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Testing out a theory

Healthy Ageing and the Industrial Strategy: Kent and Medway

Kent Innovation and Enterprise will be hosting an event focusing on the research, products and services being developed to promote healthy ageing in an ageing society at the University of Kent Canterbury campus on Thursday 17th October, from 9.30am – 3pm. Join us for an insight into the research, products and services that are being developed to promote healthy ageing.

The number of people over 75 in the UK today is one in 12. By 2040, it will rise to one in 7. We’re also living for longer and a third of children born now are expected to live to 100. This presents a challenge to health services, but it is also an opportunity for businesses and researchers who can help people to stay active and productive as they age.

If you are a business or academic working in this field, this event will give you the chance to learn more about the various funding streams available and the opportunity to network with like-minded people, opening up the possibilities of future discussion and collaboration.

With speakers from across Kent and Medway this event will discuss innovations, case studies and opportunities for businesses to engage in this key issue. Particular focus will be on the following 7 themes of Healthy Ageing:

Sustaining physical activity
Designing for age-friendly homes
Maintaining health at work
Managing common complaints of ageing
Creating healthy and active places
Care support for people with cognitive impairment
Reducing social isolation

For more information and to register your place, please click here.

David Walsh appears on BBC Persia

BBC Persia recently interviewed David Walsh at the Bloomberg Space to discuss the differences between the Roman Cult and the worship of the Persian Mithra, who looks very similar (and has a similar name), but is also very distinct from Mithras in how he his worshipped.

A recording of the interview (David features at 11:30 approx) is available online.

David also recently appeared at the Mithraeum for the Emerge Festival (pictured below – image by Caroline Lawrence) giving talks on the cult.

Intellectual speed dating at Wimbledon Book Festival

Ben Hutchinson, Professor of European Literature in the Department of Modern Languages, is helping run an Intellectual Speed Dating event as part of this year’s Wimbledon Bookfest (3-13 October 2019).

The event celebrates the publication of the 600th in the ‘Very Short Introduction’ series, published by Oxford University Press.

The Very Short Introductions are a fabulous way to discover a new subject: high-level but digestible overviews written by experts in their field. The audience will be split into small groups who will move around the event, enjoying ten minutes with each author for a snappy introduction to their topic, plus time for questions. When the bell rings, you must move on! It’s speed dating – for ideas.

Ben, author of A Very Short Introduction to Comparative Literature, said: ‘Literary festivals represent an important opportunity for discussing questions of literature with the general public. ‘Intellectual speed dating’ is an ideal format for the Very Short Introduction series, emphasising as it does the virtues of brevity, concision, and wit. Less is more on first dates!’

Accessibility Tours are back

An Accessibility Tour of Canterbury campus will take place on Monday 14 October starting at 13.00 from the Student Entrance of the Registry Building.

The aim of the tour is to identify areas which could be improved to provide greater accessibility for our staff and students.

This will be an external tour taking in the Gulbenkian, Library and Grimond building, before crossing over the road by the bank and following the path to the Sibson building and then onto the Sports Pavilion.

Our route back will take us past the Student hub, via Park Wood, coming out by the Sports Centre.

There’s no need to book or to let us know you are coming – just turn up.

Wellbeing: A Forest Soundscape

Escape into a tranquil forest on campus…

On Thursday 10 October, we will transform Colyer-Fergusson Hall into a calm sensory forestscape with audio and projections.

Come along for a free, drop-in meditative session with a natural forest soundscape accompanying projections of tranquil forest images in a dimly-lit environment. You are free to come and go as you wish at any time during the event.

Leave the chaos behind and step into calm; part of a series of university events for World Mental Health Day 2019.

Event details are available on the Music Matters blog.

Walking Netball is back!

The University will be hosting a monthly walking netball session at the Canterbury Campus Sports Centre.

When?
All sessions will take place on a Wednesday, from 10.00-11.00. The dates are:

Wednesday 16 October 2019
Wednesday 20 November 2019
Wednesday 18 December 2019

All sessions are indoors at: University of Kent Sports Centre, Canterbury Campus, CT2 7NL.

Who?
The sessions are aimed at 55 year olds plus. No experience is necessary. Please wear suitable clothing and footwear for indoor activity and don’t forget your water bottle!

How?
A minimum of Kent Sport Community ‘Pay to Play’ Membership is required, with £4.50 per session (plus annual £5 membership fee). See website for all membership options.

Pay and display parking is available at the back of the Sports Centre (£2 parking fee can be refunded at reception).No need to book, just come along.

The sessions are an ideal opportunity to be active in a fun, enjoyable and social environment. You can see what is involved here. You can join us for some well-earned refreshments in the Sports Centre Café after the session.

