No matter where you’re working from, whether from home or on campus, these top 10 tips from Sarah Fisher, User Experience and Digital Content Officer, will help you make the most of Kent IT services.

1. Save your work to the cloud

Have you used your OneDrive yet? It’s the online equivalent of a personal folder to save your work and access it anywhere. You can easily share documents with colleagues for comment and collaborative working. See our OneDrive for Business guide

2. Chat online, and collaborate around topics

Microsoft Teams lets you have audio, video or text chats with staff and students online. Don’t just use the chat feature: ask for a team or a channel to get the full benefits of shared storage space for organising work around a theme. You can set up a team and different channels to help you more easily work within your team, and across teams and silos. Save files to Teams if a specific group of staff will benefit from accessing it on a regular basis. See the Teams guide

3. Microsoft 365 offers so much more

You can organise your to do list, plan project work across teams,  record meetings and share video, create an online calendar for booking resources, and more. Check out the different apps now available in our Microsoft 365 guide

4. New: Software Finder

Find the software and apps to help both staff and students work and study in our expanded Software Finder. The site started out as a directory of recommended productivity tools, but now houses all the software that Kent buys on your behalf. It tells you what’s available on staff and student PCs as well as your own devices, and how to access it. For a quick overview and to use it, see our Software guide

5. Slow internet day? Restart your router

If you’re internet is slower than usual and its affecting your access to Kent resources, restarting your internet router can really help.

We recommend giving your web router a weekly reboot if you can. Turn it off for a few minutes and then turn it back on to see the difference. Make it a Monday morning task to start the week with full speed ahead!

6. Stay connected with virtual tea breaks

Virtual tea breaks are so important when you’re working from home. Many teams have regular tea breaks once a day so that everyone gets the opportunity for human connection. MS Teams makes this easy to set up: set up a Teams meeting as a recurring calendar appointment.

7. Time your meetings to include microbreaks

To make sure everyone can take breaks between online meetings, limit them to 50-55 minutes rather than a full hour. Try not to commit to attending two or three meetings consecutively without giving yourself a break!

8. How is your home office set up?

Did you know you can move a wired PC to anywhere in the house? It doesn’t have to be within reach of a network connection. A network power socket adaptor will let you connect to the internet via a power socket.

Remember too that you need to optimise the space to make sure your set up is ergonomic. Log into the University of Kent workstation assessment tool if you want to check.

9. Only use the VPN when necessary!

Our Forticlient VPN is there to help connect to the Kent network when you need it. Try and remember to disconnect from it when you no longer need it. You don’t need it to use Teams or OneDrive. If everyone disconnected when not needed this would help improve its speed for everyone else. More about VPN and how to access it

10. New Library and IT website

Find out about the range of services on offer and how to access them. Have a look to see what you can benefit from, or to ask us for help with any of our services: kent.ac.uk/library

Earlier this week, the Prime Minister announced a new three-tier system to ‘simplify and standardise’ coronavirus lockdown across England.  The new system will see different parts of the country placed in one of three categories dependent on rates of infection.  At present, Canterbury and Medway are still seeing comparatively low rates, and at this point are in the lowest tier of restrictions. I would like to thank all staff and students in our community, who are all contributing to keeping each other safe by continuing to follow guidance on hand-washing, face coverings and keeping social distance. To date, the number of positive cases among our staff and students continues to be low.

We continue to operate in accordance with Government guidelines, combined with Health and Safety advice and support from the local Health Protection teams in Kent and Medway and to deliver a mix of face-to-face and online activities for our students. This approach, of course, varies from programme to programme, colleagues are keeping all of this activity under review and will make adjustments to ensure the safety and wellbeing of both staff and students. We have a range of support in place for both staff and students and will continue to respond to concerns as they arise.  As I mentioned last week, plans are being are being put in place across the University to enable us to respond to any changes we might be required to make in the delivery of our core activities. We will continue to update our Covid webpages on a regular basis.

This week the Government also announced that next year’s GCSEs and A/AS levels will be held three weeks later to help address the disruptions caused by Covid-19. A/AS level results will be on 24 August and we will now begin to look at what this might mean for our admissions processes.

With my greatest thanks for all the hard work that is taking place across the University at this challenging time.

My very best wishes go to you and your families.

Karen

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President

Canterbury has been selected as a location for an exciting 12-month electric scooter trial, launching in the coming weeks.

Initially the trial will run on a controlled set route, on cycle lanes, minor roads and selected paths, serving students and staff from the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University.

You can use the electric scooters as an easy way to get around without the need for car travel, therefore reducing your carbon footprint and easing congestion.  The scooters are all GPS connected and the speed can be set remotely depending on where they are. In busier areas the speed will be walking pace, and in cycle lanes they will go up to 15mph. If the scooters deviate from the approved route, they will slow down and stop.

The electric scooter scheme is a joint venture between the city and county councils and a leading electric scooter sharing company, Bird. Currently Bird operates in more than 100 cities across the globe.

