Author Archives: Natalia Crisanti

Sustainable Events at Kent: A collaborative workshop on 26 January

Ever wondered how events and meetings could be made more sustainable? Whether your job involves planning small meetings or large-scale events, or you’re simply interested in the topic and have ideas from an attendee’s perspective – come along to learn, ask questions and help to think through how we can drive the sustainability agenda at Kent forward together.

University of Kent Sustainability Team and staff Sustainability Champions welcome you to come and share your ideas and good practice about how to improve sustainability across all aspects of event planning.

Key staff from services across the University will be there to take part in this dialogue – from catering, design and print, communications and branding to answer your questions. We’ll be launching our new online sustainable events guide – a handbook to help you plan and deliver sustainable events with confidence.

Staff from the Gulbenkian will also share their sustainability ambitions for the Boing festival and how you can be part of that work to shape the future of a large community event on campus.

Book now on Eventbrite to find out more about sustainability at Kent, discover sustainability actions you can take in your work when planning meetings and events, and meet like-minded colleagues across the University.

The last part of the workshop will involve food and drink tasters showcasing our local suppliers and sustainable catering options in the cafe area of the Gulbenkian. This will give us an opportunity to talk about how venues like the Gulbenkian can support sustainable events and give us more time to chat informally.

If you have any questions about the event including accessibility requirements, please email sustainability@kent.ac.uk as soon as possible so we can seek to accommodate these as well as we can. You can also view accessibility information about the venue.

Accessibility considerations:

The workshop will take place in the Gulbenkian theatre which is on the ground floor and has step free access with automated doors. Accessible and gender neutral toilets are available nearby, as well as baby changing facilities, and everyone is welcome to come and go from the session as they need to for their comfort.

If you have any questions about the event including accessibility requirements, please email sustainability@kent.ac.uk as soon as possible so we can seek to accommodate these as well as we can.

Our ambitions for a sustainable University, and how you can get involved

If you’ve returned after the winter holidays thinking about what changes you might make in your life this year, you’re not alone. The start of the year is a great time to take stock and start thinking about ways you might change your behaviour to reduce the pressure on the planet.

What does sustainability mean?

To sustain means to ‘support’, ‘hold’ or ‘keep up’, and when we talk about sustainability, people often firstly think about environmental sustainability – that is protecting the planet, halting climate change and promoting social development. This means thinking creatively about how we might cover our present needs without compromising resources for future generations. This is also intertwined with concepts of social and economic sustainability, making sure that our progress as a society can be maintained without leaving anyone behind.

What are we doing at Kent to meet sustainability goals?

The University are signatories of the Sustainable Development Goals Education Accord. That means we are committed to embedding the 17 biggest global challenges of our time into everything we do; our operations, teaching and research.

Our ambition is that by 2025, even before visiting us, people will be aware that the university is a key actor in addressing the climate and ecological emergency and is demonstrating dramatic reductions in CO2 emissions. Through our campuses and online presence, our staff, students and the local community will experience the obvious actions and activities that show how seriously the University of Kent takes climate action and social and environmental responsibility. Every building on our campuses will show signs of having moved to more sustainable power. Our transport systems will be much less fossil-fuel based, and our shops, cafes and restaurants will focus on more sustainable produce. Our green spaces will demonstrate our connection to the natural environment, making spaces for people to enjoy that protect, enhance and allow biodiversity to flourish. More than all this, our education will be steeped in a culture of continuous improvement to ensure that all our students in all subjects are learning the skills and knowledge needed for a sustainable future. You can read about all of our targets in the University’s Sustainability Strategy.

How can you get involved?

Keep up to date with sustainability activities and events by following unikent.sustainability on Instagram, or search #UniKentSustainability
Join one of Kent’s amazing student led societies centred around environmental and/or social sustainability
Take part in Kent’s Environmentally Friendly Careers Week from 23 January to 27 January 2023
Want to be involved in sustainability activity in your School/Division? Find out who your local staff Sustainability Champion is and get in touch with them

Orchard Planting

This term we will be planting an orchard of over 300 fruit and nut trees on the edge of the Canterbury campus. What will be known as the diamond anniversary orchard has been planned ahead of the University’s 60th birthday in 2025 and the space has been designed by the future class of 2025, our undergraduates who started a 3-year degree this year.

The site on the Southern Slopes of the campus 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 will boost biodiversity in the area.