For further information call 01227 816391 or email: sportsdevelopment@kent.ac.uk

Film student selected for essay award

George Turner, currently studying BA (Hons) Film at the School of Arts, has had his essay, entitled ‘The Spectacle of (In)Justice: The Ethics of the Judicial System in Documentary Cinema’, selected as ‘Highly Commended’ by The Global Undergraduate Awards 2019 in the category Music, Film and Theatre.

The Global Undergraduate Awards is the world’s leading undergraduate awards programme which recognises top undergraduate work, shares this work with a global audience and connects students across cultures and disciplines. George says ‘to be selected was an exciting and humbling surprise’. George’s essay was originally written for the Documentary Cinema module which George took in his second year, and says of his teachers: ‘Dr Maurizio Cinquegrani and Dr Zahra Tavassoli Zea’s inspired teaching helped push me to write the essay the way I did’.

The essay examines how we consume contemporary documentaries. The huge responses to crime/investigation documentaries such as Making a Murderer or Conversations with a Killer raises ethical issues concerning the production and distribution of such films. George’s essay brings these various complications to the fore by examining the styles, subject matters and consequential effects of three documentaries; Capturing the Friedmans (2003, Andrew Jarecki); Titicut Follies (1967, Frederick Wiseman); Sisters In Law (2004, Kim Longinotto).

In addition to winning this award, another of George’s essays, enitlted ‘”Thy Shall Bear Witness!”: A Case for the Continued Admiration of Early Cinema’, has recently been published by independent online film publication Electric Ghost Magazine.

In this essay, George puts forth an argument for the creative virtues of silent cinema and notes ‘silent cinema should not be disregarded as an underdeveloped version of the same cinematic attraction. In contemporary viewing, early silent cinema serves a different purpose; it is not an inferior predecessor to a superior successor, but an alternative form of film altogether’.

George’s essay can be seen in Electric Ghost Magazine.

Professor David Herd wins British Academy research grant

David Herd, Professor of Modern Literature at the School English, has recently been granted £50,000 from the British Academy’s Humanities and Social Sciences’ ‘Tackling the UK’s International Challenges Programme 2019’ to lead the project ‘Hostile Environments: Policies, Stories, Responses’.

The project is for an international network to make a comparative study of the effects of and responses to different hostile environments, and to propose urgently needed changes to national and international asylum practices.

Co-applicants from Kent, including Dr Matt Whittle, from Birmingham, Professor Lyndsey Stonebridge, and from the Refugee Tales project, including Anna Pincus, will collaborate with a team of international academics, activists and people with lived experience of hostile environments. Among the outputs will be briefing papers to the governments of the UK, Italy, Canada and USA, and to international agencies.

You can find out more about the project on the British Academy’s website.

Volunteers wanted for Congregations November 2019

The Corporate Events team is looking for volunteers to help during congregations for Medway and Canterbury – can you help?

MEDWAY (Rochester Cathedral):
Wednesday 20 November (x2 ceremonies), 10.30, 14.30

CANTERBURY (Canterbury Cathedral):
Friday 22 November (x3 ceremonies), 10.30, 14.30, 19.30

This is a special day for all of our graduating students, and a great opportunity to be involved in an important University event.

We have a variety of roles available for volunteers, so whether you would like to be in the Cathedral for the ceremony, helping the graduands check-in, or managing the guest queue, there is something suitable for everyone.

Things to know:

Volunteers working two consecutive ceremonies will be provided with lunch or dinner in between their two shifts
Volunteers can choose any ceremony ‘shifts’ from the above list, and full training will be available for your designated role.
In any role, there will be a member of the Congregations’ team on hand to support you
Different roles will have different start and finish times due to the requirements of that role for the ceremony
It’s a wonderful week and is a great opportunity to see any students that you have supported graduate.

If you would like to get involved in November 2019 Congregations, we would be delighted to have you.

To register your interest or to find out more about the roles available, please email congregations@kent.ac.uk with your preferred ceremony/ies or your query.

Technology and Green Spaces symposium – 29 October

How might technology work together with soil-less food production such as aquaponics/hydroponics?

How are technological innovations such as apps and AI changing our relationship with nature and urban spaces?

These are some of the questions to be discussed at the Technology and Green Spaces Symposium in central London, on 29 October 2019, from 09.00-16.15.

The symposium, organised by our Kent School of Architecture and Planning and the charity Social Farms and Gardens, will explore how technology is transforming our perception of the urban green scene.

Speakers include Michael Hardman from the University of Salford and Kate Hofman, CEO of GrowUp.

Full event fee (including lunch) is £30 and concessions £15 (for students, ECRs and those working with the FEW-meter project).

Places are limited. Please use this Eventbrite link to book your place.