From Claire Chapman | Talent & Org Development Consultant:

A lot has changed in our workplace in the past year. But the importance of diversity and inclusion hasn’t gone anywhere. And neither has the joy and power of recognizing the full value of everyone. June is pride month even though most of us are still working remotely we can still celebrate LGBTQIA+ employees in the workplace.

What is Pride Month?

Around the world, June is recognized as LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) Pride Month to commemorate a tipping point in queer history — the Stonewall Uprising, which lasted 6 days in Manhattan in June 1969 as police clashed with LGBTQ protesters.

It’s important to celebrate Pride in the workplace because we must acknowledge and recognize the accomplishments of the gay rights movement and our brave LGBTQ advocates. It’s about the people in the LGBTQ community and our allies who fight and continue to fight for equality’.

It must not be forgotten that the first Pride was not a celebration. It was a riot led by queer people of colour. Pride was born out of a struggle. And now, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought struggle back to LGBTQIA+ communities, as they are forced to lock down with families who may not be accepting.

Ideas for celebrating Pride Month in the remote workplace

• Get educated

Educate yourself in the history and weight of Pride and the LGBTQIA+ rights movement.

• Update your company email signatures

Add your pronouns to your email signature, (Pronouns means how you identify — he/him, she/her, they/them, for instance — and how you’d like other people to refer to you. This is a great, inclusive practice for everyone, even or especially if you’re cisgender!)

• Change your online meeting background

So celebrate with your background!

P-eople – Pride is about the people in the LGBTQ and allied community. Remember that our shared humanity is what is both celebrated and at stake in the global fight for full LGBTQ equality

R-esilience Pride stands as a powerful claim of self-worth and community celebration in contrast to historic ostracization of LGBTQ people.

I-nformation – Pride serves as an important milestone for employers to share information with their own workforce, customers and clients about the meaningful ways they engage with the LGBTQ community and are advocates for equality.

D-iversity Pride is the culmination of struggle to fully recognize the diversity of the community.

E-xpression – The visuals that often come to mind from Pride month are colourful, campy and fun. From tiaras to boas to floats and DJs, Pride is a celebration of individual and community

Why not increase your education and complete the Online training in Staff training Moodle on – Transgender Awareness and LGBTQI

Lynne Regan, Disability Adviser and Student Support and Wellbeing Administration Manager at Medway campus, tells us more about her role.

When did you join the University and why?

I joined the University in January 2008, initially in an administrative role within what was then the Disability and Dyslexia Support Service. I have stayed in the same department – what is now Student Support & Wellbeing, part of the Student Services Directorate – changing over the years from an administration role to a Disability Adviser role, alongside managing the office and administration for the Medway team.

Before joining Kent, I worked in freight forwarding for 10 years until leaving to have my children. I then held various home-based admin roles, which meant I did not have to return to the workplace until the children were older.

Can you tell us what your current role involves?

My current role has two elements. As a Disability Adviser, I support students with physical/sensory disabilities, long-term medical conditions and Autistic Spectrum conditions. This includes talking to students about their support needs, writing Inclusive Learning Plans, and helping students with their eligibility for support from the Disabled Students’ Allowance. I also handle enquiries from academic division staff and other central services, and present our services to new intake students at the start of each academic year.

As Student Support & Wellbeing Administration Manager for Medway, I manage a team of Educational Support Assistants and Administrators at the Medway campus, and work with the Head of Student Support & Wellbeing and Team Managers in Canterbury to ensure an equal and effective service for all students. I also oversee the running of the Student Services office at Medway, which includes the Mental Health and Specific Learning Difficulties Advisers for Medway, Study Skills Tutors and Mentors, Counselling team and the Careers and Employability Team.

Gillingham Building, Medway, where Lynne’s team is based

How has Covid affected your work and what sort of measures have you taken to overcome these extra challenges?

Covid-19 restrictions have changed the way we work in Student Support & Wellbeing and across the Student Services Directorate. Where appointments were previously in-person, we have had to adapt to providing support remotely. Some students benefit from this support method, whereas others have struggled with not being able to meet support staff in person.

Most of the Student Services team at Medway are currently working from home, with the exception of the Mental Health Adviser and Specialist Mentor. As Admin Manager, I have kept in weekly contact with the Administrators and we have a WhatsApp group for the Student Services team at Medway – mostly for social chat and daily challenges – which has helped to keep us all connected throughout this time. It also helps us keep up-to-date with changes in the University’s response to Covid where this has an impact on our service. 

Looking ahead, what are your plans for the next year or two?

To continue supporting students at Medway – hopefully, resuming in-person appointments soon – and supporting the Student Services team at Medway who do a fantastic job.

Away from my role in Student Support & Wellbeing, I have been actively involved, along with Medway Student Services colleagues, in Green Impact/Green 15/FutureProof, working on sustainability projects.

