Are you a parent at Kent?

Join Parents at Kent in showing that there are many of us, that we are in every department and school, and we are proud of our little ones and their achievements.

Our research has shown that parents often feel that they need to hide that they have children, or that it is frowned upon to be a parent in academia and professional services.

Ask your child (any age) to make a picture or piece of art that shows their parent at work. All submissions will be displayed at the Athena SWAN lunch on International Women’s Day, 8th of March. Winners will be commended with gold stars (!).

Entries will be judged on innovation, creativity and panache.

Deadline for submissions: 1 March 2019

Send to the Athena SWAN team via internal mail: Darwin College P1.01, or send electronic submission to our email: athenaswan@kent.ac.uk

Marking International Women’s Day weekend, join us for a celebration of women through music, theatre, comedy and dance at Gulbenkian from Fri 1 – Sun 10 Mar 2019.

The festival gets underway on Fri 1 Mar (19.30) with The Jazz Sessions: Jessica Lauren’s Naga 5, featuring Josephine Davies on Windwards. In association with POW! Festival, celebrated Jazz composer and keyboard player Jessica Lauren will be joined by a five-piece ensemble for a special concert exploring female empowerment. Tickets £12 / Concessions £10.

On Fri 8 Mar (19.30), The Head Wrap Diaries transforms the theatre into a South London hair-salon called BE U Tiful, giving the audience front row seats to watch, interact with and become immersed in a journey from childhood to the present day. Tickets £13-£5.

We have not one, not two, but THREE excellent star acts, in the form of Wendy Wason, Tanyalee Davis and Carrieann Redneck in Funny Rabbit Comedy Club – International Women’s Day Special on Thu 7 Mar, 20.00. Plus guest acts and all kinds of horseplay and tomfoolery from your host and compere Oliver Double. Tickets £7-£5.

Join us for a family day of dancing, music, talks, workshops and visual arts which celebrate women and equal rights in This Girl Can Family Day on Sun 10 Mar, 11-16.00. All ages and genders are welcome.

Family Day Ticket £5pp or This Girl Can Family Day & Movie Package £6pp : Includes £5 ticket to This Girl Can Family Day + at least one £1 offer ticket to family film screening of Moana (10.30am), Brave (13.30) and/or Wonder Woman (16.00) on Sun 10 March.

Jane Zhuk, a stage 1 Biochemistry student in the School of Biosciences has won the Keynes College Sustainability scholarship which was  specially created to celebrate Keynes College’s 50th anniversary and mark its taking part in FutureProof, Kent’s response to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and our commitment to the SDG Education Accord.

The scholarship is one of several Community Scholarships offered by the University’s Student Services‘ team and aimed at students who are interested in providing opportunities within the local and campus communities. The scholarship offers the recipient financial support, advice and project management support, and the opportunity to develop personal and employability skills.

Jane will be working on a number of exciting projects, including a new herb garden in Keynes College and a Sustainability week organised in collaboration with Keynes College Student Committee. Jane is keen to hear about any students and members of staff who would want to know more about these projects,  would like to be involved or have any ideas they would want to put forward and discuss. Jane can be contacted at the following email:  Keynessustainability@kent.ac.uk 

Jane will also be posting updates on her projects on the University sustainability blog.

Another opportunity to make contact with  Jane will be at the upcoming ‘Teaching Sustainability: Sustainable Teaching’ conference, taking place in Keynes on Friday 1 March.  The event is free to attend including refreshments, a showcase sustainable lunch and drinks reception at the end of the day (more information and links to registration can be found here)​.

Are you ready to #TrySomethingNewForFree? We have a huge variety of inspiration for students and staff – come and discover some fun and practical ways to improve your wellbeing.

In Keynes Atrium on Monday 25th February and Tuesday 26 February between 12.30 and 14.30 you will find information stalls, craft activities and a whole host of free workshops and snacks. It will be very interactive and a chance to relax and connect positively with your own mind and body, and with each other.

What? Where? When?

