Due to unforeseen circumstances it is necessary to reduce the opening time of the Estates Post Counter to 13.00-14.00 from the normal 12.00-14.00.

All existing services will remain available within this reduced opening time.

This interim arrangement will remain for the remainder of this week.

We apologise for any inconvenience this will cause and if there are any queries please contact Estates Customer Services on ext 16666.

Colleagues are invited to the e-learning forum on Tuesday 9 October, from 12.00-13.30, in the UELT Seminar Room, Canterbury Campus. 

We will explore the development and delivery of massive open online courses (MOOCs) at Kent. Find out about the courses we have developed and delivered, the FutureLearn partnership, and how you might get involved.

We will look at the courses we have run, including our latest ‘Politics, Art and Resistance’ and ‘Communicating Effectively with Vulnerable Children’, and examine how these are providing wider benefits for the University.

If you would like to find out more about this exciting project, or just want to learn more about our MOOCs, please book your place on the e-learning forum via the online booking form or contact Dr Mark O’Connor (Distance Learning Technologist) via email: m.a.o’connor@kent.ac.uk​

The Staff Disability Network are pleased to communicate that the previously known Day Walks will be starting again – they are now known as ‘Accessibility Tours’, to give a more inclusive feel and provide a greater understanding of the purpose of the tours.

The aim of the tour is to get a better understanding of the campus experience for disabled members of staff and students with a view to improve their experience.

The focus of the tours will be on:

• Routes to and from buildings
• Access into and out of buildings, particularly the new builds and the refurbished building.

The tours will occur during the following times of year:

• 22nd November 2018 – 13.00-15.00 – Canterbury, this will be an outside campus tour starting at the Main Library Entrance
• 13th February 2019 – 13.30-15.30 – Medway Campus , this will be an outside campus tour – start at The Royal Church on the Dockyard
• 8th May 2019 – 14.00-16.00 – Canterbury Campus – this will be reviewing the accessibility of new builds and refurbished building – Starting place to be confirmed

Exact routes will be communicated nearer to the time to allow for those that cannot complete the full tour to attend any part of the tour that they can. The tours are open to everyone to attend. There is no need to notify us of your intention to attend just meet us at the starting place of the tour.

As only limited numbers of tours can occur during the year, we are also encouraging you to be aware of your surroundings and report any issues that you feel are hindering access to areas or buildings, so we can investigate and action if necessary. Please send any concerns to either: Equality and Diversity equalityanddiversity@kent.ac.uk or disability-network@kent.ac.uk

For the sixth successive year the University of Kent, with one of its longstanding international partners, Ghent University, Belgium, is offering funding to support a number of collaborative projects across a range of disciplines. The funding of up to £1,000 per project is offered by Kent’s Dean for Europe, Professor Jeremy Carrette, and aims to support mobility between colleagues at the two institutions.

 For full details apply here.

The Department of English Language and Linguistics Alumna Emily Cook, a graduate with a BA (Hons) English Language and Linguistics and MA in Linguistics, and journalist and features editor for Doctor Who Magazine, featured on BBC Radio’s Chris Evans’ Radio 2 Breakfast Show this week in a conversation about the brand new Doctor Who series which will start in October. Emily, who spent time on the set of the new series, spoke to Chris about some of the exciting details regarding the new series, including interviewing the stars, and attending the preview premier of the first episode in Sheffield on Monday night.

Emily enthused about the new series, commenting that Jodie Whittaker embodies all the qualities a good ‘Doctor’ should have. She also discussed how it is the perfect time for new viewers to engage with Doctor Who.

Speaking to Chris Evans, Emily explained how studying the English Language & Linguistics modules such as ‘Writing in the Media’ helped her in the development of her career, and emphasised the important role it has played in securing her ‘dream job’.

To listen to the full interview, please see here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/play/m0000gyw

The latest episode of podcast series on ‘Nostalgia’, hosted by Dr Chris Deacy, Reader in Theology and Religious Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, has just been released.

In this week’s interview, Chris interviews Andrew Hass, Reader in Religious Studies at the University of Stirling. Originally from Canada, Andrew discusses the concepts of home and belongingness and how we identify ourselves in a global context (e.g. ‘a citizen of the world’), prompting questions of nostalgia for one’s homeland. In Andrew’s case, Scotland is a place that intellectually formed him.

