Category Archives: Student Guide

Kent provides specialist equipment and volunteers to help fight COVID-19

Kent’s School of Biosciences will support Kent hospitals to increase the number of COVID-19 tests that can be carried out each day.

Specialist molecular biology equipment will be loaned to boost the capacity in NHS labs to carry out more tests for COVID-19 and detect infected samples.

More than 30 academics, postdoctoral researchers and PhD students from the School have volunteered to help perform testing at hospitals in the county.

Professor Dan Mulvihill, Head of the School of Biosciences, said: ‘We are in a privileged position to help the NHS and offer resource to help fight this virus. Our volunteers will use their skills to work alongside NHS workers during this time of need and hope to make a difference.’

Dr Jill Shepherd, Programme Director for Biomedical Science within the School of Biosciences, said: ‘The first thing we wanted to do was to see how we could best support our NHS colleagues. It is a great opportunity for our academics, researchers and students to utilise their molecular biology skills to make a difference here and now.’

To see KMTV’s report on this go here.

Fantastic news for Kent Hospitality’s March PRIDE Award Winners

Not one, but a record breaking three members of Kent Hospitality staff have won the most recent Pride Award.

Congratulations are due to Claire Whale (Housekeeping Supervisor), Heather Dyer (Domestic Assistant) and Jason Townsend (IT Systems, Development and Support Officer), who all showed a dedication to deliver fantastic service to students and fellow staff members in their nominations according to the panel.

Claire Whale’s award recognised her consistent hard work and proactive attitude in assisting with accommodation viewings and resolving problems before they develop. Claire’s nomination noted “there is never a time that you feel you are asking too much of Claire because her positive attitude and helpful demeanour is always at the forefront of any correspondence” with one specific occurrence citing that “without her assistance the viewing would not have happened successfully.”

Heather Dyers’ award recognised her generosity and kindness towards others, exemplified by one example when helping a Christ Church student in need where her “concern and kindness shown to a stranger certainly goes beyond her job role”. Part of an email sent by a friend of the student wrote: “the amazing compassion your colleague showed towards my friend is commendable and not everyone would have helped her in the way that she did. We wanted to extend our thanks to her and let her know how much we appreciate what she did.”

Finally, an extract from Jason’s nomination that summarised why he should receive the award read: “he regularly works beyond his required hours and his ever positive attitude and willingness to make time to help everyone, no matter what the task, has been widely noted and appreciated across the department […] Jason consistently surpasses expectation, gives up his personal time, and demonstrates pride for the department and the University through his actions, which are a positive example to others.”

Many congratulations to Claire, Heather and Jason on their well-deserved wins.

We are sure that during these changing times 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 really easy to nominate them for a Pride Award. To submit a nomination just visit the Pride website.

The closing date for the next Pride Award is currently Wednesday 17 June 2020 at 12.

Laura Bailey appears on new BBC panel show ‘Lost in Translation’

Dr Laura Bailey, Lecturer in the Department of English Language and Linguistics, will appear on new BBC Radio 2 comedy panel show ‘Lost in Translation’. The pilot is being broadcast on Saturday 28 March at 21.30, where she will provide insights into how language can not only bring us together, but also create national outcry; and that though some words may be a term of endearment in some cultures, they can be a damning insult in others. From untranslatable words to seemingly nonsensical idioms to some of the greatest insults ever created, this show will peel back the layers to reveal the secret quirks of communication.

This is a brand-new comedy panel show is hosted by Tom Allen (The Apprentice – You’re Fired) and his celebrity guests James May (Top Gear), Stacey Solomon (Loose Women), Daliso Chaponda (QI), Russell Kane (Live at the Apollo) Sophie Duker and Rhys James (Mock the Week).

Microsoft Teams for Students Has Launched

The Library and Information Services have introduced Microsoft Teams for students as part of the Office 365 package. Microsoft Teams is an online space where you can chat to fellow students, share files, attend seminars, take part in meetings and work collaboratively.

Even better, it gives you online access from anywhere, on any device, so no need to use the VPN. Perfect during this COIVD 19 lockdown as it will allow you to carry on working on your group projects and share ideas with classmates.

The benefits of Microsoft Teams are below:

Desktop and mobile apps available

To get all the benefits of Teams, we recommend downloading the app onto your devices. If you have the app you can even share your screen with support staff, who can use it to offer remote help with IT issues.

Text and video chat

This is perfect for virtual group work, quick discussions with lecturers or a chat with a fellow student to check in and say hi. These tools can be used with anyone inside or outside of the University and not just within your module-based team.

Channels

Teams uses channels to separate content. Channels are set up by the Team owner (your convenor) and within each channel you can store files, hold virtual meetings and have ‘threaded’ conversations. This is similar to other services like Slack or Discord.

File sharing and collaboration

Microsoft Office files can be shared in channels or in chat and can be live-edited by multiple people at once. You can do this within Teams, without having to open other web apps or desktop apps. You can also download files but once you do this it won’t update if further changes are made within Teams.

A Team space has been set up for every module and if your module convenor plans to use it for online teaching, they’ll be in touch with you.

Access Teams by clicking on this link.

Enter your login details:

Username: username@kent.ac.uk (example: abc1@kent.ac.uk) Password: your Kent IT account password

Choose the Teams app and you’re ready to go!

To download the Desktop app, use the download icon on the bottom left within the web app. On your mobile device, search ‘Microsoft Teams’ on your App / Play store.

Online Module Registration (OMR) 9-20 March

It’s time to choose your modules for next year.

From 9- 20 March 2020, you must choose the modules you want to study in 2020/21.

You will need to log into your SDS during this time to submit your choices.

Further information and instructions will be sent to you via email – please read this and be prepared!

Guidance on how to complete OMR

OMR is not first come first served, but you must ensure that you have submitted your selections by Friday 20 March in order to give you the best opportunity to register for your preferred choice of module.

Please note if you are going abroad or to a year in industry next year you do not need to select modules.

If you have any questions please contact us:

Canterbury csao@kent.ac.uk
Medway msao@kent.ac.uk
Follow us: @UniKent_CSAO

Study a language next year

Did you know that you can study a world language either as part of your degree or as an extra module?

When choosing your modules for next year, have a look at the World Language modules, you can study with the Centre for English and World Languages.

You can choose from Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin or Russian. There are at least two modules at different levels for each language, and all languages offer a complete beginners’ module.

If your degree programme does not allow for wild modules, you can pay the extra fee and take the language as an extra module. You may also choose to do the language as an extra module if you do not want it to count towards credits for your degree.

Contact cewl@kent.ac.uk if you would like to know more.

Nostalgia podcast with Heidi Colthup

Heidi Colthup, Deputy Head of English Language and Linguistics in the School of European Culture and Languages, was the first female opinion columnist for ‘Farmers Weekly’ magazine.

In this gripping interview, the latest in the Nostalgia podcast series, Heidi talks to Dr Chris Deacy about working as a freelance journalist; training as a primary school teacher; combining driving tractors with fine art; why through reading one gets to lead a thousand lives; trashy novels and Fifty Shades of Grey; her Scottish ancestry; the time when the only copy of her grandfather’s memoirs were cremated with him; why we write diaries and who we write them for; video games; being a huge Stephen King fan; teaching in the Department of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Kent; aspiring to be Prime Minister; wanting to make a difference; and why Heidi doesn’t believe in either looking back or looking forward.

Global Leadership Development

Students participating in the Global Officers Leadership Development (GOLD) Programme attended their annual conference on Wednesday 4th March. The conference focused on the theme of ‘Leadership in a Global Context’, hosted by Dr Anthony Manning, Dean for Internationalisation and included external speakers, Dr Carl Wright, exploring ‘Why leadership is essential for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs)’ and Yinbo Yu, the former NUS International Students’ Officer, now working at UKCISA, on ‘Leading the student voice in International HE’.

During the day, the students were able to consider the impact of the SDGs on both the local and global scale. They reflected on their own actions and what contributions they could make. One of our Global Officers, Tinu Okotore, who is also a SDG Ambassador for the University of Kent, presented on the work she does in this role and what work we could do at the university level on meeting some of these Goals.

Finally, students were tasked with an exercise of considering what they would do if they were Vice Chancellor for the day on improving the international student experience.

The GOLD programme, launched in 2017, is a co-curricular venture that provides a framework of activities for globally-minded undergraduate students at Kent to develop their leadership skills, Global Citizenship and cultural awareness.

From September 2020, students have the opportunity to join the programme either as extra-curricular or as a wild module, GOLD500. Search and sign up via OMR.

For more information about the programme, please visit Kent Global’s website or contact International Partnerships.

CeCIL Annual Lecture: ‘Have you seen dignity?’

This year’s Annual Lecture for the Centre of Critical International Law (CeCIL) at Kent will be delivered by Professor Susan Marks from the London School of Economics on Thursday 19 March.

Professor Marks’s talk, entitled ‘Have you seen dignity?’, will begin at 6pm in Sibson Lecture Theatre 2. It will be preceded by a reception in Sibson Atrium from 5pm.

Professor Marks is the author of The Riddle of All Constitutions, International Human Rights Lexicon (co-authored with Andrew Chapman) and A False Tree of Liberty. She is the editor of International Law on the Left. Her research seeks to bring insights from critical social theory to the study of international law and human rights.

Each year, the CeCIL Annual Lecture brings leading figures in the field of international law to Kent to share their cutting edge contributions to international legal thinking.

CeCIL is an innovative research centre at Kent Law School which aims to foster critical approaches to the field of international law, and other areas of law that touch upon global legal problems. In addition to an annual lecture, CeCIL offers a busy programme of activities for law students, including a speaker and films series and workshops for students keen to develop their employability and international law skills.

Open Day film- student opportunity

The University of Kent is shooting a promotional virtual open day film on Tuesday 17 March (Medway campus) and Wednesday 18 March (Canterbury campus) and would like to feature a number of Kent students on screen in non-speaking roles such as in group situations.

Application deadline is 10.00 Thursday 12 March. All selected students will receive a £10 credit on their KentOne card.

Find out more and complete the online submission form.