Kent’s Centre for Critical International Law (CeCIL) has released a recording of this year’s Annual Lecture in which Professor Susan Marks, from the London School of Economics, offers a critical exploration of dignity and its worldliness.

Professor Marks filmed her talk ‘Have you seen dignity?’ at Kent earlier this month (without an audience) after restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant the event could not proceed as originally planned.

Speaking also on behalf of Dr Sara Kendall who co-directs CeCIL with him, Dr Luis Eslava said:: ‘Having it recorded for online circulation was our way to express our solidarity with our friends and colleagues across the world who are facing, like communities in general, many challenges posed by the current crisis and who are searching for new ways to make sense of it.’

Professor Marks’s talk (the title of which is inspired by lyrics from the Bob Dylan song “Dignity”) begins by tracking the word dignity as it pops up in everyday life. She goes on to consider dignity within the context of academic writing across the disciplines of philosophy, legal scholarship, health and social care, sociology, and anthropology. Finally, she discusses the politics of dignity, indignity and indignation.

Professor Marks’s research is concerned with international law, human rights and the global political economic order. She is the author of The Riddle of All Constitutions, International Human Rights Lexicon (co-authored with Andrew Chapman) and A False Tree of Liberty. She is the editor of International Law on the Left. Her research seeks to bring insights from critical social theory to the study of international law and human rights.

CeCIL is an innovative research centre at Kent Law School which aims to foster critical approaches to the field of international law.  

Two members of Kent Hospitality staff helped raise the money as part of a six person team that met through a local Beginners to Runners club.

The six friends from Faversham were each supposed to be running in the London Landmarks Half Marathon for charity last weekend on 29 March. However, when the event was cancelled over two weeks ago due to Coronavirus the group took action.

Determined to still run their first ever half marathon for their charities, they instead decided to run a week early on Saturday 21 March by creating a Local Landmarks Half Marathon while maintaining the social distancing measures that were in place at the time to ensure everyone’s safety.

Donning their event themed leggings all six women, including Vanessa Corker and Lyn Scarfe from Kent Hospitality, successfully completed their 13.1 mile route around the lanes outside Faversham in two and a half hours. Between them they collectively raised over £3,500 for their chosen charities including Tommy’s, Age UK, Breast Cancer Now, Demelza Children’s Hospice and MacMillan Cancer Care.

When the half-marathon is officially reorganised all six have confirmed they will do it all over again on the official London Landmarks Half Marathon Route to raise even more money for their charities.

Philosophy and Politics student Alan Gurung has won £1000 in the Business Start-Up Journey pitching finals.

The School of European Culture and Languages would like to congratulate final year student Alan Gurung who has won £1000 with a business proposal for bringing empty high street shops back into use.

A virtual pitching final saw four student start-ups share the prize money in this year’s Business Start-Up Journey. Measures to combat the current Covid-19 pandemic meant the programme’s usual Dragons Den format had to switch to a virtual contest, with students pre-recording their pitches for submission to the judges. The businesses were scored in categories including sustainability, scaleability, innovation and financial viability.

When asked how his philosophy degree helps him with his entrepreneurial activities, Alan said: “In Philosophy, I am constantly contested on my critical analysis skills forcing me to be meticulous in my reasoning for debates, disputes and essays. Therefore, when articulating my entrepreneurial ideas, through force of habit from my degree, I format the ideas in a logical pattern so that I show that I have understood the market, I have validated a need/problem, and I have come up with a solution that I can argue is needed within that market.”

“Alan’s project to convert unused commercial property for multi-purpose hubs is an excellent example of how philosophical thinking can be critical, innovative, and practical,” said Dr Todd Mei, Head of the Department of Philosophy, “It is no easy feat to grasp the reasons why commercial property remains empty in many places and how productive use of such spaces can move beyond motives of money-making, towards practices that are ethically accountable and economically beneficial. A great project for contributory justice!”

In light of the disruption caused by Covid-19 and the measures taken to control its spread, the University has agreed to extend the deadline for applications for the current window of KVSS from 22 April to 24 May. This is to ensure that everyone eligible is able to apply and that no-one misses the opportunity. All other dates for the scheme remain as previously advertised and you can find full details of the scheme here.

More widely, we are continuing to review all projects currently underway to establish what the impact of Covid-19 will be and what we may need to pause or adapt in light of our new circumstances. A full update on what this will mean for Organising for Success will follow next week.

Since closing Kent Sport facilities last Friday the Kent Sport Team have all been discussing ideas to keep our membership community and University partners engaged in physical activity, wellbeing, follow good habits as well as a provide a brief sense of normality with instruction or advice from a familiar Kent Sport face.

With this in mind they are launching a regular Blog and Vlog through the Kent Sport webpage and social media channels as well through our University partner webpages.  The breadth of content will provide information and guidance for different levels, abilities and age groups and try to account for the different environments you all find yourself in.

Some content may not be helpful for everyone but they will endeavor to provide a broad range utilizing the talent, expertise and personalities they have available at Kent Sport and help you stay on track.

They will also provide some useful links and signpost other services and material that may be useful.

