The collaborative project “Licthsuchende” by Rocio von Jungenfeld, Lecturer in Digital Media at the School of Engineering and Digital Arts and Dave Murray-Rust, Lecturer in Design Informatics, School of Design, University of Edinburgh, has been shortlisted for the Lumen Prize.

Lichtsuchende is an interactive installation, built using a society of biologically inspired, robotic creatures who exchange light as a source of energy and as a means of communication. The robotic creatures are reminiscent of sunflowers, turning their heads to face the sun in order to absorb its light. However, at the same time they also generate light in order to engage with others. Each creature is relatively small, but when a group of Lichtsuchende are brought together in an installation they form an expanding photo-kinetic social environment in which visitors can become immersed.

Based on simple cybernetics combined with human and animal psychology (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs), the Lichtsuchende sleep, dance with each other and with visitors while constantly seeking light sources to play and communicate with. They are curious and, when awake, they are keen to interact with any source of light and to exchange photonic information.

Visitors are invited to engage with the installation by using high power torches. With these torches they can explore the environment of the cybernetic light seeking creatures, influencing their movements and provoking reactions. The embodied algorithms give rise to emergent behaviours which have communicative and emotional resonance, allowing a duet between the humans and the cybernetic beings.

The Lumen Prize for Art and Technology celebrates the very best art created with technology through a global competition, exhibitions and events worldwide.  Winners will be announced on 24 October 2019.

Our Occupational Health team will be offering blood pressure checks at Canterbury and Medway campuses to mark Blood Pressure UK: Know Your Numbers Week 09-13 September 2019.

Do you know what blood pressure is?  More importantly, do you know what YOUR blood pressures is? Having your blood pressure taken is a simple and excellent way of gauging the health of your cardiovascular system, that is, your heart and your blood vessels.

Blood Pressure UK campaigns to increase knowledge of how to stay healthy and manage blood pressure. Each year they run a Know Your Numbers campaign encouraging people to have their blood pressure checked. Occupational Health has engaged once again with this campaign and is offering blood pressure checks for staff at both Canterbury and Medway campuses.  The checks are only available on certain days across the week of 9-13 September – for details see the Blood pressure checks poster

A check is straightforward, doesn’t involve any invasive testing or needles and only takes 5-10 minutes of your time. You’ll be advised straightaway of what your blood pressure reading. If it is higher than expected you will be recommended to visit your GP to have it checked again.

If you are interested in booking on a Campus Blood Pressure check please contact Occupational Health either by ringing Pat Armstrong, the OH Technician, on extension 4691 or by emailing occupationalhealth@kent.ac.uk

For more information on blood pressure, follow these links:

http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPressureandyou

https://patient.info/heart-health/high-blood-pressure-hypertension

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/lifestyle/what-is-blood-pressure/

The University of Kent’s Global Challenges Doctoral Centre (GCDC) is delighted to announce the appointment of a new director, Dr Beth Breeze (Centre for Philanthropy), and deputy director, Dr Frank Grundig (School of Politics and International Relations). Beth and Frank will work collaboratively to drive forward the Centre’s activities and initiatives over the next two years.

The GCDC is dedicated to research aligned to the development needs in and for ODA nations and aims to provide a virtual and physical “location” for the discussion of research aimed at identifying solutions to global challenges. The GCDC funds eight doctoral scholarships per year, coordinates an affiliate student scheme and organises specialised training and events throughout the academic year.

Beth says in her introductory blog post: “Whether or not you have been involved with GCDC to date, please feel free to get in touch (B.Breeze@Kent.ac.uk) if you have ideas about how best to build on this initiative and advance efforts to conduct research for the greater good.”

Beth’s blog post, entitled, “A New Direction for the GCDC: Memes, Meetings and Moving forward”, is available to read on the GCDC website here. 

The numbers of autistic people attending higher education institutions in the UK have steadily increased over the last decade and it is vital academic, teaching, and support staff have a good understanding of what is means to be autistic and how best to support their students during their time at University. This session aims to provide staff with a greater understanding of autism and the experiences of autistic students in higher education, with practical recommendations for providing the appropriate support. The session will be run by Dr Magali-Fleur Barnoux and Dr Damian Milton from the Tizard Centre (SSPSSR), with participatory input from existing Tizard Centre students. Additional sessions will also be provided in January 2020 and June 2020.

