As we’re all still dealing with the impacts of Covid-19, Care First have still got some webinars for you for next week.

Please find the schedule below.

Monday 16 June 2020 –‘Mental Health and Support for the LGBTIQ+ Community 

Time:  12:00 -12.30 – To register click on this Go webinar link

Tuesday 17 June 2020 – ‘Tips for support with Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD)

Time: 11.00 – 11.45 – To register click on this Go to webinar link 

Wednesday 18 June 2020  – ‘Domestic Abuse Information’ 

Time: 15.00 – 15.30 – To register click on this Go to webinar link 

Thursday 19 June 2020 – ‘Tips to achieve a healthy Work Life Balance’

Time: 11.00 -11.30 – To register click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 20 June 2020 –  ‘Men’s Health Awareness’ 

Time: 13.00 – 14.00 – To register click on this Go webinar link 

The “Think Kent Discovers series”, which started in May is a series of nine cutting edge research documentaries produced by the University of Kent in association with KMTV.

Each event starts with the screening of a research documentary followed by a live panel discussion on the topic and is live streamed via Research Services ‘YouTube channel and the university’s facebook page.

All events are FREE to watch and to book your place,  please visit EventBrite. 

Here are the rest of the events coming up:

Thursday 11 June at 19.00: “La Cristiada – A Civil War” 

Dr Mark Lawrence, from the School of History,  explores Mexico’s bloodiest civil wars.

Panel members:
– Dr Mark Lawrence, Lecturer in Latin American History at the  University of Kent
– Dr Nathaniel Morris, Leverhulme Research Fellow at University College London
– Dr Ben Fallaw, Professor of Latin American History at Colby College in USA (Maine)

Thursday 18 June (time tbc): “Virus to Vaccine”

Professor Colin Robinson and Dr Alison Walters (School of Biosciences) are leading a British-Thai consortium in mass producing a vaccine to tackle Porcine Circovirus disease.

Thursday 25 June at 19.00: “Counting Butterflies”

The film explores the research carried out by Professor Morgan and former student Dr Emily Dennis, who have developed advanced mathematical models which are now being used to map and manage butterfly populations in the UK and abroad.

Panel members:
– Professor Byron Morgan, Emeritus Professor of Statistics at the University of Kent
– Dr Emily Dennis, Senior Ecological Statistician at the Butterfly Conservation Trust
– Ian Middlebrook, Butterfly Monitoring Coordinator at the Butterfly Conservation Trust

Week commencing 29 June: “The Mohawk of Consciousness” (details to be confirmed)
This film charts the investigation into brain injury and whether analysing brain activity can reveal the true level of consciousness in patients believed to be in a vegetative state.

Week commencing 6 July: “Catching Cancer: Rapid Diagnosis” (details to be confirmed)
Can you detect Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) not with a traditional blood test but with a kit which gives an immediate indication from a simple pin-prick?

Week commencing 13 July: “The Science of Making Babies” (details to be confirmed)
In July 1978, the world’s first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in Oldham to her parents, Lesley and John. It’s now estimated 1 in 50 babies born in Britain today are the result of IVF or similar methods that allow an egg to be fertilised.

As we’re all still dealing with the impacts of Covid-19, Care First have still got some webinars for you for next week.

Please find the schedule below.

Monday 8 June 2020 – A guide to Care first Zest ‘A guide to Care first Zest’

Time: 11.00 11.30 – register by clicking on this Go to webinar link.

Tuesday 9 June 2020 –  ‘Tips to keep safe in the workplace during COVID-19’

Time: 12.00 -12.45 – register by clicking on this Go to webinar link 

Wednesday 10 June 2020 – ‘Woebot: A user guide to our new AI support’

Time: 16.00 – 17.00 – register by clicking on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 11 June 2020  – ‘Understanding Suicide’

Time: 12.00 -12.45 – register by clicking on this Go to webinar link 

Friday 12 June 2020  ‘Understanding the COVID-19 guidelines for your area’

Time: 15.00 – 15.30 – register by clicking on this Go to webinar link

The School of European Culture and Languages (SECL) has been able to donate £260 to ‘The Friends for Mental Health’ and the East Kent Rape Crisis Centre following the 2020 National Student Survey.

The National Student Survey (NSS) is an independent annual survey of final-year undergraduate students and is one of the key measures of how students rate their time at university. The survey asks students about many of the factors that are most important to them, including aspects of their teaching, their subject and the wider University community.

This year, it was also an opportunity to donate to a cause, with £1 being donated for every student who completed the survey. The Friends for Mental Health and the East Kent Rape Crisis Centre were joint winners in a poll of final year students. After 260 students came forward to complete the 2020 National Student Survey, each charity received a donation of £130.

Head of School Professor Shane Weller said:

‘The views of our students are incredibly important to us as teachers and researchers and the National Student Survey is a vital way in which the University – and the School – receives feedback. I am grateful to all the students who took the time to share their views in this year’s Survey and am delighted that we were able to make donations to the East Kent Rape Crisis Centre and The Friends for Mental Health as a result of your participation’.

