Well sort of. The original play by Aeschylus has been lost bar one remining word. But it has been brought back to life by Foreign Office, the acclaimed team behind The Suppliant Women (Gulbenkian 2021), with help from experts and academics from across the globe, including some at Kent.

Egyptians will be performed between Wednesday 22 and Saturday 25 Feb at 19.30, with matinees at 14.00 on Thursday and Saturday. Tickets are £15 with a £5 student rate. Tickets can be bought from the Gulbenkian website.

As in ancient Greece, the performance uses professional actors and a community chorus – in this case of young men, including local residents and students from Kent.

It is a powerful story, with themes of migration, belonging and consent that remain vital today. The Greeks combined words, music and movement to dramatic effect, reflecting the conflict and tension of the story itself.

Set in a city destroyed by war, the victorious Egyptians demand to marry the fifty daughters of Danaos. But, strange omens, a grieving widow and a mysterious priestess — these are bleak portents for a mass wedding. As the men and women square up to their wedding night, who will finally prevail?

A panel discussion will follow the performance on Saturday 25 Feb, 14.00, chaired by Prof. David Wiles (Emeritus Professor of Drama at Exeter University) and including Egyptians director Ramin Gray alongside experts in Greek drama from the University of Kent (Dr. Rosie Wyles and Dr. Angeliki Varakis) and from the University of Oxford (Prof. Oliver Taplin, also production dramaturg).

And you can eat like a Greek! To celebrate Egyptians Gulbenkian Cafe is offering delicious Greek specials alongside our Showtime Menu every evening from 22 – 25 Feb.

Each year, the University awards a number of prizes to individual staff or teams for outstanding work in teaching and/or learning support. For 2023, colleagues are encouraged to submitted applications which address three criteria:

• Excellence in Teaching or Supporting Learning
• Dissemination and Influence
• Above and Beyond Expectations of Normal Operation.

Prizes will be at the University level, and will include both Academic and Learning Support categories. Individuals or teams can apply from all divisions and professional services teams.

The panel will be chaired by Professor Richard Reece (DVC Education & Student Experience) and will meet in April 2023. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the Learning and Teaching Conference in June 2023.

The call for applications for the 2023 prizes is now open. The closing date for applications is Thursday 6 April 2023. Please fill out the application form.

Lexie, a Nurse Prescriber with a special interest in hormone health, is a member of the British Menopause Society and is also a Newson Health Menopause Society Associate. She runs a private hormone health clinic and has had a 20+ year career in A&E, midwifery and primary care.  She regularly presents on hormone health to staff at large organisations and provides advice to corporate teams on menopause policy.

Date: Wednesday 8 February 2023

Time: 14:00-15:00

Location: Canterbury Campus, TBC

The discussion will cover:

• How hormones affect the body and what can be mitigated
• The impact of peri menopause, menopause and post menopause
• Hormone replacement therapy and the microbiome
• Hormones and the workplace
• Making informed choices with regards to short, medium and long term hormone health

The session will be introduced by Juliette Pattinson, Director of Division who occurs to support and raise awareness of the menopause and the support options available for improving hormone health and overall wellbeing.

There will be an opportunity for live Q&A during the event.

If you would like to submit an anonymous question in advance, you can email artshumspa@kent.ac.uk and this will be passed on to Lexie, who will respond with a general response (i.e. not individualised) during the discussion.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP by emailing artshumspa@kent.ac.uk so we can accommodate numbers and confirm the venue in due course.

We’ve launched our undergrad to postgrad campaign; #Stayon #Standout this week. This is to help inform our students who are considering to stay on at Kent for a Master’s. If you could kindly spread the word about our offering, this includes:

• Exclusive funding for Kent graduates – students can apply for scholarships of up to £5,000
• Introducing them to a fantastic range of postgraduate courses, some of which offer work placement options.
• Discovering conversion Master’s, for students who want to study a completely different subject to their undergrad degree.
• Drop-in sessions at the Templeman library and Oasis lounge, we also have postgraduate Open Events on February and April. Please do encourage students to join these events and meet our staff and current postgrad students.

For presentation slides and creatives, please request these from your Marketing departments.

Find out more about the campaign at: kent.ac.uk/stayon-standout

Kent Sport is excited to announce that the Kent Indoor Tennis and Events Arena (KITEA) has been nominated for the University of the Year Lawn and Tennis Association (LTA) Awards. Each year the LTA award a selection of clubs, schools, universities, and individuals for their impressive achievements throughout the year.

2022 saw the University of East London take home the accolade for University of the year, something which the University of Kent is keen to rival. In addition, Tennis President, Sophie Kitson has also been nominated for the Rising Star award, after having served as a line umpire at Wimbledon in 2022 and successfully completing her chair umpire course in autumn last year.

With the awards dinner and regional voting taking place on 11 February 2023, the University of Kent is in a brilliant position to progress through Regionals in April and onto Nationals, which will be announced in May 2023.

This last year has seen the appointment of Tennis Development Manager, Nick Skelton, who has supported President, Sophie Kitson in the development of a comprehensive tennis programme aimed at all levels of player, from beginner to experienced. Including coaching teams’ tennis, development squad tennis, beginners’ tennis, social play and competitions. Additionally, Nick has worked hard to promote the Tennis Centre, through Open Days, individual and team coaching and training.

Some of the achievements highlighted in the nomination include:

• An increase in student society memberships
• 154+ student members playing university tennis each week
• The British University and Colleges Sport (BUCS) tennis team has increased from two teams to four
• Female LTA level 1 delivered to eight participants
• 100+ took part in TCF competition
• University ladder league launched

We are wishing the Kent Tennis Centre all the best for February’s voting and look forward to seeing their continued development through the year!

As we head toward the end of Quarter 2 of our financial year and take steps to ensure we achieve our budgeted results, we all need to continue to do all we can to reduce non-essential spending. Like many organisations, we are facing some extremely challenging financial conditions due to pressures from inflation and soaring energy prices. On top of this, we have faced additional challenges with lower student retention than expected impacting income levels.   

To address these issues, the budget has been reset for the year, reducing budgets for goods and services to compensate for our reduced income. It is essential that we stay within this budget, and last week budget holders were updated on reductions in their areas. 

New measures in place 

Steps have been taken to reduce non-essential expenditure across all activities and categories of spend, with expenditure only incurred where absolutely necessary. Specific areas that will make a big difference are:  

• Consultants and Contractors: This resource should only be used where it would otherwise greatly reduce the student experience and a new approval process for this is in place for any essential requirements in this area. 
• Travel: Bookings for in-person conference attendance in 2023 should not be made unless funded externally or with advance permission from a Director. Wherever it is possible to attend events online or achieve similar outcomes without travel, we should not be travelling. 

Planning ahead 

Looking ahead, we urgently need to reduce spend for the rest of this year and the above are areas where we can see room to do this. Alongside this, and with a focus on the longer-term financial sustainability, initiatives are being worked up aimed at increasing and diversifying income and ensuring our operations are delivered as efficiently as possible. 

If you need further advice on this, please contact the finance team via the emails below: 

Any questions relating to procurement can go to: procurement@kent.ac.uk 

For specific queries relating to Divisions, contact: managementaccounts@kent.ac.uk 

For Professional Service Departments, contact: financebusinesspartnering@kent.ac.uk