Article from Kelsey Laidler-Symes, Travel Advisor | Security & Transport Centre Estates Department

Cycling is good for health and fitness; it’s beneficial to the environment and is a quick, cheap mode of transport in urban areas.

The Staff Cycle to Work Scheme offers employees the opportunity to purchase a brand new bike and accessories from a range of participating local stores at a discounted rate. You will also save on Income Tax and National Insurance contributions, against the cost of the bike, and can even spread the cost over a 12 or 18 month period.

In order to qualify, you must use the bike for at least 50% of your journeys to and from work. To find out if you are eligible visit the staff finance page.

The new cycle scheme provided by www.cyclescheme.co.uk means the purchase hire value has been extended above the previous £1,000 limit. This change in scheme will enable employees to continue enjoying the benefits of a cycle to work scheme arrangement with the opportunity to hire a bicycle plus relevant safety equipment up to the value of £3,000 as a tax-free benefit, through a salary sacrifice arrangement; employees take a reduced gross salary during the hire period thus making savings by paying reduced income tax and national insurance contributions.

Some common FAQ’s can be found on the Employee answers – Cyclescheme Knowledge Base

Please also remember if you are cycling to, from, or around the campus be bright and be seen. Make sure you are visible to motorists. For more information, hints and tips check out the roadwise website.

Microsoft Yammer is coming this month (February)

Yammer, a Microsoft 365 communications tool, is being launched to all staff this month.

About Yammer

Yammer is a workplace based social network, similar to Facebook, where friends are colleagues. You’ll see workplace reminders instead of advertisements, and updates are linked to University news, events, and questions or thoughts shared by colleagues.

It will offer us an informal open staff communications channel, where you’ll be able to:

• Interact with University news by liking and commenting on posts
• Follow other members of staff
• Create or join community groups: these can anything from sports and leisure interest groups such as ‘walking group’ or ‘book-club community’, to groups based on work-related topics and themes. Groups can be open for anyone to join, or private, where requests to join need to be approved

Yammer is part of Microsoft 365. Where Microsoft Teams lets us set up formal collaborative online workspaces with access restricted to members only, Yammer will be open to everyone, and is envisaged to be a more informal communications tool.

What’s next

When we release Yammer, you will be able to access it via office.com or the Yammer mobile app, and we will be releasing further tips for using Yammer in the summer. Yammer is an optional, open, communications tool, and not something that you will need to check on a regular basis, unless you want to!

When you access Yammer, you can search for communities that interest you, and if one doesn’t exist, create one and start having conversations with like-minded colleagues across the University. If you want to find out more about Yammer please take a look at Microsoft Yammer for staff.

Yammer will email you with the latest updates from communities you follow, but you can unsubscribe from these emails if you wish.

If you have any questions, please get in touch.

Best wishes, 

Information Services 
University of Kent 
helpdesk@kent.ac.uk
01227 82 4888 

Three projects from academic colleagues in the School of Physical Sciences (Division of Natural Sciences) have been awarded New Horizons Grants of £200,000 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The four academics involved are celebrating global acknowledgement after being recognised as part of a ground-breaking new programme to support adventurous, high-risk research. The review process focused on the transformational potential of the research, and the three projects from our academics were amongst approximately 100 funded in the UK.

Dr. Emma Pugh, Lecturer in Physics, School of Physical Sciences, has been awarded an EPSRC New Horizons grant for the project “A New Window for the Control and Measurement of Quantum Systems”. The project aims to create a new type of experimental probe for magnetism in quantum matter which will enable us to simultaneously create and measure new quantum states.

The work is being undertaken in collaboration with Professor Crispin Barnes from the University of Cambridge. Our innovation will combine innovative optical techniques with high pressure methods at low temperatures producing a new measurement system to allow us to study magnetic behaviour in materials.

Dr Gunnar Möller, Royal Society University Research Fellow in SPS, won his grant to design New Platforms for Topological Superconductors, which could open up novel ways of designing quantum computers. The project will also involve Prof. Seyed A. Jafari from the Sharif University of Technology.

Dr Moller’s proposal aims to explore a new platform for creating topological superconducting states of matter. The new systems can also be regarded as analogues of gravitational fields, so could also be used to explore connections with astrophysical settings.

The third successful SPS project come from Dr. Gavin Mountjoy and fellow SPS academic Prof. Anna Corrias. The pair’s project on “Persistent Phosphor Glasses” is designed to create a new type of phosphorescent glass for optical applications.

