An advanced-level short course in Creative Writing, ‘Writing Life: How to draw inspiration from the world around you to craft great stories’, is being held at the University’s Tonbridge Centre over two Saturdays, 14 October and 11 November, from 10.00-16.00. The course is available to staff at a discounted fee of £99 instead of £170.

Whatever you draw inspiration from, the tutor Dr Alex Martin-Carey will encourage you to take control of your own work and write exciting, contemporary material, and to think more deeply about both your writing and reading. You will also have the opportunity to receive feedback on your own writing from the tutor and other participants.

The following texts underpin the course:
Week 1:

• Nature: William Fiennes, The Snow Geese
• Home: Nicholson Baker, A Box of Matches

  Week 2

• Self: Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit
• History: Pat Barker, Regeneration

This course is part of the Postgraduate-level taster programme at the Tonbridge Centre. Full details can be found here and in the programme booklet.

It’s easy to reach the University’s Tonbridge Centre by train from Canterbury West; the journey is typically an hour with the Centre being just a few minutes’ walk from Tonbridge railway station.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the Tonbridge Centre by email tonbridgeadmin@kent.ac.uk or call ext 4990. External tel: 01732 352316.

The course is available to staff at a discounted fee of £99 instead of £170. If you would like to book a place, please call us as the discounted fee is not available through the Online Store.

Graduate students considering either a PhD in Law or an LLM by Research are encouraged to come to a Postgraduate Research Funding Open Day at Kent Law School on Friday 17 November.

The event, which runs from 11.00 to 15.30, will cover topics such as how to write a good proposal, how to find a supervisor, and how to apply for scholarships and funding. We’ll explain our own admissions system, introduce you to potential Law School supervisors, give you a free lunch, and give you feedback on your proposal.

Kent Law School is ranked 8th in the UK for Research Intensity in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) and is ranked as a top 20 UK law school in three of the major league tables for Law. It is also listed among the top 100 law schools in the world in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2017.

Places for the Open Day are limited to 25; to apply for one of these places, please send an email to klspgfunding@kent.ac.uk including your name and address together with a draft research statement and your CV.

The draft research statement should not exceed 1000 words. Aim for clarity and be honest about what you don’t yet know (that’s the point of the Open Day). Your statement should be written in English and include a draft title together with a short explanation of why your research topic matters, how it advances current academic knowledge and how you plan to study it (your proposed methodology). Please also see our additional guidance notes on writing a good research proposal.

The deadline for receipt of applications is 16.00 on Friday 3 November 2017. Early submissions are encouraged from those who will need to make travel arrangements

Learning and Organisational Development are pleased to announce the launch of their new gateway webpage, which pulls together development opportunities available centrally and from across the organisation.

As part of this launch, the first phase of development activities for 2017-18 are also now live on our Learning & Organisational Development activities calendar and are open for bookings.

Current opportunities cover a selection of modular management workshops including topics such as; recruitment and selection, effective management skills, working with your team, absence management and managing performance. Other opportunities include RAM training, eligibility checking, RPD for reviewers and presentation skills.

Over the next few weeks, more activities will be added to this as dates are finalised, so please keep an eye on the calendar.

Bookings can be made for most of our activities via the online booking form but some programme-based activities are ‘by nomination only’, in these cases approach your manager to discuss being nominated for the next available programme.

If you have any feedback regarding the webpages please do not hesitate to contact ldev@kent.ac.uk.

We’re looking for volunteers to tell us what they think about staff communications at Kent!

Focus groups will be taking place next month (April) at our Canterbury and Medway campuses to seek your views on internal communications – what do you currently send out and receive, and what changes would you like to see?

The research is being carried out as part of the Simplifying Kent Internal Communications Project, which is being managed by Wendy Raeside in Corporate Communications.

The Project is one of nine set up by the Simplifying Kent programme board in response to findings by the Kent Service Delivery Diagnostic review completed last year. That review found that while we devote a lot of time to internal communication, many staff are dissatisfied with the volume of information they receive, particularly via email.

