One of our first three Signature Research Themes – Future Human – is inviting applications from staff for our Vice-Chancellor PhD Studentship selection process, as well as ideas for cross-disciplinary collaboration and innovative research.

The Future Human theme explores the use of science and technology to improve human performance either temporarily or permanently. Its transdisciplinary approach will help us understand the opportunities, limits, challenges and risks of using scientific and technological advancement to restore or improve performance and to overcome current limits of body and mind.

Theme co-lead, Dr Lex Mauger says: ‘Future Human is much more wide-ranging than many might think. By focusing on four sub-themes – Healthy Human, Everyday Human, Working Human and Super Human – our aim is to go much further than just understanding the science and technology. We want to know how enhancing human capability cuts across different fields from business and commercial to ethical and legal.’

You can find out more about Future Human on the Signature Research Theme web page.

PhD Studentships available

As part of its start-up resourcing, the Future Human Signature Research Theme is offering two Vice-Chancellor PhD Studentships for the 2022-23 academic year. The studentships will be allocated to named supervisory teams running a pre-determined project.

To select these supervisory teams and projects, the Future Human leadership team is running a Sandpit event, which will involve 20-30 academics from a range of disciplines and result in up to 15 project proposals. From these project ideas, two supervisory teams will be awarded the PhD studentships, and a further three project teams will be awarded seed-corn funding of £1500 for further development of their idea.

Staff will need to apply for one of the limited places on the Sandpit event, which will be held on 9 and 10 November 2021. More information on the Sandpit sessions, including an application for attendance to be completed by 17.00 on Friday 15 October 2021, is available here.

Share your views

The Future Human leadership team – comprising Dr Lex Mauger, Dr Sarah Hotham and Professor Aylish Wood – is committed to offering opportunities and activities to promote transdisciplinary collaborations and development of innovative research bids. They’re keen to hear from colleagues across the University about current and future plans for providing this. Complete the 10-minute survey to tell the team what you think.

Signature Research Themes

Signature Research Themes are a key part of the University’s strategy to further develop its global research profile. The themes bring together a wide range of ideas and approaches through cross-disciplinary collaboration, and they enhance the excellent practices and activities, highlighting the cutting-edge and innovative research that goes on at Kent.

It is with great sadness that we inform colleagues of the death of Geoffrey Stephenson (1939-2021).

Geoffrey established the Social Psychology Research Unit and the Board of Studies in Social Psychology at the University of Kent in 1978, and created its pathway to become the Institute of Social and Applied Psychology and ultimately both the School of Psychology and Tizard Centre.

Geoffrey was one of the UK’s foremost social psychologists in the 1970s and 80s and a leading figure in the formation and growth of the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology, being elected its President from 1984-7. Following his retirement from Kent in 1998, he continued to be very active in research and teaching for a further decade.

A full obituary will be prepared in due course. Those wishing to convey messages of condolence and remembrance to his wife Astrid and children Lawrence, Kate and David are welcome to contact Professor Dominic Abrams: D.Abrams@kent.ac.uk

In memory of Geoffrey, his family invite donations to be made in aid of Age UK Faversham and Sittingbourne via  https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidStephenson28/1

Professor Georgina Randsley de Moura | Deputy Vice-Chancellor – Academic Strategy, Planning and Performance

We are pleased to announce a new online reporting tool for reporting student incidents of sexual misconduct and assault, harassment (non-sexual), assault, bullying, discrimination and hate incidents. This replaces the previous inform Kent (inK) system ​and helps Kent students to get the support they need promptly.

The Report and Support online tool allows both anonymous and named reports. If a student chooses to provide identifiable information, we will be able to offer support or discuss ways that they can (if they wish) report the incident formally. Reporting anonymously will provide information that will help us to make our university the safest ​environment it can be. Anonymous information will be reviewed at regular intervals throughout the year, to ensure that we are ​monitoring incidents reported and putting ​new strategies in place where needed.

