From Georgina Randsley de Moura | Professor of Social & Organisational Psychology
Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic Strategy, Planning, and Performance

I am delighted that this report is now available in full and would like to thank, both personally and on behalf of Kent, the authors for their exceptional work on this. This report would not have been possible without significant investment of time and emotional labour by the BAME staff network chairs, and the many survey respondents and I thank all of you who have played a part in this.

Understanding the lived experience of our colleagues and students is key to ensuring the continual change needed to address the structural marginalisation they encounter on a daily basis. I encourage all members of our community to read this report and reflect on the changes that can be made within each of our areas of influence to create a more inclusive culture at Kent.

Alongside the aims and recommendations of this report, our antiracism strategy and Race Equality Charter work, we will work together to challenge accepted thinking and ways of working and to bring change across Kent.

The BAME staff network all staff survey research sought to understand the culture of the University of Kent, in order to advance race equality and improve career progression and staff development. A key priority for the network was to launch an all-staff survey to learn about the experiences and views regarding the university’s EDI practices and policies. The survey was designed and launched by the Co-Chairs in 2020-21 and was entitled ‘BAME Staff Network All Staff Survey 2020’. This report documents the findings from the survey and the report can be found here.

What is Worktribe?

Worktribe, the leading platform for higher education research management, is a Cloud-based platform that enables the effective and efficient management of research and innovation (R&I) grant applications and award data.

Why?

Research and Innovation Services (RIS) and the academic Divisions jointly recognised the urgent need for a more efficient and effective research and innovation grant application management system to support researchers and research managers across the University. Investment in the Worktribe Pre-award and Reporting modules will provide a more transparent, robust, and efficient way of processing grant applications and awards, supporting Divisions to achieve their research and innovation income targets. Worktribe offers depth of functionality with an intuitive, user-friendly interface. Its modular nature means that it can be incrementally expanded to support other R&I activities and workflows in due course.

Benefits

The key message is that Worktribe will provide a unified platform to enable researchers and research administrators to collaborate on the development, costing and approval of research and innovation projects. It will thus help to:

• Increase efficiency and transparency of information.
• Allow more time to be devoted to research and innovation activity.
• Enable Divisions to track and report on research and innovation data more effectively.

Specific benefits for academics will include:

• Greater control and visibility of their projects.
• Easily accessible information on how many applications they have been working on and how many projects have secured funding.

Professor Shane Weller, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, who approved the purchase of Worktribe for Kent on 2 September 2021, says: “I am absolutely delighted that we have been able to secure Worktribe for the University of Kent, since it will enable our researchers and research administrators and managers to benefit from an industry-leading tool to support research and innovation funding applications. Worktribe will play a major role in enabling us to support the world-class research being undertaken by our staff across the institution. The implementation of Worktribe is proceeding very well, and we are now progressing to the early adopter stage.”

Early adopters

We are delighted to be working with the Division of Natural Sciences (NATS) as early adopters of the Worktribe system. Academics and professional services staff within this Division will have the opportunity to benefit from the system from 1^st May 2022.

Timeline

Our University of Kent Academies Trust school Chatham Grammar is offering free places on its online Medway Test tuition programme over the Easter holidays for children of Kent staff.

If you would like your child to attend our FREE Medway Test (11+) online tuition, please register via the Chatham Grammar website.

On Wednesday 16 March, Information Services department celebrated the great achievements made by its staff at their annual staff awards ceremony in the Darwin Conference Centre.

All colleagues were recognised for their valuable contribution and support to the work of both the department and the wider University over the last year. Outstanding efforts were rewarded with a certificate and gift, followed by a buffet lunch.

The photo shows some of the award winners with their certificates together with John Sotillo, Director of Information Services (right).

The show is running at the Gulbenkian from Tue 29 Mar – Sun 3 Apr and is part electrifying gig, part thrilling theatre; a powerful and poetic show that pushes the power of the human voice to its expressive, musical, and rhythmic limits. Featuring a talented young cast from Battersea Arts Centre Beatbox Academy and their take-on the classic Frankenstein, using the telling of that story to also cleverly draw-out parallels and issues of relevance to young people now – identity, bullying, social media – all done through a breath-taking blend of theatre, song and beatboxing.

We are also offering FREE student tickets to the opening night of Frankenstein as well as discounted tickets for University Staff throughout the whole run. Don’t miss out, book online now.

