In October 2022, we will be launching a help point in Templeman Library.
If you have any questions as a Kent student, from financial support to where to go for mental health advice, ask Nexus.
As well as a place to access support, it will also be a dedicated student space where you can study, socialise and network.
Look out for more information coming soon.
“Hello everyone, I’m Rachel! I’m currently in my penultimate year of computer science and working towards starting a PhD in software verification. Outside of academia, I enjoy spending time in The Shed, within Cornwallis, where Tinker Soc is held. Designing different projects and working on them with friends is one of my favourite activities. In the evenings, I love free-style ice skating, bike rides down the incredible Canterbury bike trails and spending time with my friends through activities such as guitar or gaming.”
“My original impression of the Undergraduate of the Year award was that I was applying for an internship with Rolls-Royce. Later I found out that it was a UK-wide competition that held quite a lot of weight. It was quite the shock to find out the scale of the award and I certainly felt out of my depth.
However, as time went on, I met some fellow contestants online who were shortlisted for winning, and others who worked at R2 Factory, connected to the internship. Getting to know the other contestants, and learning more about who would be attending the awards and what the experience would be like, was a great comfort for me. I’d never been to a large event in front of so many people, and as someone who usually remains out of the attention of others, this was a new challenge.
On the day of the awards, I got to meet all the shortlisted contestants in person as well as James Corbin, Head of Careers and Employability at Kent, whom I was really glad came to support me! It was amazing to meet others who had made it to the award ceremony, and knowing they were also neurodiverse gave me a sense of pride and recognition for us achieving something amazing. With 300 people in the room, there was certainly an atmosphere of excitement, anticipation and nerves. Hearing the backstories for the awards was a reminder that one person can reach such a vast number of people, and you could see the emotional effect some of the awards had on the room.
As overwhelmed as I was when it was announced, I was honoured to win the award for the neurodiversity category and humbled by all the different challenges overcome and accomplishments from the other winners and short-listed contestants. I’ve really enjoyed the first couple of weeks of the internship learning so many new things, and I can’t wait to see what the next 10 weeks brings me.”
“I said earlier that I didn’t quite understand the scale of the award when I first applied. This may have been the reason I didn’t hesitate much when applying, as if I knew the scale, I may have assumed I couldn’t win and never applied.
I would urge anyone to apply for anything that piques their interest, whether it’s an award or an opportunity that arises. Even if you have doubts about how far you may get, or whether you have a chance of winning, you can always give it a go. If you’re interested about a subject, why would you not be able to do it?”
“I hope to travel during the summer and explore a little bit more of England, and the world. I would like to try and incorporate some small coding camps or competitions during my travel and gain more experience. Hopefully I will learn more about programming, but my favourite part of travelling is learning about other people’s backgrounds, cultures, what they’ve learnt and what I can learn from them. After my final year ends, my intention is to start a PhD and see where it leads me.”
Our beautiful, green and biodiverse environment is such a special feature of our campuses. We’re also ambitious for how we can develop this further in the future as we look ahead to the University’s 60th anniversary.
Starting this year, we’re going to be working with students on the exciting new Diamond Garden project, planting 300 fruiting trees to create an orchard on the Southern Slopes of the Canterbury Campus. We are also planting a fruit tree and wildflower meadow on the Rochester Lawn at our Medway campus.
The trees will be planted at an event this year with incoming undergraduates, marking the start of their special journey to becoming the Class of 2025, and growing with them before they graduate in our Diamond Anniversary year. This marks the start of a three-year project as we develop the Diamond Garden to become a space that will support people and wildlife in this area of the campus.
Emily Mason, Environmental Sustainability Coordinator, explains what the Diamond Garden project is all about and how we can all get involved:
Kent’s Diamond Garden project is a special collaboration between teams across the University, aiming to both boost our biodiversity and also create connections between this year’s incoming students and their campus. We want the incoming students to feel that these trees are theirs and see how this part of campus transforms over the next three years and beyond.
