This week is Careers’ Life After Uni Week, Valentine’s Day and LGBT+ History Month events continue.

Monday 10 February: LGBTQ+ community lunch (Medway), Life After Uni Week events and Valentine’s crafts

At Medway campus on Monday, you’re invited to the LGBT+ History Month community lunch at The Deep End (upstairs space). It’s a chance to socialise and meet new friends. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

In your final year and thinking about what’s next? You can join this Life After Uni Week graduation reflection session. There’s also a CV and cover letter online workshop to help you get prepared.

If you live on campus, you can join ResLife Ambassadors Aashvi and Nehi for a creative evening of crafting Valentine’s cards and beautiful origami flowers, perfect for expressing love, friendship or appreciation.

Tuesday 11 February: Crafting for consent with therapy dog and group study appointments

Join the Specialist Wellbeing Team in Nexus as we bring together external support services to spend time crafting for consent. We will have canvas painting, pin badge making, and bracelet making. Come along and create for consent! Special guest Coco the therapy dog will also be making an appearance.

Are you working on a group project or presentation? Do you want to join with a few friends and book a skills appointment you can attend together? The Skills for Academic Success (SAS) team are now offering appointments for small groups between two – four students. For larger groups, get in touch with SAS directly.

Wednesday 12 February: Free LinkedIn headshot, meet the Employability Points team and attend a free lunchtime concert

A professional looking LinkedIn profile is an essential aspect of enhancing your chances of securing graduate employment. Photographer Matt Cook is back to take LinkedIn headshots, free of charge.

Meet with graduate recruitment agencies in Sibson Atrium and find out how they can help you with your search for a graduate job! Recruiters will be attending from Morgan Jones, Hays, Give a Grad a Go and Graduate Mentor CIC.

Come along and meet the Employability Points team in Templeman Library who will explain what the Employability Points scheme is and how it benefits you during your studies and how you can claim Employability Points and apply for rewards this academic year.

Enjoy a free lunchtime concert from alumnus Matthew Sotillo-Cooke in a recital of Schumann’s song-cycle in Colyer-Fergusson Hall.

Thursday 13 February: Drop-in study appointments (Medway), Valentine’s Crafternoon (Medway), LGBTQ+ student and staff lunch and Life After Uni Week drop in advice

The Medway Skills for Academic Success Team will be on hand for drop-in appointments. These are for quick queries; for example, checking referencing or a brief appraisal of the structure/coherence of an assignment.

Paint a mug with us to gift to a loved one, friend, family or just keep for yourself at The Hub’s Valentine’s Crafternoon.

The Staff and Student LGBT+ Networks and Societies have joined up for a joint social and lunch in Rutherford Dining Hall. Come along to meet staff and students from our LGBTQ+ community.

Graduating later this year and want some advice? Careers staff will be present to answer your questions, with space and time to work on your LinkedIn, CV or to help you make a checklist of what to do next.

Friday 14 February: Panel with recent Kent grads and Valentine’s/Anti-Valentine’s activities

In your final year and unsure what to do next? Join this online panel with recent Kent graduates who will answer questions about what their situation was just before graduation and what they did to help them find and secure a graduate role or postgraduate study place. They will offer advice and answer your questions.

Happy Valentine’s Day! If you don’t have a date, don’t worry! Students who live in on-campus accommodation can make a free mocktail in K Bar. There’s also an anti-valentines movie night in Eliot College.

Weekend 15-16 February: LGBTQ+ events

On Saturday there’s an LGBQ+ movie night in Eliot College and on Sunday there’s an online LGBTQ+ Kahoot quiz with catering vouchers for the winners.

See more student events.

Find out what’s on this week including LGBT+ History Month events, a silent disco and assignment support drop ins.

It’s also Race Equality Week, an opportunity to pause and reflect on the progress made towards race equality. This week serves as both a celebration of our achievements and a moment to reassert our commitment to advancing race equality throughout the institution.

Monday 3 February: Taylor Swift PG Talk and making applications (Medway)

The next PG Talk is on the topic of ‘Look what you made me do: Tayor Swift and 21^st Century Feminist Practice’, and will be given by Dr Clare Hurley, based on her book chapter ‘The Literary Taylor Swift’ and her student-led conference. The talk is open to all PG students.

Making applications to graduate schemes, job roles or postgraduate study? Come to this in-person session in Medway to discover how to create and submit engaging and targeted applications.

Tuesday 4 February: Pets as therapy (Medway), LGBT+ movie night and improving your work using tutor feedback

At The Hub in Medway, you can spend time with a Pets as Therapy dog to help you relax.

To celebrate LGBT+ History Month, join the ResLife Ambassadors for an LGBTQ+ themed movie night to watch ‘Everyone’s Talking about Jamie’.

