A paper co-authored by SSPSSR Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Sociology Dr Robert de Vries and Dr Aaron Reeves from the University of Oxford’s Department of Social Policy and Intervention, has won the 2020 British Journal of Sociology (BJS) Prize.

The paper, ‘Can cultural consumption increase future earnings? Exploring the economic returns to cultural capital’ analyses the results from a large-scale quantitative study. The study found that participating in cultural activities is likely to have a positive effect on future earnings, and on the chances of promotion and upward social mobility.

The BJS Prize is awarded biannually for an article published in the BJS during a 24-month period that makes an outstanding contribution to sociological knowledge.

In their paper, Dr de Vries and Dr Reeves suggest the most likely explanation for the effect they found is that economic gatekeepers (such as members of hiring or promotion committees) value cultural participation as an indication of an interesting and well-rounded candidate. They suggest that, when it comes to cultural participation, the message is not that only ‘high-brow’ activities count, but more generally that ‘more is better’.

Their study is based on data from Understanding Society (USoc), the UK’s largest ongoing longitudinal social survey. The USoc sample is considered to be highly representative of the British population, including data from roughly 20,000 USoc participants.

Dr de Vries said: ‘The primary focus of our analysis was the effect of cultural participation on future earnings. We examined the relationship between respondents’ current economic situation and their participation in cultural activities one year previously. In the Understanding Society survey, respondents are asked if they participated in each of a list of 14 activities. These activities include watching a film at the cinema, visiting an art exhibition, visiting a street arts display, attending a carnival, attending the theatre, attending the opera, attending a classical music concert, and attending a rock or pop performance.

‘We found that people who participated in a larger number of cultural activities earned significantly higher salaries a year later than did people who participated in fewer cultural activities. People who participated in one additional cultural activity earned an average of £175 more per month in the subsequent year.’

Microsoft Yammer is now available to all staff, following a successful pilot.

Yammer is a University-wide staff social networking tool. You can use it to connect and engage with colleagues across Kent on topics of mutual interest.

• Start conversations, share ideas and knowledge, and interact with University news
• Discover communities: find community groups that interest you (or set up a new community) based on your personal or workplace interests

How much you use Yammer is up to you; it’s optional. It certainly isn’t something that you need to keep up with and check every day. If you want to, use it to discuss the deeper meaning of life, the universe and everything – or share your cat photo to make someone smile! It’s your community and your social space online.

• Where Yammer fits as part of Microsoft 365 collaboration tools
• Access Yammer via office.com with your Kent IT Account; or use the mobile app in your phone’s app store
• More about using Yammer: Microsoft Yammer for staff guide
• How to control which email notifications you see

If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Communications team

Recruiting for a student-staff role? Get in touch with the Work-Study Scheme, you could be eligible for match-funding.

The Work-Study Scheme (based in the Careers & Employability Service) has some match-funding available to Professional Service Departments and Academic Divisions who want to hire student-staff this academic year*. We support Widening Participation students in securing paid work on- and off-campus, take them through a series of activities to ensure they are work-ready, including 1-2-1 CV and application advice, and skills workshops to build up their confidence, and support in applying and interviewing for work opportunities.

We advertise your vacancy to students, collate and send you the applications, shortlist to your requirements and support you in interviewing (if required), and undertake all right to work checks and employment paperwork. We take the student(s) on our cost code and manage their timesheets (sent to us by you) and pay.

Working whilst studying is a fantastic way for students to build confidence and skills, and having student-staff in your team can bring a fresh approach. Undertaking paid work really makes a difference to students’ lives, and helps them prepare for the world post-graduation:

“This scheme is the best resource the university has to offer. CV help, interview tips, unique job opportunities and an amazingly kind staff all combine to give you the best help out there.”

– Nicola, English & American Literature and Film (2020)

“Through your scheme and help I have achieved so much, I am not only more skilled but more confident and motivated to achieve my goals. Tomorrow I start my new role at the Civil Service, and honestly do not believe I would have been able to do it without the Work-Study Scheme.

Zoe, History and Politics (2018)

If you are interested in employing a Work-Study Scheme student, or to discuss any aspect of this, please contact: Hannah Greer / Jen Davey, Work-Study Scheme, Careers & Employability Service – workstudy@kent.ac.uk

*In order to be eligible for funding, the student being employed must be categorised as Widening Participation. We can check this; you do not have to, and we will only advertise the role to WP students, unless otherwise instructed. Funding is limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, up to a maximum of £1000 per Academic School/Professional Service Department during 2020-21, and all work must be completed by July 2021.

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 1 March – Friday 5 March) webinars are as follows:

Monday 1 March 2021 – ‘How Care first can support you’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link.

Tuesday 2 March 2021 – ‘Understanding Vaccine Anxiety & Protocol’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 3 March 2021 – ‘Advice for getting support during the pandemic’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 4 March 2021 – ‘Change, loss and Bereavement’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 5 March 2021 – ‘Maintaining routines for Back to School’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

The first International Women’s Day (IWD) took place in 1911, with the aim of celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

Run annually on March 8, the day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

Each year IWD has a theme which continues all year to provide a meaningful framework to connect and amplify action. The 2021 campaign is #ChooseToChallenge and aims to inspire us all to call out gender bias and inequality

Below are some suggested areas that could be implemented to support the campaign during 2021 and beyond.