2025 will be a big landmark for the University and we want to show how sustainability is at the heart of our future plans – planting an orchard is a commitment to our green spaces, while developing them will support local wildlife too. Green spaces are also so valuable to mental health and broader wellbeing – we want all of our community to benefit from healthy diverse habitats, even if just for a bit of a quiet time in the middle of their busy days.
The Southern Slopes provides an ideal setting for a semi-natural orchard and meadow that will not only be a beautiful space for students, staff and community members to enjoy, but also provides a complex habitat that we do not already have on campus, boosting biodiversity in the area. Because orchards are mosaics of trees, grasses, shrubs and wildflowers, they support a wide range of wildlife – as fruit trees age quickly, they create the perfect habitats for invertebrates and birds, such as the lesser spotted woodpecker.
We are planning a wide range of activities around the space including guided walks, BioBlitz activities and wellbeing opportunities. There will also be more opportunities as the trees grow for harvesting and cooking activities.
Co-creation is at the heart of the project, starting in September with students helping pick elements that make this project unique. The orchard will have six distinct features within it, chosen by students from each of the six divisions. These could include seating areas, performance spaces, hibernacula and quiet areas, and anything else the students may come up with. These unique features will open up a new range of activities that can be led by students and staff across the University.
We’d also love to hear your thoughts! If you have any ideas that you would like us to hear and consider, or thoughts on future activities, please email the Sustainability Team at sustainability@kent.ac.uk.
Around 170 people joined the event organised by Kent’s LGBTQ+ Staff Network as a show of support for LGBTQ+ staff and students ahead of the Lambeth Conference.
The march around campus was planned to show the world that people of all gender identities and sexualities are welcome and part of the Kent community. A number of Conference delegates – including gay Bishops with their spouses – joined in along the route, which culminated in a mass dance-off in the University’s central plaza.
Following the joyful and celebratory rally, the Network also hosted the Rainbows in Religion Symposium in Marlowe to explore further the intersection of sexuality and religion. Speakers including UoW Trinity St David lecturer Dr Angus M Slater and former UK Government LGBT Advisory Panel member Jayne Ozanne reflected on their own experiences pushing for equal marriage within the Church, before a panel discussion featuring staff and students at the University.
The Lambeth Conference has been hosted at the University since the 1970s, with senior figures from across the worldwide Anglican Communion convening for prayer, reflection, fellowship and dialogue. While we are clear that the Church’s views on equal marriage in particular do not fit with our values as a university, our aim throughout the conference is to facilitate debate and discussion where we can in the interest of positive progress.
The Lambeth Conference is taking place at the University of Kent, Canterbury Cathedral and Lambeth Palace from 26 July – 8 August, with some delegates arriving earlier this week. You can read more about the conference on our website.
Given both the scale and international profile of the Conference, campus will be busy with delegates, support staff, media and members of the public following the different events. We are also likely to see protest from different groups who wish to voice their concern at different aspects of the Church’s work, and we have worked closely with the Conference organisers to ensure this is peaceful and well managed. If you have concerns at the way any protest is being conducted on campus, please contact Campus Security.
The increased numbers of visitors mean that alongside usual summer closures, a number of our catering outlets will be closed for students, staff and the public temporarily – Kent Union-run outlets such as Woody’s and the Library Cafe remain open, along with Co-Op and Caffe Nero. Room bookings will also be much busier due the number of fringe events we are hosting.
The main meeting venue for the Bishops is the Kent Tennis and Events Arena, with Spouses meeting in the Sports Centre. The Chaplaincy will be based in the Kennedy Building, with numerous seminar rooms and lecture theatres used across campus for fringe events throughout the Conference.
With a very busy summer of conferences and events taking place at the Canterbury campus, there have been some temporary changes to our car parks. If you are a permit holder, please see notices within car parks and the email sent to permit holders.
If you feel concerned by any aspect of the Lambeth Conference, please get in touch with Student Support and Wellbeing, College and Community Life or Kent Union, who are all available to provide free, non-judgement support. Read more about support available.
Thank you in advance for helping us make this summer’s conference season a success.
Student Support and Wellbeing, College and Community Life and Kent Union are fully open during the summer term, including the busy conference season. All our services are hybrid and can offer in person and online support at your choice.