Learn how to improve your work using tutor feedback at this Skills for Academic Success online workshop, helping you go from ‘Needs improvement’ to ‘Nailed it’.

Wednesday 5 February: Monthly seed sow, assignment drop-in service and a silent disco

Come down to Kent Community Oasis Garden (KentCOG) near Park Wood and help get the garden growing by joining our monthly seed sow activity. Plant this month’s vegetable and flower seeds in seed trays and compost to grow in the polytunnels on site.

Ever had a nagging feeling that there is something not quite right about your assignment? The Skills for Academic Success team will be available for an assignment drop-in service in the Templeman Library this term on most Wednesdays until the Easter vacation.

On Wednesday evening, if you live in on-campus accommodation, you’re invited to join the Silent Disco in Eliot College. Choose from three playlists so there’s something for everyone. Plus, the first 150 students through the door (students in accommodation only) will get a free burger! There’s also snacks, and if dancing isn’t your thing, you can just listen to the music and enjoy some Valentine’s crafts instead.

Thursday 6 February: Assignment drop-in appointments (Medway), working in fraud investigation and growth mindset workshop

The Medway Skills for Academic Success Team will be on hand for drop-in appointments – no booking is required. Drop-ins are for quick queries; for example, checking referencing or a brief appraisal of the structure/coherence of an assignment.

Interested in a career in Fraud Investigation? Are you inquisitive, open-minded and objective, with strong IT and analytical skills, and a keen eye for detail? On Thursday afternoon you can join a talk by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) about different careers in fraud investigation.

Join this online Study Plus workshop to find out all about what a growth mindset is and how it can affect you in life and in work.

Friday 7 February: PGR yoga and writing retreat and LGBTQ+ friendly social

PGR students are invited to join a yoga and writing retreat on campus. The workshop consists of guided yoga sessions mixed with opportunities for you to get on with your writing.

Our ResLife Ambassadors May and Victory are hosting an LGBTQ+ friendly social. However you identify, come and chat to others in your community in our safe space in Templeman Library. We will have hot drinks, biscuits, board games and colouring or have go at Super Mario Kart.

See more student events.

Opportunities

• Considering postgraduate study? Find out how to take the next step at Kent. Learn about flexible study options, scholarships and Postgraduate Open Events.
• Dr Adelina Gschwandtner, Economics Lecture and Wellbeing Coordinator, is running her popular 5-week mindfulness course again this year, open to all students.
• Feed back on the draft Code of Practice on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Speech by 8 February

See all student opportunities.

This month’s Kent Star is Sid who has made a positive impact on our LGBTQ+ Kent community by being involved in the LGBTQIA+ Student Voices project, chairing the LGBTQ+ Student Network and helping with projects to make our campuses more inclusive. Hear from LGBTQ+ Leader Sid:

“I’m Sid Connor, my pronouns are they and he. I am in my final year of a PhD in Film, my thesis focuses on the representation of addiction, eating disorders and OCD in TV and film from a disability studies perspective. My research both for my PhD and outside of it usually focuses on the representation of marginalised populations onscreen, particularly intersectional identities and ideas around class, gender, race, sexuality, disability and neurodivergence. I am in the process of writing two papers on the importance of these themes in Star Trek for publication in the next year or so.”

Tell us about your work on issues for LGBTQ+ students, particularly your involvement with the LGBTQ+ Student Network and what motivated you to get involved.

“I got involved with the LGBTQ+ Student network via my work on the LGBTQIA+ student voices project. I spent 6 months at the start of 2024 really engaging with students from the LGBTQIA+ community and hearing about all the things on campus they love, and all the barriers they currently face. After meeting so many people and getting to know more about this amazing vibrant community we have on campus, I wasn’t ready to let go of the project and just hope the changes we asked for were made, so I ran for chair of the LGBTQ+ network so I could be a part of making sure the things we need actually happen.

One of the biggest things I’m working on as network chair is the decidedly unglamourous issue of equal access to bathrooms – which is something that’s really easy to take for granted but when you’re trans it can be really difficult. Last year I spent some time creating a gender neutral bathroom map (pdf) for the campus so students can see what facilities there are, but we’re also asking for more gender neutral bathrooms, and for equal access to sanitary bins and products in the male toilets so trans men don’t have to misgender themselves just because they get their period.

My other main focus is creating inclusive spaces for folks who might struggle to find their place in LGBTQIA+ community on campus – such as people who are LGBTQIA+ but also neurodivergent, disabled, mature students, etc, as well as lesser understood identities like asexual and demisexual people.”

Tell us why LGBT+ History Month is important? To you, to the LGBTQ+ community and everyone. 