During our trial, the e-scooters will use the same road space as bicycles and will not be allowed on the pavement or outside of the trial area. This is in line with the government guidelines.

If successful, it will be opened up to a broader area, helping the whole community get around without creating congestion or harmful emissions.

You can learn more about the electric scooter trial on the Canterbury city council blog.

Good news! To welcome you back to campus, the Kent Sport Physiotherapy Clinic is offering a discount on massages for a limited time only, so it’s best to book in early! From 12 October to 30 November 2020, you can enjoy a 30 minute massage for £22 to help you get rid of those nagging aches and pains. This offer is available to all staff, students and public –  regardless of whether you have a Kent Sport membership or not.

To book an appointment, email physio@kent.ac.uk and we will be able to provide you with all the instructions. You can also call us on 01227 824375.

The safety of our clients and staff is of the highest priority. We have implemented several safety procedures to ensure that we can still offer massages in a Covid-secure environment. Full information and FAQs on our response to Coronavirus can be found on the Kent Sport webpage.

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 12 October – Friday 16 October) webinars are as follows:

Monday 12 October 2020 –  ‘How Care first can support you & an update on our services’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link.

Tuesday 13 October 2020 – ‘Budgeting with Care first’
Time: 12.00-13.00 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 14 October 2020 –  ‘Supporting loved ones who are isolated’
Time: 14.00-15.00 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 15 October 2020 – ‘Understanding and supporting a Covid-19 recovery’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 16 October 2020 – ‘Menopause Awareness’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

We know many of you will have missed playing tennis over the last year, particularly with the current situation limiting options for staying active. That’s why we are absolutely delighted to announce that the brand-new Indoor Tennis and Events Arena will be open for bookings from Monday 12 October! This enhanced facility provides the University of Kent with four high-quality indoor acrylic tennis and netball* courts, easier facility access and will provide an exceptional conference and events space in the future.

Tennis is open to book for all members – simply login to your online account and book ‘tennis’ under ‘Activity’. You don’t have to be a tennis pro or even know all the rules, our courts are open for everyone to enjoy. And with social distancing measures in place, we are Covid-secure. Booking for all Kent Sport sessions, including tennis, is essential and can be done on the Kent Sport Horizons webpage .

For more information on booking and procedures for this new facility, see our Indoor Tennis and Events Arena news item.

We’re really excited to be able to offer indoor tennis again, and we hope to see you all very soon.

*Netball courts will be available at a later date. Details to be announced.

For Kent Sport facility updates and developments, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or visit our website

Eighty-five academic colleagues are celebrating their promotion to professor, reader, senior lecturer or senior research fellow in the 2019-20 academic year.

The new professors are:

Division of Arts and Humanities

Julie Anderson (History), Juliette Pattinson (History), Henrik Schoenefeldt (Architecture and Planning), Anna Schaffner (Comparative Literature)

Professor Anna Schaffner

Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

Richard Guest (Engineering and Digital Arts), Rachel McCrea (Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science)

Professor Rachel McCrea

Education Directorate

Kathleen Quinlan

Division of Human and Social Sciences

Markus Bindemann, (Psychology), Matthew Skinner (Anthropology and Conservation)

Professor Matthew Skinner (with Professor Tracy Kivell)

Kent Business School

Joseph Amankwah-Amoah

Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice

Lindsay Forbes (Centre for Health Services Studies), Karen Jones (PSSRU)

Division of Natural Sciences

John Dickinson (pictured – Sport and Exercise Sciences), James Hopker (Sport and Exercise Sciences)

Professor John Dickinson

Alison Ross-Green, Director of HR and Organisational Development, said:

‘The University is dependent upon the personal growth and career attainment of its academic staff to refresh, develop and strengthen our organisation for the future. Congratulations to all those promoted in 2019-20. Your hard work and focus on excellence help to ensure the outstanding student experience, research achievement and funding that is so important to our success going forward.’

You can see the full list of Academic Promotions 2019-20 here.

NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex (ARC KSS) will be holding a series of webinars during October and November to engage stakeholders on its first year achievements and discuss future plans.

The five webinars will include presentations from four ARC KSS themes (social care, dementia and healthy ageing, starting well children and young people’s mental health and primary and community care) in conjunction with ARC KSS’s four cross-cutting themes (health and social care economics, public health, digital and co-production) to showcase the impact ARC KSS is making in meeting local needs, engaging the public, and improving research capacity.

The ARC KSS Academy team will also be holding a separate event to discuss their plans to support researchers across health and social care applied research through learning, development and mentorship opportunities.

ARC KSS brings together NHS Trusts, local authorities, universities, KSS AHSN, communities and other partners to support applied research to improve health and social care for patients and families in Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

The collaboration, hosted by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and led by ARC KSS Director, Professor Stephen Peckham, is designed to ensure the learning from research is implemented more rapidly and systematically to improve the health care of patients and the public.

Full details on all of the events, including how to sign up, can be found on ARC KSS’s Eventbrite page 

Organising for Success brings together work to ensure we are equipped to deliver our Kent 2025 strategy, driven by our six new academic Divisions which will launch on 1 November 2020.

