Dr Tamara Rathcke, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics in the Department of English Language and Linguistics, has been awarded a grant by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation.

Tamara currently holds a research grant from the Leverhulme Trust for a project entitled “Does language have groove? Sensorimotor synchronisation for the study of linguistic rhythm”, to investigate entrainment with language by native listeners of French and English. This research is among the first attempts to apply the sensorimotor synchronization technique to the study of rhythm in language.

There are currently no existing three-way language comparisons of sensorimotor synchronisation patterns from rhythmically distinct languages, traditionally associated with the syllable-timed (French), stress-timed (English) and the mora-timed (Japanese) group. Funding from the Sasakawa Foundation will support a direct comparison of the sensorimotor synchronisation performance between native speakers of Japanese, English and French and will help illuminate the link between the acoustic signal and its rhythmic perception. This research will contribute to the controversially debated topic of language rhythm, potentially creating a fundamentally new ways of conceptualising the phenomenon.

Four final-year Hispanic Studies students spent three weeks in Havana during the Easter vacation on a work placement thanks to funding from the Faculty of Humanities Mobility Fund and the generosity of John Washington, a donor to the University.

Two students worked at the University of Havana teaching English, and two worked as translators for the cultural journal La Jiribilla. Dr William Rowlandson, Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies, said: ‘The placements offered cross-cultural engagement and skills exchange, and the students benefited from immersed language practice in context, increased spoken fluency, broadening of cultural horizons, and the development of specific skills including teaching, presenting and translation.’

Carla Biondi commented: “Within the first day, [Cuba] had exceeded all my expectations. I suddenly understood what I’d always been told: ‘Cuba has to be seen, it can’t be described’”.

João Martins Pereira said: “As an aspiring teacher, the experience proved to me that it is still possible to learn and teach incredible lessons even if the only resources to hand are passion, dedication, a chalkboard and a slightly outdated textbook. During the placement, we gave presentations on the UK education system, British stereotypes, and even an amusing quiz on the English language and British culture. At the end of the placement, we gave the students some England football team branded wristbands and some keyrings kindly donated by Kent Union. Overall, it was an amazing experience which I would not hesitate to do again if I had the chance.”

Stephen Hockley described the experience as: “…fantastic and so rich. To have been the recipient of an internship that took me across the world and into the suburbs of Havana is always going to be a cool thing. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity.”

Dr Paul March Russell, Lecturer in the Department of Comparative Literature, gave a keynote address at the Borders, Intersections and Identity in the Contemporary Short Story in English conference at the University of Santiago de Compostela in May.

Paul’s topic was Daisy Johnson’s short story collection, Fen, which he explored in terms of the borderlines between human and animal identities, especially between the blurred lines between human and natural activity in the East Anglian landscape.

Paul also gave another keynote address titled ‘On the Threshold of Sexual Difference: Re-Gendering the Eerie in Daisy Johnson’s Fen’ at the Current Research in Specualtive Fiction conference in Liverpool on Thursday 6 June. Here, Paul continued to explore Johnson’s work while also discussing his preliminary researches into New Wave science fiction and the Decadent imagination.

“Both talks examined Daisy Johnson’s short story collection, Fen, in relation to Mark Fisher’s conceptualisation of the eerie,” Paul explains, “The first did so by looking at a series of ‘border crossings’ – geopolitically (the relationship of the Fenland periphery to the economic heartland of ‘Silicon Fen’), geologically (the deep time of the Fens), and ecologically (in the encounters between humans and other kinds of non-human life). The second drew on the last of these themes, and explored in more depth Derrida’s claim that human-animal encounters occur ‘on the threshold of sexual difference’ by examining the ways in which Johnson describes sexuality through the meetings between human, animal and non-organic life-forms.”

As of midday on 12 June 2019 all professional services, academic and research staff are able to use Staff Connect to submit expense claims replacing the existing paper based solution.

If you need assistance with transitioning to the new system please contact the Payments Office at expenses@kent.ac.uk

The Staff Connect Expenses module allows for the submission of expense claims online and to attach scanned copies of receipts to the claim. The claim will then be forwarded, via the system, to an agreed Authoriser within your area, for approval. 

Once the claim has been approved it will be forwarded automatically for payment. Payments will be made on a fortnightly basis into the same bank account used for your salary payments.