Please see the attached programme for workshop listings and the full programme is also ONLINE– including celtic jewellery making, dog therapy, henna hand painting, yoga, tai chi, movement medicine, ceramic painting, writing for wellbeing – they are all free to attend and no booking is necessary.

Follow @UniKentSSW for the latest updates and programme reminders for #EnhanceYourWellbeing2019.

Medway’s Enhance Your Wellbeing activity will take place on 7 March which is Universities Mental Health Day – for the programme CLICK HERE.

As part of the University’s preparations for Brexit, a suite of webpages is now available for current and prospective students, staff and researchers.

http://www.kent.ac.uk/brexit

Whilst we are still unclear of the UK’s position regarding its exit from the EU, we aim to continue to provide the latest support and guidance to our students and staff. These pages will be updated with the latest information as more details become available.

Also included are examples of how the University is informing the Brexit debate through its series of academic expert comments and guest lectures amongst other activity.

The pages include contributions from our Academic Division, Human Resources, Research Services and Corporate Communications teams. Kent Union has also provided additional advice for EU students.

Worldfest celebrations are taking place all week across the Canterbury and Medway campuses from 18-23 March 2019.

Worldfest is a vibrant, exciting celebration of culture across the University of Kent!

Events include; International Food Fayre & Mini Market, Fitness Fest, African Drumming, HOLI Festival, Bollywood Brass Band, Diversity Fair and much more!

See the webpages for the full programme of events and activities.

An event co-hosted by the University of Kent’s ‘Understanding Unbelief’ project, the Pontifical Council for Culture (the Vatican department responsible for dialogue with non-believers), and the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network, will explore ground-breaking new research advancing the scientific understanding of atheism and nonreligion.

Taking place at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from 28-30 May 2019, the ‘Cultures of Unbelief’ conference presents findings from the multidisciplinary research programme, aiming to map the nature and diversity of ‘unbelief’ across the world.

Gordon Lynch, Michael Ramsey Professor of Modern Theology for the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Kent, said: ‘The growth of different forms of non-religion has been a significant development in many societies across the world in recent decades. This conference, drawing together findings from the most substantial international programme of research in this field, promises to be a genuinely landmark event in taking forward both our understanding of the varieties of non-religion and the social implications of these.’

Dr Lois Lee, Senior Research Fellow in Religious Studies in SECL, is Principal Investigator for Understanding Unbelief. The project, which is supported by a £2.3 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation is co-led by psychologist Dr Miguel Farias (Coventry University), anthropologist Dr Jonathan Lanman (Queen’s University Belfast), and sociologist Professor Stephen Bullivant (St Mary’s University).

Recent popes have repeatedly voiced a desire for greater understanding between ‘those to whom religion is something foreign, to whom God is unknown’ as Pope Benedict XVI put it in 2009 when he announced his new initiative for Christian-atheist dialogue known as the Court of Gentiles. More recently, Pope Francis has written of ‘a sincere and rigorous dialogue’ with nonbelievers as being ‘nothing other than positive, not only for us individually but also for the society in which we live’.

The current collaboration comes at a time when rates of unbelief and non-religion appear to be rapidly rising across the world, with potentially significant social, cultural, and political implications. New figures published last year by Understanding Unbelief researcher Stephen Bullivant revealed that 70% of UK 18-29 year-olds identify as having ‘no religion’.

Have you signed up for a FREE Study Plus workshop yet?

KE051 ‘Writing and Directing Feature Length Fiction for Cinema: “The Selfish Giant”, a case study’ is an interactive workshop, which will give you an introduction to writing and directing a film from initial idea through to completion and exhibition.

If you’re thinking of signing up for a language as a wild module, or just want to have a go at learning a new language, choose from four taster sessions, all suitable for complete beginners:

Arabic Taster session- (KE181)

Japanese Taster session (KE182)

Mandarin Taster session (KE183)

Russian Taster session (KE184)

You’ll also find a range of woodland craft workshops, such as Coppicing, and Brash Fence Building (KE060, KE061, KE072, KE160, KE161)

Don’t miss out: Book your place via the Workshops page in SDS.

For more information and to see all of the courses on offer, please visit the Study Plus website.