Author Archives: Miriam Sandiford

Students sat by labyrinth on Canterbury campus

PGR Wellbeing Webinar Series

The importance of prioritising wellbeing in academia cannot be overstated. Recognising this, the Graduate and Researcher College (GRC) has launched a Postgraduate Research Wellbeing Webinar Series to help support the wellbeing of our research community.

The series is open to PGR students and those who are considering postgraduate study.

The series is designed to provide students with practical tools and strategies to help them manage stress, increase resilience, and improve their overall wellbeing. This can also include learning to recognise the signs of burnout, setting boundaries, and seeking help when needed. The webinars cover a range of topics, including mindfulness, self-care, stress management, and more, all led by experts in the field.

The benefits of these webinars go beyond just academic success. They also help students develop a better understanding of their own mental health and wellbeing, and provide them with tools to take care of themselves not only during their postgraduate studies, but throughout their lives.

The PGR Wellbeing Webinar Series are accessible and flexible. The webinars are delivered online, making it easy for participants to attend from anywhere. Additionally, the sessions are recorded and made available for later viewing, allowing participants to access the content at a time that is convenient for them.

Join our experts Gareth Hughes and Dominique Thompson in the upcoming live sessions,

Good Wellbeing and Good Research: Myths, Challenges and Evidence Webinar with Gareth Hughes, Wednesday 31 May,  13:00

Staying Well in Difficult Times- Top Tips for PGRs with Dominique Thompson, Wednesday 14 June, 14:00

The Wellbeing Webinar Series is an excellent resource for individuals who are looking to enhance their mental health and wellbeing. By providing tools, strategies, and a supportive community, the series empowers individuals to prioritize their wellbeing and succeed in their academic careers.

Students with therapy dog

Events roundup: 9-14 May

We hope you had a great bank holiday weekend. Welcome to the Summer Term and best of luck with any exams. You’ve got this!

Tuesday 9 May: Special collaborative reading

Each year Stirling and Kent host an Indian creative writer to work alongside students and staff. Come along to a special collaborative reading with Charles Wallace Fellows, Shreyasi Sharma and Nikita Parik on Tuesday evening at 18:00.

Wednesday 10 May: Spring animals (Medway), revision techniques and making a career action plan

Meet a range of cute spring animals at the Hub on Wednesday!

Now that exams have begun, here’s another chance to brush up on your revision techniques with this SLAS online bitesize session. See all exam events.

Preparing for graduation? Use this workshop to make your own career action plan for after you graduate. This event will also be livestreamed.

Thursday 11 May: Therapy dog, book swap and open-air cinema

De-stress from exam prep with Coco the Therapy Dog in Nexus, Templeman Library. Plus there will be other wellbeing activities on offer such as mindful colouring and a book swap.

Gulbenkian’s Open Air Cinema series starts on Thursday evening. The first film is Encanto (sing along). There will be hay bales to sit on but feel free to bring chairs or picnic blankets. A selection of food and drink will be available to purchase during the event.

Friday 12 May: Free exam supplies (Medway)

Head to the Hub on Friday where they will be handing out a range of supplies to get you through the exam season.

Saturday 13 May: Mental Health Summit

The School of Psychology are hosting a Mental Health Summit in Sibson on Saturday. The event is open to all from Kent and the local community. It’s a chance to hear from specialists, charities and influencers on mental health.

Sunday 14 May: Global Hangout boat trip (for international students)

International students are invited to the Global Hangout boat trip in Canterbury (£10 per person). Experience Canterbury’s unique history from a different angle on one of our guided river tours run by our Global Officers.

Opportunities

Reminder: UCU’s national marking and assessment boycott began on 20 April. Not all staff are UCU members and not all UCU members take part in industrial action. We have specific measures in pace to ensure you can progress or finish your studies on time. You should continue to submit all assessments and attend any exams. Find out more on our industrial action webpages.

 

University Community Choir singing

Join the University Community Choir

Try something new and feel connection, create community and lift your spirits… We are delighted to invite you to join the University Community Choir, meeting weekly on Canterbury campus.

Singing in a Choir has many benefits, it’s informal, social, and helps you focus on something different as part of a group. Most importantly it’s fun!

It’s free to join, and there are no auditions, and you don’t need to be able to read music. Come along to meet others, or bring a friend.