Take a look at Report and Support online for about how to report, and well as several support articles relating to these incidents. It may be worth familiarising yourself with the tool in case you need to advise a student to make a report in future. You can also find information on positive safety campaigns and ways in which you can get involved in promoting a culture of respect at Kent.

Visit Report and Support now.

Article by Chris Morrison | Copyright, Software Licence & IS Policy Manager

Universities are increasingly receiving copyright infringement notifications from photographers and their representatives. This blog post provides advice on how to avoid receiving an unexpected demand for licence fees.

It’s been a while since I’ve written a post on this blog, but that doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been a lot of copyright literacy related activity at Kent. One of the most pressing copyright issues that has arisen recently across the education sector is the number of claims received from picture agencies demanding licence fees for the unauthorised use of their clients’ photographs on institutional websites. This includes use of a stringent termination mechanism in the 2.0 version of Creative Commons licences which has caught many people out. This post provides an overview of what can happen when you don’t take care in selecting and posting images online, and what you can do to avoid receiving an infringement notification.

Copyright and photographs online: the basics

As per the updated copyright guidance we published last year, photographs are protected by copyright. This means the copyright owner (usually the photographer themselves, but potentially an employer or a commissioning organisation) has the exclusive right to do or authorise certain activities with their photographs, such as copying them or communicating them to the public. It is only legal to post photographs online if you have the permission of the copyright holder, or if your use is covered by an exception to copyright such as ‘quotation’ or ‘illustration for instruction’. If you use someone else’s photograph without the copyright owner’s permission, and the use is not covered by an exception, then you will have infringed copyright. Infringement of copyright means that both you and the University may be liable in the event of legal action so it’s important to follow a few simple steps to avoid this.

Finding and using licensed content

We all want to find engaging images to use on our blogs and web pages and we have information on finding and sharing content online as well as guidance on how to find and attribute images online. The attribution guidance explains how to use the following types of content:

• Images supplied by staff
• iStockphoto and Getty Images
• Creative Commons
• Public domain and CC zero

One of the key messages here is to always provide a credit to the photographer unless you are certain that no attribution is required. This principle also applies to use of images in teaching where copyright exceptions might apply. For example, the exception covering ‘illustration for instruction‘ only applies if the author or creator of a copyright work is acknowledged unless this is ‘impossible for reasons of practicality or otherwise’. And even in cases where no attribution is required we recommend that you do where possible.

Attribution is also one of the fundamental elements of the Creative Commons licences which allow people to share content freely online. All Wikipedia content is published under a Creative Commons licence as are millions of Flickr photos. It is also the most widely used set of licences for open access publishing.

The issue with Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 licences

We have experienced a number of people getting caught out by photographers using older versions of the Creative Commons Attribution licence which has very strict attribution requirements. As reported in a recent Computer Weekly article some photographers have developed a business model that involves seeding large amounts of Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 licensed images on platforms like Flickr, and then using automated image recognition tools to identify where these are being used without attribution. Older versions of the licence are specifically chosen because, unlike 4.0 version of the licence, they do not have a provision to ‘cure’ any failure to comply with the attribution requirements. The photographer or their agent then contacts the organisation or individual responsible for the website demanding a licence fee payment. The amounts demanded are usually between £600 and £1000 and appear to be calculated to be just low enough to make getting legal representation unaffordable, but high enough to make it worthwhile for an agency to pursue those who have used images without attribution.

I recently organised an event with other copyright specialists in the sector to discuss this issue and we were joined by representatives from Creative Commons. Whilst Creative Commons note that the business model above is not in the spirit of the licensing scheme, they are not able to intervene in disputes between copyright owners and users of their works. They are currently working with their partners and others to create a statement of principles about licensing enforcement to influence community behaviour. They are also working on updated guidance on how to attribute photos appropriately, and I am working with others in the UK HE sector to develop further guidance on the implications of this for online learning.

In the meantime I would advise that you always provide attribution for any images you use online, and be careful when using images licensed with CC BY 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 licences. And if you are contacted by someone claiming payment for copyright infringement please contact copyright@kent.ac.uk.

