Our Joint Staff Negotiating and Consultation Committee (JSNCC) held its latest regular meeting on Wednesday 10 November. The JSNCC is the main forum in which staff and trade union representatives meet with management representatives to discuss key developments across the University, particularly those that will impact staff. Find out more about JSNCC and how the reps can help you have your voice heard.

Updates from the November meeting

Q+A with the Vice-Chancellor

Our Vice-Chancellor Karen Cox joined the first section of the meeting to answer questions from the reps, including a number which were submitted in advance. This covered a range of areas, including her role in bringing together the different aspects of the University and coordinating our strategic delivery; how we work with Universities UK, who are a representative body that lobbies on behalf of universities; her upcoming role as a board member for the Universities and Colleges Employers Association; and how we can improve communication and feedback loops to Executive Group, including through further developing our staff webchat series and through new initiatives to support employer engagement that will come via our People and Culture Strategy.

Wellbeing and Workload

Following the recent recommendations from the Wellbeing Working Group, work has begun to scope out the focus groups needed to gather detailed information on issues regarding workload. At the meeting, it was agreed that ahead of this we should run an all-staff survey so we can identify particular areas of concern to then explore in depth. The aim is that this survey will be sent out before the end of term and will run through till early January, with the focus groups then expected in February once the results have been analysed, leading into action planning by the end of March 2022.

KentVision

A regular update on KentVision was provided, following on from the well-attended Staff Webchat earlier that week. Further clarity was provided on the Features and Functionality Business Analysis workstream for the project, which is there to sense-check and confirm prior work undertaken on the key things we need the new system to be able to do.

Job Grade Review

Our usual Job Grade Review process for professional service staff was suspended throughout Organising for Success. The Committee agreed that this should now relaunch, with the process for 2021/22 including a central committee that moderates evaluations carried out by local HR teams. Any regrades agreed will be backdated to 1 October 2021.

University Kindness Charter

As part of our Inclusive Allyship programme, a proposal was put forward to adopt a University Kindness Charter that sets out the positive behaviours we all want to adopt. Workstream members will be updating this following feedback from JSNCC ahead of circulation to Executive Group. Next meeting: Wednesday 8 December 2021 Find our more about JSNCC.

Congratulations to Robert (Bob) Green OBE, Reader in Forensic Science and Director of Student Engagement for the School of Physical Sciences, on his election as Vice President of the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences (CSOFS). Robert is a Fellow of the society and has previously served as Honorary Secretary and Acting Treasurer.

In his previous roles, he was instrumental in developing the student block membership scheme, resulting in a substantial increase of students joining the professional body. He  also sought to build membership and promote forensic science more widely through numerous visits to educational and other establishments.

The role of VP – a three-year term – focuses on setting and maintaining ethical and professional standards, and ensuring members maintain and uphold these standards. As a trustee of the professional body, Robert will chair the Membership and Ethics Committee, scrutinising and setting guidelines for membership applications, chairing the appeals committee and managing complaints and discipline issues.

The E-Learning Team are pleased to announce that the next event in our series of ‘Digitally Enhanced Education webinars’ will take place on Wednesday 1 December from 10.00 – 12.30 (GMT), with the theme ‘Multimedia and accessibility: Making online work for everyone’.  Please find the agenda for the event below:

Agenda:

• 10.00 – 10.05 – Phil Anthony (University of Kent): Introduction
• 10.05 – 10.20 – Nigel Megitt (BBC): Making television accessible: Identifying priorities to support audio description and captioning (subtitling) at scale
• 10.20 – 10.35 – Jonathan Penny (ITV): Audio Description: how does it work?
• 10.35 – 10.50 – Marion McGillivray (ITV): TV subtitling: how does it work?
• 10.50 – 11.05 – Kasia Senyszyn (University of Kent): What can the public sector learn from the creative arts about delivering accessible events
• 11.05 – 11.15 – Break
• 11.15 – 11.30 – Antonio Viera Santos (Atos): Tips for posting accessible content in social media
• 11.30 – 11.45 – @SightlessKombat (Accessibility consultant): Accessibility in videogames. The art of the possible…
• 11.45 – 12.05 – Stephen Rose (Microsoft): What’s new in Teams
• 12:05 – 12:20 – Simon Houghton (WeSupportDeafAwareness): What’s it REALLY like to be deaf? What are the challenges, and how can they be overcome
• 12.20 – 12.30 – Phil Anthony (University of Kent): Wrap-up

If you would like to join the webinar series, please express your here if you haven’t already. We add you the Microsoft Team linked to the series.  Colleagues from outside the University of Kent are very welcome to join and so feel free to circulate. If you would like to present at a future event, please complete this form and Phil Anthony will be in touch.

There are plenty of things going on and around The Hub on Medway campus! For more information and help about any events, visit The Hub What’s On webpage or email thehubmedway@gre.ac.uk. Here are some highlights of what you can expect at Medway:

Extra-curricular ensembles at Medway – 10 November – 16 December

Open to all students and the local community, from Pop, Rock and Soul Choir to Percussion group you can get involved at the University campus at the Historic Dockyard. Find out more.