Spending more time at home has inspired many of us to get creative.

To help get those creative juices flowing, Lucy Ashbey, Taught Postgraduate Student Support Assistant in the School of Computing, has suggested a feature on top 10 crafty activities:

1. Knitting/Crocheting

Whether you’re a knitting novice or a connoisseur in crocheting, there’s no time like the present to get crafting! With an abundance of tutorials and materials online from places like Stitch & Story, there’s plenty to inspire you.

2. Painting & drawing

Creating art is a great way to express yourself. From paying tribute to health care workers to illustrating the importance of wellbeing, picking up a pencil or paintbrush has never felt more poignant.

3. Writing

Whether you love to write poetry, song lyrics or even posting your own blog, putting pen to paper is a wonderful way to get creative!

4. Jewellery making

Start an exciting new hobby and create your very own jewellery. Learn the basic skills in jewellery-making to wear, sell or gift, from the likes of Beads Direct.

5. Paper-craft

From papier-mâché bowls to tissue paper flowers, there’s plenty of fun ways to craft with paper! A great one to try with children, The Spruce Crafts offers you tips on getting started.

6. Rubber stamping

If you’d love to put your own personalised ‘stamp’ on a birthday card or wedding invitation, then why not learn the art of rubber-stamping? Noolibird has a vast collection for you to try.

7. Music

What better time to learn how to play an instrument or hone your music skills? Practise those vocal chords and get involved in the University’s Virtual Music Project or join Kent’s Rock Choir.

8. Dancing

Dance is the perfect combination of being creative and keeping fit. Choose the style of virtual dance classes that suits you and get moving!

9. Cross-stitching

Cross-stitching is often seen as a rather therapeutic craft, and with a wide range of patterns and designs available online, the choices are endless!

10. Cooking

Spending more time at home has allowed many of us get more creative in the kitchen. For some inspiration on dish ideas, check out our top 10 chocolate and vegan recipes!

Like Laura, please send your top 10 feature suggestions to stories@kent.ac.uk

The University of Kent is pleased to present its Sustainability Report for 2020. The report showcases the achievements of students, staff and community members who have contributed to the sustainability successes of the University over the last year, whilst planning for the crucial decade ahead.

The report covers a broad range of sustainability activities including our carbon reduction achievements; sustainable food drive across our outlets, as well as showcasing student and staff led projects that span Schools and Professional Services.

Highlights from the report include the University’s carbon reduction achievement which was met a year early. Over the last decade we have reduced our carbon emissions by over 29% surpassing our target of 23%. This gives us a strong basis in which to launch our new carbon management plan for the next decade which is currently being worked on.

Other highlights include:

• the launch of the Responsible Future’s initiative, an NUS program that enables a whole-institutional approach to embedding social responsibility and sustainability  across the formal and informal curriculum
• how students and staff from the School of Anthropology and Conservation responded to the climate emergency
• how Sustainability Champions from across the University have been working on a range of projects as part of the FutureProof project.

Catherine Morris and Emily Mason from the University’s Sustainability Team within the Estates Department said:

“Thanks to the enthusiasm and hard work of our staff champions, students and everyone else involved, this last year has been a really exciting one and we’ve been lucky to involved in such a wide range of projects. There are plenty more exciting projects in the pipeline and we can’t wait to back onto campus to start working on them.”

All of these successes build upon the University’s commitment to the United Nation Sustainable Goals as a signatory to the SDG Education Accord.

Local farm-based business Foodari are now offering a 10% discount to all University of Kent Staff.

Foodari, which has been working with local Kent growers for the past 15 years distributing local produce to restaurants, hotels and shops, have now extended their service to deliver produce direct to customers doors too.

From Monday 1 June, University of Kent staff can now claim a 10% discount on their home delivery orders. To claim you must enter the code ‘UNIOFKENT10’ at the checkout.

Foodari aim to deliver all orders placed before 14.00 the next working day with free delivery over £16.50.

Visit Foodari’s website to find out more about them and to take a look at their fruit, veg and meal boxes.

To find out about other discounts available to University of Kent staff visit the Hospitality webpages.

Announcing the retirement of the Online Directory and its replacement Microsoft Delve. 

On 1 June 2020 the University of Kent Online Directory was replaced by Microsoft Delve.

Microsoft Delve is our primary tool to find University staff and student contact information. Delve is part of the Office 365 suite, and so the information is available in Outlook, Microsoft Teams and other Office 365 tools as well as Delve.

How to access Delve

Some of the benefits of Delve:

• It links up staff contacts information with our organisational chart so you can see where people fit into the organisation
• You can search for job roles or teams if you don’t know a person’s name
• It shows you which shared documents you have access to, in relation to the contact you’re searching for

You can update your Delve profile:

• Change contact details such as your phone number
• Add extra information about what you do

If you need to update the name you’re known as, log into Staff Connect to edit your personal details in there. This will update your profile in both Delve and Staff Connect.