We are here to offer emotional, wellbeing, practical and living support to all students in the community. We are safe spaces for all at Kent and our professional teams across Student Support and Wellbeing, College and Community Life and Kent Union are here all year round to protect, support and safeguard all students. We respect, value and celebrate all in our community.
You can walk in and speak to our friendly staff if you don’t know who to contact first or just need a quiet space where you can be sure you well be welcomed by supportive and non-judgemental staff.
Student Support and Wellbeing provide counselling, disability support, mental health advice and specialist wellbeing support. They are available Monday – Friday 9.00-17.00. Scroll down for out of hours support.
The SSW Team are based in Keynes H block (Canterbury) and Gillingham building (Medway). As well as visiting the team, you can also get in touch by calling 01227 823158 or emailing KentSSW@kent.ac.uk if you’re a Canterbury student. If you’re based at Medway, you can call 01634 888474 or email MedwaySSW@kent.ac.uk.
The College and Community Life Team can help with general advice about living in accommodation, activities and events, living in the local community and welfare and personal issue support. They can available Monday to Friday 9.30-16.30.
The CCL Team are located in the first floor of the Locke building (Canterbury) and in the Medway building. As well as popping in to see the CCL Team, you can also contact them by phone by calling 01227 827010 / 824018 / 824961 (Canterbury) or 01634 888807 (Medway), or you can email cclteam@kent.ac.uk.
Kent Union are your students’ union. They offer impartial and confidential advice and guidance via their Advice Service, general support from Kent Union Staff and Full-Time Officers, as well as a range of events and activities. Kent Union are available Monday – Friday 9.00-17.00.
You can find them at the Mandela Student Centre (Canterbury) or at The Hub in Medway. Or you can get in touch by calling 01227 82 4200 or emailing kentunion@kent.ac.uk.
We understand that things don’t always happen between 9.00-17.00 but through our partnerships we have out of hours support and regular self-help support you can access in your own time:
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or need emergency in the moment crisis support outside of Student Support and Wellbeing working hours, our external partners Spectrum Life can offer you online, text and telephone support from qualified counsellors and mental health professionals.
Spectrum Life will work with you in getting initial support and help during your crisis and the University Student Support and Wellbeing teams will contact you on the next working day
Togetherall is a peer led online community with self help and therapeutic support online guides and workshops
Our services a Kent are open, free and inclusive to all. Please get in touch with us if you need support.
We have just sent details of the Goodwill Payment Scheme to students affected by Industrial Action during 2021-22. The email has been sent your Kent account. If you have any questions or haven’t received the email but think you’re eligible, please email industrialaction@kent.ac.uk
How the Goodwill Payment Scheme was agreed
The University decided that the most accurate way to find out which students were impacted by industrial action was to assume that, where a staff member had declared that they were on strike, that the teaching events due to take place on those days would have been impacted in some way. This could have taken the form of a missed class or missed content, for example. Adopting this principle, we determined that there were almost 8,000 students who experienced at least one affected teaching event. Of these, around 2,770 were impacted ten or more times with approximately 2,300 students impacted by just one missed teaching event. I am aware that many of these missed teaching events were also mitigated by, for example, make-up activities or through the availability of alternative resources.
The savings made by the University across all strike days in 2021/22 through withheld salaries amounted to around £194,000. Whilst the amount of savings might seem significant, when divided between impacted students, it becomes thinly stretched and potentially would not acknowledge the level of disruption suffered by the more seriously affected students. Therefore, in order to provide an appropriate and meaningful goodwill payment to those affected most significantly, we reached the decision that students who were affected only once by an impacted teaching event, would not receive a goodwill payment. This is regrettable, but please be assured that the decision was made after very careful modelling of a variety of banding options for payments in consultation with Kent Union. This consultation involved presenting different options and models to student representatives to understand what the most satisfactory decision would be to as many students as possible.
The following goodwill gestures will be offered:
Band A: Students impacted 11 times or more = £75
Band B: Students impacted 6 – 10 times = £50
Band C: Students impacted 2 – 5 times = £25
Band D: Students who were impacted once and will be returning to study next academic year, will receive a drinks voucher to use on campus when they return.
