As we enter the 5th event of the VC’s Cup series, teams were primed to play walking netball, a game designed for anyone, regardless of their level of fitness or age.

Initially, it was mayhem on the court! Players were running, jumping, and going offside left, right and centre, which kept the umpires on their toes. Even experienced netball players and Kent’s very own Unicorns struggled to grasp the pace of the game, launching themselves across court and throwing themselves into each game as they would any other. However, as the games progressed, teams and players grasped the rules and became more comfortable and strategic.

Read our blog to find out which teams came out on top! You’ll also find an entertaining and creative rap, written in collaboration with some of the competing teams.

Want to find out more about the Vice Chancellor’s Cup, head over to the VC Cup webpage, where you can see which events are coming up, past event summaries and current leader board positions.

Come and see The Global Challenges Doctoral Centre (GCDC)’s poster exhibition in the Colyer Ferguson lobby by the 15 March 2023.

The exhibition shares and celebrates the doctoral work being undertaken by 29 PhD students whose research is focused on tackling one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals. The students, who come from 17 different countries and are based in every Division, are working on projects that include climate change adaptation strategies, increasing global food security, reducing deaths from snake bites, and developing low cost and environmentally sustainable rapid tests for infectious diseases.

The exhibition was opened by Vice Chancellor and President Karen Cox at an evening reception on 8 March, attended by many of the GCDC supervisors, supporters and friends. The university’s Sustainability team, led by Catherine Morris, also had a display to share the work they are doing across campus to embed sustainability and minimise environmental impact.

Dr Beth Breeze, director of GCDC, says “We are so proud of our talented doctoral students and are confident that, with the help of their supervisors who are also deeply committed to challenge-led research, they will make a meaningful difference to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals”

You are warmly invited to our two Kent and Medway Medical School events on the 22 and 23 March 2023, find out more about each event below:

Interdisciplinary Global Health Research

Wednesday 22 March 2023, 16:00 to 17:30 at Pears Lecture Theatre 1, Kent and Medway Medical School.

This event will include presentations from key members of the global health research group, led by Professor Lisa Dikomitis. The talks and screenings will cover several interdisciplinary global health studies been undertaken at the Kent and Medway Medical School. Researchers will share findings and outputs from several interdisciplinary global health research studies, which are all strongly underpinned by community involvement and engagement.

The event will include screenings of community-produced films as well as presentations of collaborative projects with artists and global health researchers from Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Philippines and the UK.

To book your place visit the Eventbrite site.

Kent and Medway Medical School host Kaleidoscope Live!

Thursday 23 March 2023, 17:00 to 18:15 a hybrid event at Sibson Lecture Theatre 2 at Kent and Medway Medical School. You will find a link to join online in your order confirmation

Each month Dr Dawn Albertson, Professor Sukhi Shergill, Dr Derek Tracy and Professor Dan Joyce write an update and commentary in The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJPsych). Their Kaleidoscope column focuses on developments in mental health and neuroscience from around the world.

In this Kaleidoscope Live, hosted by the Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS), the four researchers will discuss several papers on global and mental health research with a live audience. They will be joined by Professor Kara Hanson who is a professor of health system economics and dean, faculty of public health and policy.

Book your tickets by visiting the Eventbrite site.  You will find a link to join online in your order confirmation.

For International Women’s Day (8 March) we hear from two of our female Executive Group members about the challenges they faced in their academic careers and getting to their leadership positions:

“Balancing family and work has been one of the biggest challenges in progressing my academic career. Maternity leave and family responsibilities impacted my research productivity and advancement while mentoring and career counselling are often absent in academia and female academics would benefit from supporting institutional policies. There is also still a gender issue in the leadership of Business Schools as the Dean’s role is male dominated, and worldwide only 25%-30% of Business Schools have a female Dean. Mentoring and strong role models can send clear messages to aspiring women of the future who wish to embrace academic leadership.”

From Professor Marian Garcia, Dean of the Business School 

“Role-modelling is really important in supporting women into leadership positions – creating a culture where women are ‘seen’ to be in leadership positions at all stages from leading a discipline to having a female Vice Chancellor dispels the myth about what a leader should look like; there are after all many different leadership styles. Providing support and training as appropriate, such as LASR and Aurora, and also Stellar, is also key, along with appointing a mentor.”

From Prof Juliette Pattinson, Director of Division Arts and Humanities

“As a young female academic working in STEM I never questioned being in a minority group. For me this was my norm and I simply sought to find my place and navigate a pathway that was right for me at that time. Often this was very challenging and I did experience set backs, some of which undoubtably caused me to question my credibility or aspirations. The most beneficial and impactful thing that has supported my progress has been building a critical network of champions and supporters, at work and at home. This has been instrumental in enabling me to be authentically successful in achieving my ambitions, to be confident and feel credible in my roles.  

It’s important to understand everyone’s journey is unique and to celebrate what diversity brings to leadership. To encourage people to carve out a pathway to leadership that works for the and share your experiences to inspire others.” 

