From Emma Mires-Richards | Liaison Librarian

Sign up to the Resourcing your module workshop on Monday 5 July at 14.00.

In this workshop we’ll support you in creating and revising your reading list so that first student experience is a positive one.

We’ll share our best practice tips and techniques for curating reading lists. We’ll consider wider implications of resourcing your module including e-book licencing models and what these mean for your teaching. We’ll also explore how to ensure your reading list is inclusive and representative.

This event will be livestreamed via Microsoft Teams.

Register for a place and a link to the event – Resourcing your module Tickets, Mon 5 Jul 2021 at 14:00 | Eventbrite

The launch event of this year’s Summer Music Week, the Music Department’s annual musical farewell to the academic year, takes place this Sunday, features the University Big Band, and will be livestreamed for the first time!

The concert launches this year’s more modest event series, and features final-year Social Anthropology student, Elle Soo, singing with the band, conducted as usual by the irrepressible Ian Swatman. It will be a welcome return to live music-making in Colyer-Fergusson for the first time since last year, and the inaugural livestreaming of a formal public concert by the Music Department.

Tickets for a socially-distanced live audience have sold out, but the event can be enjoyed live online on the Music Department’s YouTube channel.

The livestream will then remain online for future viewing.

Would you like to engage with a world outside of academia but are struggling to find a good space in which to do so? Perhaps you’d like to run a local skills workshop, set-up an arts exhibition, offer outreach activities, knowledge exchange seminars, focus groups or engage local community groups and businesses.

If so a pop-up shop in Ramsgate High Street might just be the ticket. This amazing opportunity is open to all staff and postgraduate students who would like to offer outward facing activities and events that underpin the University’s civic mission and help to cement its sense of place in the community.

Space in the shop is available thanks to the generosity of colleagues in the Division of Natural Sciences and their partner Discovery Planet who have secured funding to deliver science workshops to the region from September 2021 for two years.

Interested?

To gauge demand for the space we are asking for initial proposals for activities taking place in the academic year 2021/22.

The next step is very straightforward. For informal discussions or to apply simply email a free text expression of interest (maximum 500 words) to researchexcellence@kent.ac.uk by 1 July 2021 telling us:

• Who you are and where you work
• A little bit about your project and the audience
• Potential dates you’d like to use the shop between Sept 2021 – Aug 2022 (including set-up and take-down days if known)

Good luck – we look forward to hearing from you!

An inter-disciplinary team of researchers from the Kent Buisness School, led by Prof Scaparra,
used analytics tools to analyse the impacts of flooding on urban road networks in Vietnam
and identify cost-efficient flood mitigation investments to minimise social and economic flood
impacts.

Building on lessons learned from projects in the UK with companies such as Port of Dover
and Eurostar, the team are currently working with researchers in 5 Southeast Asia countries
to build analytics capacity and address challenges in the areas of transport infrastructure
development, smart cities and disaster management.

Attend this event to find out more:

Analytics for Sustainability Event – WEDNESDAY 9 JUNE, 12.00-13.00 BST

• Virtual Interactive panel discussion
• Speakers: Prof. Maria Paola Scaparra, Dang Thu Phuong, Ngô Công Chính

For information and to register please visit the Eventbrite website.

Welcome to Trevor Pereira who joins as our new Director of Commercial and Facilities Management on 1 June.

Trevor brings with him a wealth of experience from senior leadership roles he has held at Intu, Heathrow Airport Ltd and BAA.  Within these roles he has successfully driven up commercial income and managed extensive property portfolios with responsibility for large numbers of staff across a number of operational areas.  With these skills and knowledge demonstrated of the HE sector and the University, Trevor will be a valuable addition to the University’s leadership team.

Initially, Trevor will be based in the Estates Department but will spend his time working with Estates and Commercial Services colleagues across the two areas.

He will also be working closely with Peter Pentecost and Richard Bradford to ensure a robust handover of Estates and Commercial Services matters, as well as with Jane Higham on the development of the longer term Commercial and Facilities Strategy.

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

This week’s (Monday 31 May – Friday 4 June ) webinars are as follows:

Monday 31 May 2021 – BANK HOLIDAY

Tuesday 1 June 2021 – ‘Introducing the new Care first Zest’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 2 June 2021 – ‘Coping with stress’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 3 June 2021 – ‘‘How can Care first support you?’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 4 June 2021 – ‘Coping with uncertainty’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

In this series of seminars, members of the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Kent showcase new long-form research outputs addressing a range of issues in research and practice in higher education (HE).

We celebrate a new edited book on the practice of leadership in HE (Jarrett & Newton eds, 2020), an edited special issue introducing signature assessment and signature feedback (Pitt & Quinlan, 2021), a monograph on embodied research methods (Leigh & Brown, 2021) and an edited collection on decolonising the university (Thomas & Jivraj, eds 2020). Each seminar will provide a taster, pulling out key concepts or main take-away points from the work that will be of interest to higher education researchers and/or practitioners.

For full details on each of these events please visit the CSHE events webpage.

Leadership in HE: Lessons from Other Sectors

17 June 2021 13.00 – 14.00 BST – Sign up via Eventbrite

Kendall Jarrett and Stephen Newton present:

Jarrett, K. & Newton, S. (eds) (2020). The practice of leadership in higher education: Real-world perspectives on becoming, being, and leaving. Abingdon: Routledge.

