This year the University Kent is applying for University of Sanctuary status. As part of the City of Sanctuary movement, the Universities of Sanctuary network aims to ‘make Higher Education institutions places of safety, solidarity and empowerment for people seeking sanctuary’.

To help ensure that the University’s application process is properly reflective and self-critical, the Migration and Movement Signature Research Theme is holding a series of seminars throughout the year that address the question ‘What is Sanctuary?’

Speakers from a range of disciplines, career stages and backgrounds will discuss what sanctuary means and entails. Contributions will be a mix of academic talks and reflections on lived experience.

All sessions are online. Everybody is invited to join the conversation.

 Seminars timetable 

What Is Sanctuary 1 – on 9 November – 16.00-17.00

Sheona York, Reader in Law and Clinic Solicitor (Kent Law School)

This paper will present a history of recent sanctuary movements in the US and the UK. It will show that where true sanctuary is offered it is frequently as protection against the State itself and the State’s unjust laws. The paper will conclude by considering what it can mean for a university to offer sanctuary and how the University of Kent can support people whose status in the UK is rendered precarious by current immigration laws.

Dr Julia Hope, Lecturer in Higher Education and Academic Practice (Centre for the Study of Higher Education)

Building on research funded by the Migration and Movement Signature Research Theme, this paper focuses on Syrian academics exiled in Turkey. It considers the form of professional development support that can be offered to communities of displaced academics and the connections and intercultural exchange that arise from such opportunities. The paper thus considers what sanctuary means when working remotely with people who have experienced displacement.

Thomas Tegento, Student on the MA in Physical Theatre (Department of Drama and Theatre)

Thomas has been a student at the University of Kent for 4 years and has recently completed an MA in Physical Theatre. He is a refugee and came to Kent from a care service background. He published his first book, The Seventh Neck, in 2020 and is now doing dance and movement related creative practices with community theatre companies. He is interested in what total arts, physical and movement practices can offer in building the wellbeing of communities. He will speak about the meaning of sanctuary from the perspective of his lived experience.

Click this link to join the zoom meeting

What is Sanctuary 2 on 7 December – 16.00-17.00

Dr Lucy Williams, Senior Visiting Research Fellow (School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research)

This paper will consider sanctuary in a time of ‘crisis’. East Kent, and especially Dover and Manston, are yet again in the eye of the migration storm. In this fevered atmosphere what is the role of ‘sanctuary’? Policy makers rely on closely prescribed (yet flexible) categories to sift the worthy from the unworthy but in forcing people to prove their lives fit into these categories, experience is simplified, and the person is lost. Can encouraging sanctuary in our communities and workplaces be a way to bring attention back to the individual to challenge both policy and public portrayals of migration?

Dr Rachel Gregory Fox, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow (School of English)

This paper will consider the subject of the camp as presented in Yousif M. Qasmiyeh’s Writing the Camp. While refugee camps, in some respects, represent places of apparent safety, community, and shelter, they are also contingent and precarious. The paper will consider how these two aspects of the camp call into question the possibility of its status as a place of sanctuary. Qasmiyeh’s poetry sets institutional oversight and international charitable aid within the camp alongside what Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh identifies as ‘refugee-refugee relations’. The paper considers how Qasmiyeh thus disrupts more centralised views of host-relations, hospitality and sanctuary.

Basma El-Dhouki, GCDC Doctoral Candidate (School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research)

Basma is a Palestinian refugee living and working in Lebanon. For twelve years she has been active in humanitarian and development work with refugees and asylum seekers within UNHCR, UNRWA and international NGOs in Lebanon and Syria. Her work has focused on sexual and gender based violence, child protection and general protection, prevention and response programs. Basma’s PhD focuses on “The role of Refugee-Led Organisations in providing protection and assistance for displaced communities in the Lebanon, Syria and Jordan”. The project explores the nature of refugee-led organisations, the factors conditioning their impact and interventions, and the inclusion of refugees in their own development. Basma’s talk will address the question of sanctuary from the perspective of her professional background.

