Professor Aylish Wood and Dr Kaitlyn Regehr from the departments of Film and Media  at the School of Arts have organised an event entitled Diversity and Disruption: An Intersectional Valentine on behalf of the School of Arts’ Film, Media and Culture Research Cluster and the Identity, Politics and the Arts Research Cluster. The event will take place at the School of Arts on Thursday 14 February 2019, from 10.00 to 16.00.

Opening dialogues around the challenges diversity offers to theories and practices in visual and online cultures, this event combines short interdisciplinary and interactive workshops to provoke questions on the diversity of images, diversity in themes and the making of visual and online cultures. Taking place on 14 February, Diversity and Disruption is positioned as an alternative love event, which additionally considers connectivity, digital intimacy, intersectionality and representation in the post-digital age.

There are a variety of sessions to attend throughout the day, run by Dr Kaitlyn Regehr (Kent), Professor Amanda Perry-Kessaris (Kent), Shiva Zarabadi (UCL), Professor Jessica Ringrose (UCL), Amelia Jenkinson (Sexplain), Dr Christina Kim (Kent), Dr Sara de Bendictus (Brunel University), Mojisola Adebayo, and Dr Helen Brooks (Kent).

The available sessions include a craft workshop drawn from a Mayor of London commissioned project which explores gender and advertising,  workshops on the perception of diversity, 3D modelling as a form of communication, a Q&A session with actor and director Mojisola Adebayo, and a badge-making workshop on the subject of period poverty.

Please click on our School of Arts webpages to view a full schedule of events, and to book your free tickets for Diversity and Disruption.

Sadly, Ann Hadaway passed away on 3 January this year after a short battle with Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinson’s.

Ann worked at the University from 1986 until she retired in 2010. She started as an Office Manager in Kent Business School and then moved to Politics and International Relations in 2000 as a Clerical Officer.

Ann was a much loved member of staff and will be sadly missed by her friends and colleagues.

Her funeral will be held on Wednesday, 30 January at 11.20 at Barham Crematorium. A wake will follow at The Castle pub, Oare. The Registry flag will stand at half mast on Wednesday in honour of Ann.

A Just Giving page has been set up in memory of Ann to support the research of the Lewy Body Society.

Kent Sport employees don’t shy away from taking on challenges. Yasmin Benaleten, a Kent Sport auxiliary Duty Officer and Master’s student, certainly fits the bill. She has taken on the arduous task of climbing Kilimanjaro in support of the Meningitis Research Foundation.

Yasmin is currently studying for her Master’s in Organisational Psychology and became a Kent Sport auxiliary in September 2018, slotting right in with the team. With her history of sport having been involved with the rowing team as well as lacrosse, Yasmin is no stranger to keeping fit.

She decided to take part in an extraordinary challenge along with 50 other people that not only tests physical, but mental ability as well – climbing the tallest free-standing mountain in the world in September 2019.

Pairing her challenge with a charity, Yasmin chose the Meningitis Research Foundation, hoping her efforts go towards helping to eradicate this horrible disease by 2030.

‘As I am a current student, I especially want to raise awareness that [students] are at the second highest risk in getting the bacteria which causes the swelling of the protective layers around the brain and long term damage which [causes] one death per every tenth person being infected. The vaccinations are funded by the Foundation, supported by events like climbing Kilimanjaro,’ said Yasmin.

Yasmin is going to be fundraising as much as possible to ensure her challenge happens. She’ll also be taking part in fitness regimes and applying to participate in the Xercise Factor to get her in tip-top shape.

If you’re interested in finding out more and supporting Yasmin on her trek up Kilimanjaro, please see her fundraising page.

Kent Sport wishes Yasmin and her teammates all the best for such an incredible feat.

Thinking of further study? Kent are holding a Postgraduate Open Event on Tuesday 5 March at Darwin College from 17.00 to 19.00.

We have a wide range of subjects, most of which are available full or part-time and some by distance and blended learning. Kent’s programmes are informed by the latest research so students develop career-focused skills and knowledge relevant to today’s issues.

The event will cover all Kent’s programmes offered at our locations in Canterbury, Medway, Athens, Brussels, Paris and Rome and you will be able to:

• find out about Kent’s £11m postgraduate scholarship fund and Research Council funding
• discuss your specific study needs and raise any questions you may have with academic staff
• hear from the Dean of the Graduate School

Book today on our courses webpages.

