The School of Engineering and Digital Arts is delighted to announce the undertaking of a £3 million redevelopment and modernisation of engineering and design facilities, due for completion in July 2020.

This includes an engineering workshop and fabrication facilities, a dedicated makerspace for innovation, collaboration and the development of practical skills, a virtual reality suite, production studio (including photography, video and green screen facilities) and a large teaching and design studio.

These changes will deliver modern and advanced teaching and research facilities supporting all Engineering, Design and Digital Arts subjects.

Professor Farzin Deravi, Head of School, commented ‘Our new facilities will provide a creative environment, encouraging critical thinking and the development of practical skills, essential to a future career in Engineering and Design in the twenty-first century‘.

Stats Desk, the University’s statistical consultancy service, is the longest-running help service on campus. It began on 1 April 1994 as a three month trial!

Run by the SMSAS Statistics group, the service is free of charge and is supported by the Unit for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (UELT).

The core users of the service are postgraduate students undertaking research projects and who need some “quants” advice. Stats Desk can also assist academic colleagues, and the supervisors of research students are welcome to come along to appointments.

Undergraduate students wanting help with coursework should instead use the Maths and Stats clinic run by SLAS.

Find out more about the statistics consultancy service

Planned Future are returning this academic year to facilitate further pre-retirement and mid-career sessions for all staff who want to plan ahead.

Pre-retirement workshops

The suggestion for the pre-retirement session is for staff who are aged 50+, but all staff are welcome.

We have three pre-retirement sessions available. One full day workshop and two bite size sessions.

The objectives of the full day workshop are:

• How to approach retirement and the change in lifestyle that it will bring
• Have a better knowledge of managing the financial side of retirement
• Have had the opportunity to network with colleagues who are also looking ahead

We have one full day session on Tuesday 19 May 2020.

The bite size sessions only cover the financial side.

The bite size sessions are on Monday 20 January 2020, at the Medway campus, and Tuesday 7 July, at Canterbury. As always, all staff are welcome to attend at either site.

Mid-career workshops

We have one bookable mid-career session on Tuesday 19 May.

The objectives of the mid-career session are:

• Learn how to manage your finances
• Understand how to protect your family financially
• Consider the options for saving and investment
• Learn how to top-up your pension
• Identify the personal and financial actions which will make the most of your finances
• Start the process of planning towards a successful retirement.

Please book your place for any of the workshops, through Staff Connect.

Colleagues are invited to attend the Learning and Teaching Network session titled ‘Intelligibility support for international staff’ on Wednesday 30 October, 13.15-14.30 in Cornwallis North West Seminar Room 6.

Presented by Rebecca Coleman, this workshop looks at intelligibility support for international staff and support staff at the University of Kent. 

We aim to highlight the importance of these staff members being clearly understood and present common issues that they may face. There will be the opportunity to discuss intelligibly issues that you have encountered and individually and in groups look at ways of improving them.

Further support offered by the Centre of English and World Languages (CEWL) in this domain will be mentioned at the end of the session.

Complete the online booking form to confirm your attendance.

New Modern Languages module SCL505 ‘Cultures of Sustainability’ has been inaugurated with an extra-curricular discussion about permaculture and the planting of an apple tree.

To mark the new module, permaculture expert Jo Barker held an informal discussion in the Kent Community Oasis Garden about the principles of permaculture, and the planting of a Red Falstaff heritage apple tree.

This was followed by a foraging walk, identifying the variety of hedgerow plants and ‘weeds’ that are edible and nutritious.

School Sustainability Champion and Module Convenor, William Rowlandson, who organised the session, commented: ‘It is important that we consider the scope of teaching beyond the confines of the seminar room and lecture theatre. Whilst this was an optional session and therefore not attended by all the group, it was a successful event, introducing the notion of the campus as a Living Lab and exploring the principles of permaculture and sustainability from the perspective of the Humanities. We hope to hold more similar events later in the semester and in subsequent years.’