If you have any questions, please email industrialaction@kent.ac.uk
Have you lived, or are you planning to live, off campus whilst studying at Kent? A huge percentage of our students live in their local community and we need your help to shape the student experience off campus. College and Community Life are running a few community living focus groups to discuss what students living in the city want from support teams, events, volunteering and community building opportunities.
We love being in the heart of Canterbury, a beautiful historical city with a lot to offer its local residents; and we want to know how, we as a university, can help to make your off-campus experience the best it can possibly be.
The focus groups will be held online between Wednesday 3 August and Thursday 11 August 2022, with the Community Life Officer Josh.
We will be talking about:
We will be offering a £10 voucher to all participants for an hour-long online focus group on Microsoft Teams.
If you are interested in signing up, please fill out this online focus group interest form, and we will be in touch!
As temperatures today could hit record numbers, make sure you take precautions and look after yourself during the heatwave.
The following buildings on our campuses have areas of air conditioning:
Canterbury campus
Computer rooms on campus are also generally air conditioned.
Medway campus
Computer rooms on campus are also generally air conditioned.
Locations behind the counter – ask staff who will happily fill your water bottle for you
Open access locations
The NHS provides advice for how to cope during the hot weather and signs of heat related illnesses to watch out more.
“Hi, I’m Grace Ingram. I’m doing an MSc in Conservation Project Management. I’m part of the Postgraduate Network and I work at Oaks Nursery on campus. A fun fact about me is I have a playlist for everything. I love music! I played viola and violin for 11 years. Music is still a big part of my life, even beyond classical compositions, which I mostly just listen to when I’m studying or working on assignments. When I’m angry I listen to rap and when I’m energized I listen to Golden Oldies Motown. There’s a song for every mood!”
” ‘Mixed Roots’ was an informal conversation with individuals coming from multiple and undefined cultural and ethnic backgrounds speaking on their experiences. Panellists from four main backgrounds (diaspora communities, biracial individuals, Third Culture Kids, and adoptees) answered various questions in a relaxed on-stage atmosphere. I organised the event and also spoke on my experiences as a transracial international adoptee.
The event was a ‘fishbowl’ discussion – fishbowls are frequently called the ‘unconference’. Unlike traditional panels that prioritise making the audiences feel comfortable, fishbowls encourage the audience to suspend their own feelings and rationale to listen with the intention of understanding, rather than responding.
This event was made possible due to the generosity of the Graduate and Researcher College’s Postgraduate Community Experience Awards. However, this event was created because of the vast amount of people falling into these plural and undefined identities, but the lack of collective representation for them here on campus and in broader society. ‘Mixed Roots’ presented an opportunity to listen and humanize individuals with conflicting identities and conflicting senses of community— taking the conversation beyond that evening.
Following the event, we collected general feedback from audience members:
Many respondents also expressed an interest in seeing additional collaborations with future mixed roots events with: LGBTQ+ Network/ Society; A specific racial/ethnic society; Women’s Network; Faith Network; International Network; Accessibility Network; Student Support and Wellbeing.
This feedback points us in the right trajectory regarding future ‘Mixed Roots’ events which is very exciting!”
“A piece of advice I would give is that the one of the best ways you can invest in yourself is by investing in community. I think these investments can take place in many forms whether attending listening events like ‘Mixed Roots’, participating in university or community service projects, or getting involved in social justice campaigns. I think even more can be said when we choose to invest in diverse communities— communities different from our own— in regards to race, nationality, gender, sexuality, socio-economic status, etc.”
“I graduated from university this past May and will finish this Conservation Project Management MSc in September. While I’ve enjoyed my studies so far, but I’d like to do some learning beyond the classroom. Community service is a huge passion of mine, so I’m currently looking at taking a gap year or two with a credible humanitarian/service organisation like the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps. Living abroad in the UK has been an enriching experience. I’d love to serve in a different city, state, or country, if possible. I believe that community service will only strengthen my future career in conservation.”