Monthly Archives: September 2021

Student Helpers – ready to help you!

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.’

Award of Honorary Degrees in 2022 and onwards

The next meeting of the University’s Honorary Degrees Committee will take place in November 2021 and we are looking for nominations for the award of honorary degrees for the consideration of the Committee.

Anyone can put forward a nomination and to ensure the award of honorary degrees across a broad range of academic disciplines and subject areas it would be helpful to receive a number from each Division (for example one from each School/Centre). You can find all the necessary information, including the nomination form on the honorary degree nominations webpage. Nominations should be returned by 25 October 2021 by email to councilsec@kent.ac.uk

Public Orator Suggestions

The Committee is also looking for suggestions of Public Orators, if you have any, or indeed if you wish to put yourself forward, please do email councilsec@kent.ac.uk by 25 October 2021 and these will be discussed at the Committee and where appropriate put forward to Senate for approval.  Information about the role can be found on the Honorary Degree Web page .

Rachel McCrea to deliver presentation at World Laureate Forum

Professor Rachel McCrea, Professor of Statistics at the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science, has been invited to participate in the 4thWorld Laureate Forum (WLF) as a Young Scientist.

The WLF is the foremost global scientific gathering of prize winners, including laureates of the Nobel Prize, Wolf Prize, Lasker Award, Turing Award, Breakthrough Prize, and Fields Medal as well as hundreds of academicians of the Chinese Academy of Science and Chinese Academy of Engineering and outstanding young scientists worldwide. Professor McCrea was nominated to take part by the Royal Statistical Society.

Professor McCrea will present at the Ecology, Economics and Statistics session alongside Laureates Angus Deaton, (2015 Nobel Prize in Economics), Alessio Figalli (2018 Fields Medal), Simon Levin (2005 Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences), and Eric Maskin (2007 Nobel Prize in Economics), as well as fellow Young Scientists Maurizio Porfiri, Mark Christiaan Veraar, and Shuaian Wang.

The WLF runs from Thursday 30 September to Sunday 3 November in Shanghai, with Professor McCrea participating remotely.

Further details about the WLF are available on their website.

Order Up! – The app for mobile ordering on campus

Order Up! is Kent’s brand new app for mobile ordering and payment at your favourite bars, cafés and restaurants on the Canterbury campus.

Download for iPhoneDownload for Android

Our intuitive app allows University of Kent students, staff and visitors to create an account and save payment details for quick and easy ordering.

Choose from table service or click and collect, and order for speedy service or pre-order for a timeslot that suits your schedule.

Ordering from your desktop? Use our bespoke Order Up! web ordering app on your PC or laptop.

The Order Up! app can be used at:

Have a question about the Order Up! app? Email catering@kent.ac.uk

Welcome Week Events at the Gulbenkian Arts Centre!

The Gulbenkian are excited to announce their welcome week events for students at the University of Kent!

Term kicks off with outdoor live music presented by City Sound Project on Fri 17th and Fri 24 Sep at 6pm. Enjoy an evening under the stars with music from a mixture of DJs and bands, with hot food and drink also available.

From Sat 18, Wed 22 & Tue 28 Sep at 7pm, the cinema will be showing DC blockbuster superhero hit The Suicide Squad. There’ll also be an Accessible Film Screening Sun 25th Sep at 3pm.

On Tue 21 Sep at 7:30pm, the Gulbenkian are also holding a special outdoor film screening of classic 80s action flick Top Gun, free for students at the University of Kent.

The arts centre is also delighted to welcome their Funny Rabbit monthly comedy club back to Gulbenkian next Thurs 23 Sep, with acts Aaron Simmonds & Athena Kugblenu.

Plus the Gulbenkian is offering our 2ForTuesday cinema ticket discount for all students and Under 25s – on Tuesdays, you can get 2for1 cinema tickets!

You can also find the Gulbenkian at freshers fair on Thurs 23 + Fri 24 Sep where you can chat to members of the team about what’s on at the arts centre, and how you can get involved.

We look forward to seeing you at Gulbenkian, and hope you have a great start to the term!

Check out events and offers here.

Staff Conference week – catch up on all the sessions!

Thank you to all our presenters and everyone who was able to join us for our Staff Conference week last week! It was great to highlight a variety of interesting and important topics showcasing what Kent is all about.

Over the week we had over 600 sign-ups to the sessions, with many more listening again online – including 300 colleagues taking in Vice-Chancellor Karen Cox’s welcome and update on Kent’s 2025 Strategy and Mid-Term Review session.

We’d love to hear what you thought of our first Staff Conference Week! Please share your views by  completing this short form by Friday 29 October.

Throughout the year we’re putting together a programme of Webchats and will be asking for your input of what you’d like us to focus on. So please share your thoughts and ideas, by emailing communications@kent.ac.uk.

If you missed any of last week’s sessions, then not to worry as we have all the recordings for you to listen to listed below:

Monday’s sessions

Welcome – An update on Kent 2025 Strategy & Mid Term Review
Listen to the recording.

Spotlight on Sustainability at Kent 
Listen to the recording.