As the space matures it will become a mosaic of trees, grasses, shrubs and wild flowers supporting 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 and the rare noble chafer beetle. Orchard meadows with swathes cut through for paths provide a peaceful space to walk through and enjoy and with the increase bird life in the area the birdsong in this area will begin to match that heard in Bluebell wood. You can get involved with the planting and find out more about activities planned in the space on our anniversary orchard webpage.

We also have plans for the Medway campus bringing high pollen value plants for bees and butterflies to the communal seating area at Rochester Lawn, building upon the new seating and shaded area there. We will also be planting up large pots around the Medway building to improve access to nature at an urban campus and seeded a new wildflower meadow to bring nature in!

Veganuary

Doing or trying the plant-based thing? The Templeman library are supporting this month with a themed reading list that includes books and films on veganism, and sustainable living but also on the cost of living and how to manage money., check out the library blogpost on veganuary for more information.

Want to share your sustainability tips/ wins/ challenges? Find unikent.sustainability on Instagram, #UniKentSustainability.

Written by Natalia Crisanti, Catherine Morris and Emily Mason, staff 10.01.23

Disability History Month – how we marked it at Kent in 2022

To decide how to celebrate and mark Disability History Month this year, members of Kent Union, staff and students from a variety of divisions, networks, and groups across the Medway and Canterbury campuses met frequently throughout the term to plan and collaborate. Sharing ideas and looking at how far we have come has been part of the process in continuing to think of new and inspiring ways not only to celebrate Disability History Month, but also to identify areas where there work is still needed to continue to grow and develop new inclusive ways to remove barriers.

Event highlights

Exhibition and film screening

Student Engagement and Communications Officer Natalia Crisanti and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Strategy, Planning, and Performance) Professor Georgina Randsley de Moura, introduced the screening of a number of short videos called ‘Our Stories’ (BSL interpreted) with students and staff, current and past, talking about their experiences of disability. The films emphasise considering and anticipating the seen and unseen needs of all, with people listening to one another carefully and understanding that each person is the authority on their own best conditions for thriving. With such a wealth of inspirational people at Kent it has been a great opportunity to take time to focus and reflect on our community and what disability means to us as a University. Janice Markey, Kent’s Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion notes that “the exhibition and screening [which took place on 6 December] are an inspiring impetus for us in our work to create an environment at Kent which is welcoming and inclusive for all”. For more on the screening and exhibition opening, read the blogpost summarising this event. You can also watch a 7 minute video version of the timeline (narrated, with closed captions), or read a slightly abridged version on Kent’s Disability History Month webpage.

Chloe Timms author talk
Former student Chloe Timms returned to Kent to give a talk on her debut novel ‘The Seawomen’ (2022). Chloe discussed about how she became a published author alongside the challenges of being a disabled writer. To find out more about her professional journey, visit Chloe Timms’ blog.

Chloe Timms with her book. Woman seated in wheelchair, with blonde hair and pink jacked. Book titled 'The Seawoman' on the table in front of her.

Research and career opportunities

Also this month was an opportunity for one of our PhD students to showcase her research with a Virtual Reality Wheelchair Driving Experience, and the Careers and Employability Service hosted a number of online groups for students, including workshops on how to ask for adjustments in the workplace, and sessions on the Change 100 internship scheme, which offers paid summer work placements for students with disabilities.

Finger casting workshop

On the topic of health and wellbeing, a finger casting workshop was held where participants could let their artistic sides show through creating their own finger sculpture and foil embossed artwork. The idea was to encourage awareness and connection with the body through creativity.

Group of students seated at a table with craft activities.

Millie Knight – sports champion talk

Kent Union’s focus was on creating opportunities for students to come together and learn from each other. Their events included plant pot painting and a talk from former student, and four-time Paralympic skiing medallist and Karate world champion, Millie Knight. Thomas Freeston, Vice President of Welfare and Community was Kent Union’s lead on DHM, and reflected on the month as an “opportunity to celebrate the achievements of people living with a disability and also raise awareness”.

Group of people standing in front of a banner, holding medals.

What’s next? Let’s shape tomorrow together…

Of course, opportunities for discussion and progress are not limited to Disability History Month. You can get involved in many different ways throughout the year. Perhaps through the Staff Disability Network and Student Accessibility Network. Please contact EqualityAndDiversity@kent.ac.uk if you would like to share any ideas or feedback about this year’s disability history month or disability provision in general.

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Did you know that Student Support and Wellbeing (SSW) advisers can help students set up the support they need at any time during their studies? Check out this guide on Seeking Support from SSW for more information.

Follow #DHMKent22 and #InclusiveKent on social media for the latest, and if you would like to contribute your experience and perspective to conversations, podcasts or articles on this theme, please email StudentServicesWeb@kent.ac.uk.

