As part of our 20 Years in Europe celebrations, Lord Ricketts will deliver a lecture around the strategic choices that will arise for Britain and the EU after Brexit, on Monday 26 November from 18.30 in Darwin Conference Suite.

Lord Ricketts previously worked with David Cameron in Downing Street and his career has involved him in the handling of many international crises and the coordination of policy in the foreign affairs, defence and security fields. In 2010, the Prime Minister asked him to become the British Government’s first National Security Adviser.

He is an Honorary Graduate of the University of Kent, and was a regular visitor to the University’s Paris centre during his time as British Ambassador to France.

No booking necessary; seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. For more info, please visit the event page.

Not based at the Canterbury campus, or unable to attend on the night? Watch the livestream on YouTube.

Richard Sakwa, Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent, will help celebrate Keynes College’s 50th anniversary with a lecture entitled “Spirit of ’68”.

The event which takes place on Monday 26 November will cover the year 1968, which has become a symbol for political and social change and which also happens to be the year Keynes College opened its doors for the first time.

It was a year packed full of events – ranging from the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia where there was an attempt to create ‘Socialism with a Human Face’, the ‘evénements’ in Paris in May, to the profound transformation of German democracy.

This was also a period of profound social transformation, with the emergence of a new attitude to work and the onset of a period of social liberalism and identity politics. The spirit was not only one of revolution but also of the deconstruction of traditional authority patterns. The spirit was that of idealism and progress.

It was in this spirit that Keynes College was established as part of the wave of new universities, with new ideas of how education can create an enlightened society. The talk will analyse these events and ideas, and assess the degree to which this spirit lives on.

The event is co-organised by the School of Politics and International Relations and by Keynes College. For more information on the event please see the events calendar.

There will be a drinks reception prior to the lecture at 17.15 which is open to all.​

Dear Staff and Students!

We are attempting to break a Guinness World Record for the largest display of origami hearts. We would love for you to be part of this achievement.

The heart is an anatomical and physiological symbol of health and vitality, and also of compassion. This shared project has spanned the Medway and Kent community and as each heart is simple to fold, people of all ages and backgrounds from around 35 different groups have been involved.

We are on track for our exhibition and record attempt in the spring term at The Deep End on the Medway Universities’ Campus. We are raising money for Molly McLaren Foundation and Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) too.

The record attempt will be open to the public, although it will be ticketed. Follow the record attempt here.

We have some drop in sessions starting this week, we would love you to be part of this record attempt:

Location: GKU Social Space
Dates and time: 15 November, 29 November, 6 December at 11.00-14.00

At the University’s Career Fair, graduate recruiters put communication skills top of the list. Sadly for them, about 20 per cent of graduates’ English skills are not up to scratch for the workplace.

This free practical workshop course will help you make your words count. We’ll pin down the function of different kinds of writing. We’ll identify who we’re writing for. We’ll learn about tone, content and structure. We’ll include a scattering of grammar and punctuation so you’ll avoid the worst pitfalls. We’ll examine exactly what will make an employer love your CV. Above all, we’ll write. Bring a pen and paper or a laptop and be ready to try out all kinds of writing.

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• Understand what writing skills employers look for
• Be ready to write clearly, accurately and effectively in a professional context
• Have a toolkit for approaching any piece of writing, from emailing the CEO to writing a press release
• Be ready to write a persuasive and effective CV

Course details:
Dates: Wednesday 14 November and Wednesday 28 November 2018
Time: 13:00-16:00
Location: This will be confirmed once you have booked your place in SDS
Cost: FREE

If you have any questions about this workshop, please feel free to contact us.

For more information, please visit the Study Plus website.

The Centre for Professional Practice cordially invites you to a free presentation on How insects are used to investigate and solve crime / Unlocking the secrets of forensic entomology by Dr Samantha Pickles.

Date: Tuesday 27 November 2018
Time: 19.00-21.00
Venue: The Ship Inn, Court Lodge Road, Gillingham ME7 2QX

Dr Samantha Pickles is an expert case investigator and works for Arrogen Forensics (incorporating Manlove Forensics where she first worked). She also has a research career in the area of myiasis.  The event is a Café Scientifique style session  on the evening of Tuesday 27 November and will be open to university and public alike as part of the Centre for Professional Practice public engagement work.

Book you free place by emailing: cppmedway@kent.ac.uk

You and your colleagues are most welcome. Please forward this invitation to your colleagues and friends.

Although it is a free event open to all we are asking for people to pre-register, so that we have an idea of numbers for seating and other logistics.

The Pint of Science festival is an international public engagement festival taking place over 3 days each May. In 2018, nearly 300 cities globally took part. In 2019, 35 UK cities will hold ~500 events including Kent, now in its third year. Over 1000 scientists will have the opportunity to explain their research in an accessible form to the general public – mainly in bars and pubs.

The idea is to provide a platform which allows researchers to share their research with the public. This is a fantastic opportunity to engage the public with Kent research.

Call for expressions of interest

In 2019, we will again be holding Pint of Science events in Kent in three locations: Canterbury, Medway and Tonbridge. We have selected a number of pubs and are looking for expressions of interest from speakers, particularly Early Career Researchers and final year PhD students looking to develop their skills and experience in talking about their research.

If you are interested, please email us at pintofscience@kent.ac.uk with the following details by 23.59 on Sunday 13th January:

1. Your name and school
2. A summary of your research (max 100 words)
3. Your plan for an interactive session of 20-30 minutes (max 100 words)
4. An explanation of how you will make it engaging for the public audience – an important interactive component (max 100 words).

The Kent team plan to contact everyone by the end of January with the outcome.

Please direct any queries to the team at pintofscience@kent.ac.uk

Good luck!