Get your tickets here: https://thegulbenkian.co.uk/events/frankenstein-how-to-make-a-monster/

“Mind Blowing … the space throbs with unimaginably complex harmonies and beats” ★★★★★ – The Guardian

“Tremendous”  ★★★★★ – The Observer

At Kent we are committed to providing a healthy and fulfilling working environment and improving the working lives of all of our staff.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) describe wellbeing as:

“‘more than an avoidance of becoming physically sick. It represents a broader bio-physical construct that included physical, mental and social health. Well employees are physically and mentally able, willing to contribute in the workplace and likely to be more engaged at work’

We therefore believe it’s important to support the health and wellbeing of our staff and prevent work associated ill health, both for the overall benefit to staff, as well as the University as a whole. We’ve therefore created this toolkit, which aims to support the wellbeing of staff by providing information on the wide range of resources available at Kent.

Wellbeing encompasses physical, mental and social health, and recognises that employees’ values, personal development and work environment all contribute to overall wellbeing at work. For that reason, this toolkit has been developed using the CIPD’s seven recognised domains of wellbeing.

• Health
• Good work
• Values/principles
• Collective/social
• Personal growth
• Lifestyle
• Finance

There is no one size fits all approach to wellbeing. Throughout the toolkit you’ll find information, advice and guidance on each of the seven domains. This toolkit details the different elements of workplace initiatives and activities that are available to support the health and wellbeing of our staff under each domain.

From Martin Carvey | Project Manager

Throughout the opening months of 2022, the KentVision project team has continued to work through prioritisation and management of ongoing helpdesk tickets to clear the path for the major changes that we know are still required for the system to be fully operational. A lot of this work takes place ‘behind the scenes’, ensuring we have the right approach to collaboration across areas and adjusting to a more iterative delivery model with appropriate testing time.

This means that benefits aren’t realised as quickly as many across both the project and wider University would like – my thanks again to all system users and our key stakeholders in particular for their continued engagement with this as I know the impact of the system’s current state remains a real challenge across a number of areas. However, the work in recent weeks is critical to us being able to start delivering regular improvements in a managed way without furthering risk to our regular work.

Roadmap for deliverables

Consultations continue across the University, with an updated roadmap tracking seven deliverables that are currently scheduled, with the balance being assessed against what can be realistically delivered. Priority areas at high level factor in Change of Circumstances, Board of Examiners and Data Quality/Statutory Data, with user stories are being created in each area to ensure we have thought through what the impact of each change will be, and ensure that the appropriate solution can be delivered in each case. A delivery plan for the new training environment has also been established, with both shared with key stakeholders shortly.

Continued engagement

Benefitting from the insight and experience of those in key teams across the University remains central to delivering a product that works as it needs to. In recent weeks we have allocated additional resource to make sure more real time data and reports can be provided, with clarity on progress and risks on key deliverables throughout.

Next steps

With these project improvements in place, our aim remains that people begin feeling the benefit of improvements across the system from this Spring onwards. Using an Agile delivery model, our initial priorities have been agreed with KV Project Board, and KV Operational Group members, ensuring that we have fully tested and delivered changes required ahead of the upcoming exam term and other committed timelines.

This remains a challenging project and I am especially grateful to all of those who are feeding in their on-the-ground experience of how the system currently works, including what they need it to do in future – this is invaluable to the project, and I know it is not easy when people are also impacted by the issues with its current form. By my next update, I am confident that the detailed work in recent weeks will begin to bear real fruit, with improvements across areas that make a real difference to how we work across these initial priority focus areas.

From Richard Reece| Deputy Vice-Chancellor | Education and Student Experience

After a very challenging two years, we are finally able to look ahead and return to relatively normal operations at our University. Whilst the pandemic has been incredibly difficult for our whole community, I believe it has encouraged us all to be more reflective about what we do here. Now more than ever, the student voice must be at the heart of our institution – by truly listening to our students’ needs, wants and expectations, we can ensure they have a fantastic experience while at the University. 

The pandemic led to many changes across our University, with staff responding admirably to the ever-changing government guidelines and expectations. I would like to thank you all for your dedication during this time and all you continue to do for our students. As we return to ‘normality’, it is important that we do not dismiss all the changes we have made. Some of our new ways of working have improved the experience of our students, such as our implementation of online exams which helped to alleviate pressure on students at such a difficult time. As we make our plans for the future, it is imperative that we continue to listen to, and champion, our students’ voices so we might adapt our offer to suit their needs.  

Listening to what our students care about is so important to the relationship we hold with them. We have seen some great examples of how our students’ voices have helped shape change on our campus, such as our return to face-to-face teaching and the work some of our Student Reps have been doing concerning Consent. As we look ahead to the future at Kent, a culture of listening must be central to our ethos. It is important we continue to promote the NSS, as a valuable tool for our students to share their voices with us.