“I think with the current climate we’re living in, and the challenges facing the LGBTQIA+ community, particularly trans people like myself, it’s important to reflect on where we are now and how far we’ve come. LGBT+ History Month is a time to celebrate who we are and honour the activism of LGBTQIA+ people past and present who have worked and continue to work for a better world for all of us. It’s a chance to raise awareness of the issues we’re facing, whether that be transphobia, access to basic healthcare, or erasure in the media.”

 What are you most proud of? What do you want your legacy at Kent to be?

“I’m proud of the fact that I have worked on behalf of other students like me who are underrepresented in higher education or face additional barriers to participation. I have been a voice for students as a student rep, a member of the Widening Participation Student Advisory Panel, chair of the LGBTQ+ network and as a researcher on the LGBTQIA+ student voices project. In particular, I have raised awareness and created spaces for communities who are often left out or marginalised even within the LGBTQIA+ community, holding the first ever asexual focused event on campus and bringing together queer neurodivergent people and subsequently founding the neurodivergent society.”

Do you have any advice for the LGBTQ+ community and/or allies at Kent?

“My advice is to do what you can to lift up the community but take care of yourself first. It’s easy to look at the state of the world and as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community feel responsible for making things better – and if you can do that it’s a beautiful thing to do, but sometimes exposing yourself to all the negativity that’s out there can be exhausting and its ok to sit out events like Pride or avoid engaging with the news for a while if it’s what you need. Your own wellbeing should always come first.

To allies the main thing I would say is listen, and please amplify the voices of the LGBTQIA+ community whenever you have chance. Stay curious – be open to learning about new identities and ways of being in the world, you might learn something about yourself in the process.

And watch a lot of Star Trek – it’s been ahead of its time for over 60 years and the casual queer representation in Strange New Worlds is everything.”

What are your plans for the next year?

“I’m in the final year of my PhD so my biggest plan is just to finish it and start getting my research out there. I also want to start seeing the plan I helped create as part of the LGBTQIA+ Student Voices Project put into action to make this a truly inclusive campus where students feel comfortable expressing and exploring their identities. On a personal level I just want to make the most of what is probably my last year as a student, make as much of a difference as I can, and hopefully have some fun whilst I’m at it.”

Do you know an inspirational student or student group? Let us know.

Learn more about the Kent Stars campaign.

The Joint Standing Committee on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Speech (SCAFFE) has prepared a draft Code of Practice for staff and student consultation, ahead of submission to Senate and Council in 2025.

View the Draft Code of Practice on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Speech (pdf).

Please email your feedback to Cláudia Moreira (c.moreira@kent.ac.uk), Vice-President for Postgraduate and International Experience, by 8 February 2025.

All feedback will be considered by Kent Students’ Union and SCAFFE, and a full Equality Impact Assessment will be conducted on the Code.

What is the Code of Practice on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Speech?

The Code of Practice is primarily about the facilitation of free speech while ensuring compliance with the law and ensuring due regard to health and safety and the maintenance of good order.

The purpose of the draft Code is to restate and reinforce the University’s commitments to academic freedom and freedom of speech.

• Section 3 of the draft Code articulates the essential concepts of academic freedom and freedom of speech.
• Section 4 reflects the current legal framework and anticipates the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023.
• Section 5 makes explicit the actions which the University must take to ensure that those freedoms are protected and promoted.
• Section 6 and the related annexes set out the procedures for meetings and events on University premises. It makes clear the starting point for any event is that it should be able to go ahead; and that the provisions of the Code are the only process by which any restrictions in exceptional circumstances may be imposed. Sections 7 and 8 also include procedures for appeals and complaints.

As part of our wider work to give students the best experience possible, we are looking at alternative options for catering on our Canterbury campus. This includes investigating options around outsourcing, if an appropriate partner can be found.

We will be looking to use this as an opportunity to invest in our outlets and technological infrastructure, modernise our facilities and introduce well-known and recognisable brands to improve the experience of our staff and students and supporting a healthy community on campus.

Following the competitive tender process, specialist education caterer Chartwells was the successful bidder. This means we will explore more closely with them how they could support delivery of on-campus catering in Canterbury, with more to be worked through before any business case can be finalised, a decision made and contracts signed.

We will now hold further discussions about the provision and how this could work for Kent as well as adhering to university governance. Therefore, there is no update on the impact to staff or students working in our catering outlets at the moment, but we will continue to update and support them as we move through the process.

This will include ensuring any potential partner supports and aligns with Right to Food objectives, ensuring healthy and affordable food is readily available for staff and students on our campuses. It will also include looking for a partner that can deliver development opportunities for our catering staff and minimise disruption to our workforce as well as the staff, students and visitors who eat on campus.