At the end of the academic year 2018/19, Kent Sport revamped a squash court turning it into a multi-use sports facility perfect for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, MMA, Cheerleading and beyond. After all the new equipment was laid out, there was something that was missing – inspiration.

Collaborating with Creative Campus, Kent Sport put on a competition to all budding artists to ‘Design Our Space’. The brief was straight forward – submit something that will inspire others. It was a challenge that was met. We are pleased to announce our winner: Billy Radford. Billy ran with the idea to create a space that not only inspires, but provides the perfect landscape for motivation.

“The Design Our Space competition was the perfect opportunity to bring some vibrancy, life and colour to a previously unloved corner of The Sports Centre. The space is now bright, fresh and bold and it is my hope that the sportsmen and women who will be using the space, enjoy their new surroundings,” said Billy, Sports Development Officer at the University of Kent.

“It was quite the feat to find the right balance between art and sport. I believe Billy did a great job to help us transform this space into the fantastic training arena for Kent Sport members. We hope that this area will help pave the way for athletes to develop the skills to help them achieve their goals,” said Christopher Monteiro-Sharratt, Head of Operations at Kent Sport.

Kent Sport continues to provide excellent facilities for its members and recently undertook upgrading the Hall 2 balcony to be more purpose built for those wanting to expand their skills in and out of the boxing ring.

Interested in training in our facility? Become a Kent Sport member now and check out all that we offer.

For Kent Sport news, events and special offers, Like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter @UniKentSports.

The University and Kent Union, in partnership, are participating in the Responsible Futures scheme – an NUS framework to facilitate institution change in embedding sustainability throughout all parts of the student learning experience. Responsible Futures acts on the Vice-Chancellor’s commitment to ‘Embed Sustainability through building the UN Sustainable Development Goals into our research, education, leadership, operations, administration and engagement.’

The world our graduates will be working in is vastly different from that of a generation ago and they will face a spectrum of social, economic and environmental global challenges when entering the workplace and wider society. Kent graduates need to be ‘global citizens’ equipped to tackle these challenges and inequalities.

Responsible Futures looks to ensure every student – from architecture to business, and chemistry to digital arts – is prepared with the knowledge and understanding of sustainability, and possess the sustainability skills and attributes, and the desire and willingness to deal with these issues.

Institutions promoting sustainability skills are much more likely to produce employable graduates according to the Global University Employability Ranking (EAUC, 2018).

NUS surveys have also found that students want education in sustainable development and to gain sustainability skills (NUS, 2018). According to 2017/18 survey: 76% of HE students agree that “universities and colleges should be obliged to develop students’ social and environmental skills as part of the courses they offer”

The University of Kent and Kent Union partnership will coordinating work on embedding sustainability into the formal and informal curriculum and will be seeking to engage with academic staff and students across the organisation.

If you are interested in getting involved, exploring how you can embed sustainability into your or your school’s teaching, or for more information, please contact: sustainability@kent.ac.uk or visit www.kent.ac.uk/estates/sustainability/esd/index.html

Are you thinking about doing a PhD in 2020?  The Graduate School is running a series of sessions for anyone thinking about applying for funding from SeNSS (ESRC) and CHASE (AHRC).

Sessions include:

8 November – general funding

13 and 19 November – SeNSS funding

20 November  – CHASE proposals

27 November – SeNSS proposals

Find out more and book a place on the Events section of the Graduate School website.

You can also learn more about postgraduate study opportunities at our next Postgraduate Information Event on Thursday 5 December from 17.00-19.00 in Darwin College.

Is someone you know looking for a part-time job?

We may have the answer as we currently have six positions for Domestic Assistants available in the Kent Hospitality Housekeeping department across our Canterbury campus.

All Domestic Assistant opportunities are offered on a permanent contract with part-time hours ranging from eight to 20 hours available. The rate of pay is £16,736 per annum pro-rata.

All applications should be made via the University’s recruitment system with the earliest closing date being Monday 11 November.

You can see all the vacancies available on our Jobs webpages.

If you have any questions about these vacancies, please email hrhospitality@kent.ac.uk

Are you conducting (or interested in) research that tackles global challenges and benefits developing countries? The Global Challenges Doctoral Centre (GCDC) is delighted to announce the launch of ‘GCDC Hangouts’ – a monthly, interdisciplinary event focusing on research that addresses global challenges.

The Centre’s first GCDC Hangout will take place on Wednesday, 13 November, from 13.00-14.00 in CE329 (third floor of Cornwallis East), and everyone is welcome – whether you are a GCDC-funded PhD, a GCDC affiliate student, a Master’s student, a postdoc, a supervisor or just vaguely interested in research that addresses global challenges, do come along! The session will include a catered lunch and plenty of time for networking and discussion.

The inaugural session will be led by GCDC director, Dr Beth Breeze and is entitled, ‘Philanthropy and the Sustainable Development Goals: what role for private donors?’. Beth will discuss the pros and cons of philanthropic individuals and institutions becoming involved in tackling global challenges and invite you to share your perspectives.

More information about the session and the GCDC is available here and you can book your place by emailing Grace Grussenmeyer at: kentgcdc@kent.ac.uk.

Join us for The Rutherford Grass Roots Lecture, organised in conjunction with the Former Staff Association, on Wednesday 13 November 2019 at 18.00 in Rutherford Lecture Theatre One.

The lecture is entitled ‘The Enduring Appeal of Holy Relics, The Case of St Thomas Becket’ by John Butler.

Based on his new book, The Relics of Thomas Becket, John Butler’s lecture explores the continuing fascination that the Church of England has with holy relics.

For more information please see the alumni webpages.

The second in our series of free lunchtime concerts continues on Weds 13 November with a performance by the Preston Ensemble.

Formed in 2016 by string players in the south east, previous concerts include at the Assembly Rooms in Faversham. For this performance, the group brings Mendelssohn’s Octet to the concert-hall.

The performance starts at 13.10; admission is free, with a suggested donation of £3.

The Lunchtime Concerts series is generously sponsored by Furley Page Solicitors.

To mark the launch of the new ‘Postcolonial Europe Group’, there will be an all-day symposium on the 2nd of November 2019 at the University of Kent, with contributions from scholars, activists and artists from the UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, and Malta.

At a time when Europe is being questioned culturally and politically, there is a need to re-think its significance. Adopting a postcolonial lens, this event will bring into the spotlight a different map of Europe that is not solely shaped by its colonial legacy but also by different dynamics of subalternity, conditions of un/belonging, cultural, economic and geographical displacement.

The event will bring disciplines and fields together to re-think critically and creatively the significance of Europe. It will focus particularly on a number of contested conjunctural spaces: from Europe’s Southern frontiers to its inner cities. The interventions will be followed by a round table discussion centred on the objectives of the network, and a talk by artist Agnese Purgatorio.

Speakers include:

Professor Lars Jensen (Roskilde University): ‘Writing Postcolonial Europe’

Professor Sandra Ponzanesi (Utrecht University): ‘Phantoms of Europe: Intellectual Legacies and Cultural Transitions in Postcolonial Europe’

Dr Norbert Bugeja (University of Malta): ‘The Edge(s) of Memoir in an Ageing Europe: Postcolonial Notes’

Professor Miguel Mellino (Università degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale): ‘Policing The Refugee Crisis: Neoliberalism between Biopolitics and Necropolitics’

Dr Paula McCloskey (University of Derby) and Dr Sam Vardy (Sheffield Hallam University): ‘The Eile Project; a place, of their own’

Dr Maria Ridda (University of Kent): ‘Remaking Europe from its Lawless Frontiers’

Agnese Purgatorio (artist, Podbiesky Contemporary, Milan): ‘The Immobile Nomad’

Register here. The event is free but places are strictly limited and will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis.