From Gemma Blackman | Centre for the Study of Higher Education

Universities have a responsibility to serve their societies and communities through access to education, resources, expertise, and consultancy.  Yet within a hypercompetitive global higher education sector that champions internationalisation, local needs can be neglected or deprioritised. This series of seminars from the Centre for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE) showcases a range of projects exploring higher education institutions’ civic responsibilities towards their wider societies and communities.

Becoming a University of Sanctuary: Lessons from the University of South Wales
9th March 2022 – 15:00-17:00 GMT
Venue: Online – Microsoft Teams

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The University of Sanctuary movement is a national network of university staff, lecturers, academics and students working to make Higher Education institutions places of safety, solidarity and empowerment for people seeking sanctuary. University of Sanctuary status is awarded to institutions that can demonstrate their commitment to creating a culture of welcome for people seeking sanctuary within, and beyond, their campuses.  In this seminar, Dr Cath Camps will reflect on the University of South Wales’ journey towards University of Sanctuary status, and outline number of associated ventures and initiatives at USW that are helping people displaced by war or persecution.  Attendees are invited to join in discussions concerning the University of Kent’s own application for University of Sanctuary status, planned for 2023.

With Dr Cath Camps, Deputy Director of the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching at University of South Wales.

For more details, see here.

Please note: this seminar is only open to University of Kent staff and students.

Reimagining Women Leadership Through Inclusive Community Engagement: Higher Education Resource Services – East Africa (HERS-EA)
23rd March 2022 – 13:00-14:00 GMT
Venue: Online – Microsoft Teams

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Higher Education Resource Services -East Africa (HERS-EA) is a women-centred leadership program for women in 7 African countries: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania. In this seminar, the founders will outline how low-resource, engaged scholarship has mobilised researchers in Higher Education to engage with women-specific issues in the community and produce publishable manuscripts, for the benefit of researchers, communities, and policy makers.

With Naomi Lumutenga, mobiliser, activist and public speaker; and Prof. Margaret Khaitsa, Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Mississippi State University, USA.

For more details, see here.

Problematizing dominant research commitments in Northern Ireland: Underserved local minority ethnic and migrant peoples
11th May 2022 – 13:00-14:00 BST
Venue: Online – Microsoft Teams

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In this research seminar, two academic citizens in Northern Ireland will share and reflect on their recent work with a newly formed think tank, the Migrant and Minority Ethnic Council (MME) and problematize the dominant research commitment of Northern Ireland research-intensive universities which underserve local minority ethnic and migrant peoples. They will share stories and insights from their different perspectives, professional positions, social locations and realms of influence. Their praxes are underpinned by a concern for how universities serve the local good, and the aim of raise consciousness about the (re)productions of inequality, marginalisation, and methodological nationalism and whiteness by UK universities.

With Dr Dina Zoe Belluigi, Senior Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast; and Dr Maurice Macartney, Public Affairs and Campaigns Office at Queen’s University Belfast.

For more details, see here.

Applications are invited for an exciting collaboration between the University of Kent, School of Arts and National Youth Jazz Collective.

The project addresses the changing profile of UK women jazz musicians in the 21st century, barriers to progression (educational and professional) and the relationship between artistic voice, gender and professional identity.

This is a unique opportunity to work closely with a prestigious national music education portfolio organization (NPO) and its network of partner arts organisations. Applicants will have an interest in women performer-composers, contemporary jazz, inclusive practices and socio-cultural issues. Relevant professional experience is also welcome.

The successful applicant will have autonomy to shape the project based on their interests. They will receive research training, benefit from academic knowledge exchange and gain public engagement experience. They will also benefit from first-hand experience of arts management, invaluable for those aiming to develop a career in the creative arts sector.

Project supervisors will be Dr Ruth Herbert (Dept of Music & Audio Technology), Professor Nicola Shaughnessy (Arts) and Issie Barratt, (Artistic Director of the National Youth Jazz Collective), identified by BBC Radio 4’s Women in Power List in 2018 as one of the 40 most influential women in the music industry.