Why we’re replacing the Online Directory

We want to benefit from the extra functionality and integration that Microsoft Delve offers us. This has become available at the same time that we need to replace the Online Directory (which in its current form it uses older technology that won’t be supported externally from July 2020).

Are you confident in digital accessibility? It’s not too late to sign up for a few sessions at this year’s Kent Digital Accessibility Conference which you can attend virtually wherever you are on the 9, 10 and 11 June.

Last year, the University of Kent & Kent County Council hosted the first Kent Digital Accessibility Conference to help attendees learn more about digital accessibility and inclusion and the impact of new regulations coming into force this September for web accessibility.

This year we have even more expert speakers and workshops to help you prepare, including the UK government, Microsoft, NHS experts and a European perspective showing how other countries are handling new regulations.

We will also be hearing from students and will be discussing what we are doing towards Kent’s accessible student experience, alongside a host of engaging practical sessions to help attendees grow the specialist skills required to deliver accessible services. A full agenda with speakers and timings is on the Eventbrite booking page, examples include Google speaking on creating accessible experiences for people in the workplace and international experiences of accessibility by a medal winning paralympian.

Book your free place now on Eventbrite to then receive links for all sessions via email – there will be 2 morning sessions and 2 afternoon sessions each day for three days. You can join for however many or few capture your interest and you can make time for in your schedule – do check out the timetable below for details.

Everyone is welcome, please do share with colleagues in your networks who might find this of interest.

For any queries, please email AccessibilityEvents@kent.ac.uk

What’s your background and when did you join the University?

I started working at Kent in 2009, initially in a joint role between Kent Union and the University. – I started my Environmental career as an academic with a PhD and some postgraduate research, before switching over to professional services when I joined Kent.

What does your role at Kent involve?

I work between two departments, the Safety, Health and Environment Unit and Estates Department. Although we’re supported by many colleagues across the University, there are only two of us working on Environmental Sustainability, so we’re extremely busy.

My role is very varied – I can be doing anything from writing policies and procedures and advising colleagues on compliance with environmental legislation, to working with students on academic projects. Our annual report showcases the wide range of work going on.

How has your role changed as a result of Covid-19?

Like many, my work is mainly desk-based, so I’ve adapted quite easily to this new way of working. However, with much of the campus closed and activities like waste management or landscape work not happening, the operational side of things is currently on pause.

Instead of delivering training face-to-face, I’m recording training sessions using the Kent Player system.

I hope there are some positives to come out of this – like video conferencing becoming the norm and people thinking twice about travelling to meetings/conferences. I’ve also noticed people are more aware of nature and spending more time appreciating outdoor spaces. Our campus is precious, and I’d love staff and students to get more involved in its management.

What’s worked well and what’s proved tricky?

I’ve found things that I was worried about, such as learning how to do video conferencing, have been straightforward, but other things have been trickier. I hadn’t realised how much I rely on bouncing ideas off people and I miss being able to pop my head into someone’s office and ask a question.

Both my partner James (who works in the Registry) and I are working from home while also home-schooling two primary-aged boys. This has been difficult at times!

As a team, we’ve had to get creative with how to keep our staff champions engaged. My colleague Emily (Mason) produces a weekly newsletter to keep everyone connected and that’s been well received.

Can you tell us more about the University’s Environmental Management System?

The day-to-day running of the EMS is a huge part of my role. It’s a structured framework that helps large organisations identify/manage all their activities and their impact on the environment.

Our EMS is certified to ISO14001 (the International Standard for Environmental Management). I deal with many elements including, keeping our legal requirements up to date, internal/external audits, and monitoring our environmental performance against targets like carbon emissions.

Last month we had an external audit of the EMS conducted remotely. The auditor commented on the enthusiasm and knowledge of the operational staff he spoke to, showing we have great engagement in key areas.

In your view, which environmental change has made the biggest difference at Kent?

Increasing media attention on climate change and ecological breakdown has seen a huge shift in public awareness, and an increasing number of staff and students are getting involved in sustainability projects.

Our ultimate aim is to put sustainability at the heart of all Kent’s decision-making and we’re now starting to see that happen. We’re also looking at embedding sustainability into the curriculum – showing its relevance even in courses you wouldn’t expect – which is both exciting and interesting.

Outside work, and out of lockdown, what do you enjoy doing?

The one thing I love doing and am missing during lockdown is gymnastics. I started going to an adult gymnastics class 10 years ago and was hooked. At my age, it’s not easy and I ache after every session, but I can’t wait to get back.

What will you look forward to most once we’re back on campus?

I’m looking forward to playing in the VC’s Cup. I’m the captain of the Estates team and we’re the current reigning champions so I’m keen to get back and defend our title. I’m also missing the Street Kitchen food!