The Kent and Medway Business Summit returns on Friday 13 January 2023 in the award-winning Sibson building on the Canterbury campus of the University of Kent.

Annually, Kent Business School hosts the Kent and Medway Business Summit, which brings together some 300 businesses and policy makers to debate key themes.

KBS is committed to transferring its intellectual wealth, skills and knowledge into the work environment. Building relationships and collaborating with private, public, and third sector organisations helps to stimulate new areas of research and enterprise.

“The Kent and Medway Business Summit is a unique platform, not only to discuss challenges and opportunities of our region, but especially to forge new partnerships between businesses and academics that can make a difference in finding innovative solutions to these challenges,” said Professor of Management Science Paola Scaparra.

All UoK staff are welcome to join ‘The Kent & Medway Business Summit’ to exchange knowledge and take steps towards collaborative working with the outside world.

Bringing together businesses, key policymakers and leading academics, The Kent and Medway Business Summit features the latest news from key projects, expert keynote speakers and collaborative panel discussions.

To attend, book your Early Bird Tickets Released for 2023 Kent & Medway Business Summit – . To get involved with presentations or workshops email KBSBusiness@kent.ac.uk

Article from Dr Thomas Parkinson

With the ongoing war in Ukraine, asylum seekers crossing the Channel daily in unsafe and hostile conditions, and almost 90 million displaced people worldwide in 2021, forced migration has become a defining challenge of our times. As a university at the heart of a border county, and with a strong tradition of civic and community engagement, we believe the University of Kent has a key role to play in leading debate, research, and advocacy.

Our Migration and Movement Signature Research Theme builds on this institutional commitment. Since its launch in September 2021, our SRT has grown an active network of researchers from across the University’s Divisions, promoting an inclusive and interdisciplinary research culture and raising the University’s profile as a leading hub of expertise in this area. We’ve also built and strengthened partnerships with charities, NGOs, and businesses nationally and internationally.

Migration and Movement is proud to be leading Kent’s application to become a University of Sanctuary, part of a national movement that looks to build welcoming communities for displaced and vulnerable people seeking sanctuary from persecution.

As an institution, we are already doing a great deal to develop our campuses as places of welcome, safety and inclusion. Our Article 26 scholarships provide places and funding for refugees and asylum seekers to study at Kent each year. We support CARA (Council for At Risk Academics) and its work to provide urgent assistance to academics in danger or forced into exile. We are supporting Kherson State University in the Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine through the national twinning initiative, and participating in local activities through Canterbury for Ukraine to welcome Ukrainians settling in our area. Our pioneering Kent Law Clinic has for many years provided much-needed legal services to support asylum seekers in their quest for settled status.

But the University of Sanctuary process calls on us to do more – to examine our weaknesses as well as our strengths, to develop further support for those seeking sanctuary, and to bring a ‘whole university’ approach to bear on ensuring our institution is truly a welcoming place for all.

A Steering Group was set up earlier this summer to formally launch our Sanctuary journey. This academic year, we are commissioning a consultation with students, staff, and members of the local community with lived experience of seeking sanctuary to inform the University’s commitments and objectives. Working through the Migration and Movement theme, the University will engage in a wide range of Sanctuary-related activities in 2022/23, including policy and advocacy work and hosting series of cross-disciplinary open lectures on migration.

I’m delighted to be presenting on these activities, and on our application to become a University of Sanctuary, at this week’s staff conference.  I’ll outline what the application process means for the University, and how you can become involved. Come along and find out more on Thursday afternoon (3.30 – 4.15) in the Templeman Lecture Theatre (and on Teams).

For further information on the staff conference programme, visit our webpage.

The Director and Dean of Global and Lifelong Learning, Dr Anthony Manning, has gone missing. His last known whereabouts was somewhere within the labyrinthine corridors of Rutherford College, but official efforts to locate him have proven futile. Can you help us find our missing Dean or will you leave him to an otherwise underwhelming fate?

Come and join the teams from Global and Lifelong Learning (GLL) for an exciting Escape Room experience and help them locate Dr Manning. By solving puzzles, deciphering cryptic emails, and finding hidden clues, you can get to know our team and unlock the wide and diverse opportunities we offer.

Taking part in this session will help colleagues from across the University to jointly discover the diversity of our learning opportunities and services through work-based learning and internationally focused courses and experiences.

As you journey through the tasks, in this thrilling fusion of ‘Where’s Wally?’ and ‘Prison Break’, you will unlock connections and collaborative potential that will help you to access and benefit from GLL’s wide-ranging provision.

Through the tasks provided you will also gain further understanding and awareness of many different student community groups at Kent, ways of developing tools to help our student community and mechanisms to provide transformative global and lifelong learning experiences for all.

The event will take place 11:15 on Friday 16 September in Templeman Seminar Room 2.

Over the weekend the Royal Family confirmed that Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral will take place at 11.00 on Monday 19 September, which will also be a Bank Holiday across the UK.

We will be marking the Bank Holiday here at Kent while recognising that we will still need some essential staff on our campuses to support students. More detailed guidance on this will be shared with managers shortly so that they can support local arrangements in their area, including payment details for those who need to work and how those on campus can watch the funeral should they wish to.

Welcome Week and Staff Conference 

This is a busy period for teams across the University as we prepare to welcome students and start the new term. Both Arrivals Weekend and Welcome Week will still be going ahead but with some changes to the programme – a Silver Team including central and divisional staff is looking into this as a priority, with more details to follow.

