Fancy getting your bike checked over for free? Visit Dr Bike on Thursday 21 February outside the Student Hub from 11.30-14.30.

Dr Bike are trained bicycle mechanics who regularly come onto campus to check and adjust your bike for free. The service is available to University of Kent and University of Greenwich students and staff.

Additional work will be quoted individually but will always be at a special reduced rate.

For more information visit our Dr Bike webpage

If you do not own a bike, check out the Rent & Ride cycle hire scheme.

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 Dr Jeremy Scott, Senior Lecture in the Department of English Language & Linguistics.

In this episode, the Jeremy discusses growing up in the ‘stab’ capital of the Metropolitan area; why pubs are an important part of the British landscape (and why their demise might be seen as an instance of secularisation); spending so much of his childhood outdoors; growing up in a musical house; the name of the first record that he bought; his passion for writing stories; putting on various ‘masks’ at university; being at odds with current literary practice; and why he is an ‘aspiring, recovering nostalgist’.

Coming up in just over two weeks will be Professor Darren Griffin, Professor of Genetics in the School of Biosciences, who is doing groundbreaking work on IVF, human sperm, how genes organise into chromosomes, and the genome structure of dinosaurs.

This workshop aims to provide an understanding of the appraisal (RPD) process, including how to plan for the discussion and how managers may wish to flex their approach to this.

It will also provide insights into some of the skills required to make the most of an appraisal (RPD) discussion and understanding of objective setting.

The workshop is aimed at all staff members who are interested in preparing for their appraisal (RPD) discussion and is taking place on Friday 22 February. Book your place by logging onto Staff Connect.

The winter/spring issue of the University magazine is out now.

Features in this edition include:

• Visiting and revisiting the Western Front 1919-1939, by Professor Mark Connelly
• On top of the scrapheap? Youth unemployment and the link to health and wellbeing, by Dr Olena Nizalova
• Staff profile – Lorraine Spence, Security Officer
• Student profile – Selena Snoding, Apprentice at Pfizer
• University and community news, and more!

Canterbury: You can currently pick up a copy from the Gulbenkian and the Sports Centre (Templeman Library coming soon).

Medway: Copies of the magazine will be available from the Deep End foyer from Friday afternoon.

Alternatively, if you’d like to be sent a copy in the internal mail, please email your name and location to Chris Wenham: c.wenham-455@kent.ac.uk

You can also take a look at the latest magazine online on the Alumni webpages.

Work has already started on the winter 2018 issue of the magazine, but if you’ve got ideas for it, please contact the Editorial Board via c.wenham-455@kent.ac.uk

Calling all staff, students and alumni! Please support us in our fundraising drive to enable the National Children’s Football Alliance (NCFA) and Slum Soccer to send a team of children from India to the 2019 Global Peace Games, a week-long peace education and football programme in Messines, Belgium.

How to get involved – Football Shirt Friday, 15 February
All staff, students and visitors are encouraged to support ‘Football Shirt Friday’ and contribute whatever they can via collection buckets in the Sports Centre reception and via the crowdfunding page – suggested minimal donation £2.

If you love your team, wear your shirt with pride on this Friday and support this great cause. If football doesn’t float your boat then you can wear a rugby or other team jersey accordingly.

We are also looking for cyclists to take part in the sponsored bike ride on Saturday 23 March. To enable as many cyclists as possible to take part, Football Shirt Friday will raise money to help the cyclists reach the baseline donation figure.

If every Kent student and member of staff contributed just a couple of pounds to the fund, it would make a huge difference towards making this opportunity a reality for as many young people as possible!

For further information about the cycle ride, please contact Oli Prior at o.prior@kent.ac.uk

For further information about the fundraising campaign, please contact Ernie Brennan at erniebrennan@thecfa.co.uk

This is a reminder that large Applicant Days are starting at Canterbury campus from Wednesday 13 February.

For large Applicant Days, parking will be reserved in Rutherford and Tyler Courts car parks, whereas for smaller Applicant Days parking will continue to be reserved in Giles Lane car park (the area behind Woolf).

