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Testing out a theory

SECL Inspirational Speaker events

You are warmly invited to attend our Inspirational Speaker events this term! Here are all the details for the talks we have coming up:

Jade Bentil, a black feminist historian and researcher at Oxford University, will be presenting her talk: ‘Be a thief to the university: black feminist politics and navigating the Ivory Tower’
on Wednesday 29 January at 17.00 in SIBSON sr 6.

As a Black feminist historian who seeks to centre the lives of Black women within her work, the historical tension between theorising Black liberation whilst in the colonial university has been one that Jade has continually meditated on. Using her own experiences in academia and contextualising them within the politics of Black feminism, Jade will explore the irreconcilable nature of this tension and what it means to ‘be in but not of the university’

To book tickets for this event please visit this Eventbrite website

Next up is Dr Kate Fox, the Yorkshire stand-up poet, author and comedian, will be talking about class and autism in: ‘Neurodiversions: or why I won’t be dressing up in a unicorn onesie to talk about autism, class, being a stand-up, fitting in & standing out!’
on Wednesday 5 February at 17.00 in Templeman Lecture Theatre.

Dr Kate Fox has worked extensively in radio as well as live performance and is currently touring with her show ‘Where there’s muck, there’s bras’ about northern women through history. She’s also a gentle activist and campaigner for the voices of Northerners, the working class, women and the neurodiverse.

To book please visit this Eventbrite website

On Wednesday 11 March Professor Heidi Mirza will be returning to Kent and will be speaking as part of the Decolonise UKC Conference. Dr Mirza is Professor of Race, Faith and Culture at Goldsmiths College and co-author (with Dr Jason Arday) of the recently published ‘Dismantling race in HE’. Time and venue TBA.

And finally, Dr Francesca Sobande from Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture, will present her talk: ‘Reframing the “Attainment Gap” and its implications: How institutions undermine the learning experiences of Black students’ on Monday 16 March at 17.00.

To book please visit this Eventbrite website

Dr Sobande’s research explores how issues related to racism, sexism and intersecting structural inequalities manifest in media and the marketplace.

New staff help and advice service

Staff have easy access to expert help with both workplace and personal issues – thanks to a new Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) being launched this week.

Whether you have questions on issues from debt and landlords to nutrition and stress, the EAP website should have the answers.

If not, you can telephone the providers, Care first/Sodexho, free of charge and get help from an information specialist or an accredited counsellor.

Key facts

-All EAP communications and consultations are completely confidential between you and the EAP.
-The same confidentiality applies to any additional support provided or organised for you by the EAP, eg counselling.
-You contact the EAP directly; you do not have to go through your manager to access any of the support the EAP provides
-For managers, a dedicated area of the EAP website offers generic advice on dealing with both individual and team issues; access the link below and click on the Managers tab.

The EAP providers, Care first/Sodexho, were chosen following a competitive tender and interview process, which included input from trades unions. Advice and support is provided at no cost to staff; the University funds all costs associated with the EAP

The EAP incorporates the existing University Wellbeing resource provided by Revitalised, which offers advice on all aspects of wellbeing, including self-assessment.

How to access

Take a look at all the EAP has to offer on its website: www.carefirst-lifestyle.co.uk

Log-in details are: USERNAME: uokent PASSWORD: university

For telephone advice, the freephone number is 0808 168 2143.

If you wish to know more about the EAP before accessing its website or services, see the Occupational Health intranet pages. If you still have questions after this, email occupationalhealth@kent.ac.uk or discuss with your manager, HR or trades union representative.

Remember that the EAP is a great resource so keep these log-in and contact details handy!

New volunteering scheme launched for students

The Kent Volunteering Scheme has now launched through the Careers and Employability Service (CES). It has been designed to recognise and support the hard-work University of Kent students do when volunteering, and to help them to understand and articulate their skills development from their volunteering activity.

The Scheme runs this year from 1 May 2019 to 15 May 2020, so students can log hours previously volunteered. Hours are kept track of so students have the opportunity to progress through the different levels of the Scheme, starting at just 10 hours and increasing to 1,000+ hours.

After 50 hours are logged, students will receive support in benchmarking the skills they have acquired, ensuring their experience is positively reflected to potential future employers. To utilise the Kent Volunteering Scheme, simply go online and fill out the short form. CES will keep track of your progress and contact you at the relevant stages of the scheme. If you have any queries, please email studentvolunteering@kent.ac.uk.

Dentistry in a Contemporary Context.

This short CPD course is suitable for the whole dental team – Dental Care Professionals and Dentists. During this course, participants are encouraged to address contemporary dental practice within the wider context of social policy and cultural influence.

Dr Sam Shah will address the inequalities effecting health and well-being and the incorporation of health into historical and contemporary political and sociological agendas. Professor Ken Eaton will discuss oral health systems in Europe and beyond. John Darby will deliver an update on the national Advancing Dental Care Project. Plus, Mike Wheeler will discuss the potential of dental care professionals roles related to the future of dental services and how their training may be funded.

This course takes place over two weekends at the University of Kent Medway campus. The dates are 7-9 February and 6 March 2020.

For more information and to book your place, please click on this link.

Congratulations to our new Senior Fellows of the HEA

The Centre for the Study of Higher Education warmly congratulates the following colleagues who applied for Senior Fellowship of the HEA through the Route to Recognition for Experienced Staff (RRES) and successfully gained national recognition for their leadership, excellence, expertise and commitment to professionalism in teaching and learning.

