The E-Learning team will be running the second webinar in their new series of Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars on Friday 11 December from 10.00-12.00.

The second session, on ‘Using Electronic Feedback and Assessment to Engage Learners’, will feature six speakers from both inside and outside of the University. They will share their teaching experiences and provide some concrete examples that colleagues could adopt or adapt for their own practice.

If you would like to join the webinar series, please express your interest by enrolling on the Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars Moodle module and we will add you to the Team linked to the webinar series.

‘Resilience in EU and International Institutions’ is the title of a new book co-edited by Elena Korosteleva, Professor of International Politics at Kent, and Trine Flockhart, Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern Denmark.

The book, to be published by Routledge on 30 November, explores the concept and practice of resilience. It proposes a new understanding of resilience, both as a quality and a way of thinking, to argue that a more sustainable way to govern the world today is bottom-up and inside-out.

While carrying a seemingly unifying message of self-reliance, adaptation and survival in the face of adversity, resilience curiously continues to appear ‘all things to all people’, making it hard for the EU and international institutions to make full use of its potential.

Engendering resilience today, in the highly volatile and uncertain world hit by crises, pandemic, and diminishing control, becomes a priority like never before. This book develops a more comprehensive view of resilience by looking at it both as a quality of the system, and a way of thinking inherent to ‘the local’ that cannot be engineered from the outside.

About the editors

Elena Korosteleva is Professor of International Politics and Jean Monnet Chair of European Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at Kent. She is Co-founder and Director of the Global Europe Centre and Principal Investigator for the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) COMPASS project (ES/P010849/1), focusing on resilience and governance in (Eastern) Europe and Central Asia. She has published widely in the journals Contemporary Security Policy, Journal of International Relations and Development, Cooperation and Conflict, Democratization and International Relations.

Trine Flockhart is Professor of International Relations and Co-Director of the Centre for War Studies at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, and Founder and President of Women in International Security–Denmark (WIIS–DK), Copenhagen, Denmark. Her research focuses on international order and transformational change, NATO and transatlantic relations. Her article ‘The Coming Multi-Order World’ published in Contemporary Security Policy (2016) was awarded the Bernard Brodie Prize that same year.

Further information about the new book is available on the Routledge website. You can use the discount code SSM20 to save 20% on purchase.

The University was very sorry to hear of the death of Anne Seller, one of the first members of our academic staff, on Wednesday 11 November.

Anne Seller was appointed to a Lectureship in Philosophy in 1966, and helped to shape the profile of philosophy at Kent. Her speciality was political philosophy.

She was a member of Keynes and played an active part in the life of the college. She also played a central role in setting up the Women’s Studies graduate course at Kent.

Outside the University, Anne Seller also made an enormous contribution. Locally, she taught philosophy for children, working at the Orchard School, and served as Lady Mayoress of Canterbury in 2001-2.

On the national stage, she played a lead role in the Society for Women in Philosophy and took an active part in campaigning against siting Cruise missiles in the UK.

She spent a year teaching at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA, where she continued to be a frequent visitor, and held a visiting appointment at Mother Teresa Women’s University in south India

A fuller tribute to Anne Seller, by Professor Richard Norman, Professor Sean Sayers and former student Professor Miranda Fricker FBA, is available on the Department of Philosophy webpages.

The University’s Warp-it recycling scheme has proved its green credentials. Over the past four years, the scheme has resulted in 134 tonnes of used furniture and other equipment being donated to charities and local schools.

This has led to an estimated saving of £768,919 – based on the cost of recycling these items, and the time and money spent on buying new furniture.

Within the University, we have been able to completely furnish areas such as School of Psychology’s Woodlands Building at a saving of around £40,000. Other areas benefiting from a “Warp-it makeover” have included the School of European and World Languages’ staff room, using a mixture of Warp-it items and reupholstered old seats, and seating in the Rutherford Dining Room.

Furniture and other items have also been donated to local schools such as St Edmund’s, Dane Court Grammar School, Sandwich Technology College, Archbishop’s School, DaVinci Dance School and Animal Care Specialist School, and to charities such as Canterbury Scouts and the Necessary Furniture Group.

Warp-it furniture at Dane Court Grammar School

Warp-it furniture has even reached as far as Sierra Leonne! A previous Vice-Chancellor’s meeting table and chairs is being used in a school there, following a donation to the Kori Women Development Project.

Most commonly reused items have included desks, chairs, coffee tables, filing cabinets, tambour units and whiteboards, but sofas, modular furniture units, magazine racks, a water cooler dispenser and a safe have also featured!