Click this link to join zoom meeting

For more information on the Migration and Movement Signature Research Theme contact
srt-mm-lead@kent.ac.uk

Growing Kent and Medway (a collaborative research and innovation cluster) has developed special focus topics aiming to pull together the region’s academics and experts to promote innovation and find solutions for the current technical challenges.

Sustainable Packaging is one of the special focus topics, and the first industry forum was held in September. Find out more about how the event went.

On Tuesday 8 November, we are bringing together researchers who have some research interests that could contribute (directly or indirectly) towards developing sustainable packaging solutions.

This research sandpit will focus on Sustainable Packaging, Biorefining, and Biomass, and aims to explore how our organisations can work together and help develop future ideas.

If you would like to attend, please email Dr Lori Fisher l.fisher@kent.ac.uk, who can register your details.

We return to the Cathedrals of Canterbury and Rochester next month for our winter graduation ceremonies and we invite you all to get involved to help make these special occasions for our graduands.

There is one ceremony in Rochester on Wednesday 23 November and three in Canterbury on Friday 25 November.

You can sign up here.

There are a range of roles to take on and they all give you the opportunity to share in the celebrations and pass on your congratulations. They include:

• Ticket Collection: You will be responsible for helping graduands and guests exchange their ‘E-Receipts’ for graduation tickets.
• Graduand Registration: This role assists with checking in each graduand as they arrive and giving them a number to line them up in processional order around the precinct. You will have an alphabetised list of names to check.
• Ushering: As an usher, you will be responsible for making sure the guests are seated promptly and safely in the Cathedral prior to, during and post ceremony
• Certificate Table: Based inside the Cathedral, this role is responsible for ensuring that all graduates receive their certificate.

Why should you get involved?

• Share in the celebrations of our graduands as they become our graduates and experience the joy of graduation ceremonies.
• Spend time working in the wonderful locations of Canterbury and Rochester Cathedral.
• Get free refreshments (including one or more meals) if you work for two or more consecutive ceremonies.

We will be delighted to have you for any times you are available. We will send you the briefing closer to the ceremonies that confirms your start times and who to report to on the day.

If you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to get in touch or if you are all set to help you can sign up here.

This November the BFI London Film Festival comes to campus at the Gulbenkian, with a season of screenings of films making waves at the film festival. These include Oscar tipped The Banchees of Inisherin, My Policeman starring Harry Styles, and Bros, the LGBTQ+ rom-com getting rave reviews.

The Banshees of Inisherin

Fri 11, Sat 12 and Thu 17 Nov, 19.00

Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, ‘The Banshees Of Inisherin’ follows lifelong friends Padraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson), who find themselves at an impasse when Colm unexpectedly puts an end to their friendship.

Book for The Banshees of Inisherin

Decision to Leave

Sat 19, Wed 23 and Thu 24 Nov, 19.00

A man falls from a mountain peak to his death. The detective in charge of the investigation, Hae-joon (Park Hae-il), comes to meet the dead man’s wife Seo-rae (Tang Wei). When she becomes a suspect, Hae-joon finds himself slowly developing an interest in her.

Book for Decision to Leave

My Policeman

Sun 20 & Mon 21 Nov, 19.00

A beautifully crafted story of forbidden love and changing social conventions, My Policeman follows three young people – policeman Tom (Harry Styles), teacher Marion, and museum curator Patrick as they embark on an emotional journey in 1950s Britain.

Book for My Policeman

Triangle of Sadness

Sat 26, Sun 27 Nov & Thu 1 Dec, 19.00

Two-time Palme d’Or winner Ruben Ostlund cements his position as contemporary cinema’s leading satirist with this savagely funny tale of class clashes and role reversals.

Book for Triangle of Sadness

Bros

Fri 25 & Tue 29 Nov, 19.00

Universal Pictures proudly presents the first romantic comedy from a major studio about two gay men maybe, possibly, probably stumbling towards love. Maybe. They’re both very busy.

Book for Bros

Call Jane

Mon 28 & Wed 30 Nov, 19.00

A housewife is overjoyed with the news of her pregnancy – until she learns it poses a threat to her own life. She has nowhere to turn until she meets an underground group of women who risk everything to provide people like her with a choice.

