Planned Future are returning this academic year to facilitate further pre-retirement and mid-career sessions for all staff who want to plan ahead.

Pre-retirement workshops

The suggestion for the pre-retirement session is for staff who are aged 50+, but all staff are welcome.

We have three pre-retirement sessions available. One full day workshop and two bite size sessions.

The objectives of the full day workshop are:

• How to approach retirement and the change in lifestyle that it will bring
• Have a better knowledge of managing the financial side of retirement
• Have had the opportunity to network with colleagues who are also looking ahead

We have one full day session on Tuesday 19 May 2020.

The bite size sessions only cover the financial side.

The bite size sessions are on Monday 20 January 2020, at the Medway campus, and Tuesday 7 July, at Canterbury. As always, all staff are welcome to attend at either site.

Mid-career workshops

We have one bookable mid-career session on Tuesday 19 May.

The objectives of the mid-career session are:

• Learn how to manage your finances
• Understand how to protect your family financially
• Consider the options for saving and investment
• Learn how to top-up your pension
• Identify the personal and financial actions which will make the most of your finances
• Start the process of planning towards a successful retirement.

Please book your place for any of the workshops, through Staff Connect.

Colleagues are invited to attend the Learning and Teaching Network session titled ‘Intelligibility support for international staff’ on Wednesday 30 October, 13.15-14.30 in Cornwallis North West Seminar Room 6.

Presented by Rebecca Coleman, this workshop looks at intelligibility support for international staff and support staff at the University of Kent. 

We aim to highlight the importance of these staff members being clearly understood and present common issues that they may face. There will be the opportunity to discuss intelligibly issues that you have encountered and individually and in groups look at ways of improving them.

Further support offered by the Centre of English and World Languages (CEWL) in this domain will be mentioned at the end of the session.

Complete the online booking form to confirm your attendance.

If you enjoy playing film music and scores from classical musicals, come and try the Pops Orchestra at its first rehearsal!

An informal weekly play-through of popular film and musical scores (and conducted with varying degrees of success by the Deputy Director Music) Pops Orchestra is an informal ensemble open to all students, staff and alumni – no audition required!

Join us on Thursday 24 October at 1pm for an hour-long session including music from ‘Jurassic Park,’ ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and more, and turn your lunchtime into a musical journey across the silver screen…

New Modern Languages module SCL505 ‘Cultures of Sustainability’ has been inaugurated with an extra-curricular discussion about permaculture and the planting of an apple tree.

To mark the new module, permaculture expert Jo Barker held an informal discussion in the Kent Community Oasis Garden about the principles of permaculture, and the planting of a Red Falstaff heritage apple tree.

This was followed by a foraging walk, identifying the variety of hedgerow plants and ‘weeds’ that are edible and nutritious.

School Sustainability Champion and Module Convenor, William Rowlandson, who organised the session, commented: ‘It is important that we consider the scope of teaching beyond the confines of the seminar room and lecture theatre. Whilst this was an optional session and therefore not attended by all the group, it was a successful event, introducing the notion of the campus as a Living Lab and exploring the principles of permaculture and sustainability from the perspective of the Humanities. We hope to hold more similar events later in the semester and in subsequent years.’

There is still time to book your place on The TEF and Student Engagement Conference scheduled for Friday 8 November 2019 in Woolf Lecture Theatre on Canterbury campus.

The conference is open to all staff at the University. Further details and booking are available on our Teaching webpages.

This term Futsal open sessions run weekly on a Tuesday evening from 17.00-19.00 in the Sports Centre. Staff or students teams and individuals can drop in at any point during the sessions.

Futsal is free for Kent Sport Premium Plus and Plus members; and costs student Premium and Pay to Play members £4.50 per session. All genders welcome. 

What is Futsal?

Futsal is a great opportunity to try a different version of football, a game which so many know and love at Kent. Futsal is played indoors, with a smaller heavier ball; it is generally a quicker paced game which is more reliant on passing skills. Most popular in mainland Europe, Futsal falls in line perfectly with the University of Kent’s European identity.

Email sportsdevelopment@kent.ac.uk for more information.

Not a member yet? We have new membership options to suit your fitness journey. For Kent Sport news, events and special offers, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter @UniKentSports.

Dr Caroline Li‘s research in using brain imaging technologies and AI to generate images could be transformative in the way in which humans interact with technology to signal their preferences in design.

