The University’s School of Music and Fine Art presents Mouthing Off, the Fine Art Interim Show 2018 at Sun Pier House, Chatham, Kent, featuring the work of 20 3rd year BA Fine Art students.

The exhibition is open to all and is free to attend. It opens with a preview on Friday 7 December (17.00-19.00). It is open to the public from 8 -11 December from 10.00-16.00 (apart from 12.00-16.00 on Sunday 9 December and closed on Monday 10 December).

Continuing a tradition of showcasing bold, exploratory exhibitions, our visitors will encounter a broad range of artistic styles and media, an explosion of imagination and a celebration of art’s potential contribution to society.

“Mouthing Off” offers the public a fascinating insight into contemporary art’s most recent practices and processes including works where the projected traces of finger tips touch and move across the surface of a mobile phone screen; net curtains blur the boundaries between public and private domains in an intimate exchange of light and movement of bodies; fragments of monuments from past leaders and dictators are strewn across the gallery and a dynamic exploration female space takes place through dance, body extensions and performance.

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

The latest issue (28 November 2018) includes a congratulations from our Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Karen Cox, to our most recent graduates and a thank you to the University Council.

There is also an update on Executive Group meetings, including a discussion of the planning round with Faculty Deans on 20 November and an EG Awayday focusing on organisational design on 26 November.

There are also updates on the government’s Settled Status scheme, which EU citizens working at Kent are eligible to take part in, and the launch of a new BSc in Human Geography.

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.

Find out more about the Leadership Bulletin and see previous issues on the OVC webpages.

Congratulations to James Devine, a graduate from our Professional Practice MSc, on becoming the Chief Executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust, known as Medway Hospital.

James graduated in 2013 with the Master’s in Professional Practice and is very fond of his study time in Medway: ‘My employment prospects have improved vastly. Not just having a degree on my record, but the new skill set, confidence and proved competence are all benefits to studying this programme. This degree allows for greater insight, personal reflection and the time to challenge yourself to complete a unique degree programme. It lends itself to each student focusing on their own practice and actually improving it by taking the time to reflect on excising practice based on reality, as well as theory and literature.’

The Master’s in Professional Practice is one of a number of part-time, flexible, work-related programmes for working professionals offered by the Centre for Professional Practice. Its programmes and short courses including the Professional Practice MSc and Introduction to Masters-Level Study, have been specifically designed to meet the needs of those who wish to develop their academic ability while maintaining their professional role. Students may be eligible for loans for both undergraduate and postgraduate study (subject to eligibility criteria).

For more information about the Centre and its programmes, see the CPP webpages,  email cppmedway@kent.ac.uk  or telephone 01634 888929.

There’s another great reason for signing-up on our new Staff Wellbeing Zone this month!

Occupational Health are running a prize draw running throughout November. The main prize is two coaching sessions with an external coach to explore any element of wellbeing you wish: weight loss, smoking cessation, mindfulness.  There are also three runner-up prizes of massages at Kent Sport.

The draw will be carried out by the Wellbeing Zone hosting company, Revitalised, so all employee details will continue to remain totally confidential.  Once you have been notified by them of your success, you need to contact Brenda Brunsdon, Occupational Health & Wellbeing Team Manager, and she will give you the details of how to claim your prize.

Just to remind you, this is what the Wellbeing Zone can offer to help you to improve and manage your wellbeing:

• A 12 sector wellbeing assessment and advice on how to improve in all these 12 areas. You can make changes and goals and re-assess to follow your progress.
• The Zone includes exercise programmes, weight loss advice, recipes and a calorie counter. There are also articles, videos and TED talks on all aspects of wellbeing including mental health, mindfulness and stress reduction.

Launched on 1 November, the Zone has been set up and will be maintained by external specialists, Revitalised, whose other clients include Royal Mail, the MoD and Virgincare. All the information you enter into the Wellbeing Zone is totally confidential and not accessible to any University department or individual.  

Take a look at the new Wellbeing Zone website now and register using the code KENT 1, or log-in (top right-hand button) using your Kent sign-in details.

All students currently registered at the University of Kent, alumni of the University, belong to a college; students at Medway are members of Medway College.

