Author Archives: Wendy Raeside

Kent Sport student and staff membership sale

This Valentine’s, we want you to treat yourself. That’s why we’re offering students and staff an exclusive 20% off sale where you could save up to £59. So if you’re not already a member of Kent Sport, this is a great opportunity to join us.

You can even purchase for that special someone; you simply need their student or staff ID number, found on their Kent One card. The 20% membership discount is available from Monday 10 to Sunday 16 February inclusive. You can view the benefits of membership on the Kent Sport webpages.

Students – prices and how to join:

-Premium Plus £141.60 (was £177)
-Premium £112 (was £140)
-Plus £103.20 (was £129)

Memberships are valid until 31 August 2020. Purchase membership online or at the Sports Centre and The Pavilion receptions.

Staff – prices and how to join:

-Premium Plus £236.80 (was £296)
-Premium £204 (was £255)
-Plus £168 (was £210)

Memberships are valid for one year from purchase date. Purchase at the Sports Centre and The Pavilion receptions. Discount not available on monthly payroll memberships.

If you have any questions about membership at Kent Sport, please email memberships@kent.ac.uk

To stay up-to-date with the latest Kent Sport news, activities and special offers, Like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter @UniKentSports.

Politics in Wonderland – Templeman exhibition

‘Politics in Wonderland: Sir John Tenniel at 200’ is the theme of a new exhibition in the Templeman Gallery space.

The exhibition, curated by Jo Baines and Tom Kennett from Special Collections & Archives, will run until 20 March. Its launch marks the bicentenary of the birth of illustrator and political cartoonist Sir John Tenniel (1820–1914).

For almost 40 years, Tenniel was the chief political cartoonist for Punch magazine, a Victorian publishing institution, producing classics of the genre such as ‘Dropping the Pilot’. Today, however, Tenniel is chiefly remembered for the illustrations he provided for Lewis Carroll’s ever popular and strange tales Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871).

This exhibition celebrates Tenniel’s contribution to political cartooning in his own work for Punch and in the enduring influence his Alice illustrations have had on subsequent generations of political cartoonists. The exhibition features original cartoon artworks, cuttings and publications from the British Cartoon Archive by cartoonists including Nicholas Garland, Vicky, Strube and E H Shepard.

The exhibition accompanies a production of Alice in Wonderland: A Musical Dream Play, to be performed on Friday 21 February by the University Music department.

First performed in 1886, written by Henry Savile Clarke and with music by Walter Slaughter, the ‘dream play’ was overseen and authorised by Carroll himself, and was the only adaptation to be made with his approval. The production features some of Tenniel’s illustrations projected onto the stage, evoking the original atmosphere of the novel brought so vividly to life by Tenniel’s quirky, characterful images. Tickets are available on the Gulbenkian website.

Award of Honorary Degrees from 2020 onwards

The next meeting of the University’s Honorary Degrees Committee will take place on 4 March 2020 and we are looking for suggestions/nominations for the award of honorary degrees for the consideration of the Committee.

Suggestions should be returned by the deadline of Wednesday 19 February 2020, either by email to J.L.Pearsall@kent.ac.uk or by post to Jo Pearsall, Council Secretariat, The Registry, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NZ.

At its meeting in March 2020, the Committee will be considering suggestions for awards in 2020 and beyond and, to ensure the award of honorary degrees across a broad range of academic disciplines and subject areas, it would be helpful to receive at least one or two suggestions from each School. We would also like to encourage nominations in the area of medicine and health sciences, to celebrate the opening of the Kent and Medway Medical School in 2020.

You can find all the necessary information, including the nomination form in Word and pdf formats on the honorary degree nominations website.

The published information includes the criteria for awarding honorary degrees and the honorary degrees that are available, with guidance notes. To get an idea of the calibre of University of Kent honorary graduates, our honorary graduates website shows recent recipients and short biographies.

Anyone can put forward a nomination so if you have any questions about this or wish to put forward a nomination, please email Jo Pearsall.

Run, Hide, Tell advice – watch the new videos

Staff and students are encouraged to find out more about what to do in the unlikely event of a terror incident on or off campus.

Our Campus Security Run, Hide, Tell webpages include three new videos with UK Government advice on:

How to react to firearms or weapons attacks
How to identify and respond to suspicious behaviour
How to identify and deal with suspicious Items.

Mark Arnold, Head of Security at Kent, comments: ‘While there is no specific intelligence about any threats to the University, these videos are a timely reminder of common sense advice. I’d urge all members of our community to set aside some time to view them.’

The webpages also include advice on what to do if you find a lost or suspicious unattended item, on or off campus – find out more by clicking on the new tab: ‘Unattended items – lost or suspicious’.