The Warp-it team

The University of Kent Warp-it team comprises Jenny Martine, Interior Services & Signage Manager; Peter Hayes, Interior Services & Signage Administrator; Emma Dimond, Facilities Management Coordinator, Recycling & Waste; and the Estates Support Services Team managed by Calvin Froud, Support Services Supervisor.

Peter Hayes and Jenny Martine

Emma Dimond commented: ‘The team started using Warp-it in 2016 for several reasons; we were seeing how much good quality, pre-used, furniture the team were collecting and recycling and we knew that these items could have a second, third or even fourth home depending on their condition.

‘Over the years, Support Services had informally collected, stored and donated pre-used furniture to departments right across the University and we decided that we needed a more organised approach in order to document the types of items being reused, the cost savings and the improved environmental impact of these actions.’

Emma Dimond

Why Warp-it?

As part of the University of Kent Waste Strategy, the Waste and Recycling team within Estates targets different waste streams and how to sustainably improve the disposal method. In addition to reducing the amount of waste the University produces, there is an agreed target to increase our reuse by 36% in 2020-2021.

Warp-it is one of the ways that we are working towards this target. Changing the disposal method from recycling to reuse allows us to reduce our CO2 emissions, moving up the waste hierarchy (prevention, reuse, recycling, other recovery, responsible disposal).

Emma comments: ‘The Waste and Recycling team are focused on goal 12 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals – these are designed to form a blueprint for a better and more sustainable future for all. With Warp-it on our team, that bright future becomes more achievable every day.’

Find out more

You can find out more about accessing Warp-it for our free on-site service via the Estates webpages. Or you can email the Warp-it team at warpit@kent.ac.uk

More information on recycling and waste disposal on campus is available on our recycling webpages.

Further details of our Sustainable Development Goals and the Sustainability team can be found on our sustainability webpages.

The E-Learning team is launching a new series of Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars on Friday 13 November from 10.00-12.00.

The first session, on ‘Pedagogy and Practice When Teaching Online’, will feature six speakers from across the University. They will share their teaching experiences and provide some concrete examples that colleagues could adopt or adapt for their own practice.

The E-Learning team is aiming to run two webinars each term with a range of exciting speakers.

If you would like to join the webinar series, please express your interest by enrolling on the Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars Moodle module.  You will find links to all sessions on this module page and you will always be kept up to date with the latest talks as soon as they are announced.

The results from the last Athena SWAN submission round have been announced and we are delighted to announce that three new Schools were successful in securing Athena SWAN Bronze.

Congratulations to the School of Anthropology and Conservation, Kent Business School and School of Arts for securing their first Bronze award!

The overall success rate for an award this time round was 82%. You can read more about the Athena SWAN submission and success rate statistics on the Advance HE website.

These results bring the total number of Schools holding an Athena SWAN award to 13. Our current awards holders are:

Division of Arts and Humanities: School of Arts, School of European Culture and Languages, School of History

Division of Natural Sciences: School of Biosciences, Medway School of Pharmacy

Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences: School of Computing, School of Engineering and Digital Arts, School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science (Silver)

Division of Human and Social Sciences: School of Anthropology and Conservation, School of Psychology

Division of Study of Law, Society and Social Justice: Kent Law School, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research

Kent Business School 

Congratulations again to our newest award-holders SAC, KBS and Arts! Securing an award is always a result of hard work and commitment to the Athena SWAN principles.

You can find out more about Athena SWAN, including latest news and how you can get involved on Kent’s Athena SWAN webpages.

The Estates Staff Reward Scheme is open again from 1 November 2020, following a temporary suspension due to Covid-19 and lockdown.

The reward scheme was launched in 2017 to recognise Estates staff who have made a difference to colleagues or customers through dedication, innovation, understanding or skill.  Since then, more than 100 awards have been presented.

Award categories

The Customer Services Award is given to a staff member or team who provided a timely and professional service to customers, were responsive to customer needs and requests, were courteous and considered the needs of the customer when making decisions. Nominations are invited from colleagues across the University.

The Staff Excellence Award is given in recognition of a colleague who has shown consistent exemplary performance and has demonstrated integrity and a significant support to their teams in the course of their working day, whilst upholding the spirit of the Estates core values. This category is open to nominations from Estates colleagues only.

The winner/s in each category will each receive a £20 Amazon voucher to be awarded on a monthly basis.