Alongside this, our Staff Conference will still go ahead later this week, including the Staff BBQs on Wednesday and Friday. There will however be some other alterations to the programme, including a minute’s silence at the opening of the Conference and the cancellation of the drinks reception on Thursday. More information will come on this tomorrow.

Books of Condolence 

As the national period of mourning continues this week, some staff may wish to pay their respects in person at Westminster Hall while the Queen’s coffin lies in state and managers are asked to support short-term leave arrangements for those who wish to do this. Our Books of Condolence are also still open all this week at the Templeman and Drill Hall libraries, along with our digital version.

This remains a sombre time for the country and I know many will be feeling reflective or saddened by the recent events. I hope that everyone feels they have the space to mark this week how they wish to, and do continue to seek support from your line manager if you are finding things difficult.

Martin

Martin Atkinson | Director of HR & Organisational Development

Following the message of condolence from the Vice-Chancellor, we have books of condolence available so that staff and students can leave their memories, tributes and reflections on Britain’s longest-serving monarch. These are located in our main two libraries as well as online and will remain open for staff to sign in Rutherford reception until Friday 23 September, along with the online version.

Canterbury  

In the Welcome Hall of the Templeman Library, to the left as you come through the main entrance.

Medway 

In the Drill Hall Library reception, shared with Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Greenwich.

Online 

A digital book of condolence is also available for those at our other locations who may not be able to sign in person.

Support and guidance 

Many of us will be feeling sad about the news of Her Majesty’s passing, while hearing about bereavement, loss and significant national change can be difficult. Recent events may also bring up feelings of loss about other people in your life.

Even if you are not experiencing direct feelings of grief, a significant change like this can be unsettling – please do speak to your line manager if you are finding things difficult and remember that free, anonymous support is available at all times via our Employee Assistance Programme.

Dear colleagues, 

It is with great sadness that last night we received official confirmation that Her Majesty the Queen had passed away peacefully at Balmoral, with her family by her side. The thoughts of all of us are with the Royal Family at this time as we unite in grief with the nation and all those around the world who have been touched by her dignity, devotion and unfailing sense of duty. 

This is an unprecedented and deeply sad moment for the country and I know that many of you will want to pay your respects personally. We will shortly have books of condolence available on our Canterbury and Medway campuses for staff and students who wish to leave a message and are also reviewing activity across the University to see what we will need to pause or adjust as a mark of respect over the coming days. 

I will provide a further update shortly as arrangements are confirmed for the national period of mourning.  

Karen 

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President 

Back at the start of the summer, many of you popped by the Templeman Library to help us shape our updated look and feel for the University. Since then we’ve been beavering away turning your feedback into a final proposition that we feel really celebrates where we are now and where we want to be in the future. At Kent, we stand for ambition – and I can’t wait to share the first set of new creative with all of you from Thursday next week at the Staff Conference. 

Throughout recent weeks we’ve also been gathering more and more information on how key audiences respond to our new approach. At the brand roadshow itself, around 70% of staff and students felt that our ‘ambition’ positioning would help us be more confident, with a clear majority feeling that ‘Option 1’ (below) – based around bold visuals and a ‘k’ brand device – was authentic to Kent and would help us stand out from the crowd. This was backed up by ongoing positive feedback from prospective students and a high-performing ‘teaser’ campaign which some of you may have seen both online and on buses around our campuses. 

It has been a hive of activity as we pull together all the different creative assets we need in the new brand. Striking photography is key feature of our new direction, so we’ve run fresh shoots with students across our campuses. More of these will follow soon so watch this space! Our website will have a makeover, including a new homepage that brings the different themes of our Kent 2025 Strategy to life. Watch out also for a new brand video launching during the Vice-Chancellor’s Welcome and Introduction next week – showcasing what we are all about across our audiences and sparking inspiration for where ambition can take us. 

This will be supported by a much wider rollout across the University in the weeks and months to come. In-depth brand guidelines have been drawn up to help people with communicating consistently, including new tone of voice guidelines for different audiences. We’re about to finalise a brand toolkit with all the day-to-day things we all need, like PowerPoint presentations, email signatures, digital and print templates and merchandise. Everything from the signs at the entrance to campus to tote bags and mugs are on the list – lots of which you will start to see from Thursday next week. 

It’s been a huge undertaking but worth every effort when you see the modern, sharp and dynamic visual identity we’ve been able to develop – plus the huge potential the central theme of ‘ambition’ offers in how we embody the brand to talk about the amazing things that happen at Kent. As we move past next week, the wider work to roll this out team by team will begin in earnest. In the meantime, I can’t wait for everyone to get their first sight of an exciting new direction for the University.  

Nell McCreadie | Assistant Director, MORA

The School of biosciences warmly invites you to our public lecture “How your food choices will help you age better and change the planet!” with Dr Cassandra Coburn.

Dr Coburn is the author of Enough: How your food choices will save the planet, which is an excellent read on how we can age better and save the planet by taking charge and making simple dietary choices. Blackwells book store on campus will be stocking the book at a discounted price for £9.99.

Dr Coburn is also the editor in chief of ‘the Lancet Healthy Longevity’.

This lecture is part of a scientific conference, “Nutrition and the Biology of Ageing,” running at the University of Kent between 12-14^th September 2022. The event is organised by Dr Jenny Tullet and Dr Marina Ezcurra.

The lecture will take place in Sibson Lecture Theatre on Monday 12 September from 17.00 – 18.00. Please use this link to register your interest.