The history of Kent – from Farm to University Campus
Listen to the recording.

The Turing Scheme: International placements: a whole new (virtual?) world
Listen to the recording.

Tuesday’s sessions

Research and Innovation Strand
Listen to the recording.

The Medway strategy
Listen to the recording.

QA-ccessibility
Listen to the recording.

Wednesday’s sessions

Civic Mission Strand
Listen to the recording.

Global Challenges Showcase 
Listen to the recording.

Qualitative findings from the BAME Staff Network all-staff survey
Listen to the recording.

Thursday’s sessions

Learning and Teaching and the Student Experience
Listen to the recording.

A Virtual Tour of Special Collections and the Archives
Listen to the recording.

Two highlight sessions from the Medway Festival of Learning and Teaching
Listen to the recording.

 Friday’s sessions

Implementing an anti-racism strategy for the University
Listen to the recording.

Outreach to schools – our widening participation strategy
Listen to the recording.

Gulbenkian season launch

Gulbenkian Arts Centre launches 2021/22 Season

Last night, the Gulbenkian Arts Centre launched their 2021/22 Season.

Artistic Director David Sefton presented this season’s live programme highlights, including the Gulbenkian’s associate artists and exciting upcoming projects.

The evening included presentations from University of Kent Vice-Chancellor and President, Karen Cox, and Director of the Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries, Professor Catherine Richardson. The audience also heard from Head of Music Performance Daniel Harding who outlined the exciting music programme taking place in the Colyer-Fergusson Hall. Two ART31 Kent members also spoke about the positive impact of creative projects for young people in Kent.

The evening concluded with an impressive preview from Battersea Arts Centre Beatbox Academy, who will be returning to perform at the Gulbenkian next year with Frankenstein: How to make a Monster.

Gulbenkian wishes to thank everyone who attended in support of this exciting new season, and invite everyone to take a look at their new season (brochure now available or visit website). We look forward to welcoming you to an event over the coming year.

View the Gulbenkian Season 2021/22 brochure here: https://bit.ly/GulbBrochure2021

For more information and to book tickets visit the Gulbenkian’s website: https://thegulbenkian.co.uk

To sign up to the Gulbenkian’s email list please register here: https://bit.ly/gulbsignup 

Laptop on top of table beside a vase of flowers

Care first webinars w/c 13 September 2021

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 13 September –  Friday 17 September) webinars are as follows:

Monday 13 September 2021 – ‘How Care first can support you’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Tuesday 14 September 2021 – ‘Benefits of a good night’s sleep’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 15 September 2021 -‘Care First – Management support’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 16 September 2021 – ‘Budgeting for Christmas’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 17 September 2021 -‘Mental Health in young people’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar lin

Sign up to a Language Express course

Engaging, flexible and interactive, our evening Language Express courses will make you progress in your chosen language in no time. By focussing on conversational skills, our classes are recommended for students, staff, and anyone else wanting to learn a language from beginners’ level.

Our language courses not only provide you with communication skills, but also allow you to gain basic intercultural skills. As part of our Language Express courses, you will develop essential knowledge and understanding of the cultural contexts in which your chosen language is spoken. You can choose from Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish.

You can find out more about Language Express including pricing and how to sign up on our website.

Entrance to the Drill Hall Library in the sunshine

Medway Learning and Teaching Festival

The Medway Festival of Learning and Teaching is jointly organised by the Universities of Kent, Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church who share the Medway campus. This year’s festival will be held virtually on the 16 September 9.00 – 13.00, via Blackboard Collaborate (a platform that everyone can easily access, even if they are not at CCCU). The festival aims to share, celebrate and promote our practice.

This year our focus is on Community & Continuity: building communities of learning and supporting graduates’ employability. These are consistently strong themes that run through the sector and are a priority for all three universities and their collaborative partners. The topics are also central when supporting learning in a blended and digital environment, as we have all come to realise more fully since March 2020.

Our keynote speaker is Dr Carina Buckley, her presentation is titled ‘Closing the learning loop: The value of narrative in online learning design’.  Technology allows for teaching beyond the confines of the classroom but on its own cannot put students in the centre of their own learning. The four concepts of community, journey, narrative and interaction are vital to the success of learning and teaching online in the longer term, and can act as a tool for humanising the online space and maintaining connection, participation and engagement between peers, and between students and staff.

Call for workshop proposals

We are now inviting contributions in a variety of formats from colleagues at all three Universities and collaborative partners, from practitioners, professional services staff, researchers and students.  Co-authored presentations with students are particularly encouraged.  We welcome contributions on practices that:

  • Fostering student engagement online and on-campus
  • Promote communities of learning, student and alumni belonging and inclusion
  • Demonstrate collaborative approaches to learning, teaching and assessment
  • Develop students’ graduate employability and professional skills
  • Facilitate authentic engagement with graduate employers and professional bodies

Attending or presenting can help colleagues to evidence professional development or maintain ‘good standing’ for Advance HE (formerly HEA). The length of contributions will be as follows:

  • Presentations of practice 10 minutes
  • Research papers 10 minutes
  • Workshops 30 minutes