Tag Archives: Medway

New Staff Health and Wellbeing Strategy Statement

As part of its ongoing commitment to employee wellbeing, the University of Kent has published a new Staff Health & Wellbeing Strategy Statement. This has been put together by Occupational Health and Safety, (SHE) in collaboration with HR. It was presented to the Safety Health and Environment Executive Committee, (SHEEC) by Bernard Angus, Director of SHE, and was agreed as ready to publish following the meeting in February.

For more information about Staff Health & Wellbeing initiatives check the University’s Safety and Health & Wellbeing website.

Student Success Seminar on Critical Race Theory – New dates

The student success staff seminar on ‘Reframing the gap: Bridging ‘deficit’ readings and critical race theory to understand everyday racial inequities in UK universities’ has been rescheduled for May 2018.

Originally scheduled for March, it will now take place on:

Wednesday 16 May 2018, Canterbury Campus, Woolf College, Seminar Room 5, 13.00-14.00

Friday 18 May 2018, Medway Campus, Pilkington Building, Room 104, 13.00-14.00

The seminar will give an overview of Critical Race Theory and the important questions. Delivered by Dr Alex Hensby, the seminar will be challenging and thought-provoking and the team highly recommends that staff with student-facing roles attend and engage in the debate around race and university.

The past two decades have seen UK universities increase access for students from non-traditional backgrounds, as well as enhance their provision of academic and welfare support, yet across the sector the white-BME attainment gap shows no sign of significantly narrowing. This raises important questions about how racial inequities continue to be reproduced in higher education. Proponents of critical race theory (CRT) offer a direct challenge to longstanding analyses and intervention strategies on the grounds that they take a ‘deficit’ reading of the white-BME attainment gap. Instead, they advocate shifting the onus onto how universities unwittingly reproduce racism and racial inequities structurally and in everyday life.

To book a place on any staff seminar simply email studentsuccessproject@kent.ac.uk

More information on this and all the staff seminars can be found on the Student Success website.

A recording of the BTEC seminar and Prof Karen Cox’s Inspirational Speaker Talk can be found on the staff only section of the SSP website.

Summer housekeeping staff vacancies

We are recruiting team members for Kent Hospitality summer housekeeping for Canterbury campus accommodation, who are available to work between 4 June and 16 September 2018. We will offer a minimum of 80 hours per month during this period. Successful candidates will need to be flexible regarding working days and hours, additional hours may be available.

Rates are:

£8.46 p/hr 16 – 24 years old
£8.97 p/hr 25 years and over (Living Wage)

Some weekend working is required; you must be available to work on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 June 2018.

Successful applicants will be required to:

Complete an online contract and return this by 17 May 2018.
Attend a three hour Health and Safety induction in the week commencing 21 May 2018.

For the health, safety and welfare of staff and conference guests, all successful applicants will be required to attend a health and safety induction. Applicants must be able to demonstrate the required level of understanding in all areas covered in the training. Any staff not achieving the required standard will not be permitted to work.

Start working in the week commencing 4 June 2018 (minimum of two shifts for training).

If you think this summer vacancy is for you, please complete our online questionnaire:

Week and weekend applications: https://kent.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/summerhk2018
Weekend only applications: https://kent.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/summerhk2018weekends

Closing date for applications: 10 May 2018 (or earlier if we receive a large number of applications).

The Kent Hospitality HR department will then email you by Tuesday 15 May to let you know whether or not your application has been successful. Please do not contact the Kent Hospitality HR department to check the status of your application, as they will be unable to answer individual enquiries.

Beware: scams targeted at international students

If you receive an unexpected email, phone call or letter from someone claiming to be from the Home Office, be careful, as it may be a scam.

Some students have been tricked into paying large sums of money to fraudsters. The Home Office has issued new guidance on how to protect yourself from tricks and scams. Please see the Student Immigration Compliance website for details and a link to the guide.

Kent Gives Back in London: volunteers needed

Join the next Kent Gives Back project in London on Saturday 12 May. Kent Gives Back is a community outreach project which unites students and alumni by encouraging them to take part in a local community project such as volunteering at a homeless shelter or a food bank, helping tend to a garden and many more activities.

Walk the Walk is the UK’s largest grant-making breast cancer charity that is dedicated to not only raising money and awareness for vital breast cancer causes, but to also encourage women and men to become more aware of their own potential for fitness and wellbeing. They organise the famous MoonWalk overnight power walking challenges and are immensely proud to have raised over £122m, which has been granted to research into breast cancer and to improve the lives of people living with cancer now.

We are looking for dedicated, amazing volunteers to join us at The MoonWalk London on the evening of 12 May at Clapham Common . Join 15,000 women and men walking either a full or half marathon in their fantastically decorated bras, raising millions of pounds and awareness for breast cancer.

We are hoping to join the Saturday Evening Crew, a busy period when the Walkers & Volunteers arrive. Start times vary depending on the role, but are no earlier than 17.00 and finishing at midnight. The 24 available roles include Baggage, Kitchen and Water Crew. Volunteers will be required to make their own travel arrangements for the evening.

If you’d like to take part please register at the event webpage.

Competition: Win ‘Sea Eagles of Empire’ book by Dr Simon Elliott

The School of European Culture and Languages (SECL) is offering you the chance to get your hands on a signed copy of Dr Simon Elliott’s book Sea Eagles of Empire: The Classis Britannica and the Battles for Britain (History Press, 2016).

Sea Eagles of Empire was Dr Elliott’s first book and won Military History Monthly‘s Book of the Year Award. It tells the story of the Classis Britannica; the British Roman Navy.

