Author Archives: Allie Burnett

Online Mental Health and Wellbeing Support

From November 2017, all Kent students wherever they are located can access free, 24/7 online support for issues around mental health and wellbeing.

The Big White Wall (BWW) is a Care Quality Commission registered service recognised nationally through awards by the NHS and is a safe environment overseen by qualified therapists called Wall Guides. It offers:

peer talk therapies where members initiate or join forums on topics ranging from depression and anxiety to relationship issues, work stress, abuse, self-harm and eating disorders
peer support and networks where students make friends to create a support network as a reference group, source of motivation and a means to improve self-awareness
creative therapies employing art and writing therapies where members express themselves on ‘bricks’ that are posted to the Big White Wall where they can choose to share and discuss the underlying ‘story’
brief counselling providing immediate 24/7 support from Big White Wall Guides who are trained counsellors
24/7 guided groups that are based in therapeutic approaches such as interpersonal therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy You can find a link to the Big White Wall here.

How to register

In order to gain access to this service click on the BWW link using your Kent email address to gain access only.

As part of the registration process, do not use your KENT IT account password for this service.

Note, you may, upon completion of the registration process change your contact email address to a non-Kent email account.

Big White Wall takes privacy very seriously and you can find their privacy policy here.

Global Hangouts Christmas Special

International Partnerships is delighted to invite all Canterbury students to join us at the Global Hangouts Christmas Special, taking place in the Gulbenkian cafe between 17:00 and 19:00 on Wednesday 6 December.

Full of mince pies, mulled wine and Christmas cheer, this hangout will be a celebration of both Christmas and culture!

Global Hangouts is a series of free global networking events arranged throughout the academic year. With a fun and relaxed atmosphere, the hangouts include interactive activities, refreshments and live music and performances.

Students are invited to book their tickets now.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Kent’s Special Collections and Archives receive Archive Service Accreditation from the National Archives

Our Special Collections & Archives are proud to have been awarded Archive Service Accreditation from the National Archive.

This accreditation, from the UK Archive Service Accreditation Partnership is the UK quality standard which recognises good performance in all areas of archive service delivery. The standard looks at an organisation’s ability to develop, care for, and provide access to its collections, bringing the total number archive services achieving this to 104 nationwide.

Emma Mires-Richards, Head of Academic Liaison states:

‘We are delighted to have received accredited status from The National Archives, this is a fantastic achievement and recognition nationally for our service and teams delivering it. Achieving accredited status demonstrates that the University of Kent’s Special Collections and Archives met clearly defined national standards relating to management and resourcing, in the care of our unique collections and what the service offers to our entire range of users.’

University of Kent’s Special Collections & Archives manage the University of Kent’s unique and distinctive collections so that they are preserved and accessible for the benefit of teaching, scholarship and society. Located in the Templeman Library on the Canterbury campus they collect, curate, and manage material which supports the University’s research and teaching.

The collections, numbering over 150, are open to everyone, whether for personal interest or academic research including these specialisms:

the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive and popular and comic performance from the Victorian era to the present, including pantomime, melodrama and variety works
the British Cartoon Archive and other cartoon artwork and publications, particularly satirical works
the history of the University of Kent and the local area
photographs, scrapbooks, engineer records, and published books relating to wind and watermills
collections of 20th century prose and poetry first editions.

Christmas at The Deep End

Our Christmas Menu at The Deep End is now live, so get a group together and book your festive meal with us!

You can have our a la carte menu by popping in any time between the 4 and 19 December, or make a booking to take advantage of our traditional Christmas dinner with all the trimmings!

We look forward to seeing you!

Student receives award for dissertation

Last week Elsemieke Van Osch graduated with a MA in International Migration with Human Rights Law from Brussels School of International Studies at Canterbury Cathedral along with around 100 of her peers.

‘Elsemieke wrote an excellent dissertation – probably the best I have seen since we started the master’s in Migration in 2006,’ said Dr Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels, Academic Director and Senior Lecturer in Migration and Politics who acted as supervisor for Elsemieke’s dissertation.

‘She addresses an important topic, doing so with nuance and compassion. The dissertation is exceptionally well-written and draws on impressive fieldwork.’