In the interview, Andrew also identifies the extent to which popular music evokes memories, such that we are immediately drawn back to a certain era through the simple listening to a song, and how it can bind people together in a way few other media are able to do. Jazz was a particularly formative part of his young adulthood, followed by progressive rock and then classical music. Andrew’s latest project is centred on the relationship between music, spirituality and religion and culture.

Andrew introduces the concept of ‘superficial nostalgia’ and outlines how, when there’s chaos around, the calming effect of music can be requisite to one’s sanity. We learn why Andrew grew up listening to so much Joni Mitchell in whose music he has found a lyrical and poetic depth that is equivalent to the works of the best craftsmen.

The interview then explores how literature was the pathway into his present discipline and the intersections between English and theology. Discussing crossing disciplines, Andrew outlines his hope that dialogue with musicologists can open up new spaces for practitioners in both subjects. He discusses how those who work in Religious Studies might be said to be on a particular kind of journey that necessarily disrupts the kinds of presuppositions and inherited perspectives that were part of our early development. Andrew tells us why belief is irreversible and why he looks back on his early years with a sense of gratitude (as distinct from nostalgia) and he explains why he wouldn’t want to go back to that period of his life.

The podcast is available here.

 Dr Xiaofan Amy Li, Lecturer for the Department of Comparative Literature, has published an article in the latest edition of the journal Word & Image, Volume 34, Issue 3, entitled ‘A Distant Dream: Balthus, Henri Michaux, and the Chinese Aesthetic Tradition’.

Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (1908-2001), known as Balthus, was a Polish-French artist; and Henri Michaux (1899-1984) was a Belgian-born poet, writer, and painter. The constant echo of a seemingly ‘Chinese aesthetics’ in Balthus’s and Michaux’s works gives rise to a few important questions: how do Balthus’s and Michaux’s creative practices and works engage with and re-invent the Chinese aesthetic tradition? What new understandings of Balthus and Michaux will be revealed if they are seen in the light of Chinese notions about painting, calligraphy, and poetic imagery? What would this say about the relation between artistic influence and creativity, especially in the case of the transformation of aesthetic forms and ideas across cultures and time? By discussing how Balthus’s figurative and landscape paintings relate to the Zhuangzi’s dream imagery and Song dynasty shanshui (mountain-water) paintings, and how Michaux’s ink paintings are integrated into his critical endeavor to break away from Orientalist stereotypes, it is argued that both artists are transformed by the Chinese aesthetic tradition, as well as actively transform how it is understood.

More specifically, the article focuses on aspects of Balthus’s and Michaux’s works. The article then reflects comparatively on how both Balthus and Michaux absorbed and reworked aesthetic forms and notions in Chinese literature and art in a way that is distinctly different from Orientalist representations of the Far Eastern Other. Through these reflections, it is argued finally that Balthus and Michaux not only are transformed by the Chinese aesthetic tradition, but also actively transform it, making one rethink the notion and uses of ‘Chinese aesthetics’ as well as artistic creativity.

Read the full article here.

The University’s continued commitment to Advance HE Aurora programme includes a number of complimentary initiatives, discussions and events. These are open to ALL members of staff throughout the year.

 The next University of Kent, Aurora @Kent Event, will be on Wednesday 17th October 2018, from 13.00 to 14.15, on our Canterbury Campus, Keynes College, Seminar Room 14.

 In this session, Helen Beebee, Samuel Hall Professor of Philosophy, University of Manchester will be delivering a talk on ‘Minorities’ in Academic Disciplines: Practical Strategies for Change.

 Helen Beebee comes from one of the academic fields where women are under-represented: Philosophy. Women make up about 25% of permanent academic staff in Philosophy in the UK. Professor Beebee is well-known and widely admired, both for thinking and speaking about women in Philosophy (for example on Women’s Hour) and for establishing practical strategies for change. Professor Beebee will be sharing stories and strategies and taking questions. You don’t need to know as much about Hume or Aristotle as she does for this session to be inspirational!

Like all Aurora events this is open to all staff, professional services and academic. Emphatically not women only. All welcome.

 Booking is not required for this event.

 In the meantime, if you have any questions regarding this Aurora @Kent event or the Aurora Programme, please do not hesitate to contact Jena Dady, Learning and Organisational Development Adviser or a member of the Learning and Organisational Development team.