Everyone is welcome to attend so please share this invitation with your friends, family and colleagues, wherever they are studying now or if they would like to return to study in the future.

The Researching the Rainbow Conference will be held at the University of Kent on Saturday 16 February from 09.00-17.15 and is free to attend and open to all. Tickets for the Conference  are available now on Eventbrite.

This is the University of Kent LGBT+ Staff Network’s third annual Researching the Rainbow Conference and will be held on the University’s Canterbury campus.

The conference, which takes part during LGBT History Month, is to showcase the vast array of excellent research being done on or related to LGBT+ people and issues, and to encourage multi-disciplinary collaboration and networking.

Topics this year include: university peer group intervention for LGBT students at high risk of mental health issues; the experiences of transgender students in higher education; bisexual individuals in LGBT+ spaces; homophobia in Africa; homosexuality and fascism. There will also be round table discussions with Schools Out, Porchlight and METRO Charity. For the keynote lecture we welcome Munroe Bergdorf, model and social activist.

Join the audience for a unique opportunity to be part of this news discussion panel, with University of Kent Chancellor Gavin Esler, FTI Consulting’s Head of UK Public Affairs, Alex Deane, and our very own Kent students, for what promises to be an exciting debate!

Confirmed topics are:

• Brexit – where are we now?
• The landscape of American politics

The debate will take place in Templeman Lecture Theatre from 18.30 – 20.30 on Thursday 31 January and there will be a buffet reception following the discussion.

Entry to the debate is free with seating on a first come first served basis. Arrive promptly to avoid disappointment.

Colleagues are invited to attend this collaborative Teaching and Technology event taking place on Tuesday 26 February from 10.00-14.00.

The morning session, in Sibson Lecture Theatre 2, will include presentations from academics from all three Faculties on their successful TESSAs (Teaching Enhancement Awards) projects involving technology.

During the afternoon, colleagues will demonstrate technology and discuss support available at the University in the format of workshops and hands-on sessions.  Students will also be involved in a panel discussion on how they are using technology to support their learning.

Please click on the TESSAs webpages for the programme for the day and to book a place.

The latest issue of the Leadership Bulletin, designed to give an overview of key developments at Kent, is now available.

The latest issue (23 January 2019) includes congratulations from our Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Karen Cox, to all involved in the award of £4.3m from the Cultural Development Fund and in bringing together leaders from business, local government and academia for the Kent Business Summit in our Sibson Building.

There is also an update on Executive Group and Extended Executive Group (Executive Group plus Deans) meetings, including discussions on University innovation and on postgraduate students..

The ‘Long Read’ focuses on International Kent and is written by Professor Karen Cox and Anthony Manning, Dean for Internationalisation.

The Bulletin is distributed fortnightly to all members of the Senior Leadership Forum to cascade to staff in schools and professional service departments. If you haven’t received your copy yet, you can read the bulletin online.

Nicola Shaughnessy, Professor of Performance in the School of Arts has just co-edited a new collection, Performing Psychologies: Imagination, Creativity and Dramas of the Mind (Bloomsbury 2019) with Philip Barnard.

The book offers new perspectives on arts and health, focusing on the different ways in which performance interacting with psychology can enhance understanding of the mind. The book challenges stereotypes of disability, madness and creativity, addressing a range of conditions (autism, dementia and schizophrenia) and performance practices including staged productions and applied work in custodial, health and community settings.

Featuring case studies ranging from Hamlet to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the pioneering work of companies such as Spare Tyre and Ridiculusmus, and embracing dance and music as well as theatre and drama, the volume offers new perspectives on the dynamic interactions between performance, psychology and states of mind. It contains contributions from psychologists, performance scholars, therapists and healthcare professionals, who offer multiple perspectives on working through performance-based media.

There will be a book launch at the Omnibus Theatre in Clapham, London, on Wednesday 23 January 2019, at 18.30. This precedes a performance of Hearing Things (Playing On Theatre), which is featured in the book, (performance starts at 19.30). The event is also an NHS night, organised by Dr Paul Gilluley, Chief Medical Officer at East London Foundation Trust, with a panel discussion afterwards at 21.00 in which Nicola will participate with representatives from the theatre company, mental health service users and medical professionals. The panel includes the psychiatrist Hugh Grant-Peterkin who contributed to the final chapter of the book: “Re:Creating Psychiatry”.

Tickets for the performance of Hearing Things on Wednesday 23 January can be booked here.

For more information about the book, please see the publisher’s page.