Our new ‘always on’ Your Uni, Your Say campaign brings together different ways for students to give feedback, making it easier for all students to tell us how they feel. We will shortly be asking students for their feedback on the shape of our academic year at Kent. This follows the consultation with staff that began in 2016/17 looking at how we might change the academic calendar to improve the experience at Kent. By working in partnership to reshape the academic year in the future, I hope we might reduce pressure felt by students and staff as well as improve student performance. We also might help to address issues of student experience in relation to assessment and feedback as well as the complexity of managing students with Individual Learning Plans. I am looking forward to understanding staff feedback on the proposals and will be running a series of online sessions so I can hear your views. Please look out for further information on this in due course.  

I am excited to see our future plans coming together and the hard work taking place across the University so we might deliver an even better experience for our students. Kent prides itself on providing an excellent academic environment and by working collaboratively we can ensure we inspire our students to be the very best they can be, now and in the future. 

Thank you for your dedication and continued support. 

Richard Reece

A Bake and Book sale is being held at the Colyer Fergusson on the Canterbury campus on Tuesday 15 March 12:00-15:00 in aid of the British Red Cross Emergency Appeal for Ukrainian refugees.

Any donations of books and baked goods would be gratefully received. Please take these donations to Lucie Maslin in the Rutherford Extension entrance on Monday 14 March by 5pm, or before 11am on Tuesday 15 March.

All proceeds will go to the British Red Cross DEC Ukraine Appeal.

From Gemma Blackman | Centre for the Study of Higher Education

Universities have a responsibility to serve their societies and communities through access to education, resources, expertise, and consultancy.  Yet within a hypercompetitive global higher education sector that champions internationalisation, local needs can be neglected or deprioritised. This series of seminars from the Centre for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE) showcases a range of projects exploring higher education institutions’ civic responsibilities towards their wider societies and communities.

Becoming a University of Sanctuary: Lessons from the University of South Wales
9th March 2022 – 15:00-17:00 GMT
Venue: Online – Microsoft Teams

Sign up via Eventbrite.

The University of Sanctuary movement is a national network of university staff, lecturers, academics and students working to make Higher Education institutions places of safety, solidarity and empowerment for people seeking sanctuary. University of Sanctuary status is awarded to institutions that can demonstrate their commitment to creating a culture of welcome for people seeking sanctuary within, and beyond, their campuses.  In this seminar, Dr Cath Camps will reflect on the University of South Wales’ journey towards University of Sanctuary status, and outline number of associated ventures and initiatives at USW that are helping people displaced by war or persecution.  Attendees are invited to join in discussions concerning the University of Kent’s own application for University of Sanctuary status, planned for 2023.

With Dr Cath Camps, Deputy Director of the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching at University of South Wales.

For more details, see here.

Please note: this seminar is only open to University of Kent staff and students.

Reimagining Women Leadership Through Inclusive Community Engagement: Higher Education Resource Services – East Africa (HERS-EA)
23rd March 2022 – 13:00-14:00 GMT
Venue: Online – Microsoft Teams

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Higher Education Resource Services -East Africa (HERS-EA) is a women-centred leadership program for women in 7 African countries: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania. In this seminar, the founders will outline how low-resource, engaged scholarship has mobilised researchers in Higher Education to engage with women-specific issues in the community and produce publishable manuscripts, for the benefit of researchers, communities, and policy makers.

With Naomi Lumutenga, mobiliser, activist and public speaker; and Prof. Margaret Khaitsa, Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Mississippi State University, USA.

For more details, see here.

Problematizing dominant research commitments in Northern Ireland: Underserved local minority ethnic and migrant peoples
11th May 2022 – 13:00-14:00 BST
Venue: Online – Microsoft Teams

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In this research seminar, two academic citizens in Northern Ireland will share and reflect on their recent work with a newly formed think tank, the Migrant and Minority Ethnic Council (MME) and problematize the dominant research commitment of Northern Ireland research-intensive universities which underserve local minority ethnic and migrant peoples. They will share stories and insights from their different perspectives, professional positions, social locations and realms of influence. Their praxes are underpinned by a concern for how universities serve the local good, and the aim of raise consciousness about the (re)productions of inequality, marginalisation, and methodological nationalism and whiteness by UK universities.

With Dr Dina Zoe Belluigi, Senior Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast; and Dr Maurice Macartney, Public Affairs and Campaigns Office at Queen’s University Belfast.

For more details, see here.