As part of the Rutherford Grass Roots Lectures, the Rutherford College Master’s Office is hosting a talk by Professor Richard Sakwa, Professor of European and Russian Politics at the School of Politics and International Relations on Putin and Trump: A Study in Deception?
All staff, students and the general public are welcome to attend the talk in Rutherford Lecture Theatre One on Thursday 11 October from 18.00-19.00.
Further details can be found at here
Colleagues are invited to the CSHE Seminar taking place on Friday 12 October, from 14.00-15.00 in the UELT Seminar Room, Canterbury.
The seminar, on Phenomenography: A Much Misunderstood Research Approach, will be presented by Professor Gerlese Åkerlind, Professor Emerita, The Australian National University.
Since its inception, phenomenography has been frequently misunderstood. Initially, growth in attempts to use the approach outstripped the publication of descriptive literature, leading to extensive variation in practice. Then, the relatively small numbers of experienced phenomengraphers available to act as reviewers has meant that published papers have not necessarily been reviewed by someone well experienced in the approach, leading to errors in descriptions of phenomenography in the peer-reviewed literature. In addition, developmental changes in the approach over time, with associated changes in theory and practice, have exacerbated misunderstandings.
This seminar will map substantive changes in phenomenography over time, addressing questions such as: Is phenomenography a theory, a method or both? What is ‘new phenomenography’? What is the relationship between phenomenography and variation theory? What are the most common misunderstandings of phenomenography?
The article on Variation and commonality in phenomenographic research methods is available here.
Please confirm your attendance by completing the online booking form.
Tom Henry, Professor of History of Art in the School of Arts and Director of the Rome School of Classical and Renaissance Studies, has delivered an online lecture for the Think Kent series entitled ‘Men in Black: How to Interpret Raphael’s Self-Portrait with a Friend in the Louvre’, which is now available on YouTube.
The Think Kent lectures are a series of TED talk-style lectures produced with the intention of raising awareness of the research and teaching expertise of Kent academics and the international impact of their work.
The lecture follows on from Tom’s curation of an exhibition held at both the Louvre in Paris and the Museo del Prado in Madrid, entitled ‘Raphaël à Rome: les dernières années‘, focusing on the final years of the renaissance painter and architect.
The lecture discussed one painting, Raphael’s Self-Portrait with a Friend (c.1519-20), completed shortly before the artist’s death in 1520. Tom argues that to interpret the picture, it is necessary to understand the range of the painter’s activities in his last few years.
In particular, the identity of the second figure in the painting is unknown; however, Tom argues that he is the Italian painter and architect Giulio Romano, a pupil of Raphael, and he develops this argument with a discussion of the role of cloak-giving in artistic adoption and inheritance in the Renaissance period.
The talk may be viewed below or on YouTube via this link:
https://youtu.be/M3zNDnTXkBw
In the first of this term’s FilmBites talks, Dr Tamar Jeffers McDonald, Head of Film in the School of Arts, talks about Doris Day, her film roles and performances and explores the source of the enduring virgin myth which persists to this day.
Doris Day Confidential: Hollywood Sex and Stardom (2013)
‘I’ve been fascinated by the clashes between the way Day is commonly remembered, her star persona, and her actual work in films. When I set out to write this book I wanted to work out why people always say “Doris Day always plays a virgin”. What does it mean to “play a virgin”? What is it in her roles or performances that makes the automatic response? In exploring these questions I found that very little the actor herself did accounted for this myth about her. I discovered instead that the movie magazines – cheap, colourful, numerous publications that swamped American news stands from 1911 to the early 1970s – were responsible for creating and eventually punishing Doris Day for the virgin myth.’
Tamar Jeffers McDonald
The FilmBites talks will showcase academic research and book publications by film lecturers at Kent
The talk will take place in the Templeman Library (next to the DVD Collection, Block B, Ground Floor) from 13.00 – 13.20 on Thursday 11 October.
Student Services, Information Services and Kent Union are pleased to launch the first of our Book Clubs, for students and staff who want to feed their literary curiosity and discover new books and resources outside of their academic studies.
This Book Club, launched during Black History Month, features over 30 titles, classic and modern, fiction and non-fiction, from all over the world which explore what it means to be Black both historically and in the world today.
Some of these titles are available to borrow from the Templeman or the Drill Hall libraries, or to purchase from Blackwell’s book shop on the Canterbury campus, whilst others you will need to source yourself.
We hope you enjoy them. Challenge yourself – how many can you read in October?
Share your reading comments and pictures on social media with #KentBHM2018 #unikentbookclub
Read more about Kent Union’s activities during Black History Month.
The Book Clubs will feature suggested reading lists, some of which are specifically designed to recognise and acknowledge special awareness months, weeks or days, and will hopefully open new literary worlds for you to discover. Look out for further Book Clubs coming soon!
Is something missing? Students and staff members have the option to submit a reading suggestion via the ‘Recommend a Book’ function via www.kent.ac.uk/library/support/forms/purchase/book.html
Share your views on what you are reading with #unikentbookclub on Twitter and Facebook.
Black History Month is the celebration of the people of Afro-Caribbean descent, their experiences and goals.