And there’s a reminder of the Government’s key ‘Stay Safe’ principles:

RUN – find the best protection available, out of sight does not mean out of danger.

HIDE – see if you can locate the attackers, what type of weapon is being used, the direction the attacker(s) are travelling. Limit access and secure your environment. Lock the doors and remain as quiet as possible.

TELL – contact the police via 999 then Campus Security via 01227 82(3333), give them all the information you have.

Find out more and view the new videos on the Campus Security Run, Hide, Tell webpages.

Recruiting for the Pint of Science

The Pint of Science festival is an international public engagement festival taking place over 3 days each May. The University of Kent has been running sold-out events for the past 3 years. In 2019, 35 UK cities held over 600 events, increasing to 40 cities/towns in 2020.

Over 1,000 scientists will have the opportunity to explain their research in an accessible form to the general public – mainly in bars and pubs.

The idea is to provide a platform which allows researchers to share their research with the public. This is a fantastic opportunity to engage the public with your research and to get experience of sharing it with new audiences.

Call for expressions of interest

In 2020, we will again be holding Pint of Science events in Kent in three locations: Canterbury, Medway and Tonbridge. We have selected a number of pubs and are looking for expressions of interest from speakers, particularly Early Career Researchers and final year PhD students looking to develop their skills and experience in talking about their research.

If you are interested, please email us at  pintofscience@kent.ac.uk with the following details by  Friday 14 February:

1. Your name and school

2. A summary of your research (max 100 words)

3. Your plan for an interactive session of 20-30 minutes (max 100 words)

4. An explanation of how you will make it engaging for the public audience – an important interactive component (max 100 words).

The Big Catering Survey 2020

Want to win £200, £100 or £50 of KentOne credit?

Help Kent Hospitality improve catering services by completing their short survey and you could win 1 of 3 amazing prizes to spend in catering outlets, Blackwell’s bookshop, Templeman Library, and more!

The survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete and focuses on eating habits, nutrition and health, sustainability and environment, and technology. By leaving your email address, you will be entered into their prize draw.

First Prize: £200 KentOne credit

Second Prize: £100 KentOne credit

Third Prize: £50 KentOne credit

The survey closes on Saturday 29 February at 23:59 GMT. Good luck!

If you have any queries, please contact catering@kent.ac.uk

Drama accolade for University of Kent Players

NODA (National Operatic and Dramatic Association) have awarded the University of Kent Players an accolade for Excellence in Drama for their production of Gail Young’s Bothered & Bewildered which took place at the Gulbenkian in September 2019.

This is the second time in as many years that the group have been recognised in this way, their production of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility in 2018 also received this accolade.

Their latest production, JB Priestley’s Dangerous Corner, takes place at the Gulbenkian 27-29 February 2020, so go along and see this double award-winning group in action.

Tickets priced at £12 (£10 for concessions) are on sale now on the Gulbenkian website.

The University of Kent Players take a Dangerous Corner

The University of Kent Players are delighted to present JB Priestley’s Dangerous Corner at the Gulbenkian, Canterbury, 27-29 February 2020.

One of Priestley’s ‘time plays’, the plot concerns a group of people enjoying a dinner party when a cigarette case and a chance remark leads to secrets being revealed about the suicide of friend. Once things start to be known, there is no turning back – even though it feels like they are driving at high speed with dangerous corners ahead. Will their lives ever be the same?

Tickets priced at £12 (£10 for concessions) are on sale now on the Gulbenkian website.

The University of Kent Players are entirely self-funded and the only money available for productions comes from ticket sales, membership fees and any donations. So they need as many people as possible to come along and support their productions. Your support is appreciated!

Industrial action – January 2020 update

Since the start of the year, talks have continued between UCU and UCEA in an attempt to find a resolution to the current industrial action. UCEA have now made a series of proposals that address the specific issues of pay and working conditions. These will be considered by UCU at a meeting being held today (30 January) and we will provide a further update shortly after.

The proposals set out a series of expectations on individual universities on the three non-pay areas of dispute: workload, gender and ethnicity pay and casual employment. The position on pay remains unchanged.

The University welcomes the proposals put forward at national level and believes that, although considerable work has already taken place in these areas at Kent, there is further work to do at sector-level.

You can read more about the proposals here:

UCEA press release 28 January 2020

UCU briefing 28 January 2020

You can also find regular updates on our Industrial Action webpages.

Updated Privacy Notice now available

An updated copy of the University’s Privacy Notice is now available.

The Privacy Notice sets out how everyone’s personal data is collected, processed and stored by HR. The full Notice can be found on the HR webpages.

Key changes in this update are the use of CCTV images, retention periods for data in Staff Connect and the introduction of an archive system to enable us to provide basic employment references for staff for many years after leaving our employment.