The first phase of the Internal Communications Project will review current staff communications at Kent, explore best practice across the HE sector and beyond, and then come up with recommendations on how we could improve what we’re doing here.

We’d love to hear what you think – please join us if you can at one of the following focus groups:

• Tuesday 11 April, 10.30-12.00 – Senate Committee Room 2, Canterbury campus
• Tuesday 11 April, 14.00-15.30 – Senate Committee Room 2, Canterbury campus
• Wednesday 12 April, 10.30-12.00 – Rochester Board Room, Medway campus

The focus sessions should last no more than 1.5 hours and will include refreshments – tea, coffee and cakes!

Email us at Communications@kent.ac.uk asap – by 31 March latest – if you’re able to join us. Please confirm which of the three focus groups you’d prefer to attend.

Further information about the Internal Communications Project and the other Simplifying Kent projects, on SharePoint.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Wendy Raeside and Etienne Donzelot
Corporate Communications

The University is sad to report that Joan Elmes, who worked for the Electronic Engineering Laboratory (now the School of Engineering and Digital Arts), has passed away.

Mohammed Sobhy, Emeritus Professor of Electronics, writes: ‘Most of the present staff would not have met Joan, but of course there will be some who knew her very well.  Joan was the Director’s secretary for more than 15 years and, before that, she was in the ‘General Office’ for about five years.

‘Joan was the Director’s secretary throughout my period as Director and I feel privileged to have known her and worked with her. Her contribution in supporting the Director and the Department was substantial.’

Joan’s funeral takes place on 17 March at the Robin Hood crematorium in Solihull.

The University is sad to report that Molly Mahood died last Tuesday, aged 97.

Molly was Professor of English Literature at the University of Kent from 1966 to 1979, having previously held professorships at the universities of Ibadan and Dar es Salaam. She was also Visiting Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her many books include Poetry and Humanism (1950), The Colonial Encounter (1977) and The Poet as Botanist (2008). She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Kent in 2010.

Her funeral will take place at 11.30 on Friday 3 March at Clayton Wood natural burial-ground, near Hassocks, Sussex. There will be wine afterwards, which Molly left for all who attend. She was much loved by her colleagues and students and will be sorely missed by all who knew her.

A series of inspiring lectures in association with Medway U3A will take place at the University’s Medway campus from March to May 2017.

You can explore a subject purely for interest in a friendly group, led by an expert tutor.

Lectures include:

• The Black Death: plague, pestilence, and social disorder, Friday 17 March, 10.00-13.00, £15
  Julia Cruse PhD
• A history of beer in Kent, Saturday 1 April, 10.00-13.00, £15
  Jeremy Kimmel BA PGDip
• An Introduction to Modern Art, Saturday 1 April, 10.00-13.00, £15
  Katia Mai PhD
• Manipulating monarchs: Tudor and Elizabethan Propaganda, Friday 12 May, 10.00-13.00, £15
  Julia Cruse PhD
• The history of science (up to 20th century), Saturday 13 May, 10.00-13.00, £15
  Jeremy Kimmel BA PGDip
• Art in Context, Saturday 13 May, 10.00-13.00, £15
  Katia Mai PhD

To find out more and to book your place see our Tonbridge webpages or telephone 01732 352316.

The January update on Staff Connect explained the launch date had moved to March 2017 due to issues with the migration of data between the legacy and the new system. These issues have now successfully been resolved. This has been a substantial milestone towards the delivery of the project, and means we are still on track to launch Staff Connect in March.

The work undertaken by everyone involved, but especially the business who as well as completing their day job, are also having to duplicate their work in the new system, has resulted in significant progress and confidence in the planned March launch date.

Of course as with all complex projects, issues can arise at any time and therefore we will issue a further update nearer to the March pay day.

Meanwhile, if you would like to refresh your knowledge of Staff Connect, have a look at the project support site where you will find tutorials, guidance, FAQs and an online walk through of Staff Connect.

Katerina Flint-Nicol – Staff Connect Project Support Assistant