Book for Call Jane

Staff discounts at the Gulbenkian

New for this year, Gulbenkian have introduced a Kent Staff Membership. For only £10 you get:

• 4 free cinema tickets
• 20% off all films for 12 months
• plus 40% of selected theatre for 12 months
• and 10% off in the Gulbenkian Café………for 12 months
• AND your discount can be applied for up to 6 tickets per event!

Visit the Gulbenkian site to buy you £10 membership.

Join our Staff Tennis Club each Tuesday between 12pm to 1.30pm with our LTA level 5 coach and Tennis Development Manager Nick Skelton. Drop in during your lunch break for an informal game of tennis with Nick and other members of staff.

You can arrive late or leave early to fit in with your lunch break and Nick will organise all the players on the day into games with others of a similar level. So come along whether you’re new to tennis, haven’t played for a long time, would like to find new players to play with, or just want to get some exercise and let off some steam!

To book on any Kent Sport All Active session please visit kent.ac.uk/sports/all-active

All Active sessions are free for Kent Sport Premium Plus members. Premium, Plus, and Pay to Play members pay £2 per session.

The University’s Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries have announced Jim Ang as its new Deputy Director.

Jim is currently Senior Lecturer in the University of Kent School of Computing, where his main research expertise lies in digital health, specifically in co-designing, deploying and evaluating immersive and sensing technologies in healthcare settings. His team has developed prototypes including virtual reality systems for people with dementia, anxiety and eating disorders, as well as skin-like flexible sensors for monitoring and therapies, some of which are in use in real-world settings.

Jim says: “I hope to help shape the future direction of ICCI, exploring the intersection between my current work, and cultural and creative industries to make an impact.”

iCCi Director Catherine Richardson says “We are delighted to welcome Jim to our team. He brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise as we develop a Digital Strategy for research, teaching and civic engagement, and will bring colleagues from across the university more closely into iCCi as the Institute continues its work with cutting-edge projects – including the Docking Station, a new cultural hub for immersive technologies in Medway”.

Find out more about the work of iCCi.

You are invited to submit new or updated declarations for incorporation in the 2022/2023 Register.

What is this?

The University Council holds a Register of Interests for all staff and members of Council, in line with the Higher Education Code of Governance and the Office for Students Audit requirements. This register is where individuals declare any interests they have. Some examples are:

• Any financial or personal interest you may have between the University and an external body, such as another organisation.
• Consultancy, employment, directorship or other activity within a commercial concern
• Shareholding or membership of statutory and public authorities
• Other education establishments and companies where the University has an actual or potential business relationship
• Any interest a family member might have that could give the appearance of a conflict, even where no actual conflict exists.

When should I make a declaration?

It is up to you what, if any, interests you declare. However, making a declaration provides protection for both you and the University against any possible allegations of misconduct, corruption, or impropriety.

It ensures transparency so it is clear you did not exploit your position for personal gain in some way or used your position within the University for your personal advantage. The rule of thumb is if in doubt, declare it to cover yourself.

Documents, including the Policy and a Declaration Form can be accessed on the Governance website Policies and Procedures – Governance – University of Kent and on SharePoint. You can also find the University’s Policy on Personal Benefit  on our Governance pages.

Colleagues are welcome to contact Council Secretariat for confidential advice if needed.

Completed forms should be returned by the end of November 2022.

The Estate Customer Services and Print Centre would love to get your feedback on their services and invite you take part in their annual short satisfaction survey.

The Estates Customer Services Centre acts as the key contact point for all enquiries regarding services provided by the Commercial Services & Estates Department. They work in line with their Customer Services Policy, which is available to view on the department’s website.

The Print Centre provides high quality, cost effective print solutions, they will take care of the whole process of getting an item produced from the design to sourcing the best quality and value products.

The short survey should take no more than five minutes for you to complete and is open for two weeks, closing at midnight on 2 November.

Your views are very valuable as they will be vital in helping make improvements to their service.