Caroline said; ‘We are now capable of using technology to understand and visualise what a person may be thinking using the brain’s EEG signals. So for example, if someone is unable to verbally communicate, we can tell that they are thinking about wanting to sit in a chair with deeper cushions. Or, using this technology I could also tell if you liked my shoes but would prefer them in red. This is something that could transform the ways that we use technology to personalise design to our wants and needs.’

Caroline is a collaborating supervisor of the paper ‘Human-in-the-Loop Design with Machine Learning‘ which looked into a design method where brain EEG signals are used to capture preferable design features, such as those for fashion or furniture.

The paper was recently recognised with two awards at the International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED19). The conference’s theme was Responsible Design for our Future and explored the impact designers impact may cause in a complex world we do not fully understand.

The paper was given The Design Society Distinguished Paper Award, which recognises papers distinguished for their quality of scholarship, creativity, or contribution to design practice. In addition, it also received a Reviewers’ Favourite award which acknowledged it was the top 10% of papers presented at ICED19, based on the scores given by the reviewers.

Kent Colleagues Connect builds on a number of very successful initiatives run by the Academic Division over the last couple of years which has brought together over 700 participants. The initiative provides opportunities for informal meetings between all colleagues across the university, whether based in schools or in central departments, either in an academic or a professional service capacity. The initiative is run with support from Commercial Services.

We are happy to announce that the first scheme we are bring back is Coffee with a Mystery colleague!

What? Complimentary (non-alcoholic) drink for two at one of the University’s catering outlets. This gives staff the opportunity to meet a colleague that may not normally get the chance to network with, as you will randomly be matched with a “mystery colleague”.

Who? This scheme is open to all staff across the University!

When? Drink vouchers will be redeemable for the whole of November and December 2019.

Where? Canterbury and Medway University catering outlets. 

How? Register by Friday 1st November.

To register for this scheme, visit the Learning and Organisational Development and complete the online booking form.

Over the summer, many of those involved in the Expression of interests for Signature Research Themes have been developing their ideas and expanding their scope by talking to researchers across the University and beyond. We now need your help as we prepare to select our first Themes.

Shortlisted groups will be asked to present their vision for their Theme to all interested colleagues from across the university on the morning of 29 November in Colyer-Fergusson. Everyone across the University is invited to attend – please put this date in your diary.

This will be a chance for all those present to ask questions, and then to sign up to be a part of any themes to which they think their work might contribute. Later on that day, a panel of internal and external, national and international  experts, chaired by our Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Karen Cox, will select the themes that currently best reflect who we are and give the chance to expand upon Kent’s research excellence.

These are our Research Themes, and our chance to shape what research at Kent looks like and how it works. Please come along and have your say on them.

Tim Hopthrow, Catherine Richardson, Dan Mulvihill and Sarah Slowe

Congratulations to the School’s Professor Irma Clots-Figueras who received the XVIII Banco Sabadell Foundation Award for Economic Research at an awards ceremony on 8 October 2019.

Irma received this highly prestigious award for her quantitative research on gender aspects of political economy. The award, which includes an endowment of 30,000 euros, aims to encourage and recognise the work of researchers in the fields of economic, business, legal and social knowledge and contribute to the analysis and formulation of alternatives that promote social welfare.

Established in 2002 and presented annually, the award is aimed at researchers under 40 who have an outstanding research curriculum in the aforementioned fields. Candidates for the award can be proposed by universities, academic and research centres, foundations, companies and other national and international institutions.

Irma was presented with the award by the president of Banco Sabadell, Josep Oliu, during an event at the headquarters of Sabadell Herro, in Oviedo, Spain, which was attended by the president of the Principality of Asturias, Adrián Barbón. Antonio Cabrales, Professor of Economics and Director of the Department of Economics at University College London and Executive Vice President of the European Economics Association, described Irma as “a special researcher in our country [Spain] in that her work highlights the interaction between political, social and economic development institutions”, and highlighted “her contributions to understanding how the participation of women in political life contributes not only to the well-being of women but to general well-being ”.

About the Banco Sabadell Foundation

The Banco Sabadell Foundation was established as a private foundation in 1994 with the aim of stimulating excellence and promoting knowledge of culture. Its objective is to promote dissemination, training and research activities in the educational, scientific and cultural fields, as well as to promote and support young talent.