Coming Soon

• Home Workouts
• Wellbeing Ideas
• Health Tips
• Sport @ Home
• Kids Activities
• Nutrition Tips
• Music Mixes
• Fitness Articles
• Kent Sport News
• Positive Links

Feedback and engagement is completely welcome and if you have ideas for content or want to keep in touch please engage on social media accordingly by using #KentSportStayWellAtHome

Be sure to like them on Facebook and follow on Instagram and Twitter @UniKentSports, enjoy and join in!

Helping and supporting others is essential in times of crisis. NCVO, which champions the voluntary sector and volunteering, has some good suggestions on ways you can get involved with your community during the coronavirus outbreak:

Look out for your neighbours

The simplest thing everyone can do right now is look out for their neighbours and offer help with shopping and other errands.

It’s not just about neighbours who are self-isolating or vulnerable. Other people in the community who might also appreciate help are:

• stretched medical staff and volunteers
• staff and volunteers in key worker roles
• supermarket workers
• delivery drivers.

Remember it’s a marathon not a sprint – your help will be even more crucial in a few weeks’ time. For now, the best thing to do is to check in on neighbours.

Stay safe when supporting others

1. Keep washing your hands often for 20 seconds.
2. Stay at least two metres away from people you’re helping.
3. If you’re helping someone with very serious issues – don’t be afraid to flag with appropriate statutory services.
4. Support family, friends and neighbours by phone or video call.
5. Offer to run errands for people but stay outside of people’s homes.
6. Let family and friends know what you’re doing.
7. Don’t take on too much – it’s often better not to offer at all than to let someone down.

Volunteer with organisations providing support

Charities are working with the government and local authorities to create ways for people to get involved.

Here are a few suggestions:

• If you don’t have a particular charity in your local area, contact your local Volunteer Centre, CVS or visit the Do-it website.
• You can sign up to NHS Volunteer Responders who are supporting the NHS during the covid-19 outbreak.. Once you’ve registered and checks are complete – you’ll be provided a log-in to the GoodSAM Responder app.

Other ways to help charities

Supporting charities including as a volunteer or trustee would be incredibly valuable to help keep their work going.

Getting involved locally

Why not check your local council’s webpages? Kent County Council’s website has a ‘How Can I Help?’ section with a handy list of local authorities in Kent and links to the sort of volunteering support they’re after. And you can register to help in and around Medway on the Medway Voluntary Action website.

Our Postal Services team is currently operating a reduced service ​and is not undertaking scheduled deliveries and collections around Campus. Anyone who needs to collect incoming ​mail or deliver ​outgoing mail ​for posting can arrange this by telephoning ​the Estates Post Room on 01227 823210.  The opening times are between 8am and midday, Monday to Friday (except bank holidays).

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.  Please contact Estates Customer Services if you have any Estates-related enquiries on 01227 816666 or by email. Alternatively you can find useful information on the Estates website.

Update 30^th March 2020

Further to recent University communications in response to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) the Learning & Organisational Development (L&OD) team will be postponing the delivery of its current training and development courses and workshops, at this stage up to and including those on Friday 1^st of May.

During this suspended delivery period, the L&OD team will continue to work on enhancing our online training options as well as ensuring that arrangements are put in place for rearranging postponed training and development activities. Our Session Leads are currently assessing whether there are resources we can point you towards in the absence of the face-to-face sessions.

Staff are not required to action anything at this stage; we will be working on alternative dates for activities and will communicate these to staff affected by the cancelled activity directly in due course.

We will continue to follow the University’s guidance, along with Government, NHS and Public Health England advice and provide regular updates as the situation develops.

This is a challenging time for all of us. Please look after your own health but also be aware of the health and wellbeing of others around you.

Please check the coronavirus information online.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the L&OD team: LDev@Kent.ac.uk

We’re delighted to say the University of Kent Virtual Music Project is now live!

As from today, we’re encouraging student, staff and alumni musicians at the University to get involved in a virtual collaborative music project, which launches today with the first movement of Vivaldi’s enduringly-popular Gloria – and we want YOU to take part!

You can now access a recording of the accompaniment in two versions – one piano, one harpsichord – and we’re inviting you to record your individual part, using resources on the following links, and send it in.

Rehearsal accompaniments

 Choral scores

 Instrumental parts

 Trumpet in Bb parts

In the same folder as the recordings of the accompaniment, there’s also a short guidance sheet on how to make your recording, and also how to submit it: https://app.box.com/s/lcpnluvucrqolxmicbgg0gdp1uezv3dn

We will begin to build a virtual performance by combining all the recordings submitted, and are asking you to send in a selfie too, so we can create a visual record of everyone involved in the process.

The deadline for submitting your recording of the first movement is Friday 10 April, and we will then move on to the next stage of the project.

Please share your experience of being involved in the venture, and of making your recording, on social media using the hashtag #unikentVMP, so we can see how everyone is getting along and share your posts!

 So, what are you waiting for ?! Download or stream the accompaniment, grab some earphones or headphones, make your recording and send it in! We look forward to hearing the results and putting them together.

Find out more about the Virtual Music Project on its Facebook Page.

(Please note we are accepting recordings from University of Kent students, staff, alumni and current  external members of Music department ensembles only)