Dr Elliott is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Classical & Archaeological Studies. He talked about the process of research, writing, submitting and getting published at SECL’s Writing History and Getting Published event, held on 15 March. He was joined at the event by published author and fellow SECL alum, Amanda Thomas. you can see photographs of the event at the Classical & Archaeological Studies at Kent Facebook page.

To enter the competition and win a signed copy of the book, simply answer the following question:

Which Roman Governor of Britain fought the battle of Mons Graupius in AD 83?

Send your answers to secl@kent.ac.uk with ‘SECL book competition’ as the subject of your email. The competition is open until midnight on Friday 25 May 2018.

Dr Arvind Madan to give Distinguished Visitor Lecture on the future of primary care

Dr Arvind Madan, Director of Primary Care and Deputy National Medical Director for NHS England, will give a Distinguished Visitor Lecture on our Canterbury campus on Wednesday 18 April.

With more than 20 years of experience as a General Practitioner (GP) and having provided clinical leadership for the transformation of healthcare in the county of Kent, Dr Madan will speak on the topic: General Practice Forward View and a Vision for the Future of Primary Care.

Dr Madan will address questions including why healthcare in the UK is a contentious issue, what challenges the NHS faces, and how we can improve primary care in the future. His lecture will conclude with a Q&A session. Get involved in the discussion via Twitter using #CHSSopen18

The event takes place from 18.30 to 19.30 in Grimond Lecture Theatre 1. Entry is free and open to students, staff and visitors. For more information or to book visit the event page.

Dr Madan is part of the Hurley Group, a large multi-site general practice and urgent care provider, and also the Kings Fund Advisory Board. He also works on his own Community Interest Company, Healthy Minds, which is a peer-mediation service for children, operating in 30 schools in London.

His lecture is brought to you by the Centre for Health Services Studies (CHSS) at the University of Kent.

New BSIS Annual International Conference podcasts

The annual student-organised BSIS International Conference that took place on 5 April can now be downloaded as a podcast or listened to online via the recently launched Beyond Brussels podcast.

The conference examined how technological changes are affecting our sense of reality, in areas such as politics, humanitarian aid and social hierarchies.

Three of the five discussions from the day can now be downloaded via iTunes or Spotify or accessed directly from the Beyond Brussels website. They are:

Cyber Radicalisation: The Effects of Modern Technology on Political Extremism Panel

Moderator: Dr. Yvan Guichaoua

Panelists: Adeline Hulin – UNESCO, David Ibsen – Counter Extremism Project, and Tommaso Virgili – European Foundation for Democracy

Listen online iTunes Spotify

Online Platforms: Power Hierarchies in a Digital Society

Interview with panellists Maryant Fernandez Perez – European Digital Rights and Gerald Hensel – Fearless Democracy

Listen online iTunes Spotify

Instrumentalising Blockchain: Humanitarian Aid and Technology Regulations

Moderator: Juan David Mendieta – Keyrock

Panelists: Niall Dennehy – AID:Tech, Ben Joakim – Disberse

Listen online iTunes Spotify

Beyond Brussels is run by a group of BSIS students, led by Executive Editor and Host Allie Elwell and Senior Editor and Host Marissa Diaz. The other students involved in the podcast are: Niki Papadogiannakis, Nadira Nasibli, Katrina Coles, Lois McLatchie, Hattie Schofield, Nadja Sorelvmo and Zoheb Masher.

With special thanks to the BSIS International Conference organising team lead by Francesca Grandolfo and Fernando Lozano Vazquez.

Coffee with colleagues: More vouchers now available

Due to the success of the Coffee with Colleagues scheme our sponsors have generously offered to make more coffee vouchers available for colleagues to invite someone they have never met in person, or do not know very well, to talk about their respective role or a work-related matter over a complimentary cup of coffee (or tea!).

This year, there is also a ‘mystery colleague’ option for more adventurous colleagues willing to be matched with a colleague at random.

Registration has been extended to Friday 13 April but don’t wait too long to register as numbers are still limited and vouchers allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

If you want to take advantage of this offer, all you will need to do is complete a short form giving details about yourself and your guest.

Coffee with Colleagues is part of the Kent Colleagues Connect programme, jointly funded by the Academic Division, Commercial Services and Learning & Organisational Development. This programme offers a number of opportunities throughout the year to meet colleagues across the University in an informal setting and learn more about their role.

Assessment and feedback in higher education: A research symposium

Colleagues are invited to attend a research symposium on Assessment and Feedback in Higher Education.

The event takes place on Wednesday 16 May from 12.30-17.00 in Sibson Lecture Theatre 1 and Atrium at the Canterbury Campus. A drinks reception will follow the event from 17.00-17.30 in Sibson Atrium.

The way in which students engage with and learn from the multiple sources of feedback available to them is a key issue in the enhancement of student learning in higher education. Well-designed assessment tasks and associated feedback can yield large learning gains compared to a variety of other educational interventions, yet the National Survey of Students consistently reveals the lowest student satisfaction for assessment and feedback.

Although students struggle to understand what is expected of them on academic tasks, formal statements of assessment criteria are typically insufficient to build the task understanding and evaluative expertise that students need to monitor their own learning. Increasing opportunities for dialogic feedback (i.e. interactions between lecturers and students, students and students, and students own self assessments as students are doing the assessment task) may result in better learning outcomes.

This research symposium brings together five assessment and feedback researchers who will discuss their own research findings in relation to these key concepts and consider implications with delegates. Sponsored by the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Kent, the event is free to participants both within and external to Kent, though places are limited.

View the programme and book a place via the Eventbrite page.