Our Staff Conference this year (15-16 September) covers a lot of exciting topics and lying at the heart of the programme is health and wellbeing. Throughout the conference and in the days building up to it, there are a wide range of activities that will be good for your mind and soul as well as your body.

For all of our wellbeing activities and events take look at our daily sessions, but for now here’s a sneak peek of what we have in store…

Free classes at Kent Sport

From Monday 12 – Thursday 15 September, Kent Sport is offering a range of classes including Pilates and Express Spinning for you to enjoy. While some of the sessions have proven to be very popular, there are still classes with availability so book your spot via this booking form.

Health checks and monitoring

As well as taking you on a tour of the facilities of The School of Sport and Exercise Sciences (SSES), on the Monday (12) and Wednesday (14) you’ll be able to book a slot to receive some basic health tests i.e., blood pressure and BMI checks. To book your slot please email Lucy Hale.

On Tuesday 15 September and at our Medway campus book an appointment with our Occupational Health Department to get a blood pressure check.

See the schedule for more details

Wellbeing activities at Medway

It’s Wellbeing Wednesday on the 14 September as our Medway campus runs several activities including sitting back and relaxing in an acupuncture chair massage. For details read our story Staff Conference: At Medway.

Dance fitness session

Start your Friday (16 September) by being active and join Lizzie Holland for a fun dance class. Whether you’re a beginner or more experienced, this 45-minute session will get you moving as you learn a low-impact dance routine.

See the schedule for more details

How our Employee Assistance Programme can help you

This online session on the Friday, is a great opportunity for you to hear from the experts at CareFirst (EAP) on what they can do to support you no matter what your need is. Whether you need information or have questions regarding issues such as stress, or nutrition, Care first online wellbeing can provide the answer.

See the schedule for more details

Financial wellbeing

On the Friday qualified and experienced Certified Money Coaches will be leading an online session that can help us to understand our relationship with money and advise on strategies and tactics to improve our habits and ultimately improve our financial wellbeing.

See the schedule for more details

Check out the daily programmes for the Staff Conference 2022.

As we emerge from the pandemic, how do we bring people together again through events that are sustainable? Join Kent Sustainability Champions for the launch of their Sustainable Events Guide, which will give you top tips to help you deliver a more successful and sustainable event.

Images from left: Emma Marku, Kelda McCabe, Emily Collins

Between them, Emma Marku (Internationalisation Officer), Kelda McCabe (Business Information Officer) and Emily Collins (External Relations and Events Co-ordinator) have a wealth of experience of organising events at the University of Kent. They know that sustainability isn’t always at the top of the agenda or easy to achieve, so have created a short guide to help you navigate the pitfalls of event management and provide the necessary information to help you make more sustainable choices along the way.

At the launch of the guide on Thursday 15 September, hosted as part of the Kent Staff Conference, the team will give you the opportunity to plan and discuss your next event with sustainability in mind. They’ll give you the tools you need to justify your sustainable choices to colleagues and signpost more eco-friendly alternatives when it comes to marketing, catering and delivering your event.

Whether you’re well-versed in event planning, it’s new to your role or you have an interest in influencing sustainability as an attendee, this event will offer something for you.

How to deliver great and sustainable events will take place at 13:50-14:30 on 15 September in the Templeman Seminar Room 1. You do not need to register for the event but we recommend you add the event to your Outlook Calendar using this link.

We have previously communicated that SharePoint 2013 will be set to ‘read only’ on 1 September 2022.

Whilst this has already been done for some sites, we have had to delay the ‘read only’ date for all SharePoint 2013 sites to 1 October 2022.

Please ensure all content is moved away from SharePoint 2013 by 1 October 2022.

SharePoint 2013 will be permanently retired after 31 December 2022.

What does this include?

• All SharePoint 2013 sites, which includes anything beginning with a URL sharepoint.kent.ac.uk.
• SharePoint 2013 ‘mysites’, which begin with the URL mysite.sharepoint.kent.ac.uk/ and can be accessed by clicking ‘OneDrive’ in the top right corner of SharePoint 2013.

For further help:

There is lots of useful advice on the KentNet Support site.

If you are not aware of the process to move content or where content should be moved to please send your enquiry to Izzy Linthwaite, Digital Collaborative Services Lead, Information Services.

As part of this year’s Staff Conference 2022 we have a variety of exciting wellbeing activities taking place on our Medway Campus.