If you are running an event, large or small please write a blog and ‘Tag’ and add the ‘Category’ EDI and it will show in the new EDI webpage. ‘News and Events section’

Remember to use the #ChooseToChallenge to tweet and share your ideas and encourage others.

Some Ideas

Some event ideas include:
• A talk by an inspiring female speaker related to your field of work
• A presentation of some gender-related research related to your field
• A female senior leader from your area talking about their career and key events/support that helped them to advance
• A panel of women from your field talking about career challenges, important milestones/support, career tips, intersectional experiences, etc.
• An event to share ideas, good practice and promote change on a topic such as collective action to promote gender equality, male champions, allies, equal pay
• A presentation and discussion of a gender-related film
• A presentation and discussion from a gender-related book
• An event on a specific-gender related issue such as menopause, domestic violence, global women’s empowerment, pornography, body image
• A performance by a female artist

Below are some suggested TED Talks for IWD to start your discussions:

Why we have too few women leaders
Know your worth, and then ask for it
Women entrepreneurs, example not exception
How to make hard choices
Can we all ‘have it all’?

Below are some links to relevant reading lists:
Books about women who changed the world 
Like a Woman 

Books to read on International Women’s Day 

International Women’s Day – A vintage reading list

Books to read this International Women’s Day

Women authors – International Women’s Day

Actions for Individuals

• Pay attention to the dynamics in your workplace and ensure that people are not left on the fringes of conversations or interactions – build bridges so that they can move across
• Give credit where it is due – take steps to ensure female colleagues are visible and share their achievements
• Learn more about the impact of unconscious bias and how it can be minimised
• Question your assumptions and bias about women’s abilities, life choices and competence and challenge them in others by bringing the focus back to the facts
• Act as a visible ally and champion for gender equality engaging with colleagues who don’t value inclusion or are cynical
• Question and challenge all-male speaker panels

Attend an IWD event, see the listings here – International Women’s Day Events

Actions for Managers and Leaders

• Discuss what you can do to address gender inequality in your day to day role, as well as what you can do in your leadership capacity, to increase momentum around the agenda

• Support applications for flexible and agile working so that all colleagues can take on caring responsibilities whatever their gender
• Get to know your staff, their strengths and areas of interest and issues that impact on their lives outside of work
• Provide continuous development support which is caring and thoughtful and enables staff to evolve and grow to their strengths
• Develop robust approaches and metrics for measuring performance to avoid assumptions leaking into decision making and assessment

And don’t forget to sign up to the BAME Staff Network event marking International Women’s Day with keynote speaker the Right Reverend Dr Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover, 

The University will add an extra layer of online security to all Microsoft 365 (M365) services including email and Teams from 12 April (Easter vacation). Some staff will be contacted to set this up on their accounts earlier than this date.

All staff will be enrolled onto multi-factor authentication (MFA), which adds a level of increased security when using online tools and is especially important now as many staff are working from home (99.9% reduction in compromised accounts).

As the name suggests, MFA uses multiple methods to identify that you are who you say you are. You may be familiar with this type of security which is commonly used for online banking, shopping and PayPal.

What this means  

When MFA has been added to your M365 account there will be an extra authentication step for you to complete before gaining access to M365 services from off-campus. There will be a number of options available for you to authenticate yourself, details of which will be provided.

Next steps 

We will contact all staff with further details about enrolment onto MFA later this term. If you have any questions, please get in touch with IT Service Desk.

• Telephone: 01227 82 4888
• Email: helpdesk@kent.ac.uk 

We know that women in academia are disproportionately affected by funding structures, academic culture and caring responsibilities whatever their discipline. We know that there is a gender disparity in Science, Technology Engineering, and Maths disciplines. We do not know why women in the chemical sciences are further marginalised. Within the chemical sciences the lack of retention and progression for women and all those with protected Equality and Diversity characteristics is pronounced.

WISC (the international Women In Supramolecular Chemistry network) was founded by a small group of academics, including Dr Jennifer Hiscock and Dr Jennifer Leigh from Kent, in order to address equality and diversity in the field. Since its launch in late 2019, WISC has created a website and resource bank, conducted a survey of the supramolecular community, initiated small group mentoring and support clusters for parents, those with disabilities/chronic illnesses/neurodivergences, and 1st Gen chemists.

WISC aspires to be an agent of change. We want the work we are engaged in to bring about actions and inspire change from others. In 1979 Audre Lorde, a self-proclaimed Black feminist, poet, and warrior, said if we want to change things, we need to do them differently. WISC has taken a creative and reflective approach to ongoing research projects to humanise the reasons why equality work is so vital. Our aim is to develop a community and increase its diversity.

We want to intervene within a space that is unfair and marginalised, and change the experiences of those entering the field, drawing on feminist and creative research practices to make sure voices are heard, and show the STEM community that interventions like this are worthwhile and necessary.

WISC are about to publish a paper in Angewandte Chemie (DOI: 10.1002/anie.202015297) and an article in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemistry World.