Upcoming dates for Summer Term

  • 10 May 2023 13.00-14.00 (Colyer-Fergusson)
  • 17 May 2023 13.00-14.00 (Colyer-Fergusson)
  • 24 May 2023 13.00-14.00 (Colyer-Fergusson)
  • (No choir on 31 May)
  • 7 June 2023 13.00-14.00 (Grimond LT3)
  • 14 June 2023 13.00-14.00 (Colyer-Fergusson)

Spread the word to anyone else (staff or student) who might enjoy this opportunity. If you have any questions, please email Mita Mondal, Email: mm595@kent.ac.uk

Family at graduation

Graduation accommodation for July

Did you know we’re offering graduation accommodation to our July graduates and their family and friends? So whether you have a long drive ahead of you or you’d just like to relax after the event, you can stay locally and book affordable accommodation with us. Better yet, relive your uni days and book some nostalgic campus accommodation with your graduating friends and celebrate together! Whoever you choose to celebrate with, we have campus accommodation to suit you.

Accommodation on our Canterbury campus is currently available to book from 15 – 23 July 2023. We have en-suite bed and breakfast rooms from £80 per night, alongside self-catered options, available to book from £30 per person per night. All rooms are 4-5* VisitEngland rated and include free parking and Wi-Fi for the duration of your stay.

Find out more and book online.

Local elections Thursday 4 May. Students need to register to vote each year. Plus you need photo ID

Local elections – remember your photo ID, 4 May

Remember to take an acceptable form of photo ID with you when you head to your polling station on Thursday to vote in the local elections.

Polling stations will be open from 7:00-22:00 on Thursday 4 May. Find your polling station.

If you are not sure if you are registered to vote in Canterbury, you can contact Canterbury City Council on 01227 862007 or email electoral.services@canterbury.gov.uk. Or for Medway Council, call 01634 333 333 or email electoralservices@medway.gov.uk.

 

Wild flowers

No Mow May 2023

We’re taking part in No Mow May this year. This means central lawns that would normally be cut are going to be left to grow throughout May. Each year we leave the grasslands surrounding our campuses but this time we are including the central lawns. 

No Mow May is Plantlife’s annual campaign calling on gardeners and landowners to leave the mowers in the shed and allow flowers to grow. May is a crucial month for flowering plants allowing them to get established and provide nectar for pollinators and other invertebrates. Just 8 dandelion flowers are enough to produce the nectar sugar needed by a bumblebee each day. 

Over the month central campus will start to look very different and the Conservation Society will be carrying out surveys to see what changes are taking place. We will be putting signs across campus that will point out where lawns are being left for nature and No Mow May. A big thank you to the Graphic Design students that created the No Mow May signs you will see on campus, and to the Conservation Society who will be surveying our wilder lawns.     

This project forms part of the University’s Biodiversity Strategy and is being led on by the Landscape and Grounds team and the Sustainability Team. We hope that we can learn a lot about the difference it makes to our invertebrates, birds and small mammals on campus. We also want to hear how this project impacts on the human community on campus. We would love to hear your feedback through the feedback form we have set up on our website, where you can also share any wildlife spots of your own. 

If you have any questions please contact sustainability@kent.ac.uk, and please feel free to share any photos you take throughout the month of our wilder lawns. 

 

Students sitting together in Kent Community Oasis Garden

Register interest for Climate Cafe training

What is a Climate Cafe?

A Climate Café is a safe space to chat with others who are feeling anxious, sad, or frustrated about climate change.

Climate Cafe Training

As part of our commitment to a sustainable future, we are offering free training on how to facilitate Climate Cafe discussion groups. This is a great opportunity to take a proactive stance towards climate anxiety, meet like-minded individuals, and develop your communication skills.

The training will take place in June online so you can take part wherever you are.

Register your interest by emailing sustainability@kent.ac.uk.

Woman carrying bucket of apples in orchard

Canterbury Gleaning Collective – what is it and how to get involved

What is Gleaning?

In Kent as in the rest of the UK, surplus fresh produce is left in the field post-harvest or not harvested due to staff, quality or price constraints. Nationally, pre-farm gate food waste has been estimated to be 1.6 million tonnes annually.

Gleaning is the process of picking this surplus food and veg from farms that would otherwise go to waste, and redistributing it to those who need it.

Why is Gleaning particularly relevant now?

The cost-of-living crisis has increased the pressure on food banks and food redistribution organisations with many not including fresh produce in their offer. Food offered to those who need it is often just ambient and not always healthy.

Many students have expressed their concern about the increased cost-of-living, and Kent Union has seen an increase in the number of students accessing Campus Pantry, our on-campus food bank.

