Nostalgia podcast with Graeme Forbes

Dr Chris Deacy, Reader in Theology and Religious Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, has just released a new episode of his podcast series on ‘Nostalgia’.

In the latest instalment, Chris interviews Dr Graeme Forbes, Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, and talks about which other professions he considered entering before becoming a professional philosopher.

Before coming to Kent Graeme worked at a small liberal arts college in Kansas which leads him to make a number of insightful comments about the differences between the US and UK university systems. Graeme has also worked for Iceland supermarket, been a delegate for the National Union of Studies, and also has experience of stand-up comedy as well as being a life member of Keele Drama Society. Graeme also discusses his Scottish ancestry and he lets us into the secrets of the ‘wall of suspicious family rivalry’. Graeme discusses the way in which a family member used to speak to him in the form of parables. This is then followed by a wider conversation about the extent to which the lack of religion was an influence on Graeme’s life and how drama was an influence on his philosophical career.

Finally, Graeme reveals why he feels the need to be an imperialist when it comes to philosophy and we learn whether, as a philosopher of time, Graeme is a backward-looking or a forward-looking type of person.

The podcast is available here.

Learning and Organisational Development have arranged HAY Job Description training for members of staff who are involved in writing job descriptions.

Sessions are running on the 25th and 31st July.

If you would like to book a place, further details can be found on our activities calendar.

Please email us at Idev@kent.ac.uk if you would like any further information.

Learning and Organisational Development have a number of activities taking place in July and August which are now open for bookings on our webpage.

Leading and Managing Through Change is a pilot workshop open for any managers interested in understanding more about change, the effects it has on staff and who are looking for a better understanding of effectively leading, managing and embedding change within the organisation.

We are currently improving our RPD (appraisal) process and we are running a number of workshops to update you on the changes being made. We have briefing dates available for both staff being appraised and separate sessions for managers/those who are involved in appraising people so, if you want to learn more about these changes, please sign up to one of the briefings.

Unconscious bias has been a repeated request by areas of the University recently and we are pleased to be able to offer some workshops through the summer months. Open to any members of staff, these sessions will provide a general awareness of unconscious bias in the workplace,  the impacts it may have on our behaviour and decision making and will help increase awareness of strategies to identify and manage our biases. Provided by Advance HE these sessions are likely to be popular, so please book your space soon.

All these activities can be booked via our calendar which can be accessed here.