Biodiversity garden at Medway

Our biggest project at Medway is plans to bring a little bit of biodiversity to our rather concrete campus – by way of a woodland walk (through woods that have, until recently, been totally inaccessible), accessible seating areas, plants and other additions to help improve wellbeing and provide staff and students at Medway with somewhere nice to sit, gather, contemplate and enjoy the nature around us. After a false start and funding issues due to Covid interruption, this now looks as though it will be going ahead and I’m looking forward to being involved in the planning and development of this exciting project.  

Covid-restrictions permitting (!), what are your interests away from work?

I am a serial-studier! I started studying with the Open University in 1994 and have completed two undergraduate degrees and a postgraduate degree there, and also an MA in Higher Education at Kent. I am currently in the final stages of completing a Doctorate in Education at the Open University, with my research investigating the experiences of transgender students in higher education. Aside from this, I enjoy live events such as concerts and theatre, and I am looking forward to filling my diary with events again once Covid restrictions are lifted.

Lynne receiving her MA in Higher Education

What would be your idea of a perfect day?

Spending time with my family, something that I’ve missed over the last year and that I am looking forward to, hopefully, this summer.

Verifiable Credentials Ltd (VCL), a University of Kent spin-out, has recently been purchased by technology commercialisation company, Crossword Cybersecurity Plc, following CEO and Professor David Chadwick’s work to prove the commercial viability of the cyber security technology developed at Kent.

Crossword Cybersecurity was first introduced to VCL when David Chadwick, as Professor of Information Systems Security at the University of Kent, brought his academic team to participate in the InnovateUK / UKRI CyberASAP programme in 2019. The programme aims to help academics commercialise their cyber security ideas, and includes support and training from Crossword. This helped David Chadwick to convert the new technology resulting from his academic research into a commercial product.

The technology, known as Identiproof, is central to the issuing of digital certificates and documents that cannot be forged or transferred, and that respect the privacy of the holders of those certificates. It does this through the process of selective disclosure, whereby the recipient requests the minimum of information in conformance with GDPR. It is currently being used in a UK Government funded trial of COVID-19 certificates for East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT), and has applications including digital ticketing, certificates, licenses, memberships, passports, proof of ownerships, and more.

Having agreed to pay up to £2.75 million to acquire VCL, Crossword will not only gain this innovative technology, but also access to David Chadwick’s expertise in the field of digital identity and verifiable credentials, when he takes on the role of Product Director at the company. He will be joined at Crossword by VCL’s specialist development team.

David Chadwick said of the relationship, “Identiproof is unique in the market and with Crossword’s great structure, connections and sales team – we’re expecting to achieve excellent revenue growth.”

Tom Ilube, CEO of Crossword Cybersecurity plc, added, ‘VCL has unique knowledge and a fantastic product in the new era of W3C verifiable credentials – which can and should power COVID certificates as well as all manner of digital, secure and privacy-respecting credentials, certificates, tickets and proofs of ownership. We know Professor Chadwick and his start-up team well from CyberASAP and believe Identiproof is a perfect fit for Crossword as our third product. This acquisition comes at a time when we are experiencing great success from strategies to increase Rizikon market penetration, particularly the launch of Rizikon Pro. In the last 6 months this has increased 10 fold, with the number of Rizikon users exceeding 250.’

Shane Weller, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research & Innovation at Kent, commented, ‘The acquisition of Verifiable Credentials Ltd by Crossword Cybersecurity is a fantastic opportunity for both parties. Since first engaging with David and his team at Innovate UK’s Cyber ASAP programme two years ago, Crossword have shown enthusiasm and support for the start-up, driving a strong collaborative relationship between the two. This acquisition further confirms Crossword’s recognition of the value that academic knowledge fostered at Kent can bring to the process of innovation.’

Professor David Chadwick has an ongoing association as an Honorary member of the Institute of Cyber Security for Society (iCSS), at the University of Kent. iCSS represent the University as one of only 19 universities in the UK recognised as Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Research (ACE-CSR).

Our official Employee Assistance Programme provider, Care first offers a numbers of services and provide useful advice and support, including weekly webinars.

This week’s (Monday 7 June – Friday 11 June) webinars are as follows:

Monday 7 June 2021 – ‘How Care first Can Support You’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Tuesday 8 June 2021 – ‘Local lockdown anxiety’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 9 June 2021 – ‘Diabetes: How long term illnesses can affect our mental health’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 10 June 2021 – ‘Staycations this summer’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 11 June 2021 – ‘Supportive information for Carers’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

From Emma Mires-Richards | Liaison Librarian

Sign up to the Resourcing your module workshop on Monday 5 July at 14.00.

In this workshop we’ll support you in creating and revising your reading list so that first student experience is a positive one.

We’ll share our best practice tips and techniques for curating reading lists. We’ll consider wider implications of resourcing your module including e-book licencing models and what these mean for your teaching. We’ll also explore how to ensure your reading list is inclusive and representative.

This event will be livestreamed via Microsoft Teams.

Register for a place and a link to the event – Resourcing your module Tickets, Mon 5 Jul 2021 at 14:00 | Eventbrite

The launch event of this year’s Summer Music Week, the Music Department’s annual musical farewell to the academic year, takes place this Sunday, features the University Big Band, and will be livestreamed for the first time!

