Join us for a live Zoom webinar from 10.00 on Thursday 21 January – open to all!

Kent Law School is extending an open invitation to all for a live webinar on Thursday 21 January that seeks to critically explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social justice at home and overseas.

The programme runs from 10.00 – 13.15 with panels on: COVID-19, Health and Social Justice; Courts, Justice and COVID-19; and COVID-19 and Precarity

Programme

10.00: Welcome from Professor Helen Carr (Kent Law School)

Panel 1: COVID-19, Health and Social Justice

• 10.10: Professor Sally Sheldon (Public health, social justice and COVID-19)
• 10.25: Dr Gowri Nanayakkara (COVID-19 and health inequalities)
• 10.40: Ms  Leanne Taylor (COVID-19 and the mental health tribunal)
• 10.55: Open forum via the Q&A function. Please join and ask our panellists questions, or share information and ideas
• 11.05: short break

Panel 2: Courts, Justice and COVID-19

• 11.10: Bernard Richmond QC, Honorary Professor University of Kent (virtual hearings – a practitioner perspective)
• 11.25: Professor Rosemary Hunter (Access to justice and virtual courts – domestic abuse)
• 11.40: Professor Shaun McVeigh (governing conduct and civil relations in COVID-19)
• 11.55: Open forum via the Q&A function. Please join and ask our panellists questions, or share information and ideas
• 12.05: short break

Panel 3: COVID-19, Informality and Precarity

• 12.10: Ms Sheona York – Migrant ‘Covid heroes’ and the hostile environment
• 12.25: Dr Luis Eslava (Informality in times of COVID-19 – a view from Colombia)
• 12.40: Professor Lydia Hayes (public health consequences of absence of occupational sick pay in the care sector)
• 12.55: Open forum via the Q&A function. Please join and ask our panellists questions, or share information and ideas
• 13.05: Closing remarks, Professor Helen Carr

Register now via Eventbrite

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

Over the festive period they will still be putting on webinars for you to attend.

To find out the webinar schedules over the next four weeks (the week commencing 21 December to the week commencing the 11 January) please see below:

W/c 21 December 2020 – Care first Week 21 Dec webinar schedule

W/c 28 December 2020 – Care first Week 28 Dec webinar schedule

W/c 4 January 2021 – Care first Week 4 Jan 2021 webinar schedule

W/c 11 January 2021 – Care first Week 11 Jan 2021 webinar schedule

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 14 December – Friday 18 December) webinars are as follows:

Monday 14 December 2020 – ‘How Care first can support you’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link.

Tuesday 15 December 2020 – ‘Tips to boost immunity this winter’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 16 December 2020 – ‘The emotional impact of lone working’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 17 December 2020 – ‘Financial wellbeing & the pressures of buying at Christmas’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 18 December 2020 – ‘Protecting and Supporting Mental Health this winter’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Last month (November 2020), the University of Kent  won the Digital Innovation category of the Guardian University Awards 2020, for their innovative and highly acclaimed One Hour Degree.

Launched in 2019, One Hour Degree is an online simulation game designed to provide the complete university experience for those contemplating taking the three-year academic route. Created by the University’s Student Success Team, it enables prospective students to take an immersive series of “quests” designed to give authentic insight into the university experience, all within one hour. Players are able to choose to participate via either Kent’s Canterbury or Medway campuses.

Project Leader Alison Webb, Systems Development Manager for Student Success discusses the computer game on KMTV and the idea that lead to the simulator being launched. 

For more details on the One Hour Degree please read the news article on the  Guardian University Award 2020 for Digital Innovation. 

From Professor Richard Reece, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education & Student Experience

As we approach the end of term, I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to all staff from across the University for your hard work and commitment during this challenging time. This has been an incredibly busy term for everyone. It has been wonderful to see staff working together, in such difficult circumstances, to deliver a really positive experience for all our students.

Asymptomatic Testing

I would like to remind you that asymptomatic testing is still available at both our campuses.

Medway-based staff can book a test at four centres across Medway, one of which is at the Deep End on campus. You must book a test in advance. Please ensure you take your booking confirmation and face covering with you to your test. You will also need to confirm your critical worker status by showing your staff ID or a letter from the University. From today, others in your household will also be able to book a test. They only need to bring a photo of your staff ID, or letter, as well as proof of residency as confirmation of eligibility.

If you would prefer to be tested at Canterbury, our Asymptomatic Testing Site is open until 15 December, and appointments are still available so please do book should you wish to get tested. Testing at the Canterbury site is available to staff but not to anyone else in your household.

Please remember these tests are only if you are asymptomatic, i.e., have no symptoms of Covid-19. If you do have symptoms, please book a PCR test with the NHS online. Please then follow our Self-isolate, Test, Inform procedure for staff.