Currently Medway is the only one of the seven University of Kent Colleges not to have its own College logo, colours and flag.  The time has now come for the College members to decide on a logo and College colours.

The Medway College team has put together a number of designs and colour schemes and would like you to vote for your favourite combination. Ultimately, the combination with the most votes wins and will be announced before the Christmas holidays.

Vote here now. Deadline for submitting your vote is 12 noon on Wednesday 12 December 2018.

Join us for the Medway campus Christmas lights switch-on on Friday 7 December at 16.00 just outside No1 Bistro.

There will be free festive treats so please register by 30 November so we can book catering.

Please register your interest by emailing: MedwayMastersOffice@kent.ac.uk

We hope to see you there.

Dean for Medway and the Medway College Master

Kent’s Director of Commercial Services, Kevin Stuckey, was awarded ‘The Kinetic Legend’ at the Kinetic Solutions User Forum 2018, which took place at the University of Warwick on 18 October.

The three-day event welcomed over 250 university and industry professionals to explore a variety of thought provoking sessions from sector leaders covering topics on student accommodation, health, well-being and the impact of the commercial sector.

Kevin was praised by Kinetic Solutions Managing Director, Rob Turner for ‘famously giving the original founder of Kinetics 15-20 minutes to sell the product idea to him and has been a huge advocate ever since!’

Rob went on to applaud Kevin and noted how ‘well recognised and respected in the industry Kevin is, while running an incredibly successful student and commercial team at Kent’ before presenting him with the Kinetic Legend award.

Kevin Stuckey commented: ‘It is a real privilege to have been presented this award. Kinetic Solutions enable our highly dedicated teams across Student Accommodation, Conference Office, and other areas of Kent Hospitality, to provide all our students, staff and visitors with consistently high standards of service and experience.’

The accolade is another notable success for Commercial Services after winning the Best University Accommodation for Groups award for the eleventh year in a row at the Group Travel Organiser’s Awards in June, as well as just last week the Accommodation Office team being awarded the Outstanding University Housing Office at the Class of 2020 awards ceremony in Milan, Italy.

Kent Sport staff work hard to provide a professional service and to ensure you have an enjoyable experience within the sports facilities.

We’d like to recognise our staff for all that they do and need your help. We are excited to announce the brand new Kent Sport Reward and Recognition programme to highlight and reward our staff for their incredible work.

This is where you come in. When you experience great service from a member of staff, let us know who it was and what they did to help. Anyone can nominate a Kent Sport staff member and the reason is entirely up to you.

All you have to do is fill out a postcard at the Sports Centre or Pavilion receptions, making sure to include the staff member’s name and why you’re nominating them, and then drop the completed form in the blue box. Each term, the senior management team will review the nominations and decide who will receive a reward based on your nominations.

We can’t wait to see how our staff have helped you have a memorable experience. We will spotlight successful Kent Sport staff on our Recognition webpage and social media channels – so keep a look out.

Kent Sport is an exciting place to work and we strive for excellence in the service and facilities that we offer and making sure members enjoy being part of our community as much as we do. You can see all the benefits of working for Kent Sport and the University on our Work with us page. If you are interested in joining our team, find out more about staff benefits and membership benefits.

The next meeting of the Kent Enterprise and Impact Network (KEIN) will take place on Wednesday 28 November, from 12.30 – 14.00 in G2-03, Medway Campus

KEIN, a network jointly created by Kent Innovation & Enterprise (KIE) and Learning and Organisational Development (L&OD), brings together staff interested in collaboration. Academics, researchers, technicians and other members of staff can explore innovation and enterprise activities, maximising the impact of their work, and alternative sources of funding, in an informal setting.

In these sessions, we will we will hear from Dr Fernando Otero, School of Computing, sharing how a passion for data mining and knowledge discovery has led to a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with a social networking start-up company. The talk will be followed with a Q+A on enterprise. If you would like to attend this session please book with entadmin@kent.ac.uk.

The event will start with a networking lunch and all University staff are welcome to attend. To reserve your place at the session, including booking a free light lunch, please email entadmin@kent.ac.uk and specify any dietary or access requirements. You are welcome to turn up on the day without booking and feel free to bring your lunch with you.