Dr Tracee Green – Centre for Child Protection

Vanisha Jassal – Centre for Child Protection

Dr Suhraiya Jivraj – Kent Law School

Debbie Kemp – Kent Business School

Dr Lex Mauger – School of Sport and Exercise Sciences

Steve Robinson – Kent Business School

Sophia Vanttinen-Newton – Centre for English and World Languages

Dr Rocio von Jungenfeld – School of Engineering and Digital Arts

Dr Samantha Winter – School of Sport and Exercise Sciences

Learning and Teaching Conference 2020 – Call for Proposals

The University of Kent’s Annual Learning and Teaching Conference will take place on Monday 15 June 2020 in the Darwin Conference Suite.

This year, we will be focusing on enhancing relevance: how we connect academic learning with the wider world. We invite proposals for workshops, discussion papers, mini-presentations and posters from University of Kent staff involved in teaching or supporting students’ learning (including GTAs, HPLs and professional services staff) that address the conference theme. We particularly encourage collaborative presentations with students. Sessions should involve reflection, exploration, scholarship and evaluation as well as describing activities undertaken.

The deadline for receipt of proposals is the 28 February. You can find more details of the theme and arrangements and a straightforward and friendly form to fill in on the events website

To book please sign up via Eventbrite by 8 June 2020

The Annual Learning and Teaching Conference is open to all who are interested in celebrating our excellent teaching at Kent, improving our support for students’ learning, sharing good practice, and trying out new ideas. It’s a welcoming space for us to think, talk and learn together; but we know the impact lasts much longer than the day itself. From previous conferences have come successful funding bids, published papers, collaborative research, and changes to practice.

Please send us your proposals to heprogsadmin@kent.ac.uk and come along on the 15 June to join us.

If you have questions in the meantime, please get in touch with Dr Kathleen M Quinlan (K.M.Quinlan@kent.ac.uk).

Resilience and Wellbeing session at the Medway Campus

Calling all University of Kent Staff, especially if based on the Medway campus for a Resilience & Wellbeing session being held next month!

When: Tuesday 4 February between 10.30 – 12.30 .

Where: At the Medway campus

You can book your place through Staff Connect.

The objectives of the session are:

How to manage the balance between pressure, performance, wellbeing and resilience.
How to use natural strengths in responding positively to workplace demands.

This workshop covers the capacity to maintain wellbeing and work performance when under pressure and during times of change.

This course is open to all members of staff so please feel free to come along!

Will a Robot take my Job?

Dr Colin Johnson from the School of Computing is to deliver a STEM@Kent lecture entitled ‘Will a Robot take my Job? Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work.’

When: Wednesday 5 February from 17.00 – 18.00

Where: Grimond Lecture Theatre 3,

A new industrial revolution is upon us, as intelligent machines take the place of humans across the economy. The impact of this could be vast – from increasingly sophisticated robots carrying out manual work, to artificial intelligence doing work in the law and accounting, through to robots working in the most human of jobs such as health and social care. This talk will examine whether the hype around AI is justified, which areas of work this will revolutionise, and which jobs will be untouched.

Furthermore, he will discuss how the structure of the workplace and management will need to change, and where legal responsibility will sit in cases of error, harm or negligence. Of course, this revolution will not happen in a vacuum – in the final part of the talk he will consider how the economy and politics will need to change to cope with one of the most disruptive changes of the 21st century.

This talk is open to all and will be followed by a reception and networking event in the Aphro foyer.

To book this event please go to the Eventbrite website

Calling all lost plates, cups and platters!

In an attempt to collect any wayward platters/plates/cups/saucers that may have been missed by our delivered catering team after an event, or are hiding at the back of the office kitchen cupboard somewhere over the last year, Kent Hospitality’s delivered catering team will be placing collection crates across campus on Monday 27th January for you to deposit any delivered catering equipment that we may have missed previously.

The team will be collecting these crates back up on Tuesday 28th January from midday, and we would be grateful if you could help us out by returning any delivered catering equipment you may find.

We will be placing collection crates in the following locations to make this as easy as possible:

• Chipperfield foyer

• Cornwallis East 1st floor kitchen

• Cornwallis North West outside SR3/4

• Cornwallis South kitchen opposite the student reception

• Create Café

• Darwin Reception

• Eliot Extension ground floor kitchen

• Eliot Reception

• Estates Customer Services

• Jarmen 2nd floor kitchen

• Kennedy foyer near SR1

• Keynes Reception

• Registry ground floor reception

• Rutherford annex ground floor kitchen

• Rutherford dining hall

• Sibson Cafe

• Sports Café

• Templeman Library Welcome Desk

If you have any equipment and are not near a drop-off point please email internalcatering@kent.ac.uk and we will arrange a separate collection.

Thank you in advance for all your help!

Finalists campaign – get involved!

A new University campaign has been launched to support our final undergraduate year students – and we need your help to promote it!

The Finalists campaign www.kent.ac.uk/finalists showcases all the good work that colleagues across the University are already doing with final year and other students.

The aim of the campaign is to ensure that final year students feel cared for and equipped with the skills, knowledge and confidence to succeed once they graduate. This aligns with our broader University focus on welcome, induction and transitions – with this being a key transition stage for all students.

Colleagues are being encouraged to use the Finalist campaign to engage with our final year students by using the hashtag #KentFinalists, signposting final year undergraduate students to the Finalists website and adding events for final year students to the Finalists events calendar.

All downloadable resources for the Finalists campaign can be found on the SharePoint site for staff. Resources include templates for plasma screens, posters and digital assets as well as branded #KentFinalists images.

Students will receive an email this week inviting them to check out the new Finalists webpage and two further Finalist branded e-newsletters later this term.

To find out more, email communications@kent.ac.uk