Applications for this studentship must be made via the University of Kent’s application form for a PhD in Music. Informal enquiries to Dr Ruth Herbert (Music and Audio Technology) r.herbert@kent.ac.uk

Written by Professor Georgina Randsley de Moura

Every year for over a century 8 March has marked International Women’s Day. The day has a political foundation, to promote collective action for the advancement of gender equality. Over the years the reach has expanded, and the day provides global opportunities for celebration, reflection, and challenge.

A theme this year is to #BreakTheBias. This is a powerful call to action and across the world, people will be hosting events, ceremonies, speakers, conferences, and protests to highlight the ways to break the bias, and why urgent action is still needed. Bias is at the core of inequality; it is conscious and unconscious and results in stereotypes and discrimination which are mostly systemically ingrained. Yet change feels sluggish, and progress is slow. How can we accelerate work to #BreakTheBias? I think part of the puzzle is to think of meaningful change as a journey which is effortful, collective, and requires leadership.

The bias women experience is not unidimensional. To break the bias, we need to take individual accountability and to spend the time and energy to understand lived experiences. This means providing safe and open spaces for sharing, with kindness and humility. It means keeping informed, updating our knowledge and skills, and continuous communication. It means recognising and addressing the intersectional structural discrimination that members of our community face, including ableism, transphobia, racism and homophobia. It takes effort. We can be more confident we are still on the right journey when we make the effort to understand what equality means for all women.

The collective and effortful nature of our journey towards gender equality will be advanced with leadership. To fast-track progress to break the bias will take distributed shared leadership, empowering individuals and teams, and recognising

leadership practise in day-to-day activities and collaborations. For example, this might be the leadership of a network event, organising a celebration of women’s work, publishing a report, calling someone out, developing a new call to action. It is the practise of leadership in everyday life, meaning wherever we are on the journey we are aiming to get further along but reaching out to hold the hands of those behind us, hopefully bringing new people in to join us. Especially in times of wider change and uncertainty shared leadership – and the recognition of this leadership – will be essential to drive change.

Every chip to #BreakTheBias matters. On the 8 March I will cross my arms to symbolise we need to break the bias as per the IWD call to action. But I will do so with an energy that means I can open them even wider ready to listen, collaborate, take action, lead and follow. I encourage you to join me.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day on the 8 March, we want to highlight some of the amazing and inspirational stories of our female staff, students, and alumni. We are proud of all our women at Kent and wish we could mention them all, but here’s a glimpse into just some of their wonderful achievements and where they all #BreakTheBias.

Dr Beth Breeze receives OBE

Dr Beth Breeze

Dr Beth Breeze, Director of our Centre for Philanthropy, was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) “For services to Philanthropic Research and Fundraising”.

Dr Albena Azmanova wins book award

Dr Albena Azmanova

Dr Albena Azmanova, in our Brussels School of International Studies, received the Michael Harrington Book Award for her book Capitalism on Edge: How Fighting Precarity Can Achieve Radical Change Without Crisis or Utopia.

Glory Oluwaseun is honoured for her work

Glory Oluwaseun

Kent student, Glory Oluwaseun was recognised for her contribution to citizenship by winning a Young Black Achievers Award from Medway African and Caribbean Association (MACA).

Professor Emily Grabham awarded Philip Leverhulme Prize

Professor Emily Grabham

Kent Law School Professor Emily Grabham achieved international recognition for her research over the last ten years, gaining multiple national prizes, including a £100k Philip Leverhulme Prize in Law.

Filipa Paes created Consent. Get It. Full Stop.’ campaign

Filipa Paes

As part of our new Kent Star campaign, Law student Filipa was recognised for her inspiring work on the ‘Consent. Get It. Full Stop.’ campaign.

Dr YolanDa Brown – award-winning saxophonist

Dr YolanDa Brown

Our alum YolanDa Brown is truly an inspiration – from being a double MOBO award-winning saxophonist to a broadcaster and author, YolanDa’s talents have no bounds.

Susannah Townsend – Olympic-winning field hockey play

Susannah Townsend

Our alum Susannah Townsend who still regularly trains on University campus, has previously been named Hockey Writers’ Club Women’s Player of the Year and achieved a gold medal in her first Olympic Games.

We love to hear about our amazing people at Kent, so if you have any inspirational stories you’d like to share email us at stories@kent.ac.uk!

Mental health support at work
It is recognised that people need a healthy level of both mental and physical health to underpin a positive sense of overall wellbeing. It is also known that there are many factors in our lives which can affect our mental health and wellbeing. Our experience at work can be a major influence. Additionally, if we are experiencing problems with our mental health which are not intrinsically related to our work, the support available in our workplaces can be a big positive or negative factor.

41% of people reported experiencing mental health symptoms caused or worsened by work in the past year
A joint report by Business in the Community & BUPA in 2021 produced statistics related to mental ill health and work. It stated that 41% of people reported experiencing mental health symptoms caused or worsened by work in the past year. Also, 51% of those surveyed reported that the poor mental health they felt related to work was due to pressure. However, the good news was that 76% of people said that their colleagues were supportive of their mental health needs and 69% of managers were the same.

Support available at Kent 
We have a great deal of support in place for colleagues who feel affected by symptoms of poor mental health and for those who are diagnosed with mental health problems. There is a

• Thriving @ Work group which has worked on implementing the recommendations of the Stephenson-Farmer government review; its work has built on counselling and support provisions implemented by University and Occupational Health (OH), like the Employee Assistance Programme and funded psychotherapy.
• The Thriving @ Work group work has underpinned training available through Talent & Organisational Development (T&OD) in various areas of mental health support and understanding; the training is available for individuals and managers.
• When it carried out its needs assessment, the Thriving @ Work group could see problems with communicating available support for staff, so the the Mental Health Support One Stop Shop webpages were created. The information on all support available for staff is accessible there plus advice on how to access it.

Training on mental health subjects can be viewed and accessed on the T&OD webpages. Courses scheduled are:

• ‘Understanding Depression’ on 02/03/22
• ‘Understanding Stress & Anxiety’ on 23/03
• ‘Introduction to Workplace Mental Health and Wellbeing’ on 11/05
• ‘Mental Health Training for Line Managers’ on 25/05

Mental Health Allies
Another important development was setting a Mental Health Allies network. This is someone who seeks out opportunities to learn more about mental health, advocates for people with mental health problems and looks for ways to support them while modelling behaviour which supports positive mental health. T&OD is offering training to staff who want to fulfil the role of a Mental Health Ally at the University. The first cohort of trainees went through the course last year. Contact T&OD to find out when the next course will be running.

OH Rehabilitation Programme
Finally, it is worth a reminder that staff who need time away from work due to mental health problems can be supported back to work gradually and safely by an OH rehabilitation programme. Management need to be essentially involved in this; they have to initiate OH involvement by completing a Management Referral. This process ensures that the individual being referred has sight of any paperwork before it is sent to OH; signatures of both parties are required for this purpose.

It’s really important that all staff know how much there is available to support their mental health needs. When you read this article, please make others aware by passing it on.

Resources:

University of Kent Staff Mental Health One Stop Shop

University of Kent Employee Assistance Programme, (USERNAME: uokent |PASSWORD: university. The Freephone number for the service is 0808 168 2143)

University of Kent Staff Health and Wellbeing webpages

University of Kent Staff Occupational Health webpages

University of Kent Training & Organisational Development webpages

‘Mental Health at Work: building back responsibly’: joint report by Business in the Community & BUPA

Annual Cathedral Concert returns with Haydn and Mendelssohn Saturday 12 March

The annual Colyer-Fergusson Concert by the Music department returns to Canterbury Cathedral from the first time since 2019, and features two electrifying works – the drama of Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Mendelssohn’s vibrant First Symphony – on Saturday 12 March at 7.30pm.