Image credit (c) Lake Reflections by Vlad Podvorny CC0

Join us on Friday 1 October 16.00 – 18.00  as we officially launch the brand-new Kent Sports Clinic! We’ll be hosting a networking event with Clinic staff talks and drinks in the Sibson Atrium.

About the clinic:

The Kent Sports Clinic combines the expertise of the Kent Sport Physiotherapy Clinic and the School of Sport and Exercise Science Clinics to create one of the most extensive performance, physiotherapy, and rehabilitation services in Kent.

Don’t forget to sign up to hear the latest news and events happening at the clinic – and as an added bonus for signing up, you’ll also be entered into a prize draw to win some great prizes!

To sign up visit the Kent Sports Clinic website.

We are delighted to welcome Jo Lawton, Interim Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion to Kent.

Jo has a background of leading EDI projects and priorities across a number of HE institutions and is joining us from UK Research and Innovation, where she developed the organisation’s EDI workforce strategy.

Jo says, ‘I’m really excited to join Kent at such a critical point in our EDI journey. I’m committed to understanding the great work that is happening across the institution and to identifying opportunities to consolidate and strengthen what we do (and how we do it).

I’m thrilled to be bringing such a talented and passionate EDI team together and to be working with such a broad range of internal experts, committed networks and diverse stakeholders.  Together, I’d like for us to develop an organisational-wide approach to moving our commitments forward, one that is transparent, practical and at the same time aspirational – putting co-creation (between our student and staff communities) at the heart of everything we do.

To ensure our work is relevant and impactful – I’ll be looking to make the most of internal and external learning, expertise and partnerships. Over the next few weeks I’ll be meeting with as many people as I can from across our community to listen, learn and start this process.’

Meet the team who Jo will be working with:

Tanesha Allen – EDI Data Analyst – leading on the design, analysis and reporting of all monitoring data for the use of Kent’s Race Equality Charter application. Tanesha will also provide data analysis and advice to support the wider EDI strategic agenda.

Tanesha Allen

Leroy Cohoone – Race Equality Mark Co-ordinator – leading the operation, planning and delivery of Kent’s Race Equality Charter, Leroy will be co-ordinating across the institution, working closely with the institutional self-assessment team.

Leroy Cohoone

Minna Janhonen – EDI Adviser –  formally the University’s Athena SWAN Adviser, Minna is prioritising Kent’s submission to the Inclusive Employers Standard benchmarking exercise, alongside advising divisions on their submissions to the Athena SWAN Charter.

Minna Janhonen

You may have seen the Student Helpers (with their bright yellow lanyards and enthusiastic smiles!) across campus in the lead-up to, and during, Welcome Week. Well, they are ready and keen to work for you!

The Work-Study Scheme (based in the Careers and Employability Service) have around 150 right-to-work-checked, contracted, trained and ready Student Helpers at your disposal. All you need to do is contact Hannah Greer/Jen Davey on workstudy@kent.ac.uk (or drop us a line on Teams), give us your cost code, and we’ll arrange Student Helpers to work for you. (Student Helpers are paid £9.40/hour or £9.99/hour if they’re aged 25+, and we have some match-funding available to help with costs.)

Student Helpers can be put to work at events, for promotional work, focus groups, or for longer-term opportunities such as social media management or administrative support. We have a bank of job descriptions, and can support you with shortlisting, interviewing, or directly assigning roles.

Natalia Crisanti has hired Communications Interns the for the last 2 years:

‘When Student Services underwent a restructure, we knew we had a big challenge to improve our communications to students. With the help of the Work-Study Scheme, we recruited 5 extremely capable Interns, each working 5-10 hours per week to help manage the social media and web pages.

As a group we were able to meet regularly, flex and cover one another’s work so that deadlines were met, and learned from one another to create engaging content and maximise student participation. I would highly recommend recruiting through the Work-Study Scheme, it had been a fantastic way of having student insight in reaching their peers, excellent digital media knowledge exchanges, and being able to mentor and grow their professional experience so they can graduate from Kent with confidence.’