Modern technology depends on mastery of materials, and functional glasses and glass-ceramics are used in a range of devices in the sectors of communications, healthcare, energy, and aerospace.  The aim of the new project is to make fully dense and transparent materials which can be functionalised with a variety of oxide nanocrystals to overcome the following limitations in the manufacturing of such materials. This project will create an exciting new generation of functional materials through oxide nanocrystal doping of glasses.

Science Minister Amanda Solloway said: “It is critical we give the UK’s best researchers the resources to drive forward their revolutionary ideas so they can focus on identifying solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges, such as climate change.

“This government funding will allow some of our brightest mathematicians and physicists to channel all their creative ingenuity into achieving potentially life-changing scientific breakthroughs – from mathematics informing how we save our rainforests to robotics that will help track cancer faster.”

New Horizons grants were evaluated without knowing the identities of the project leaders or their institutions which highlights the recognition given to the science behind the proposals, and demonstrates how the School is delivering world class research with a real-world impact.

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 February – Friday 5 February webinars are as follows:

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

Tuesday 2 February 2021 – ‘Resilience during the Pandemic‘
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 3 February 2021 – ‘Children’s Mental Health Awareness’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 4 February 2021 – ‘The Benefits of Counselling’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 5 February 2021 – ‘Living with someone with COVID-19: Tips for the Home’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

The Music department is pleased to announce the launch of their Zoom for Thought: Music Department In Conversation series, starting on Wednesday 3 February. This sequence of livestreamed interviews with luminaries from the music industry is one not to miss, with the first featuring soprano super-star Rachel Nicholls.

Rachel will be In Conversation with Head of Music Performance, Dan Harding, on Weds 3 February at 19.30, and everyone is welcome to watch what promises to be a fascinating insight into the working life of one of the country’s foremost sopranos. The entire series will be free to watch from the Music department’s YouTube Channel.

Livestreamed every fortnight, during this series viewers will be able to submit questions if they wish.

The National Student Survey launches on 8 February and it gives our students the chance to tell us (and everyone else!) what it is like being a student at Kent.

Although the last year has been challenging, we are encouraging our students to share their thoughts about their experiences.

All students eligible to take the survey, will receive an email invitation from Ipsos MORI week commencing 8th February.

In past years, Kent has scored highly in the NSS for student satisfaction, and the survey results help to improve our university for future students.

We have created all the resources you need to communicate the survey to your students. You can access all the marketing material and resources on Sharepoint.

You can help promote the NSS to your finalist students by:

• Using the artwork. There is also a PowerPoint presentation template for you to use.
• Promote any divisional incentives e.g. prize draws, in order to help boost response rates within your area.
• Highlight to students and colleagues the importance of the NSS.

Please note that the NSS should not be communicated to students before 8 February

The University of Kent has achieved an ASPIRE gold rating for their accessibility statement and has therefore become the first UK university to achieve 100% compliance.

Led by the OPERA ((Opportunity, Productivity, Engagement, Reducing barriers, Achievement) project team in Student Support and Wellbeing, this is a great success for everyone involved. Particular credit must go to the web development and Requirements teams in Information Services and the Kent Digital Accessibility Working Group.

TextBOX Digital, the organisation behind the awards scheme has said:

‘The University of Kent have scored 98% in the ASPIREreview (FACTS) and 100% for the ASPIREreview (Compliance). There has clearly been a lot of time, thought and effort invested in the development and writing of your accessibility statement. The statement is clear and well -organised and avoids technical jargon. The accessibility tools section is a work of art and the accessibility roadmap is clear and informative. A 100% Compliance rating is a fantastic achievement on its own. To have a 98% FACTS ASPIREscore as well is inspiring. Very many congratulations on achieving gold ASPIREscores. Thoroughly deserved’.

Huw Alexander from TextBOX Digital explains what the organisation looks for and the  importance of accessibility in the Higher Education Sector:

‘ASPIREeducation has been designed to ensure that further and higher education institutions can measure the compliance of their accessibility statements with the new Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations. However, ASPIREeducation goes further and introduces the FACTS model to measure the quality of the accessibility statement in terms of the transparency, supportiveness and usefulness of the information provided to users.

‘The University of Kent have long been a pioneer in the provision of accessible content to their students, and in supporting faculty in the creation of content. The Kent accessibility statement is a wonderful reflection of the work and dedication of everyone at the University in creating an inclusive learning environment. Kent are the first university to undertake the ASPIREeducation review process and the first university to secure a 100% compliance score. Kent continues to be a pioneer and an inspiration across the education community, and their ASPIREeducation gold award is a testament to the expertise and thoughtfulness of everyone involved in their accessibility project’.

You can read TextBOX’s announcement on Kent’s achievement via their LinkedIn and Twitter pages.

For more information about accessibility at Kent please contact opera@kent.ac.uk