Written by Maddy Kendall, Joshua Stevens and Natalia Crisanti, Student Services, 13.12.22

Disability History Month – how we marked it at Kent in 2022

Event highlights

Exhibition and film screening

Student Engagement and Communications Officer Natalia Crisanti and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Strategy, Planning, and Performance) Professor Georgina Randsley de Moura, introduced the screening of a number of short videos called ‘Our Stories’ (BSL interpreted) with students and staff, current and past, talking about their experiences of disability. The films emphasise considering and anticipating the seen and unseen needs of all, with people listening to one another carefully and understanding that each person is the authority on their own best conditions for thriving. With such a wealth of inspirational people at Kent it has been a great opportunity to take time to focus and reflect on our community and what disability means to us as a University. Janice Markey, Kent’s Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion notes that “the exhibition and screening [which took place on 6 December] are an inspiring impetus for us in our work to create an environment at Kent which is welcoming and inclusive for all”. For more on the screening and exhibition opening, read the blogpost summarising this event. You can also watch a video version of the timeline (narrated, with closed captions), or read a slightly abridged version on Kent’s Disability History Month webpage.

Research and career opportunities

Finger casting workshop

On the topic of health and wellbeing, a finger casting workshop was held whereby participants could let their artistic sides show through creating their own finger sculpture and foil embossed artwork. The idea was to encourage awareness and connection with the body through creativity.

Millie Knight – sports champion talk

What’s next? Let’s shape tomorrow together…

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Written by Maddy Kendall, Joshua Stevens and Natalia Crisanti, Student Services, 13.12.22

Our Stories: Disability History Month exhibition and films

It was wonderful to welcome students, staff and members of the local community to an exhibition and film screening event on Tuesday 6th December in the Marlowe building on Canterbury campus.

Our Stories: Exhibition

Disability History Month is about amplifying the voices of disabled people, looking back at how things have changed over time, and being realistic and open about how much more progress we’ve yet to make as an institution and as a society.  As part of Kent’s Disability History Month celebrations, university staff from various departments worked together to research, create and display a 16 panel timeline depicting shifting attitudes and improved provision and communication about disability throughout Kent’s history to date.

Eve Wilson, former staff member, standing under the panel where she is pictured as one of the first disability advisers to work at the University of Kent in the 1970s.

People seated and standing looking at the hanging panels in the timeline.

People talking and looking at books and written materials displayed in the exhibition.

Our Stories: Films

After a reception in the Marlowe foyer, guests were invited into the lecture theatre to watch a screening of a series of short films made for this year’s Disability History Month at Kent called ‘Our Stories’ which is now available on YouTube. The 8 short films (27 minutes in total) are captioned and include British Sign Language, and feature students, former students and staff talking about their lived experiences of disability and what they wish others understood about living with seen and unseen disabilities to help everyone be more inclusive. The exhibition also features quotes from the film participants, many of whom were present to see their contributions to this project on the big screen with friends, family and colleagues.

The exhibition is up in the Marlowe building foyer until 16 December and everyone is welcome to go in and take a look at the timeline panels, as well as reading materials and a sculpture on display. Every item in the exhibition is audio described so can be accessed online via SoundCloud, and via QR codes on each item displayed in the physical exhibition. If you missed the event or would like to revisit the information, you can watch a video version of the timeline (narrated, with closed captions), or read a slightly abridged version on Kent’s Disability History Month webpage.

When discussing accessibility and provision at Kent there is a lot to be proud of, and yet we know there a lot that remains to fix, improve, change and grow. As stated by Deputy Vice Chancellor Georgina Ransley de Moura who was introducing the films at the screening event: ‘We know that needs and desires change over time as does the research, knowledge and technology which move on to facilitate that change. In our work at Kent, we recognise the importance of both the large scale strategic actions and the power of thousands of community members making small incremental changes in attitudes, behaviour and actions.’

We hope that the work that continues throughout Disability History Month and beyond continues to increase knowledge and inspire further improvement. The conversations we participated in and witnessed at this event showed there is a real appetite for a revolution of honesty and openness about who we are and how our bodies and brains work – where people can bring their whole selves to their workplace and their studies, where we can speak frankly about our physical and psychological needs, boldly claiming what we need to thrive and be well, and relate to one another positively.

If you have any feedback, or want to share your views or your experiences to help us shape that future at Kent, please do contact us at EqualityAndDiversity@kent.ac.uk.

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Written by Natalia Crisanti, Student Services, 07.12.22