This seminar aims to heighten attendees’ awareness of what higher education can learn from the leadership practices of colleagues in other sectors. Select passages from the book will be read and informally discussed with consideration given to the experience of leadership in HE at three stages of the leadership cycle.

Signature Assessment and Feedback Practices in the Disciplines

24 June 2021 9.30 – 10.30 BST – Sign up via Eventbrite

Edd Pitt and Kathleen M. Quinlan (Eds) present a special issue (2021, issue 2) of Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy, and Practice

In this seminar, we draw lessons from across the papers in this special issue to propose and illustrate key elements of signature assessment and signature feedback practices.

Applying Embodied Inquiry Research Methods to HE Research

1 July 2021 13.00 – 14.00 BST – Sign up via Eventbrite

Jennifer Leigh and Nicole Brown present:

Leigh, J. & Brown, N. (2021). Embodied inquiry: Research methods. London: Bloomsbury.

In this seminar, Jennifer Leigh and Nicole Brown will discuss why and how we use our bodies to research, what an embodied approach brings to a research project, and the kinds of considerations that need to be taken into account to research in this way.

Decolonising the University: Engaging students and activists in HE inquiry for change

8 July 2021 13.00 – 14.00 BST – Sign up via Eventbrite

Dave S.P. Thomas presents:

Thomas, D.S.P. & Jivraj, S. (eds), (2020). Towards decolonising the university: A Kaleidoscope for empowered action. Oxford: Counterpress.

Dave S.P. Thomas, a doctoral student in HE himself, will provide insights on how to co-produce knowledge with BAME students, researchers, activists, and practitioners to advance both knowledge and systemic change.

Article from Kent Hospitality

Kent’s Commercial Services team were pleased to receive accreditation from Cycling UK last week designating our guest accommodation as cycle friendly for tourists. The accreditation recognises measures such as secure cycle shelters, areas for washing and drying clothes, flexible catering options, available repair kits and cycle hire information that have been put in place to facilitate individual and group guests on cycling holidays/visits.

The Conferences and Events team are used to welcoming B&B guests and groups into the 4*- 5* Visit England graded campus accommodation every spring and summer for holidays, and Event Co-Ordinator Rachel Walmesley said:

“We are very excited to have achieved this accreditation. We already have some regular cycling groups that stay every year in Turing College which is predominantly our cyclist friendly accommodation. We hope that this accreditation along with our existing offer of free sports access to all B&B guests will encourage more cycling individual and group guests from within the UK and overseas.”

Enjoy one of the many cycle routes located on the doorstep of campus this summer.

The University of Kent’s Cycle Friendly Places accommodation accreditation will be valid until June 2023. To find out more about our holiday accommodation for individuals and groups visit: www.kent.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/holidays

Article from Bryony Dutta | Knowledge Exchange Framework Coordinator

Kent’s Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Team will be touring the University’s Divisions with a deep dive webinar into the What, Why and When of the Knowledge Exchange Framework and Kent’s inaugural results.

 The Knowledge Exchange Framework (now the third pillar of University assessment alongside the REF and the TEF) produced strong results for Kent, but what do these results mean, both now and in the future, and where do they place us nationally?

Carole Barron, Director of Knowledge Exchange and Innovation, and the Knowledge Exchange Co-ordinator, Bryony Dutta, will be answering these key questions for your Division, with an introduction to the Knowledge Exchange Framework and an in depth analysis of the results. There will also be the opportunity to pose your questions in a dedicated Q&A.

Look out for your calendar invitation in your divisional communications for the webinars taking place on the following dates:

• Human & Social Sciences: Tuesday 15 June, 11.00 – 12.00.
• Natural Sciences: Friday 18 June, 13.00 – 14.00.
• Computing, Engineering & Mathematical Sciences (CEMS): Wednesday 23 June, 13.00 – 14.00
• Law, Society and Social Justice: Tuesday 29 June, 11.30 – 12.30
• Kent Business School : Wednesday 7 July, 12.00 – 13.00
• Arts & Humanities: Date tbc

Knowledge exchange and public engagement cover all activities engaging non-academic audiences in or with your research, and getting involved can deliver significant benefits to you, your research partners and to wider society.  To find out more about the Knowledge Exchange Framework, visit our website or watch our ‘Introduction to Knowledge Exchange’ webinar.

Free Covid-19 home testing kits are now available for staff and students to collect from the Sibson Building, on the Canterbury campus.

These tests are designed to cover a three-and-a-half-week period, with people submitting their results online following each one. You will need to bring your staff or student ID when coming to collect them.

Testing will be a key part of keeping each other safe over the coming weeks and months, so staff on campus are encouraged to use the services that are available.

Testing on campus

In conjunction with NHS Test and Trace, the University also has an asymptomatic testing site on the Canterbury campus for students and staff who are not currently displaying symptoms of Covid-19. This is based in the Sibson building, with walk-in appointments throughout the week – testing is also available in the Senate building on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can find out more about this on our Canterbury testing webpage.

The University has also worked with the local Health Protection Team to arrange testing for asymptomatic students and staff as part of the Medway community testing programme. You can find out more about this on our Medway testing webpage.

All information on testing available on campus can be found on our Coronavirus testing webpage.