For Tuesday 13 September, there will be an all-day health monitoring session at Medway, where our Occupational Health Department are offering staff blood pressure checks in Room M04. If you would like an appointment, please email occupationalhealth@kent.ac.uk

On Wednesday 14 September, before you join colleagues at the staff barbecue (between 12.00-14.00) for a fun afternoon of live music, food and drink, there are a number of staff wellbeing activities for you to sign up to.

All these sessions will be taking place on our Medway campus, so take a look at the schedule and come along!

09.30 – 16.00 – Acupressure chair massage – with Rebecca Farrell

Rebecca is the owner of Centre Anahata in Chatham and a member of the Federation of Holistic Therapists. currently the only practitioner trained to offer Ayurvedic Yoga Massage in Kent, alongside her qualifications in seated chair massage, reflexology and yoga.

Please book for twenty-minute slots of seated chair massage will be offered throughout the day to relieve muscular pressure and leave staff feeling energised and refreshed.

10.30 – 11.30 – Nutrition talk – with Leni Wood

Leni Wood is a registered Nutritional Therapist specialising in gut and women’s health within her online clinic at OWN Nutrition. Leni is also the Head of Nutrition & Wellness Development for Nellsar Care Homes Ltd where she works closely with catering, care and nursing teams who support elderly and vulnerable adults living with long-term illness and dementia.

The hour will include:

• The basics of healthy eating and energy balance.
• How to nourish yourself throughout the day, with a focus on sustaining energy through diet, avoiding the 3pm biscuit(s) and subsequent sleepy slump.
• Macronutrients and micronutrients and how they can affect energy production.
•  The gut / brain connection.
• Simple tips for improving diet and lifestyle.

14.00 – 15.00 – Sound healing – with Michelle Crozier

Led by Michelle Crozier, originally from an opera and musical theatre background Michelle became a kirtan drummer and backing vocalist, supporting other artists.  She then realised her dream of leading her own kirtans and sound healing events.

The hour will entail a sound healing journey in which attendees which just need to sit back and relax. The intention is to let go of the stresses of everyday life that can appear in the body on a physical, emotional and energetic level. The music will be a creative mix of singing bowls, tingsha and koshi bells, kalimba, shamanic sounds, drumming, mantra singing and rich angelic tones.

12.00 – 14.00 – Medway staff barbecue

Food, drinks, live music socialising and networking… We hope to see you there!

Check out the daily programmes for the Staff Conference 2022.

Don’t forget to check out The Medway Learning and Teaching Festival.

As ever, bOing! is totally free to enter so you can relax and enjoy a brilliant festival day with lots of free, outdoor performances and activities. bOing is a family festival, meaning its not just for children – we programme fantastic artists from across the UK and beyond who make work for all ages.

We also have a number of ticketed indoor performances that you can buy tickets for. This year we are excited to host the world premiere of Alice by Jasmin Vardimon Company and we have the return of the bOing! favourite – the Architects of Air Luminarium. Plus many more.

For more details visit the bOing website.

Our official Employee Assistance Programme provider, Care first offers a numbers of services and provide useful advice and support.

Due to the stabilising situation of Covid, they’ll be doing a side-range of webinar topics. Here’s the schedule for two weeks:

Week commencing 15 August 2022

Monday 15 August –‘Care first critical incident support’ – This webinar provides details of the support Care first can offer that maybe relevant following a traumatic incident in the work place
Time: 13.00-13.30 – click on this link to sign up

Wednesday 17 August – ‘Never give up day – 18th August 2022’ – This webinar in about motivating and inspiring ourselves and others to never give up, while understanding how we can support those that might find it difficult.
Time: 12.00-12.30 – click on this link to sign up

Friday 19 August –‘How Care first can support you’ – A webinar for awareness and how to access the EAP service provided by Care first.
Time: 12.00-12.30 – click on this link to sign up

Week commencing 22 August 2022

Monday 22 August -‘Practical information and advice through Care first’ – The webinar provides detail about our Information Specialists and their role as part of your EAP service.
Time: 12.00-12.30 – click on this link to sign up

Wednesday 24 August – ‘How Care first can support you’ – A webinar for awareness and how to access the EAP service provided by Care first.
Time: 12.00-12.30 – click on this link to sign up

Friday 26 August – ‘Returning to school anxiety’ – A light touch session offering tips to help manage stress and anxiety when your children are returning to school or moving to a new one
Time: 12.00-12.30 – click on this link to sign up

The Work and Opportunities Fund offers a limited number of monetary grants for students who, through their own initiative, have secured unpaid work experience, are undertaking a training course or attending a networking event, which supports their employability.