While we do not expect parking on campus to be completely full, it may be helpful to consider car sharing or using alternative modes of transport where reasonably possible on the large Applicant Days. If you are able to work from home and wish to do so, please arrange this with your manager.

Large Applicant Days

Applicant Days are essential for recruiting new students to the University. The larger Applicant Days starting from next week tend to be held on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the Spring Term.

A significant number of bays (100-225 based on requests for parking from bookings) will be reserved in Rutherford and Tyler Court car parks to assist with parking on the following Applicant Days, as requested by Enrolment Management Services:

• Wednesday 13 February – 137 bays reserved (confirmed)
• Wednesday 20 February
• Wednesday 27 February
• Wednesday 6 March
• Wednesday 13 March
• Wednesday 20 March
• Wednesday 27 March
• Wednesday 3 April

Please note that the locations are subject to change. Keep up to date with the Transport Team newsletter and events calendar which we will update as details are confirmed.

Refer to our interactive parking map for parking areas.

Smaller Applicant Days

Up to 40 bays (based on requests for parking from bookings) will normally be reserved in Giles Lane car park (area behind Woolf) on the smaller Applicant Days to assist with parking as requested by Enrolment Management Services. These events are held on weekdays and Saturdays in the Spring term. The weekday dates are below:

• Thursday 14 February
• Thursday 21 February
• Friday 22 February
• Thursday 28 February
• Thursday 7 March
• Friday 8 March
• Thursday 14 March
• Thursday 4 April
• Friday 5 April

When numbers are confirmed they will be updated on the events calendar.

Dr Gloria Chamorro, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics in the Department of English Language & Linguistics, has recently been awarded a grant by the Amity Fund (in association with Kent Community Foundation) for her English Hub for Refugees project.

The project started in September 2016 and it involves undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University teaching English to young refugees for two hours every week. The refugees, who are between 16 and 18 years old, come from a range of backgrounds, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea, Syria and Sudan, and they have recently arrived in the country unaccompanied by adults. Many of them have had limited or no access to education because of conflict or because of the community they come from.

Dr Chamorro said: “I am very grateful to the Amity Fund and Kent Community Foundation for the award of this grant which will allow us to continue the important provision of free English classes for young refugees taught by our University students and will also enable the with the continued creation of language learning materials.”

Researchers in the School of Psychology are looking for participants aged between 25 and 40 or 65 and 80 years old to take part in our exciting research testing whether ‘brain training’ really works. This project is led by Prof Heather Ferguson, and is funded by a large European Research Council grant.

The research team uses a range of questionnaires and computer tasks to find out whether cognitive and social skills can be enhanced through training, and how these training effects might change at different ages.

As a thank-you, participants receive £50 cash, a small gift, and be reimbursed for reasonable travel expenses!

To find out more please email us at braintraining@kent.ac.uk

There will be a writing retreat for HEA Fellowship/Senior Fellowship on Wednesday 1 May at Medway campus, from 9.30-15.30.

The retreat is for all staff at Canterbury Christ Church, Kent and Greenwich Universities who are in the process of putting together a claim for their Fellowship or Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (now Advance HE).

Places on the retreat are limited, so do book your place before 20 April 2019.

If you wish to cancel your booking, please contact LTE-ADMIN@canterbury.ac.uk

The retreat is an opportunity for you to have protected time away from your ‘day job’ to focus on making progress with your application to become HEA Fellow or Senior Fellow. You will receive guidance and support from assessors of HEA claims, and share your ideas with others in a similar position. This will give you a chance to further your critical reflection on your professional practice, and transform your ideas into more structured notes and even start writing sections of your claim.

If you are interested in HEA Fellowship, please contact recognition@kent.ac.uk

Keynes College is pleased to welcome the ‘Staying Out’ exhibition that has been installed in the Keynes Gallery (above Dolche Vita). Curated from the LGBTQ archive at the Bishop’s Gate Institute, this exhibition vividly depicts the LGBTQ struggle over multiple decades, around the concepts of “Coming out”, “Protests”, “Pride” and “Equality”. 

For further information on exhibitions in Keynes College visit our events page.

Access the full LGBT+ History Month 2019 programme here.