Prof Claire Peppiatt-Wildman, Director of Division Natural Sciences

CEMS, NATS and the UKC Women’s Network have joined forces this year to celebrate International Women’s Day with a panel discussion on ‘Women in STEM: How far have we come? What obstacles still need to be overcome?’

Our children’s holiday camps for 5-12 year olds  are coming back for 2023! Filled with daily multi-sports and activities, DBS-checked camp staff, and qualified coaching, your child will love our EasterZone holiday camp! EasterZone runs from Tuesday 11 to Friday 14 April 2023.

“Both my children loved it all. They loved the staff, said they were fun and kind to them, and they enjoyed every activity they did (including the drawing!). Really varied and great fun. Thank you.”

Children’s Holiday Camp survey feedback, 2022

Qualified coaching

Our daily timetables include various sports and activities for your child to get involved in. With traditional sports such as football, hockey, and rugby alongside new sports like endball and goalball, there’s loads to keep children entertained, regardless of their age.

We’ve also introduced some fun activities like Drums Alive and Street Dance, and we’ll close out the camp on Friday 14 April with a School Sports Day for the whole camp! You can see the full PDF camp timetable on our website.

EasterZone 2023 prices

Spaces can be booked either for individual days or the full four days. Spaces are limited so book your space early.

University of Kent staff

We’re offering University of Kent staff a 15% discount on the below rates. Please contact sportsdevelopment@kent.ac.uk to receive the discount code.

Members of the public

• One day £35 per child
• One week (four days) £120 per child

Late pick-up (15.00 to 17.00)

Our late pick-up option includes fun and engaging activities tailored to the location, such as table tennis, table football, new-age kurling, bowls, speed stacks, twister, board games, and creative drawing.

• £12 per child per day

Booking and payment

This year we’ve made the process for booking much simpler, through our new Holiday Camp booking system; LTA ClubSpark. You will need to create an account with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) first before you can book EasterZone.

Once you’ve created your account and you’re ready to book, visit the EasterZone booking page.

You will need to complete the process for each child you wish to book on to EasterZone (you only need to create the LTA account once though). Within your booking confirmation email, there will be a link to an additional details form. This contains very important information, so please make sure you complete this for each child you book on EasterZone. We will get in contact if we require additional information.

If you have any questions about our children’s holiday camps, please email sportsdevelopment@kent.ac.uk or call 01227 816391. Alternatively, please contact us if you would like to be added to our mailing list for future camps.

bOing! Family Festival is the University’s biggest community engagement event with over 10,000 people visiting the campus over the August bank holiday weekend each year. The festival is produced by the University’s Institute of Cultural & Creative Industries and welcomes both national and international artists making excellent work for children and families. Dates for this year are 26 & 27 August 2023. See more about bOing on the website.

Showcase your work

The festival is an opportunity to showcase the University’s research, innovation and engagement to a public audience. Previously the festival programme has featured forensic crime scene workshops and liquid nitrogen demonstrations by the Division of Natural Sciences, an interactive and participatory art & design exhibition by the Future Human signature research theme, virtual reality showcases by Engineering & Digital Arts and various physical workshops run by Kent Sport.

We would love to expand this offer and would welcome thoughts, ideas and pitches from academics, divisions, schools, departments, signature research themes and professional services about what you might want to bring to bOing 2023.

bOing is a family festival and attended by all ages, but we particularly look for activities which appeal to or can be suitable for children under 12.

If you have an idea you would like to pitch to be part of bOing! 2023, please email r.m.a.lees@kent.ac.uk by 31 March, detailing:

• A description of your event/activity
• Who would run the activity
• Age suitability and capacity
• What kind of space and any resources/equipment you would require

The latest art exhibition in the gallery space in the Colyer-Fergusson Building features an exploration of the art of the portrait by Canterbury-based artist, Adam De Ville.

A series of ten striking paintings reflects Adam’s interest in exploring the human condition, brought vividly to the canvas in an array of arresting paintings that pushes through the space between viewer and subject, looking to capture the essence of the moment.

The display is free to view during the building’s opening hours; there is wheelchair access, and the exhibition is on until May. Read more about the exhibition on the Music blog.

We are excited to be hosting an LTA Level 1 Tennis Assistant coaching qualification course at the Kent Indoor Tennis and Events Arena on Sunday 26 March and Sunday 4 June.

The LTA Level 1 course is ideal for tennis parents, keen players, and anyone considering a career change into sports coaching or looking to get started in tennis coaching.

There are five levels of tennis coaching in this country with the LTA and Level 1 is just the beginning, focusing mainly on assisting a qualified coach to work with children. Level 2 allows you to lead group lessons unsupervised, perhaps going into local schools. Levels 3 to 5 allow you to deliver all types of group and individual lessons with more attention to detail the higher up you go.

This is an ideal opportunity to work alongside our Tennis Development Manager and LTA Level 5 coach, Nick Skelton, as we grow our tennis programme at the University of Kent. It’s an exciting time to get involved!

The two-day course, based on the Canterbury campus, runs from 9am to 5pm both days and costs just £275. You can find more details and book onto the course on the Virtus Leisure Management website. Or to discuss the course further contact Nick at n.skelton@kent.ac.uk