academics commercialise their cyber security ideas, and includes support and training from Crossword. This helped David Chadwick to convert the new technology resulting from his academic research into a commercial product.

The technology, known as Identiproof, is central to the issuing of digital certificates and documents that cannot be forged or transferred, and that respect the privacy of the holders of those certificates. It does this through the process of selective disclosure, whereby the recipient requests the minimum of information in conformance with GDPR. It is currently being used in a UK Government funded trial of COVID-19 certificates for East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT), and has applications including digital ticketing, certificates, licenses, memberships, passports, proof of ownerships, and more.

Having agreed to pay up to £2.75 million to acquire VCL, Crossword will not only gain this innovative technology, but also access to David Chadwick’s expertise in the field of digital identity and verifiable credentials, when he takes on the role of Product Director at the company. He will be joined at Crossword by VCL’s specialist development team.

David Chadwick said of the relationship, “Identiproof is unique in the market and with Crossword’s great structure, connections and sales team – we’re expecting to achieve excellent revenue growth.”

Tom Ilube, CEO of Crossword Cybersecurity plc, added, ‘VCL has unique knowledge and a fantastic product in the new era of W3C verifiable credentials – which can and should power COVID certificates as well as all manner of digital, secure and privacy-respecting credentials, certificates, tickets and proofs of ownership. We know Professor Chadwick and his start-up team well from CyberASAP and believe Identiproof is a perfect fit for Crossword as our third product. This acquisition comes at a time when we are experiencing great success from strategies to increase Rizikon market penetration, particularly the launch of Rizikon Pro. In the last 6 months this has increased 10 fold, with the number of Rizikon users exceeding 250.’

Shane Weller, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research & Innovation at Kent, commented, ‘The acquisition of Verifiable Credentials Ltd by Crossword Cybersecurity is a fantastic opportunity for both parties. Since first engaging with David and his team at Innovate UK’s Cyber ASAP programme two years ago, Crossword have shown enthusiasm and support for the start-up, driving a strong collaborative relationship between the two. This acquisition further confirms Crossword’s recognition of the value that academic knowledge fostered at Kent can bring to the process of innovation.’

Professor David Chadwick has an ongoing association as an Honorary member of the Institute of Cyber Security for Society (iCSS), at the University of Kent. iCSS represent the University as one of only 19 universities in the UK recognised as Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Research (ACE-CSR).

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 7 June – Friday 11 June) webinars are as follows:

Monday 7 June 2021 – ‘How Care first Can Support You’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Tuesday 8 June 2021 – ‘Local lockdown anxiety’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 9 June 2021 – ‘Diabetes: How long term illnesses can affect our mental health’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 10 June 2021 – ‘Staycations this summer’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 11 June 2021 – ‘Supportive information for Carers’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link