Since the start of the year, talks have continued between UCU and UCEA in an attempt to find a resolution to the current industrial action. UCEA have now made a series of proposals that address the specific issues of pay and working conditions. These will be considered by UCU at a meeting being held today (30 January) and we will provide a further update shortly after.

The proposals set out a series of expectations on individual universities on the three non-pay areas of dispute: workload, gender and ethnicity pay and casual employment. The position on pay remains unchanged.

The University welcomes the proposals put forward at national level and believes that, although considerable work has already taken place in these areas at Kent, there is further work to do at sector-level.

You can read more about the proposals here:

UCEA press release 28 January 2020

UCU briefing 28 January 2020

You can also find regular updates on our Industrial Action webpages.

Organising for Success brings together work that will empower staff to transform our students lives, helping us meet our Kent 2025 strategy and ensure a future we can be proud of.

As part of this, we are currently consulting with affected staff on a proposed new central professional services leadership structure. During the consultation period, we will both agree the final leadership structure and discuss with individual affected staff what this will mean for their roles. Teams affected at this stage have been directly contacted by their relevant Executive Group member – the proposed University-wide leadership structure is also now available for information on the HR website. The final confirmed structure will be shared once consultation is complete.

Other updates across the project:

Directors of Operations

We are delighted to announce that Amanda Ollier has been appointed as Director of Operations for the Division of Arts, Culture and Design – see the Transitional Arrangements section of the website for more information.

Strand 3 / 4 – Divisional operations and professional services design

These two areas of work have now ‘formally’ come together, to reflect the amount of overlap between them. There is more information on the Implementation section of the website. Alongside this:

– Workshops are ongoing between Directors of Operations and central professional service leads to begin establishing where accountability and resource should sit in the new structure

– Workshops will also start shortly to begin mapping processes in key areas so we can agree how they could be reflected – and simplified wherever possible – when divisions launch in September. The Project Management Office (formerly known as BIPU) will contact relevant professional service leads shortly to arrange these, and assistance with providing initial details on any existing processes in advance would be greatly appreciated

Strand 5 – Standing down Faculties

Considerable progress has also been made to transfer essential activity currently taking place within Faculties to divisions. Recent highlights include:

– Protocols agreed for managing the final faculty committees, which will take place this summer – IS are also working on ensuring key website information is retained and transferred appropriately

– A vision for Quality Assurance in the new structure has been drawn up and will go to Senate in March, ensuring we have a have common framework and a consistent approach

– A team drawn from the Faculty Support Office, QA, the Graduate School, Student Services and Kent Union are also beginning to rewrite our codes of practice and regulations, with support from an external adviser to ensure everything is aligned in our new organisational structures

For latest information on Organising for Success, see the Updates section of the website. There is also supporting information under Frequently Asked Questions

The School of Art’s Studio 3 Gallery has launched a new exhibition this month, entitled ‘AI and I’.

The exhibition will run until the Thursday 20 February 2020 and the gallery is open Monday to Friday, from 10.00 – 17.00.

The exhibition has been curated by Alice C. Helliwell, who is currently on the PhD in the History and Philosophy of Art, and Studio 3 Gallery curator Dr Eleen M Deprez, as well as Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms.

The exhibition is an experiment: using works from the Kent Print Collection, the exhibition explores how AI can facilitate curating and enhance the visitor’s experience of art.

AI broadly refers to technologies that create intelligence in a computational machine. Some AI recreates human behaviour (such as writing a text or identifying objects in a picture). Others aim to go beyond our human capabilities, avoiding human error. AI has an increasingly wide application, from face recognition on social media, to voice assistants Siri and Alexa. In the arts, people are developing AI that can identify, evaluate and create artworks.

The exhibition explores these possibilities by utilising a number of AI technologies. AI was used to help select, design, interpret and describe the works on display. Google Vision API suggested how works could be displayed together and EyeEm helped inform which works were aesthetically pleasing. AI looked carefully at the various portraits in the collection and suggested matching faces in other works of art. GPT-2 wrote short narratives based on the works. The ‘AI and YOU’ section of the display is designed to encourage you to try out some of the technologies yourself.

For more details of the Studio 3 Gallery, please take a look at this blog 

What would our world, our city and our lives look like if we all took action? Join us for a fun family day focusing on themes of sustainability and saving our planet.

When: Saturday 15 Feb from 10.00 – 16.00

Where: Gulbenkian, Canterbury

Tickets for the WHOLE DAY are only £2! and can be booked online now. Please note some of the events below have a limited capacity, and will be first come, first served on the day.

Book now on the Gulbenkian website 

Join artist Amanda Thesiger on a Nature Walk through the university grounds with no particular destination in mind, allowing yourself to be led by your senses.

Artist Peter Morton is back with a hands-on Animation Workshop inspired by all things treeish.

Enjoy a live performance from members of Pequeño Samba Pelo Mar, Whitstable’s community samba band.

Our chefs demonstrate live how to cook a delicious meal, using only locally produced ingredients from within a 30 mile radius!

Spoken word artist Henry Maddicott asks you to put pen to paper and write a Letter to the Earth (you can perform it too later if you like!).

Help artist Hope Fitzgerald to make small folded books which capture important ideas from the day.

Come and have your say on a range of climate change topics in one of our Mini Citizens Assemblies, and put in your vote on how you think things should change.

At the end of the day, join a discussion panel of climate change experts and activists and hear the results from our day of Mini Citizens Assemblies.