The concert launches this year’s more modest event series, and features final-year Social Anthropology student, Elle Soo, singing with the band, conducted as usual by the irrepressible Ian Swatman. It will be a welcome return to live music-making in Colyer-Fergusson for the first time since last year, and the inaugural livestreaming of a formal public concert by the Music Department.

Tickets for a socially-distanced live audience have sold out, but the event can be enjoyed live online on the Music Department’s YouTube channel.

The livestream will then remain online for future viewing.

Would you like to engage with a world outside of academia but are struggling to find a good space in which to do so? Perhaps you’d like to run a local skills workshop, set-up an arts exhibition, offer outreach activities, knowledge exchange seminars, focus groups or engage local community groups and businesses.

If so a pop-up shop in Ramsgate High Street might just be the ticket. This amazing opportunity is open to all staff and postgraduate students who would like to offer outward facing activities and events that underpin the University’s civic mission and help to cement its sense of place in the community.

Space in the shop is available thanks to the generosity of colleagues in the Division of Natural Sciences and their partner Discovery Planet who have secured funding to deliver science workshops to the region from September 2021 for two years.

Interested?

To gauge demand for the space we are asking for initial proposals for activities taking place in the academic year 2021/22.

The next step is very straightforward. For informal discussions or to apply simply email a free text expression of interest (maximum 500 words) to researchexcellence@kent.ac.uk by 1 July 2021 telling us:

• Who you are and where you work
• A little bit about your project and the audience
• Potential dates you’d like to use the shop between Sept 2021 – Aug 2022 (including set-up and take-down days if known)

Good luck – we look forward to hearing from you!

From Professor Richard Reece | Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Chair of Covid-19 Silver Command

Following last week’s update, Canterbury has had confirmation of further cases of Covid-19 and in particular those linked to one of the new variants of concern.

Whilst the number of cases remains low, to ensure any spread is limited as quickly as possible, Public Health England (PHE) have launched an enhanced testing programme for everyone living, working or studying in either the CT1 or CT2 7 postcodes. This precautionary measure includes our Canterbury campus and the majority of the city.

We strongly encourage all of you living, working or studying in the target postcodes to play your part by getting one of these additional tests as soon as possible. As the enhanced testing is specifically to locate cases of the new variant, this includes those of you who have been regularly completing asymptomatic tests in recent weeks, even if you have recently tested negative.

What you need to do

PHE have requested that anyone living, working or studying in the target postcode areas should attend an enhanced testing centre between the 1-15 June.

Two mobile units will be situated in Keynes College and Darwin Car Parks from Tuesday onwards, and will be open to staff, students and members of the public from 09.00-19.00 daily. There will also be several enhanced testing units around the city, with more information on locations online.

After your test, you can resume your normal activities whilst awaiting your test result. If you receive a positive test result, please inform us immediately by emailing StaffWellbeing@kent.ac.uk. You can find out more about what to do following a positive test on our Coronavirus staff information pages.

Please note that you do not need to be tested if you have had Covid-19 in the last 90 days.

Staying safe on campus

While we have not been asked to make any changes to current activity on campus, the recent developments show how vital it is that we all continue to keep each other safe in the weeks ahead by sticking to the latest government guidelines and the NHS guide on how to avoid spreading the infection. Infection. We have also carried out additional health and safety checks on campus to ensure key areas such as the Templeman Library are as safe as possible.

Finally, we will all need to remember to continue to get tested twice a week and report all positive results even after the enhanced testing has finished. This can be done either at our on-campus asymptomatic test centres or by using one of our home-test kits. Find out more about Covid testing.

I’m proud of how everyone has come together to keep each other safe over the last year –all of us keeping that up and doing our bit during this additional step will be a key part of supporting our community, so I want to thank everyone in advance for their continued cooperation.

With best wishes,

Richard

Professor Richard Reece | Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Chair of Covid-19 Silver Command

From September 2021, a number of University staff will be able to choose where they work for part of the week.

Under our new Hybrid Working Scheme – open to all professional services staff on UK employment contracts – you can request to work off-campus for up to two days per week.

The new scheme underlines the benefits of hybrid working for both the University and our staff. We believe that giving you more choice and control over where you work helps build mutual trust, employee motivation and wellbeing, and can result in enhanced performance. 

How will it work

Staff who are contracted to work on four days per week or more will be able to apply to work remotely up to two days per week. Staff who work on fewer than four days can apply for one remote working day per week.

Applications will be assessed by your line manager, with oversight by the departmental director, in line with agreed criteria. This will take account of what is operationally viable for you in your role, service requirements and the overall needs of your team. We will be encouraging managers to facilitate hybrid working wherever operationally possible.

The Hybrid Working Scheme has been developed in consultation with a JSNCC Working Group and cross-section of other key stakeholders across the University. Documentation will be shared with JSNCC in mid-June and the scheme will be open for applications after that. 

Find out more

Further information on the new Hybrid Working Scheme, including FAQs, is available now on our HR pages.