Pilates – Monday 15 November (and every Monday) – 17.30 – 18.30

Happening in the Mezzanine,  this class you will work your full body with a variety of low impact movements, Pilates is a great way to wind down and relax. FREE for all students and staff. Open to all abilities. Find out more.

Zumba – Tuesday 16 November (and every Tuesday) 17.15 – 18.16

Want a fun exciting way to exercise? Zumba is the one for you!!  Open to all students and staff – all abilities welcome. Please arrive at The Hub and go to the mezzanine for 17.15. Find out more. 

Social Football – Wednesday 17 November – 17.00 – 18.00

Come along to social football, for some fun friendly games, meet new friends and improve your skills! Open to all levels, whether you are a beginner or advanced. Find out more.

Malcolm Dixon is Head of our Quality Assurance and Compliance Office but may soon be better known as an award-winning writer.

Malcolm’s first book, The Little House on Everywhere Street, was awarded the inaugural Acheven Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction. The prize includes a cash award and publication of the novel by Regal House Books in early 2022.

The Little House on Everywhere Street centres on a family who live in an unusual house, where they can step out into London, New York or Paris through different doors. Unknown to the three adventurous children at first, they can also travel in time – and so the adventures begin!

It may be Malcolm’s first published book but it’s not the first time he has seen his name in print. He has been writing for a number of years – since studying English at universities in Sunderland and Minnesota, US – and his short stories have featured in publications such as The London Magazine and Aesthetica.

Writing fiction alongside a full-time job has not been easy. Malcolm says: ‘I aim for around 1,500 words a week. I write mostly at weekends but then, in the week, I can often be found at lunchtime editing the novel on my phone in the Templeman Library – I missed it during lockdown!

‘When I came to write the first page of The Little House on Everywhere Street, I knew, with absolute certainty… this is exactly what I should be doing. Everything came together, the years of effort… I wanted the novel to be both well-written and as entertaining as I could make it. That the novel has been honoured by the award of this inaugural prize recognises that fact and means everything to me.’

How to get a copy

The Little House on Everywhere Street by F.M.A. Dixon will be published on 4 February 2022, but is available now for pre-order from Regal House Publishing, as well as Amazon UK, Blackwell’s and Waterstones. Leading UK sci-fi writer and critic, Adam Roberts, has hailed the novel as ‘a scrumptious time-travel adventure written with elegance and charm,’ and Malcolm hopes that this praise indicates his book will be well-received – and with good reason.

Two follow-on books have also been written, although whether or not we get a chance to read them may depend on how well the first one performs. ‘I’m truly grateful to everybody who has pre-ordered a copy,’ says Malcolm. ‘They’re helping me achieve a lifelong ambition, one that I hope can continue long into the coming years.’

Winner of the Supportive Colleague award is Paul Sales, IT Trainer, Student Operations. 

Paul was nominated for his key role in training and support for the rollout of KentVision, our new student management system. 

On receiving his award, he said: ‘I feel overwhelmed and massively thankful to everyone who nominated me. Working with me is a fantastic team trying to make KentVision work for everyone. I wouldn’t want their work to go unnoticed – they have been incredible, relentless and just doing their best for staff and students.’ 

Paul’s nomination  

Paul’s nomination notes how he ‘has been a huge support and a primary contact for many colleagues with all manner of KentVision queries. His KentVision expertise and university business process knowledge has been invaluable for collating feedback and working with users and the KentVision team together to find ways forward.  

‘He was directly involved with enabling divisional and central PSD colleagues, right from the start, to complete essential and urgent student records management work, including student assessment processing, examination timetable preparation, exam boards, student enrolment and registration, module registration to name but a few. He has seemingly endless patience, is incredibly knowledgeable, always ready to help, offer advice or just his ear for a rant.’ 

Winner of the Unsung Heroes Award is Becky Verlin, Housekeeping Manager for Kent Hospitality.

Becky was nominated for her pivotal role in setting up and running a Covid-19 testing site on campus for our staff and students.

On receiving her award, Becky said: ‘It’s a team effort – there were lots of other people involved, including Colin Smith (from HR), the space management team and others. I am happy to take the award but what I am really proud about is that the ATS team stayed right the way through – they’re the real heroes.’

Becky’s nomination

Becky’s nomination notes that during 2020, universities were asked by the Department for Education to set up asymptomatic testing centres on their campuses for students and staff. In the face of this ‘challenging ask’ and without a clear roadmap, the University was able to set up and run a full testing site service for our staff and students, which has continued into the 2021/22 academic year.

Becky’s nomination notes that she was instrumental in the setting up of the site, training and support of staff and ongoing delivery of the testing facility. She is praised for delivering ‘a great service with skill, professionalism and good humour’ and it is noted that ‘the University owes her a debt of gratitude for her leadership of this project’.

The award also reflects that, while working on the new testing centre, Becky continued with her ‘day job’ as well as advocating for others as a staff representative on our Joint Staff Negotiating and Consultation Committee (JSNCC).

Read more about Becky, including her ATS site role, in her Kent People profile published earlier this year.