Following the recent consultation on proposed professional services structures across the University, recruitment and appointment to roles is ongoing, with a full organisational structure due to be shared later in the month. We will also share a series of guides to the new university structure alongside this, ahead of ongoing work throughout the year to introduce new teams and focus on how we work together as the new Divisions take shape. 

Divisional Leadership Roles 

Appointments continue to be made to academic leadership roles within Divisions, with a latest list available on the Organising for Success staff webpages. New mailing lists have also been set up to bring together role holders in the different portfolio areas, including: 

• research-directors@kent.ac.uk 
• education-directors@kent.ac.uk 
• postgraduate-directors@kent.ac.uk  

Heads of Profession 

Work is ongoing to finalise the full list of Heads of Profession, who will be matched with the new structure to ensure all professional service staff in Divisions have a clear alignment with their wider professional service area. New role holders include Paul Sinnock, following his recent appointment as Head of Technical Services.  

Heads of Profession will play a key role in ensuring that each professional community is supported and empowered to work to the same high standard across the University. A further update including the final list of Heads of Profession will follow later in the month. 

Governance, Processes and Communications 

Alongside new appointments, work is continuing to support the transition to the new structures and refine the processes that underpin them wherever possible. As part of this, a new online-only Finance authorisation process will launch later in the month, while a number of the updates to the University’s governance, regulations and quality framework reflecting the transfer of responsibilities to Divisions have also been published.

Detailed work is also ongoing to introduce new mailing lists and Teams channels to help people across the University communicate with new stakeholder groups formed through the divisional structure. This will also support work to simplify how we communicate at Kent, reducing duplication and out-of-date email lists where relevant. An update on official University-wide lists and channels to use will be included in the wider guides to the new structures later this month. 

Find out more about Organising for Success 

Everybody has their own level of mental health, the same as their own level of physical health.  A person’s mental and physical health interact closely and are strongly connected.  Poor physical health will affect someone’s mental wellbeing, no matter how emotionally resilient they are.

Therefore everybody needs to have a good understanding of how to maintain good mental health and how to interact with people who may be struggling with mental health issues.  Saturday, 10 October is World Mental Health Day.  All mental health charities mark the day with their own campaigns.  The Mental Health Foundation’s campaign encourages people to communicate with ‘Tea and Talk’; MIND encourages people to ‘Do One Thing for Better Mental Health’.

The University has several resources and support mechanisms in place for staff struggling with issues that are affecting their mental health.  Staff can self-refer to Occupational Health.  The University’s Employee Assistance Programme offers leaflets, telephone counselling, face to face counselling and an information line:

University of Kent – Care first – Employee Assistance Resource; Log in = uokent; Password = university

OH has been running a series of blog articles since the Covid 19 crisis began and many of these focus on mental health and the challenges of working from home and working through change.  These are accessible on the Health and Wellbeing website

Learning and Organisation Development will be running an additional Virtual Training Session on Mental Health awareness with Anna Minogue; details coming soon.

Here are 10 Top Tips for maintaining good mental health

5 General Tips

1. Connect with other People: good relationships are important as they can help build a sense of belonging and self-worth, give you an opportunity to share positive experiences and provide emotional support to others

2. Be Physically Active: Evidence shows being active can improve your mental wellbeing by raising your self-esteem, helping set goals and achieve them and can cause chemical changes in your brain which can help to positively change your mood

3. Keep Learning: Research shows that learning new skills can improve mental wellbeing by boosting self-confidence and raising self-esteem, helping build a sense of purpose and connection with others

4. Give to Others: Research suggests that acts of kindness can help create positive feelings and a sense of reward, giving you purpose and self-worth and help connect with other people. Examples are small acts of kindness towards other people, or volunteering in your local community

5. Living in the Moment: Paying more attention to the present moment can improve your mental wellbeing, including your thoughts, feelings, your body and the world around you. ‘Mindfulness’ can help you enjoy life more and understand yourself better

5 Tips for Good Mental Health at Work

1. Maintain Boundaries: Don’t let work activities creep into your personal time.  This is more important now when most of us are based working from home.  Put in boundaries of time and space for your work activities.

2. Keep in Contact: Prioritise Team meetings, in Teams, Zoom or telephone.  This is your work community and they understand the challenges of your work better than anyone else.  If you’re having a bad day, reach out to a colleague.

3. Take Breaks: ensure you maintain breaks in your home-working routine.  Breaks are especially important if your home workstation set-up is not as ergonomic as it should be.

4. Take your Holidays: 2020 is probably the weirdest work year for all of us and the lack of certainty can completely throw our sense or normality.  Working in this alternative way means it’s important we take time away from work, to rest and enjoy ourselves.

5. Reach out to your Manager: if you find yourself struggling or feel overwhelmed you can access lots of the University resources (see information above). You can also  talk to your supervisor or manager, or  consider contacting someone else in your management line or HR or OH.  The University has a Psychological Wellbeing Standard in place which contains an Individual Stress Risk Assessment Tool.