The month’s theme is “Black and Powerful” celebrating the different Black students in Leadership positions across the University.
Over the course of the month there are events run by numerous student groups aiming at teaching, nurturing and supporting students from all backgrounds here at Kent. Visit the Kent Union website to see more this month.
Keynes College, which celebrates 50 years this year, is proud to host two art exhibitions for Black History Month.
The Keynes Atrium features ‘Celebrating Amanda Nsubuga’, a multimedia artist of East African descent, born in London, England. Nsubuga completed a BA Fine Art degree at The University of Kent in 2018. Her work depicts women of colour, and their external beauty, often young girls but sometimes uses herself as a character. She has described her work as non-fictional, with her chosen subjects relating to her own narratives and still representing themselves, exploring personal anecdotes. Her work is executed in sequences, using each medium for separate objectives but the same function. Nsubuga cites Contemporary artists Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Zanele Muholi as influences. Recently, Amanda Nsubuga exhibited at the Old Truman Brewery in London.
The Keynes Teaching Foyer features ‘A History of Immigration to the UK’ by Tania McGee, a highly informative exhibition that tracks the history of immigration from pre-colonisation to the Windrush era, interspersed with photographs, documents and articles to create a high impact visual history.
Location: Keynes College
Dates: 1-31 October 2018
Time: All day
Our brand new Staff Guide webpages are being trialled from today (Wednesday 10 October) and we’d love to know what you think.
The new Guide has been developed following a key recommendation from the Simplifying Kent Internal Project Phase One that we need to find a better way of signposting colleagues to key information.
A team, led by Wendy Raeside and Etienne Donzelot in Corporate Communications, have therefore spent the past few months developing an alternative to the existing Campus Online pages. We have been working closely with colleagues in other key teams across the University, including WebDev and HR, to ensure the new pages contain everything you need to know about working at Kent.
On the new Staff Guide pages, you will find essential staff information in easy-to-search categories, including:
You will also see an A-Z section that lists some of the things we find difficult to locate at times – including University policies and regulations, and forms, as well as a How do I? of common staff queries, from claiming expenses to booking a meeting.
A major feature is the new Search function which, in the first instance, is limited to information contained with the Staff Guide pages, and should help you find the key information you’re looking for.
There are also prominent links to key services for staff, including Online Directory, Staff Connect, SharePoint and Emails.
Lower down the home page, you will see highlights of latest staff interest stories, together with a link to the most recent Campus Online and News Centre stories.
The Staff Guide is very much a work in progress – and updates will continue throughout the Beta phase – but we’d really appreciate your feedback on the overall design/content and particular sections you are interested in.
Your feedback is key to ensuring that we get the correct content and the right links in place before launching the Guide as a replacement for the existing Campus Online webpages later this year.
Please take a look at the Guide and tell us what you think by emailing Communications@kent.ac.uk before Friday 9 November 2018.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Etienne Donzelot and Wendy Raeside, Corporate Communications
The latest issue of the Leadership Bulletin, designed to give an overview of key developments at Kent, is now available.
The Bulletin is distributed fortnightly to all members of the Leadership Forum to cascade to staff in schools and professional service departments. If you haven’t received your copy yet, you can read the bulletin online.
The latest issue contains a message from the Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Karen Cox, on options being discussed to address our recruitment and income challenges.
There are also updates on Executive Group meetings, Staff Connect Phase 2, our league table rankings and consultation on our masterplan for Canterbury campus.
Find out more about the Leadership Bulletin and see previous issues on the OVC webpages.
The School of Engineering and Digital Arts is hosting an event on Wednesday October 10 to raise awareness of Mental Health.
The event is part of World Mental Health Day taking place on Wednesday and runs from 13.00 – 14.00pm in the Jennison Lecture theatre.
Paul Kinkaid of Selfless Leadership Ltd will be delivering the talk, focused on several key learning objectives are outlined below:
The event is free to attend for both staff and students. You can register online via the event page or just turn up on the day.
A special screening of ‘Untold Stories: A History of Black People in Kent’, takes place at Gulbenkian Cinema on Monday 22,October at 19.00.
The short film tells the fascinating stories of some of Kent’s unsung Black heroes, and other notable Black people from, the 19th and 20th Century.
Commissioned by Medway African and Caribbean Association as part of its Black History Live project, the film has been produced and directed by Helen Curston, Associate Lecturer in the School of Engineering and Digital Arts.
The film, which had a sold-out premier at Brook Theatre, Chatham in September, has been shortlisted for an Arts and Humanities Research Council Research in Film award.
Helen Curston, Producer and Director of the film, who is also a Senior lecturer at the University for the Creative Arts ( UCA) commented: ‘I am truly thrilled that Untold Stories has been shortlisted… The Black History Live project is starting to get the recognition it deserves and this nomination recognises the important stories of some of the Black people in Kent and their contribution to the region.’
Winners will be presented with a trophy and prize fund for future projects at a ceremony at BAFTA in November.
The Gulbenkian showing at 19.00 will be followed by a post-film panel discussion. To book tickets and find out more, see Gulbenkian webpages.