What will you do to help save the planet? Grab a pen and add your action or pledge to our Sustainabili-TREE.

Film Screenings: (ticketed separately at £3pp)

Wall-E – 10.00

2040 – 13.00

The Biggest Little Farm – 16.00

An updated copy of the University’s Privacy Notice is now available.

The Privacy Notice sets out how everyone’s personal data is collected, processed and stored by HR.  The full Notice can be found on the HR webpages.

Key changes in this update are the use of CCTV images, retention periods for data in Staff Connect and the introduction of an archive system to enable us to provide basic employment references for staff for many years after leaving our employment.

An article by Kent Law School Professor Rosemary Hunter and a book by Senior Lecturer Dr Rose Parfitt have been shortlisted for a Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) prize.

Professor Hunter’s article, ‘Feminist judging in the “real world”‘ (Oñati Socio-Legal Series, vol 8, n9, 2018) is shortlisted for the SLSA Article Prize. The article presents Professor Hunter’s empirical research on real world feminist judging. Drawing on case study and interview data it explores the how, when and where of feminist judging, that is, the feminist resources, tools and techniques judges have drawn upon, the stages in the hearing and decision-making process at which these resources, tools and techniques have been deployed, and the areas of law in which they have been applied. The article goes on to consider observed and potential limits on feminist judicial practice, before drawing conclusions about the comparison between ‘real world’ feminist judging and the practices of feminist judgmentally projects.

Dr Parfitt’s book, ‘The Process of International Legal Reproduction: Inequality, Historiography, Resistance’ (Cambridge University Press, 2019) is shortlisted for the SLSA Socio-Legal Theory and History Prize. The book explores the legal historiography of the state and features new archival research. It draws upon both anti-colonial and Marxist theory for a critical examination of the role of international law in establishing and perpetuating inequalities of wealth, power and pleasure. The book has also been nominated, in the US, for the Law and Society Association’s J Willard Hurst Book Prize for socio-legal history.

Research for Dr Parfitt’s book was funded in part by a Discovery Early Career Research Award from the Australian Research Council. The grant, awarded in 2015, was for a three-year project on ‘International Law and the Legacies of Fascist Internationalism’.

Nominations are invited for the election of staff representatives to the Joint Staff Negotiating and Consultation Committee (JSNCC).

The JSNCC is the main forum for consultation between the University of Kent and its staff on matters of mutual interest and is one of the most important and influential committees in the University.

Staff membership of the Committee comprises representatives of each of the trade unions and four representatives of non-union staff: two from the professional services and research support staff in grades 1 to 6; and two from the academic, research and professional services staff in grades 7 and above. The current non-union staff members are as follows:

Professional services and research support staff (grades 1 to 6)

• Stephen Rowlstone – leaving his position with the University
• Becky Verlin – elected in December 2017

Academic, research and professional services staff (grades 7+)

• Jon King – elected in April 2019
• Denise Twomey – elected in December 2017

Stephen Rowlstone has notified us of his intention to leave the University, and we would like to thank him for his input and commitment to the JSNCC. As a result, nominations are now invited and welcomed for one position to represent staff in grades 1 to 6. Staff members working within Grades 1 to 6 are encouraged to apply.

Acting as a staff representative is interesting and rewarding. It provides the opportunity to discuss and comment on University plans and policies, to meet a wide range of new people and to gain valuable personal development. Training and support will be provided to the successful candidate.

The deadline for completed nominations is 17.00 on Monday 10 February 2020.

Further information about the JSNCC and the nomination and election processes can be found on the JSNCC website at or by contacting HR via ERBP@kent.ac.uk

The Student Success (EDI) Project is delighted to launch their “Inspirations” website, a new platform to increase the visibility of our staff diversity.

The site brings to life the experiences and contributions of our Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff and those considered first in family to attend university. Their stories contain personal, enjoyable and inspiring journeys but they also provide challenging accounts about their views on equality and their aspirations for the future.

We hope these will inspire our BAME and first in family students.

We are looking for new stories, so if you want to share yours with us or know a member of staff who you feel has an interesting story to share,  then please get in contact with the Student Success team

The School of Politics and International Relations and the Conflict Analysis Research Centre (CARC) are delighted to invite you to a talk by Maddy Allen, Field Manager for Help Refugees in Northern France entitled: “Human Rights Abuses on the UK/French Border”

When: Thursday 30 January 2020, at 17.00

 Where: Eliot Lecture Theatre 2 (ELT2)

3 YEARS ON FROM THE JUNGLE CAMP

It’s a critical turning point in the political landscape for Britain. As the conversation about our borders are dividing the nation, thousands of refugees are living in dire conditions in Northern France. It’s over three years since the demolition of the infamous ‘Jungle’ Camp in Calais and for displaced people living in makeshift camps, life is impossibly hard. This presentation will explain the current situation in Northern France, including a closer look at increased securitisation measures, human rights abuses and the impact Brexit will have on the hundreds of unaccompanied children who are currently on the move across Europe. Find out about practical ways you can support the crisis and volunteer on upcoming trips to Calais!

Maddy Allen is Field Manager for Help Refugees in Northern France. Help Refugees is a group of everyday people, taking action to improve lives of refugees. It is the biggest facilitator of grassroots aid on the continent, supporting more than 110 projects across Europe and the Middle East.

The talk is open to all and free to attend with no booking necessary.