Farmers in Kent are keen to work more closely with the community, sharing the realities of farming but also promoting work opportunities in the agri sector.

How can I get involved?

With all this in mind, membership organisation for local food and drink businesses, Produced in Kent, and the University of Kent have decided to set up a gleaning group with student and staff volunteers from the university. The gleaning group will work together with growers in Kent, picking surplus fresh produce left on the fields, and redistributing this to charities, community groups and food banks in the Canterbury area.

Find out more and sign up to become a volunteer.

AI scholarship funding available

£10,000 scholarships available for students accepted on MSc Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence), a conversion masters course for graduates with little or no prior knowledge of computer science.

The School of Computing is delighted to have been awarded £160,000 for 2023-24 scholarships to encourage more students into the UK Artificial Intelligence workforce. There are 16 x £10k scholarships available, funded by the Office for Students (OfS) in partnership with the Department for Innovation, Science and Technology (DSIT).

The scholarships aim to encourage more graduates to launch a career in the growing field of AI and to improve the diversity of the workforce.

More information about the course can be found at MSc Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) conversion course.

Register your interest

Our conversion course is intended for non-STEM graduates with little or no prior knowledge of Computer Science. The scholarship is available for UK and International students.

An important aim for this programme of work is to increase the number of people from groups currently underrepresented in the AI and data science fields, and to encourage graduates from diverse backgrounds to consider a future in these occupations.

To register your interest, in the scholarship please email cemsadmissions@kent.ac.uk.

Students showing their muddy hands at Kent Community Oasis Garden

Celebrating Earth Day 2023

Earth Day is on the 22 April and marks a day of collective action and global awareness on the importance of protecting our planet. At the Kent, we take our responsibility towards tackling climate change seriously and are committed to a sustainable future for generations to come. Here’s what’s been going on at Kent in the past year, and some ways you can get involved in sustainability initiatives.

Our progress

Kent has made a lot of progress towards sustainability in the past year. From reducing carbon emissions to promoting biodiversity and sustainable food systems, we have achieved significant milestones in various areas. Here are some of the highlights from the past year:

  • Kent improved by 12 places in the People and Planet University League table to achieve 29th place overall.
  • We remained on track with our Net Zero by 2040 reduction target and have undertaken audits across University buildings to identify further opportunities.
  • Planted 300 fruit and nut trees for the Diamond Anniversary Orchard project, celebrating the arrival of the Class of 2025.
  • We were awarded a Silver Award in the Wilder Kent Awards for 2022 for taking positive action to restore green spaces and help people to reconnect with nature.
  • Our WARP-IT furniture reuse scheme has passed £1million in savings since starting. Last year we reused 153,919kg of furniture equivalent to 113 tonnes CO2.

Get involved – taking action towards a sustainable future

There are lots of ways for students and staff to get involved in our sustainability initiatives.

Kent Community Oasis Garden

The Kent Community Oasis Garden is an extraordinary collaboration between the University and East Kent Mind, supporting sustainability and good mental health. This year, the garden has expanded its growing space, seen a large rise in its number of volunteers, and been used as a living lab site for the School of Architecture. Get involved by coming along to one of the open gardening sessions on Wednesdays and Fridays, 11:00-14:00

Register for Climate Cafe Training

A Climate Café is a safe space to chat with others who are feeling anxious, sad, or frustrated about climate change. As part of our commitment to a sustainable future, we are offering free training on how to facilitate Climate Cafe discussion groups. This is a great opportunity to take a proactive stance towards climate anxiety, meet like-minded individuals, and develop your communication skills.

The training will take place in June. Register your interest by emailing sustainability@kent.ac.uk.

BioBlitz 2023

Join Kent’s BioBlitz on 20 May 2023, to record as many living species as possible on the Canterbury campus. The event is open to everyone, regardless of experience. Participants can take part in numerous sessions throughout the day, collaborating with local conservation and wildlife organizations. Find out more about the BioBlitz and how you can get involved.

Gleaning collective introductory meeting

Kent and Produced in Kent have established a ‘gleaning’ group in Kent to collect surplus produce from local farms and distribute it to charities, community groups, and food banks in the Canterbury area. If you are interested in finding out more, you can attend an information session on Tuesday 25 April at Woody’s on Canterbury campus to learn more about becoming a volunteer with the Canterbury Gleaning Collective.

Let’s continue to work towards a sustainable future, and make every day Earth Day.