The fund can also support Divisions who wish to organise an extra-curricular trip, for example, to an organisation’s office or to a conference, which will contribute to the employability of students at the University.

What can I use the funding for?

This funding can be used to fully fund the cost of travel for the trip e.g. a coach. Where students are attending a conference or event and there is an entrance fee, we may be able to contribute towards these costs too.

Eligibility Criteria

In addition to the terms and conditions, the trip must:

• be an extra-curricular activity, which does not form part of a programme or module.
• be offered to registered students at the University, studying in the UK only.
• contribute to the employability of students, supporting skills development and/or supporting a student’s future career aspirations.

How do I apply and when is the deadline?

To apply, please visit the staff funding page to access the application form and full terms and conditions.

There is no deadline to apply, and applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis, subject to fund availability at the time of application.

If you have any questions about the funding, please email us at: careerhelp@kent.ac.uk

We hope to receive an application from you soon!

Three Members of Kent Sport ‘walked the walk’ by supporting Home Nations Sport at the highest level, in three very different ways.  As Simon Le Bon wailed his last and the final firework whizzed over Birmingham’s Alexander stadium Kent’s finest went to work.

Mel Clewlow: Director of Sport, Kent Sport

In case you are not familiar, our double Olympian Director of Sport, Mel Clewlow will be celebrating her 30^th playing year for Canterbury Ladies this year. She is still a first choice for their first XI and has represented England Hockey at three Commonwealth games with podium finishes in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 games.

Her love of the game extends from play to pitch side where she has been commentating since 2010 with notable commentary at the London & Rio Olympics plus multiple world cups and world competitions.  This year Mel will commentated on the World Feed, providing commentary to all nations.  Mel confidently predicted a top four finish for the England teams, with the women’s hockey team beating Australia to take gold and the men’s hockey team beating South Africa for bronze.

Vicky Annis: Physiotherapist, Kent Sport

Vicky supports the Kent Sports Clinic which combines the expertise of Kent Sport physiotherapy and the School of Sport and Exercise clinics creating one of the most extensive performance, physiotherapy, and rehabilitation services in Kent. No stranger to service in sport Vicky has previously supported the GB Triathlon Team in Cape Town and has worked at several World Series races. A keen swimmer, Vicky spent last summer swimming the English Channel solo, in an impressive 12 hours.

This summer she was selected to work at the Games as part of the Commonwealth Collective (a group of over 13,000 volunteers). Vicky provided physiotherapy from the Birmingham athlete village and the Team England HQ at the NEC.

Vicky said before the Games took place “I will be working with some of the best physiotherapists in England, this is an amazing learning opportunity”

Find out more about how the Kent Sport Clinic can help you .

Vicky’s Channel Swim

Jacquie Edwards: PA to the Director of Sport

Behind every good woman…is a good woman. Jacquie has worked for three consecutive Directors of Sport. She is an ex professional athlete with multiple international caps for England and Great Britain rugby.  Her trophy cache includes a prized gold winner’s medal after scoring the winning try in the 92 Women’s world cup.  Since retirement from Jacquie has been able to pursue her second love, music.

Jacquie travelled to Bisham Abbey (the national centre of excellence for the country’s leading sportsmen and women) to teach the England Hockey Men’s Team how to sing England’s national anthem, Jerusalem. Jacquie said “Those poor lads didn’t know I was coming and didn’t know what hit them! They were a bit reticent at first but by the end of the session they were all singing with gusto, pride, and passion” “Those are my lads now and I will definitely have a little tear in my eye when they sing the anthem”

Jacquie performs as Ginger Bennett and you can see her in her award winning show Songs from My Soul as part of this year’s Canterbury Festival

England Men’s Hockey Sing Jerusalem – watch on Instagram.

Songs From My Soul Preview.

The University’s data protection, data breach and data subject rights policies have been updated to reflect current data protection requirements and safeguards.

Please read the policies so that you are confident that you are using data lawfully in your role.

These policies help you do the right thing when you are:

• using personal data
• responding to requests for personal data
• reporting a data breach or data security incident
• contracting with other organisations who use personal data on the University’s behalf
• handling particularly sensitive data such as allegations or reports of criminal activities.

The policies can be found on the Policies and Procedures page.  You can also contact the Assurance and Data Protection team for further support and guidance by emailing dataprotection@kent.ac.uk

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