Students’ staggered return to campus

Many of you will have seen in the news that the Government is recommending students’ return to campus in a staggered fashion in the New Year and we will be will be offering asymptomatic testing from 4 January 2021. This is to ensure all students and staff can be tested for Covid-19 before their face-to-face teaching begins.

Students timetables for the Spring term will be published on 14 December. Based on the date of their first face-to-face session, we will be advising students to arrive during a recommended date window. This will allow them to be tested for Covid-19 before they commence with their face-to-face sessions. Students and staff will be emailed regarding the staggered arrival dates next week.

I would like to stress that students’ arrival dates are recommended, not compulsory. We know that some students will have made alternative travel arrangements and will therefore return to us at a different time. Some may be travelling from overseas; others will need to come back earlier for work commitments, or may have stayed with us over the whole of the winter break. Whenever their arrival time, all our students will be supported to return to campus in the safest way possible for our whole University community.

Thank you again for your dedication to our students.

Richard

Professor Richard Reece | Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience

Written by Sarah Fisher, User Experience and Digital Content Office: 

Microsoft Yammer is coming soon 

Yammer, a Microsoft 365 communications tool, is being piloted at the University, ahead of its full launch in spring 2021. If you’ve had emails about Yammer but aren’t part of the pilot group, please ignore them: you don’t need to take any action. 

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. 

More about the pilot 

A community of early adopters are piloting Yammer to help us discover its benefits and limitations. Staff from across the University who are participating in the pilot:  

• Researchers working towards our Signature Research Themes 
• Staff in Divisions 
• The central communications team 

• E–learning staff 
• Information Services staff 
• Staff from professional services departments 

We are encouraging each of the divisions and professional service departments in the pilot to consider creating their own groups. 

What’s next 

Following the pilot, we plan to make Yammer available to all University staff; this will be early in 2021. If you want to find out more about Yammer please take a look at Microsoft Yammer for staff. 

If you’re still getting emails from Yammer, you can unsubscribe, or ignore them until the new year when you will have access to the platform.  

If you have any questions, please get in touch. 

Best wishes, 

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

 Hot on the heels of the release of their debut EP over the weekend, be sure to listen to a live webchat with student altrock band HollowHead.  The group includes two students from the School of Arts and you can enjoy listening to an online chat with all members this coming Thursday 9 December at 14.00.

Hosted by Dan Harding, Head of Music Performance, they will be discussing anything from the challenge of releasing an EP in the COVID era, their inspiration and influences, and what we can expect next from this unique trio.

Join live on the Music Department Facebook Page on Thursday afternoon and mark your diaries for this hour-long chat!

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 7 December – Friday 11 December) webinars are as follows:

Monday 7 December 2020 –  ‘Managing Grief’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link.

Tuesday 8 December 2020 – ‘How Care first can support you’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 9 December 2020 – ‘COVID-19: Supportive information for Vulnerable groups’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 10 December 2020 – ‘Coping with Burnout & Tiredness’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 11 December 2020 – ‘Maintaining Structure & Routine’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

From Professor Richard Reece, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education & Student Experience

Tier 3 Covid restrictions

As of 2 December, we are now in Tier 3 Covid restrictions in both Canterbury and Medway. Many of you will have noted that these restrictions do not differ greatly to those of the national lockdown. In accordance with Government guidance, we will continue to offer a blended approach to teaching until 4 December when all our teaching will move online until the end of term (December 18). The  majority of our campus catering outlets will remain open offering a takeaway service until the end of term. A Christmas vacation timetable is available detailing which outlets will be open during the festive break. Our sports facilities will reopen on 3 December providing online activities and a limited physical service.  Study spaces and our library services will remain open for our students throughout the Christmas vacation period.

The safety of all our Kent community remains of paramount importance. Please do ensure you follow Government guidance concerning Hands, Face, Space and remember to follow the ‘rule of 6’ when meeting people from other households outdoors in public spaces.

We have communicated the new Tier 3 restrictions to our students and will continue to support them to follow the guidance for the safety of our whole University community.

Asymptomatic testing

I would like to extend my thanks to all staff involved in setting up asymptomatic testing on our Canterbury and Medway campuses. This has been a significant undertaking within a very challenging schedule and staff have coped admirably.

As of 2 December, 3,600 appointments have been made at the Canterbury Asymptomatic Testing Site, and I extend my thanks to all of those who have been involved in setting the facility up in a very short period of time. In response to the high number of bookings we have received, the service has now been extended. Appointments are available until 15 December 2020 so please do book should you wish to get tested.

We are awaiting further information from the DfE, but do know that our asymptomatic testing programme is likely to continue in the New Year. To accommodate this, universities are likely to be asked to bring students back onto campus on a staggered basis. This is to ensure that social distancing can be adhered to and that the testing programme is ready to manage the volume of tests required. I will provide further information on how this will work once we receive the guidance from DfE.

Professor Richard Reece | Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience