I’m writing to provide an update of actions and decisions that we are putting in place post the Government announcements this evening at 8.30pm (Monday 23 March 2020) and I apologise for the lateness of the email.

As you are aware, we have been working to ensure we align our activities with government advice. The government has now made it clear that everyone in the UK should stop non-essential contact and stay at home, and comply with social distancing requirements.

As a result, we have accelerated the planned phased closure of buildings on the Canterbury and Medway campuses.

From 5pm on Tuesday 24 March 2020, buildings will be fully closed on the Canterbury and Medway campuses with staff working from home. While the majority of students have returned home and will remain at home until campus returns to normal operations, student residences remain open for those that need to stay with us.

This closure also applies to the Templeman Library building and the Drill Hall Library. However, the comprehensive digital library service will continue to be provided to all staff and students and additional collaboration technology has now been deployed to the whole university to ensure that meetings and student collaboration can continue for the remainder of the academic year. IT and Library support services continue to be available.

Please follow the updated advice and do not come onto campus. We are working with Estates and Commercial services colleagues to also put this action in place and managers in these areas will be in touch as appropriate to advise colleagues on actions they need to take. Estates Heads of Section will contact those essential staff this evening that are required to attend tomorrow.

Please contact your line manager for further information. Further updates will be given tomorrow.

In the meantime my good wishes to you and your families.

Karen

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President

Calling all student, staff and alumni musicians at the University of Kent!

In the current situation, we are all having to find new ways to keep collaborative arts projects, such as rehearsing and performing music, alive – hence the Virtual Music Project!

Our first project is to put together a virtual performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria – and we want YOU to be involved! From wherever you are, we want you to record your instrumental or vocal part and send it, and we will build a virtual recording of everyone taking part.

You can find the choral scores to the piece via this document 

And the instrumental parts – violins, viola, cello, double bass, oboe, trumpet – via this document.

The Deputy Director of (virtual) Music, Dan Harding, will be making a recording of the harpsichord part and sending it out for people to listen to and play or sing along as they make their own audio recording. You will then be asked to upload your recording to a private folder, from which the final version will then be layered together.

So, what are you waiting for ?! Download your part now, start learning and practicing, and when the keyboard recording is available, rehearse with it, make and upload your recording, and we’ll put the finished version together. And if you can send a selfie of your making the recording too, from your living-room, kitchen, student flat, study, garden, wherever you are in the world, even better.

And don’t worry if your instrument isn’t involved in this first project: there’ll be more to come, including jazz and chamber repertoire, to get everyone making music.

Hope you are all looking after yourselves and each other at the moment, and taking the opportunity to keep practicing – the University of Kent Virtual Music Project is an opportunity to keep making music with each other, and will be with you wherever you may be!

Kent Law School is hosting a book launch and reception on Monday 23 March for two books: The Slave Trade, Abolition and the Long History of International Criminal Law and The Exclusionary Politics of Digital Financial Inclusion.

The Slave Trade, Abolition and the Long History of International Criminal Law, by Kent international law specialist Dr Emily Haslam offers a close and critical examination of litigation that arose from British efforts to capture slave ships in the nineteenth century. Drawing upon archival-based research, it explores the legal construction of so-called ‘recaptives’ (slaves found on board captured slave ships). The book argues that, notwithstanding its promise of freedom, the law actually constructed recaptives restrictively. Speakers for this book will be: Professor Michael Lobban (LSE) and Dr Christine Schwobel-Patel (University of Warwick).

The Exclusionary Politics of Digital Financial Inclusion, by Dr Serena Natile (Brunel University London), examines and critiques the narratives and institutions of digital financial inclusion as a development strategy for gender equality, arguing for a politics of redistribution to guide future digital financial inclusion projects. Speakers for this book will be: Dr Luis Eslava (Kent Law School) and Professor Kate Maclean (Birkbeck).

The book launch will be held from 4pm – 6.30pm in Eliot Senior Common Room. It is jointly hosted with the Law School by the Centre for Sexuality, Race and Gender Justice (SeRGJ), the Centre for Critical International Law (CeCIL) and the research group Social Critiques of Law (SoCRIL).

Nominations are open for the Kent Student Awards which recognise and celebrate the outstanding contribution students make to the Kent student experience.

Do you know an inspirational Kent student or group of students? Well why don’t you show your appreciation by nominating them for a Kent Student Award? The nomination deadline is 22 March.

There are 9 categories such as Outstanding Contribution to Student Voice, Outstanding Contribution to Media and the Arts and Outstanding Contribution to the Community.

The Kent Student Awards 2020 garden party awards ceremony takes place on Friday 29 May 2020.

Winners will receive a trophy, a brick in the ‘Footsteps Path’ and recognition of the achievement on their Higher Education Achievement Report.

The awards launched in 2014 and since 2018 has been co-led by Kent Union and the University of Kent.

Lisa Bayly, our MSc Applied Dental Professional Practice graduate signed up to the Smile Star Charity trip to India in February. The Smile Star charity helps those that have no or very limited access to dental and medical care.

Lisa told us: “Badiani hospital in Khambalia was our first venue. The Smile Star team was made up of volunteers: dentists, a doctor and the support team. We took our own equipment with us, so we had everything we needed to set up our clinical area in the main hall using waiting room chairs and a long table to lay out our dental equipment. That day, we saw over 180 patients.

Our second venue was in the Bhatia village hall. We were inundated with patients, some who had been in pain for days or weeks due to a lack of access to local or free dental care.

Day three, however, was our most humbling experience. We set up in Karamyog school in Jam Kalyanpur and were the first Western organisation to visit this place. The welcome we received was remarkable. Hundreds of people lined up with the Dholi drummers and dancers to welcome us. Truly humbled by the hospitality, we got to work for our busiest day yet. During three days we saw just under 1000 patients for dental or medical care, each one grateful for the care we gave and each filling our hearts for the Indian people a little more.

I would recommend others thinking about something like this to sign up for the Smile Star charity as it’s such a rewarding and humbling thing to be able to do.”

The Centre for Professional Practice offers flexible, part-time, work-related programmes and CPD courses for working professionals. To find out more visit Professional Practice.

Staff are the University’s most valuable asset and their health and wellbeing is extremely important.

There are a number of ways that colleagues across our campuses and centres can access support and advice as and when they need it. These include a new Employee Assistance Programme specifically for Kent employees, as well as access to specialist advisers across the University.

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

This new scheme offers University staff easy access to expert help with both workplace and personal issues. Whether you have questions on issues from debt and landlords, to nutrition and stress, our new EAP website should have the answers. To log-in, use the username: uokent and the password: university.

Alternatively, you can phone the providers, Care first/Sodexho, free of charge on 0808 168 2143 and get free and confidential advice from an information specialist or accredited counsellor.

Face-to-face counselling (up to eight sessions) is available through the EAP, not just phone or online advice. Following an initial telephone assessment by a qualified counsellor, there can be a referral to a counsellor within your locality.

Occupational Health support

As well as EAP, the University has a dedicated Occupational Health team whose remit is to:

• prevent work-related ill health
• facilitate rehabilitation and return to work following periods of illness or injury
• promote physical and mental health and wellbeing at work.

Your line manager can refer you to Occupational Health or you can opt for self-referral. Find out more on the Safety, Health and Environment website or the OH team’s Health and Wellbeing webpages.

Talking to your line manager

Don’t forget that your line manager can also support you on health and wellbeing issues – either directly or pointing you to the right colleague/place to ensure you get the support you need.

If you are able, speak to your line manager first. There may be a simple solution and they are not going to know you have a problem unless you discuss it with them.

Line Managers can also take advantage of advice available from the EAP.

HR contacts

Our HR department is responsible for a number of staff wellbeing policies – from special leave to flexible working.

The Employee Relations and Business Partnering Team provide line managers and other colleagues with specialist, professional advice, guidance and policy implementation on those policies, amongst others. Each area of the University has a specific Business Partner and Employee Relations Adviser – find out who yours is on the HR website. Please use the general ERBP team email to make initial contact on ERBP@kent.ac.uk. This address is monitored 09.00 to 17.00, Monday to Friday and using it will enable us to deal with your query as quickly as possible.

Colleagues in Estates and Commercial Services have their own dedicated HR teams who can advise as necessary.

Development opportunities

Our Learning and Organisational Development team, part of HR, also provides a wide range of personal and professional development opportunities for staff across the University. Courses include Mental Health Awareness, Crucial Conversations, Promoting Inclusion, and Resilience and Wellbeing.

Find out more on the L&OD website.

Staff representatives

Staff representation and consultation are key to good employee relations

Our Joint Staff Negotiating and Consultation Committee (JSNCC) is the main forum for consultation between the University and our staff on all matters of mutual interest. Membership includes both staff and trades union representatives, who can share your concerns with other members of JSNCC. Find out more about the JSNCC and who your representatives are on the JSNCC webpages.

You may also wish to seek advice/support directly from your trade union if you are a member.

The University has a number of trade unions active across its campuses and centres, including:

• GMB – mainly representing staff in grades 1-6
• University and College Union (UCU) – mainly representing academic and academic-related staff.
• Unison – mainly representing staff in grades 1-6
• Unite – mainly representing technical staff.

Find out more about trade unions and campus representatives on the HR Information for Staff webpages.

Colleagues are invited to the next E-Learning Forum which takes place on Friday 27th March 2020, 13:00-14:30 in the UELT Seminar Room.

In this session the E-Learning team will explore the use of podcasting in academia. Podcasting has had something of a renaissance in recent years, particularly for the sharing of practice and ideas in academic practice and research. In this session, the team will provide practical advice on how staff can create their own podcasts and begin to share them more widely. The session will then look at examples of how podcasting is currently being utilised in academia and will include input and thoughts from Dr Chris Deacy from SECL; creator of the popular ‘Nostalgia’ podcast series at Kent.

Please sign up to attend by completing this booking form.