Nominations are now open in the Kent Union Leadership Elections. During this period, students will nominate themselves for one of five positions: Union President, Vice-President (Activities), (Education), (Sports) and (Welfare).

In your role, chances are you’ve met some great students. We need your help to find our leadership team for 2018-19. If you know a student who’s been a fantastic Student Rep, has a great relationship with the Kent Sport team, displays key leadership skills or is passionate about the co-curricular experience on campus, then we want to hear about it! You can fill in our Looking for a Leader form, or get in touch with the elections team for assistance.

You can find out more information about the positions below. The work of the Union is guided by these student leaders, who ensure that the voice of the students is at the heart of the University.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support, and if you are keen to know more about the Leadership Elections process, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing elections@kent.ac.uk

For the next two weeks Kent Hospitality are offering £5 deals across their catering outlets to welcome in 2018.

This means that from now until Sunday 28 January you can start your day right and grab a mega breakfast and drink from No1 or drop into Cargo for an all-day breakfast each for just £5.

This offer is open to both staff and students, plus if you are using your KentOne card to pay you can save an additional 5%.

The full list of available deals can be found at the UniKentFood blog.

All offers are valid from 15/01/18 – 28/01/18 inclusive whilst stocks last.

Every year, students rush to find properties as early as possible, and every year they face the same issues. Home Stamp are here to give you the advice you need to make the best decisions.

Make sure you attend our Housing Fair on 24 January 2018 in the Pilkington Building, where you can get free impartial advice, as well as have the chance to win a week’s rent – just by attending the event!

Find out more about the Medway Housing Fair.

This Thursday and Friday (11-12 Jan), Kent will be hosting ‘Radical Pedagogies: A Humanities Teaching Forum’. The full programme information is attached and online.

We have a range of sessions and talks over the 2-days, with highlights including a keynote by Prof. Richard Hall from 16.00-17.00 on Thursday in Rutherford LT1 entitled ‘Dismantling the Curriculum in Higher Education’, followed by a drinks reception at 17.00. We have sessions on Tactile learning, BME Challenges and Widening Participation.

Our keynote on Friday from 13.00-14.00 in RLT2 is from Dr. Shahidha Bari from Queen Mary. Her talk is entitled ‘The Art of an Education’.

Do feel free to drop into any of the sessions that might interest you. You can also follow the event on Twitter with the hashtag #radicalkent18.

PROGRAMME

09.30-09.55 Registration and Refreshments
Rutherford Foyer

09.55-10.00 Welcome from Clarie Hurley & Tom Ritchie
Rutherford Lecture Theatre 1

10.00-11.00 Paula McElearney – ‘What ‘Gives Life’ to Critical and Radical Pedagogies’
Rutherford Lecture Theatre 1

Chaired by Kathleen M Quinlan

11.00-12.15 Panel Option One: BME Challenges
Rutherford Lecture Theatre 2

Dave Thomas – ‘Critical Race Theory (CRT): A framework for libertaing, learning, teaching, assessment and the curriculum in higher education (HE)’

Chaired by Richard Hall

11.00-12.15 Panel Option Two: Pedagogical Consciousness
Rutherford Seminar Room 4

Kathleen M Quinlan – ‘How High Education Feels: Commentaries on Poems that Illuminate Emotions in Learning Teaching’

Darren Webb – ‘To explore “the archaeology of consciousness” as an aspect of utopain pedagogy’

Chaired by Sian Harris.

12.15-13.15 Lunch
Rutherford Foyer

13.15-14.30 Panel Option One: The Student Journey 
Ruterhford Seminar Room 4

Geoff Bunn – ‘The Student Journey’, Power Relations and the Development of Agency.

Benjamin Poore – ‘Some Versions of Tranistion’.

Charied by Lee-Ann Sequeira

13.00 – 14.30 Panel Option Two: Experimental Teaching
Rutherford Lecture Theatre 2

Reanne Crane – “Going easy o names and notions’: An Education in Direct Experience and the Antidote to Dogma’.

Maria Kukhareva – Dramatising the learning experience : student engagement through student-led enquiry, emotional connection and subjectivity’.

Chaired by Darren Webb

14.30-14.45 Refreshments
Rutherford Foyer

14.45-16.00 Panel Option One: Widening Participation
Rutherford Seminar Room 4

Sheree Palmer – ‘How can I incres my impact as a teacher upon WP and BME students?’

Lucy Watson – ‘Intercultural Perspectives in EAP: Putting international Students on the Map’.

Chaired by Tom Ritchie

14.45-16.00 Panel Option Two – The Student Voice
Rutherford Lecture Theatre 2

Claire Hurley joined by first-year undergraduate students from Queen Mary.

Chaired by Claire Hurley.

16.00-17.00 Richard Hall Keynote Address: ‘Dismantling the Curriculum in High Education.’
Rutherford Lecture Theatre

Chaired by Tom Ritchie

17.00-18.00 Drinks Reception
Rutherford Foyer

DAY TWO – Friday 12 January

9:00 – 9:45 – Refreshments
Rutherford Foyer

9:45 – 10:45 Lee-Ann Sequeira – ‘The Problem with Silent Students –It’s You, Not Them’ Rutherford Lecture Theatre 1

Chaired by Benjamin Poore

10:45 – 12:00 Panel Option One: Tactile Learning
Rutherford Lecture Theatre 2

Laura Way – ‘A return to ‘cutting and sticking’…Punk Pedagogy and Zine Making in HE’

Louisa Horner and Emma Wilkinson – ‘Flooding: An overwhelming approach to teaching ‘messy Histories’’

Chaired by Shahidha Bari

10:45 – 12:00 Panel Option Two – Collaborative Learning
Rutherford Seminar Room 4

Madeline Worsley ‘Learning Partnership: Collaboratively embedding a model that reinforces personal and professional development’

Catherine Bates & Kay Sidebottom – ‘Finding spaces to dance – collaboration and co-production as a form of resistance’

Chaired by  Malcolm Noble

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch
Rutherford Foyer

13:00 – 14:00 Shahihda Bari Keynote Address: ‘The Art of an Education’
Rutherford Lecture Theatre 1

Chaired by Claire Hurley

14:00 – 15:15 Panel Option One: Co-operation, not competition
Rutherford Lecture Theatre 2

Malcolm Noble and Tracy Walsh – Learning and teaching for the post-capitalist economy

Chaired by Malcolm Noble &
Tracy Walsh

14:00 – 15:15 Panel Option Two: Assessment
Rutherford Seminar Room 4

Will Tattersdill – ‘Assessment and Feedback – A Discussion’

Rita Balestrini – ‘A teacher-learner collaborative appraisal of rubrics for performance based assessment in foreign languages’

Chaired by Katja May

15:00 – 15:30 Refreshments

15:30 – 16:30 Sian Harris – ‘Connections and Reflections’
Rutherford Lecture Theatre 2

Chaired by Maria Kukhareva

Final year students at the University of Kent are invited to pop into the 2018 Graduation Launch event which will be held on the Medway campus between 11.00 and 17.00

This event will take place on Wednesday 17 January 2017 and will give you details of:
– what to expect from your graduation
– what you need to before your graduation
– recent Kent alumni and where they are now
– and finally… which date and time you will be graduating!

There will also be representatives from local hotels and restaurants around Rochester who will be available to give information and take bookings for your graduation day. We recommend that students book their accommodation and meals early to avoid disappointment – Rochester sells out quickly graduation week!

More details will be divulged soon. Please note the event is not compulsary however, this will be the official release of your graduation date which will not be available until this time. So we highly recommend that you attend!

We are delighted to announce that the Student Success Staff Seminars will be taking place on a monthly basis, both Medway and Canterbury Campuses throughout the Spring and Summer terms. The purpose of these events is to update staff on the work of the project and allow colleagues from across the University to have input and exchange ideas. All staff are invited to attend so please do circulate this invitation to colleagues.

For full details of the seminars please visit the Student Success website

The first seminar “Virtual Student Advisor (Codename: MyDot)” will be delivered by James Grant, Systems Development Manager and Paul Sinnock IT & Technical Services Manager for EDA.

Thursday 18 January 2018, Canterbury Campus, Keynes College, Keynes Seminar room 16, 13.00-14.00

Friday 19 January 2018, Medway Campus, Pilkington Building, PK104, 13.00-14.00

University services are often presented according to the university organisational structure, rather than according to student need. The Virtual Student Advisor (codename: MyDot) aims to change this. The Student Success Project is proud to be working in partnership with the school of Engineering and Digital Arts, with the aim of consolidating the presentation of university services to students.

This seminar will explore how local need within a school is being used as a starting point to explore the narrative of innovation within the university. We will explore our processes, the system, and uncover some interesting and difficult questions.

To register attendance at this, or any of the other seminars published online please email through to studentsuccessproject@kent.ac.uk

There will be the opportunity to meet teams across Commercial Services (Kent Hospitality, Kent Sport and Gulbenkian), taste lots of delicious food samples from our catering outlets as well as chat about your forthcoming events and find out about the wide range of services and facilities we can offer including:

•       Event Management and delegate registration services

•       Conferences and Events – Canterbury and Medway campuses

•       Leisure and Special Interest groups

•       Bed & Breakfast

•       Beverley Farmhouse accommodation

•       Delivered catering

•       Beagle fine dining

•       Our catering venues

•       KentOne Card

•       Student accommodation

•       Housekeeping and reception services

•       Kent Sport

•       Gulbenkian

This event is not to be missed, so please register online today, make sure it’s in your diary and we look forward to seeing you on Thursday 11 January.

(Please note, registration closes on Monday 8 January).

For any queries relating to the Showcase, please contact the Conference Office on 01227 828000 or eventregistrations@kent.ac.uk

Following the success of last year’s inaugural event, the LGBT+ Staff Network are pleased to open the call for papers for the Researching the Rainbow Conference on Thursday 15 February 2018, 15.00-19.00 in GLT1 on the Canterbury campus.

The conference, which takes part during LGBT History Month, is to showcase the vast array of excellent research being done at Kent on or related to LGBT+ people and issues, and to encourage multi-disciplinary collaboration and networking. The conference will be opened by University of Kent Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Karen Cox, who also acts at the Executive Group’s LGBT+ Champion.

Speakers last year included academics and students from the Schools of English, Law and History, discussing topics such as British colonial laws on sodomy, transgender and parenting identities within the law, homosexual WWII clandestine operatives and queer exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Research posters from students and academics from across the University are also welcomed for display. If you would like to do a talk (30 minutes) or display a poster, please email lgbtstaffnetwork@kent.ac.uk by Monday 15 January.

The conference is free and open to all.