The University Chorus and Symphony Orchestra will be joined by stellar soloists, and in particular two University alumni, for Haydn’s choral masterpiece, and the Nave will also resound to the vigour of Mendelssohn’s youthful symphony. The concert, conducted by Head of Music Performance, Dan Harding, brings together students, staff, alumni and members of the local community, with the Orchestra led by second-year Biosciences postgraduate student, violinist Kammy Pike.

Tickets and details are here.

Join us for one of the highlights of the University’s performing year!

Join the University of Kent Players and get involved with a brand new production for 2022

Save the date!
Death in the Diner | An interactive murder mystery event
20 – 21 May 2022 | Mungo’s

Knickerbocker Gloria’s is the gaudiest American themed diner in town, known for their milkshakes, roller skates and cheap chips. There was nothing unusual about the hustle and bustle of the evening crowd until a piercing scream of “murder” rippled through the diner. The body found stabbed, bloody and covered in sprinkles, Gloria’s murderer can’t have gotten far… But can your team deduce what led to the Death in the Diner?

In this interactive murder mystery event, your team will interview the murder’s suspects, examine the evidence, and try to avoid the sneaky red herrings. Put your sleuthing skills to the test and work together to catch the killer.

Get involved!
The University of Kent players is looking for new members to work towards the production! There are plenty of ways to get involved from acting to front of house and tech support. We also have an exciting improvisation workshop from Kent alumni the Pantaloons which you can sign up for today!

Meet up with fellow actors and theatre enthusiasts, and make new friends from across the university and enrich your life at Kent. You don’t need any previous experience to get involved, just be welcoming, friendly and supportive of your peers!

Death in the Diner Auditions
We have a range of roles available for this show and we would love to have you involved! You do not need any previous experience and rehearsals will provide you with the tools to act and improvise as one of our devious suspects. We will be holding auditions for this production on the following dates:

Wednesday 16 March | 17:30 – 19:30 | Keynes senior common room (KSCR)
Tuesday 22 March | 12:30 – 14:00 | Eliot College common room

For more information please get in touch with us on the email below.

Pantaloons improvisation workshop – Saturday 2 April | 10:00 – 13:00
Come along for a half day workshop with professional improv group the Pantaloons. Learn new, fun techniques in a series of improvisation games and activities. This session is open to all members and non-members for a small fee.

To sign up or to get more information please email players@kent.ac.uk

How to get involved
If you would like to get involved or have an interest in acting, directing, technical directing or anything theatrical get in touch with us on players@kent.ac.uk

We also have a new Players Microsoft Teams channel for updates, chat and social gatherings.

You can also follow us on social media for regular updates and events!

Instagram: @unikentplayers
Facebook: @unikentplayers
Twitter: @unikentplayers

We are deeply saddened and concerned by the invasion of Ukraine and our thoughts are with any of our students and staff who have been affected by the escalating conflict. 

Over the past week we have identified several staff and students from Ukraine and Russia and have taken immediate steps to support these individuals. Additionally, we have been supporting students based in both countries to ensure we can get them to a safe place as quickly as possible. Teams are also tracing any further staff or students who have travelled to the regions to make sure they can access the help they need.

We understand this is a worrying time and we are here to help. Here are a range of support services available for both staff and students, including:

• Employee Assistance Programme
• Kent Student Support and Wellbeing
• Student LGBTQ+ Support Pages
• The LGBTQ+ Staff Network
• BAME Staff Network
• BAME Student Network
• Student Support and Wellbeing’s blog about being mindful of your mental health during world events.
• Wellbeing Drop-in Sessions for students
• Managing uncertainty and anxiety caused by world events
• Helping children cope with world conflict
• Publicity Calendar special – Ukraine conflict – Our Employee Assistance Programme are hosting two webinars. The first one on the 10 March is to help you manage uncertainty and anxiety caused by world events. The second on the 15 March is to help children cope with world conflict. 

We will provide further updates once we are clear on any developments that impact our students, staff, or university.