Drop-in sessions

Drop-in sessions will be held in the period following the launch of the expenses module to allow anyone who wishes to attend for informal training, support and to answer any questions. Please find dates, times and room locations within Cornwallis South East Octagon below:

Wednesday 12 June all day – SE14

 Thursday 13 June 10.00-12.00 – SE20

 Tuesday 18 June 10.00-12.00 – SE20

 Wednesday 19 June 14.00-16.00 – SE14

 Monday 24 June 14.00-16.00 – SE14

 Friday 28 June 10.00-12.00 – SE20

 Medway Thursday 20 June 09.00-12:30 – G4-04

 Further help:

 If you have any questions about Staff Connect and the launch of this new module, there is guidance, including a frequently asked questions section, on the Staff Connect website. To find out more about using Staff Connect to make expense claims, please come to one of the demo and drop-in sessions available for all staff and line managers. There is a high level guide available in relation to the process for submission and approval. Please go to support to find out more. Online user guides are available.

In the latest episode of the Nostalgia podcast series, Dr Chris Deacy, Reader in Theology and Religious Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, speaks to Katy Hanrahan, who works in special needs education and attended the University of Wales, Lampeter.

Katy and Chris talk about Teeside, growing up against the backdrop of an industrial region whose heritage has now gone, being the first in her family to go to university, and Katy’s keenness from a young age to learn about people from different backgrounds. We also find out about what Katy’s perceptions were of returning to Teeside after spending three years in Lampeter and finding that nothing had changed. The conversation then turns to childhood memories and what she remembers doing. We discover that Katy has always been very animal-centred, including having a passion for looking after horses from a young age, as well as why her mother pushed her into something she could thrive at.

Very sadly, Roger Smith, Domestic Assistant, passed away in May.

Roger worked for Kent Hospitality for 11 years and was part of the housekeeping team in Darwin. As a colleague and friend, he will be greatly missed.

Learning & Organisational Development (L&OD) are running a number of opportunities taking place during June, July, August and September.

Further information about the opportunities, can be found on the L&OD website.

If you are interested in attending, please book via Staff Connect.

The next Drill Hall Dialogue talk is being held at the Guildhall Museum room DA002 in Rochester on Tuesday 11 June 2019 at 10.00. The focus is on Upnor Castle and the Dutch Raid.

Plague and Fire swept through London in the 1660s and have become established as infamous episodes in England’s history. But the disaster that followed is less well-known, and it happened right here, on the River Medway. This illustrated talk will look at the causes of the event, at the people involved and how it all unfolded in a few momentous days in June 1667.

Dr Jeremy Clarke, who is giving the talk, has been Education Officer at the Guildhall Museum in Rochester since 1998. He is responsible for all formal education and learning programmes supported by the museum collection or its listed buildings.

Most of his work is with or in local schools, but he also runs courses, lectures and illustrated talks for adults. He has also run partnership projects to support children in making music for Dickens’s novels, in illustrating scenes from Great Expectations, and in working with actors at locations made famous by the novel. In 2010 he hosted a shared reading of Great Expectations in the original parts, timed to coincide with their publication 150 years before.

Drill Hall Dialogues is a monthly series of talks held at the Drill Hall Library, the learning resource centre for the Universities at Medway collaborative project. A wide variety of topics has been covered including prison libraries, NHS libraries, Dickens and Christmas, Medway regeneration, the Medway Floods of 1953 and Fort Amherst. We have also received talks from academics based on the campus including the Centre for Journalism (UKM) and the Faculty of Education (CCCU). The talks take place on the first or second Tuesday of the month and usually last no longer than 45 minutes with 15 minutes allotted for any questions and answers.  All staff are welcome to attend.

For more information visit www.campus.medway.ac.uk

DEADLINE: Monday 17 June by 17.00.

Ensure the correct name is on your graduation certificate.

There are strict rules governing your legal name which should appear in full on your certificate as on other legal documents, i.e. passport.

1. Check your name on Student Data System – this is how it will be printed on your certificate

If it is correct? You do not need to do anything further regarding your legal name.

If it is NOT correct, please see step 2 below.

2. If your legal name is not correct, you must contact the Central Student Administration Office.

You must contact CSAO (csao@kent.ac.uk) if your legal name is wrong before the deadline listed above. If you submit a name change after your ceremony, your certificate will not be reprinted.

L&OD are running two 2-day Introduction to Project Management courses as follows:

Tuesday 18 and Thursday 19 June 2019 from 09.30-16.30 on both days or Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 July 2019 from 09.30-16.30 on both days

This is an in-depth and practical course running over two full days and participants need to be working on a current University project to get the maximum benefit from the course.

Participants will;

• Develop an understanding for the need for a consistent approach to project management within the University
• Use the underlying principles contained within the University of Kent project management framework on all future projects
• Develop a personal action plan and work with a colleague post-course
• Be able to communicate the new project management approach to colleagues and partners within the University

Criteria for nomination:

• Nominees should be currently working on or about to start working on a key University project

Managers are asked to discuss attendance on the course with their staff, and then email nominations through to Ldev@kent.ac.uk