Dear Colleagues, 

Next Monday is a significant moment in the government’s roadmap for easing lockdown restrictions, as students who require access to specialist equipment are allowed to return to universities. We are set to welcome around 600 further students back to Kent, and while this is still a long way from normality, it will hopefully be a big lift for all of us to see more life returning to our campuses. I want to once again express my huge gratitude for all the careful work going on across the University to ensure our students can return safely, including those coordinating the regular testing that will support them on their return. 

Next week will also see large number of children returning to school across the country, which I know will have a big impact on the many of you juggling childcare (and teaching!) with the challenges presented by working at home. I hope the transition ‘back to school’ goes safely, and brings some respite for you and your families. 

With today also being University Mental Health day, we have a number of events and initiatives to support our students and I encourage you all to take a moment if you can to check in with a colleague or loved one on how they are feeling. You can also listen again to today’s Staff Webchat, which focused on the support on offer at Kent to help you look after your health and wellbeing at a time when we have all been under so much additional pressure. 

Finally, as some of you may have seen this week, proposed increases in salary contributions have been put forward for those in the USS pension scheme, which would be very challenging for staff and employers alike. We are surprised and disappointed by the proposals and have written to all scheme members at Kent with more information on how we will seek to influence the national negotiation via Universities UK – we will keep affected staff updated throughout as discussions progress. 

With my very best wishes to you and your families, 

Karen

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President

From Monday 8 March, the first step of the Government’s roadmap for moving the country out of lockdown comes into force. This means that the guidelines will change slightly and more of our students will be returning to campus.

To support them, a small number of additional essential staff have also been asked to return. For the vast majority of staff, it is still important to stay at home – you should only be returning to campus if you have been asked to do so.

What you need to do

If you are already working on campus, or about to return, here’s a helpful reminder of our current safety guidelines:

• Keep to 2m social distancing in all areas, including research laboratories, teaching spaces and facilities.
• Unless you’re exempt, face coverings should be worn in all areas which are accessed by others. This includes multi-occupancy offices even if individuals are working at 2m social distancing or there are Perspex screens in place. More widely, staff and students are expected to follow Government guidance on face coverings.
• Face shields should be worn by staff in all student-facing roles and, if it does not interfere with communication, learning or teaching, also wear a face covering.
• All staff accessing campus regularly should be tested for Covid-19 twice a week. The University has Asymptomatic Test Sites in the Sports Centre at Canterbury campus and the Deep End in Medway. Booking is available via our Coronavirus webpages. If visiting on an ad hoc basis, you should be tested on the days you are on campus. Anyone receiving a positive test result while on campus must go home immediately, following our COVID reporting procedure.

Safety measures on campus

A number of measures are in place to ensure staff stay as safe as possible while on campus. These include:

• Maximum occupancy numbers calculated based on social distancing requirements and the need to minimise the transmission of the Coronavirus. Individual room occupancies have been determined by applying the 2m rule and each room in use will have occupancy limits indicated on the door.
• Social distancing signage displayed in all areas of the buildings to highlight maximum occupancies for different spaces.
• A one-way system in common areas of buildings (corridors, reception areas, stairwells, lifts) to help with social distancing.
• Signage to remind staff of good hygiene: washing hands more regularly, proper hand washing technique, use of tissues to catch coughs and sneezes etc.
• Sanitising units with hand sanitizer at strategic locations in every general building on campus.
• Staff should work at their own defined work area to ensure social distancing guidelines are followed, that communal use of equipment is avoided as much as possible, and to prevent the need for people to pass close by each other to reach equipment.
• All staff working on campus are expected to download the NHS coronavirus tracing app, if they have a suitable mobile device.

Remember that every member of staff plays a key role in ensuring their own personal safety and that of their colleagues. If you have any questions, please see our Staff Coronavirus webpages or email CovidSupport@kent.ac.uk for further support.

The One Hour Degree game, developed by the Student Success Team, has received its official trademark certificate from the Intellectual Property Office this month. The One Hour Degree was created using the open source software called Twine which is used for telling interactive, nonlinear stories.

The trademark ensures that the University of Kent has protected use of the OHD logo and is recognised as the creator in relation to online games services provided by computer networks and global communications networks.

To date the One Hour Degree has been played by over 7,300 people across 125 countries worldwide and recently won the Guardian HE 2020 Award for Digital Innovation. Existing students continue to benefit from earning 15 Employability Points when they successfully complete the game. To date, only 1 player has been lucky enough to find the secret page by locating all the hidden ‘Easter Eggs’!

A paper co-authored by SSPSSR Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Sociology Dr Robert de Vries and Dr Aaron Reeves from the University of Oxford’s Department of Social Policy and Intervention, has won the 2020 British Journal of Sociology (BJS) Prize.

The paper, ‘Can cultural consumption increase future earnings? Exploring the economic returns to cultural capital’ analyses the results from a large-scale quantitative study. The study found that participating in cultural activities is likely to have a positive effect on future earnings, and on the chances of promotion and upward social mobility.

The BJS Prize is awarded biannually for an article published in the BJS during a 24-month period that makes an outstanding contribution to sociological knowledge.

In their paper, Dr de Vries and Dr Reeves suggest the most likely explanation for the effect they found is that economic gatekeepers (such as members of hiring or promotion committees) value cultural participation as an indication of an interesting and well-rounded candidate. They suggest that, when it comes to cultural participation, the message is not that only ‘high-brow’ activities count, but more generally that ‘more is better’.

Their study is based on data from Understanding Society (USoc), the UK’s largest ongoing longitudinal social survey. The USoc sample is considered to be highly representative of the British population, including data from roughly 20,000 USoc participants.

Dr de Vries said: ‘The primary focus of our analysis was the effect of cultural participation on future earnings. We examined the relationship between respondents’ current economic situation and their participation in cultural activities one year previously. In the Understanding Society survey, respondents are asked if they participated in each of a list of 14 activities. These activities include watching a film at the cinema, visiting an art exhibition, visiting a street arts display, attending a carnival, attending the theatre, attending the opera, attending a classical music concert, and attending a rock or pop performance.

‘We found that people who participated in a larger number of cultural activities earned significantly higher salaries a year later than did people who participated in fewer cultural activities. People who participated in one additional cultural activity earned an average of £175 more per month in the subsequent year.’