In addition, the winner/s of each category will be entered into the Staff Member of the Year Award. This award will be presented to someone recognised by the Senior Management Team as providing outstanding commitment to the department. Nominees will be selected from the Customer Services Award and the Customer Excellence Award entries. The winner will receive a £100 Amazon voucher and the runner-up, a £50 Amazon voucher.

Nominations

To make a nomination, follow this link on the Estates webpages. Deadline for the November nominations will be Friday 27 November at midday. Any nominations received after the deadline will be rolled over to the following month.

A third public hearing for the Airspace Tribunal – an international forum to consider the case for and against a new human right to protect the freedom to live without physical or psychological threat from above – will be hosted online, from Toronto, next month.

The Airspace Tribunal is a public forum established two years ago by Kent School of Arts  Reader Shona Illingworth and Kent Law School Emeritus Professor Nick Grief.

The public tribunal is examining the impact of accelerating geopolitical, technological and environmental change on the composition, nature and use of airspace, and considering the case for and against a proposed new human right to protect all people from physical or psychological threats from above.

This year’s hearing in Toronto will take place over three two-hour panel discussions via Zoom on:
•       Sunday 1 November (14.00 –16.00) https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bAjf_rYARQa9iJhYgsMmLA
•       Wednesday 4 November (14.00 –16.00) https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2N9Ha14_TuacEUKSWWVITA
•       Saturday 7 November (14.00 –16.00) https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UGG35bQFTiGb2pNQbr-3tA
•       A final one-hour summative session will be held on Saturday 14 November (14.00 –15.00). https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqfuqorTwrG9H-6TDKDEtujPAmasBf6YZJ

All the webinars are free, with times indicated in Eastern Standard Time.
The first webinar will feature presentations by Shona and Nick, together with Kent Law School Reader in International Commercial Law Dr Gbenga Oduntan.

The Toronto hearing of the Airspace Tribunal is co-presented by The Power Plant and the Master of Visual Studies program at the Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto.

The Power Plant’s Director, Gaëtane Verna, will Chair each session and Counsel to the Tribunal, Kirsty Brimelow QC of Doughty Street Chambers will pose questions to the Experts. Members of the audience – acting as judges – will also be able to ask questions.

A full programme is available on The Power Plant website.

It was a bumper round of PRIDE Award winners last month with three staff members winning the award.

Congratulations are due to Angela Forsyth (Accommodation Co-ordinator), Keira Hannigan (Chargehand) and Jason Townsend (IT Systems, Development and Support Officer). PRIDE stands for ‘Personal Responsibility In Delivering Excellence’ and the panel felt that the hard work and dedication of all three exemplified this and could not be ignored, especially where multiple nominations were received for different projects each was working on.

While recognising how hard the entire Accommodation Team have worked throughout the Clearing and Arrivals period, Angela’s nomination singled her out for her ‘tireless’ work and “unflagging efforts” on the Clearing hotline call centre, both in training the team and responding to student calls. Additionally, Angela contributed and helped to implement a new procedure for processing student data in the Accommodation Office that “increases efficiency, is time saving and improves customer service”

Keira’s award recognised her “dedication, consistency, proactiveness, and her willingness to support and assist the Housekeeping Team in their work”. Her nomination focused on a recent three-month period where Keira stepped up to help run and manage one of the college Housekeeping Teams above and beyond her role. Keira has also taken on extra tasks and hours throughout the Covid-19 pandemic so far and has also helped to support new staff starters and has consistently shown why she is a “valued member of the Chargehand team”.

The final winner was a familiar face; however, the panel felt that Jason’s outstanding work producing 14 fully operational tracking devices from scratch for Kent Hospitality’s catering outlets deserved recognition. Jason designed a bespoke computer prototype, tested it, sourced parts and manufactured the final trackers often giving up his own time to ensure the trackers were ready as soon as possible. An extract from his nomination read that his “innovation, devotion and selfless voluntary service” on this project “has made the jobs of the Catering Team easier and safer”.

Many congratulations to Angela, Keira and Jason on their well-deserved wins.

We are sure that there are lots of our staff going above and beyond, so if you know of any Kent Hospitality staff member from either the Canterbury or Medway campus, it is quick and easy to nominate them for a PRIDE Award. To submit a nomination, just visit the PRIDE website and complete our online form.

The award is given in March, June, September/October and December with each winner receiving £100 of shopping vouchers, a certificate and a PRIDE pin badge.

The closing date for the next PRIDE Award is currently Wednesday 2 December 2020 at 12 noon.

Picture shows; Angela, Keira and Jason with their certificates.