On discussing her research, Elsemieke said:

‘My dissertation analysed the various patterns of exclusion and inclusion experienced by undocumented families as a consequence of their legal status. Empirically grounded in ethnographic fieldwork among a community of undocumented families in Brussels, I argued that contradictory patterns of exclusion are experienced outside and within the intimacy of their family’s home in various dimensions. While these fathers, mothers and children, their homes and networks, are inherently part of the local communities they inhabit, the “border” of the nation-state is experienced on a daily basis. Following the streets and local institutions that mark the footsteps of their everyday lives, I aimed for the acknowledgement of the complexity of their daily realities and sought a re-conceptualization of the nature of citizenship – and, its flip-side: “illegality”- that takes into account this complexity.’

Ambassador John Macgregor was Dean of the University of Kent’s Brussels centre from 2007 to 2009. On his departure he established a prize which is to be awarded, by the Brussels Board of Examiners, to the student with the best taught postgraduate performance on any programme at the Brussels School of International Studies.

Elsemieke has donated her prize money to the social organisation that supports the undocumented families which she wrote about in her dissertation.

‘I am very grateful that the two local NGOs – Pigment vzw and Samenlevingsopbouw Brussel (Meeting) -provided me the opportunity to participate in their project with these families. Their endless efforts to support these families in so many aspects of their lives provides them hope and stability. They will be able to use this award for their current efforts to finance the costs of school bill, books and other learning material for over 50 families.’

Graduate Attributes focus group

At Kent Union we value your opinion and we’re always looking for ways to make you more employable.

The Graduate Attributes are a set of qualities or features regarded as characteristic of the Kent Graduate which has been developed and embedded during their time at Kent. We need your help to gain insight into what you’d like to see on the Graduate Attributes website. Your contributions will make a real impact.

The discussion group will last no longer than an hour and you’ll receive a voucher to be redeemed at the Library Café and some free pizza!

Come along and have your say!

All you have to do is fill out this form to let us know when you are available.

Kent Union focus group

When: 4 and 6 December for one hour

Where: Location TBC

Why: We’re doing some work around how we can get more of you involved in cocurricular activities at university and what we need to do to better your student experience while you’re with us.

All out participants will get a £10 Amazon voucher. If you are already engaged with the union and bring along a friend who isn’t, you’ll also get a portion of chips from Canvas on us!

If possible it would be useful if you could think through the following things / questions in advance of our interview. We may not discuss these directly, but they will help you to reflect on the overall structure and culture of student groups within Kent Union. There will also be a number of other questions that we discuss, but you won’t need to prepare for these (other than thinking through the below).

A. What is your experience of student groups in Kent Union? When have you had positive or negative experiences in relation to student activities / groups?

B. Thinking about student groups overall, what do you think currently works well? Why?

C. Thinking about student groups overall, what do you think could be improved? Why?

D. If you could make one change to student groups in Kent Union what would it be and why?

Sign up now

Graduate Attributes Discussion Group

At Kent Union we value your opinion and we’re always looking for ways to make you more employable.

The discussion group will last no longer than an hour and you’ll receive a voucher to be redeemed at the Library Cafe and some free pizza!

Come along and have your say!

All you have to do is fill out this form to let us know when you are available.

De-centred learning

Colleagues are invited to attend the next session of the ‘New Approaches to Teaching for Experienced Staff at Kent’ taking place on Tuesday 5 December, 12.55-14.00 in the UELT Seminar Room.

Presented by Dr Stefan Rossbach, School of Politics and International Relations and winner of the Social Sciences Faculty Teaching Prize 2017.

Given that for some time now, students have had access to mobile, networked devices that allow them to draw on vast quantities of information at any point in time, it is not original any more to suggest that ‘the teacher’ is no longer the centre of knowledge in classroom situations. However, student expectations and teaching styles (including the design of teaching spaces) seem slow to adapt. This session aims to explore the radical implications and creative potential of ‘de-centred’ learning, where students are not just recipients or ‘consumers’ of knowledge, but ‘nodal points’ in the creation of learning.

To confirm your attendance please email cpdbookings@kent.ac.uk

Estates and SHE Unit fundraising for Children in Need

The Estates Department and the Safety, Health and Environment Unit carried out fundraising events on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 November in aid of Children in Need.

Staff baked and donated a huge variety of cakes and savoury goods, with the Estates Department raising £238 and the Safety, Health and Environment Unit raising a further £33, with the total amount raised being £271.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to make and donate items, and to all of the generous donations going to Children in Need.