It’s International Stress Awareness Week this week. The theme for this year is ‘Working Together to Build Resilience and Reduce Stress.’

Stress is not new. The stress hormone cortisol has even been found in the hair of ancient Peruvians who were alive between 550-1532 CE/AD. Defined as a state of mental or emotional strain caused by adverse circumstances, stress is a physical and emotional reaction experienced by all of us, with symptoms such as headaches, a pounding heart, sweating, and more. Experiencing long-term stress can lead to the development of health problems such as high blood pressure and mental health problems, as well as a physiological and psychological condition known as ‘burn-out’.

People can experience stress due to many circumstances in their lives. With the current cost of living crisis, many people are struggling with the basic demands of living. Work can also cause stress, with studies suggesting that costs to businesses from poor employee mental health have increased by 25% since the pandemic.

At Kent, we have measures in place to help you. For example, our Employee Assistance Programme can be accessed 24 hours a day and you can reach out to them if you are struggling, feeling overwhelmed or just at your wit’s end! Details on how to contact them and other support available can be found on the University’s Mental Health Support webpages. There’s also the Staff Wellbeing Reading List, a useful Staff Wellbeing Toolkit, and the opportunity to use the Roberston-Cooper i-resilience tool.

Using the available resources and having a toolkit of tips such as working out how to look after your wellbeing, building a support network and finding out how to organise your time effectively can help you manage stress and build your resilience. Although it’s impossible to make all the stress in your life disappear, the help available could make it easier to get through stressful situations.

Building an inclusive postgraduate community is an important priority for the University and one of our specific goals is to reduce the gap between proportions of white and black students undertaking PhDs.

To support this work, the Graduate and Researcher College is hosting two online workshops for staff led by Leading Routes on increasing the representation of black students in doctoral training and creating more inclusive research cultures. Leading Routes are leading contributors to this work and their report, The Broken Pipeline, is playing a key role in shaping national policy debates.

Workshops

Both workshops are open to all Academic, Research and Professional Services staff.

The first workshop, ‘The Pipline: Challenging Meritocracy and Acknowledging Structural Barriers for Black Students’ will run on Monday 14 November.

Book your place by visiting this webpage.

The second workshop, ‘Changing Cultures: Practical Steps Towards Long-Term Change’, will run on Wednesday 16 November .

Book your place by visiting this webpage.

Professor Shane Weller, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation has welcomed this initiative saying,  “I am delighted that the University of Kent is working with Leading Routes to support the next generation of Black academics. This initiative lies at the heart of our commitment to creating a more diverse and inclusive research culture both at Kent and across the UK.”

The workshops come alongside the announcement of a new set of University scholarships for BAME and ‘First in Family’ Kent graduates who wish to study for a taught postgraduate programme here – each worth £5,000. Further details on these will be available on the University’s scholarships pages soon.

Since my last update our political landscape has shifted once again with yet another Secretary of State for Education in Gillian Keegan – our fifth in just over a year. She is joined by another new lead, with Grant Shapps now heading up Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Like many we hope for a bit more stability in both areas, and look forward to seeing what this means for universities and the Levelling Up agenda in particular. 

Student numbers and Academic Freedom 

At our more local level, Senate met this week where, along with regular updates from the key Boards and Committees that run across the University, there were focussed discussions on the NSS, Teaching Excellence Framework and Admissions. We also had updates on new entrants and continuation, which is looking challenging for the University as it seems that this year we have more students not progressing between years.  

Colleagues are actively following up with students to reduce this gap by ensuring everyone registers that can,  but it is looking like there will be consequences for budgets. We will look to manage this through contingency, holding back on capital and non-essential spend, re-prioritising any strategic investment and controls around staff recruitment. We will keep colleagues updated. 

Elsewhere, Senate considered an important paper on an updated policy on Academic Freedom, which is the result of diligent work from across our community and goes right to the heart of our purpose as a University – more updates on this will follow. 

Executive Group priorities 

At Executive Group, we are receiving regular updates on the external and internal work to resolve the performance issues with KentVision that were observed during the Boards of Examiners meetings in June and again at Clearing in August. Our own review has identified what seems to be the root cause of these issues and fixes have been applied. Georgina Randsley de Moura is also sponsoring a Timetabling Task Team to review and improve our approach to timetabling after recent issues for both students and staff – this will be supported by colleagues across central and divisional teams and will draw on a number of other related projects. 

At national level, many will have seen that the University and College Union has a renewed mandate for industrial action across all universities over pay, pensions and working conditions. We are not the only sector faced with these issues, with cost of living pressures felt across the country. While we await the outcome of UCU discussions this week for confirmation of plans, we will do all we can to support national negotiations in the interest of a settlement that works for all. We are also drawing up plans to mitigate the impact of any action on students as far as we can if it comes to it. 

Update on Arts and Humanities 

I also wanted to update you further on the work to review our Arts and Humanities offer. I don’t underestimate how worrying a time it is for colleagues whenever there is talk of reviews or changes. This is why I’m really pleased that by working together on a redundancy avoidance agreement, we’ve been able to make a commitment in this case that there will be no compulsory redundancies for colleagues affected by the current review in Arts and Humanities. This is an approach we want to embed whenever we consider major changes in the future, ensuring people can know there is a job for them here if they want to stay.  

Staff Recognition Awards 

While it is a difficult environment for the sector, the way our community comes together to welcome students each new academic year is always special. Next week sees our annual Staff Recognition Awards where we will hear inspirational stories from across the University.

Kent Sport’s Vice-Chancellor’s Cup also gets underway shortly for a bit of fun and healthy competition across teams, while our staff webchat series returns later this month with a session on the Cost of Living. Do try to catch up on these activities outside of day-to-day work where you can, and thank you to all you for everything you do for our students, staff and the wider community. 

Building on this year’s Staff Conference in September, our staff webchat programme returns this month with regular sessions planned throughout the year. This is a chance for everyone to come together and hear updates on key areas of activity across the University, while also giving you the change to ask questions and have your say on our wider plans

This year’s first session is on Thursday 17 November at 12.30 – 13.30, which will be focused on the Cost of Living. Senior representatives from HR, Estates & Commercial Services and Finance will talk through work going on to support students and staff with rising costs, plus what this means for us as a University more widely.

Save the date for this session and watch out for the sign up form next week.

Future sessions will follow in December on our new brand, with a full programme to follow throughout 2023.

If you’ve got an idea for a Community Catch Up theme then get in drop us an email at communcations@kent.ac.uk

Catch up on our Staff Conference

If you missed any of our Staff Conference back in September you can catch up on recordings from the main sessions by visiting our Staff Conference pages.

You can also watch recordings from the breakout sessions, including Outreach and widening participation and Making content and learning accessible via this link.

Come join us for a special lunchtime concert on Weds 9 November at 13.10 at the Colyer-Fergusson Hall.

Before they head down to the Marlowe to perform as part of the Glyndebourne Touring Opera production that evening, players from the Touring Orchestra Pit Perfect scheme will present a Lunchtime Concert featuring music by Puccini, Torelli and Schubert.

After the performance, members of the touring orchestra will lead a workshop with students in the University String Sinfonia, which people are also welcome to watch.

For more details please visit the website.

Admission is free, with a suggested donation of £3. The Music Department’s Lunchtime Concert series is generously sponsored by Furley Page Solicitors.