The session will take place on Wednesday 11 September 2019 at the Darwin Board Room from 09:30 to 12:30.

Please book your place ASAP through Staff Connect. 

Dr Daniel Soria has joined the University of Kent as a Lecturer in the School of Computing. Daniel will be a member of the Data Science Research Group and will be based at the Medway campus.

Daniel joins Kent from the University of Westminster in London, where he was a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science, member of the Health and Social Care Modelling Research Group and an associate member of the interdisciplinary Cancer Research Group. Previously, he worked for over ten years at the University of Nottingham, where he was part of the School of Computer Science and the Advanced Data Analysis Centre. He started there studying for his PhD as a Marie-Curie Fellow and progressed in his academic career to become an Assistant Professor.

Dr Soria’s research interests lay in the multi-disciplinary area of applied computer science for real-word applications, especially in biomedical domains. He has expertise in data mining and machine learning applications, from pattern identification to supervised learning. Dr Soria’s contributions to knowledge appeared to be of great interest in October 2013, when part of his work on breast cancer was the subject of extensive national media coverage (see, for example, BBC News, ITV,Sky News), and more recently during the Brexit referendum campaign, when a case study from his research was published as part of the Universities for Europe manifesto.

Daniel has published numerous articles in high quality international peer-reviewed journals such as Knowledge-Based Systems, Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, and IEEE Transactions in Medical Imaging. The multidisciplinary nature of his research allowed Daniel to also publish in prestigious medical journals like Cancer Research, Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, British Journal of Cancer, and others. Daniel’s research has also appeared in international conference proceedings such as the IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence (WCCI), the International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications (ICMLA), and the IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE). He has been a member of the technical program committee for conferences such as the International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology (ICBEB) and the IEEE International Conference on Smart Data (SmartData).

Daniel completed a PhD in Computer Science (specialising in supervised and unsupervised learning in biomedical domains) at the University of Nottingham, and holds an MSci in Applied Mathematics from the University of Milan, Italy.

Daniel said “I’m very excited to be joining the School of Computing at Kent, and adding to the very strong team of academics already focusing on data science. My research in this area will sit very well within the group as well as in the newly formed Kent and Medway Medical School. I can’t wait to start to collaborate with the talented people already working there”.

Lecturer in Philosophy Dr Graeme A. Forbes has supported theatre company Theatre Re by acting as philosophy consultant for their recent production of BIRTH, which has been named Best Theatre Show of the Edinburgh Fringe by Theatre Weekly. The publication described the show as “one of the most beautiful and accomplished pieces of theatre to be staged at the Fringe”.

BIRTH is the story of Sue, Katherine and Emily, three generations of women from the same family whose lives are part of an invisible web they help to weave. It traces their journey of self-discovery, acceptance and hope. In staging the production, the company explored the idea of secrets in families, unearthing the parallels between our own lives and the lives of our parents and grandparents, and engaged with women and families who have experienced pregnancy loss. The collaboration with Graeme allowed the cast to explore questions such as ‘what is being passed down from one generation to the next’ and ‘when does memory begin’?

‘Pregnancy loss is experienced by a great number of women. What the parents go through is rarely discussed and often considered taboo. It is part of the realm of the ‘unspoken’, or the ‘unvoiced’. It is buried.’ describes Theatre Re’s website.

‘It was a privilege to work with this exceptional creative team,’ said Graeme; ‘I’m incredibly glad I had the opportunity to work with them. It was immensely rewarding to see how our conversations — about the passage of time, and how even when we repeat a pattern each moment in our lives is specific to us — got woven into the show. I’m so pleased that all their hard work has been recognised, and I’m sure they will have a very successful tour.’

In the latest episode of the Nostalgia podcast series, Chris Deacy, Reader in Theology and Religious Studies, interviews Janet Neilson, a former teacher in Swansea, who talks about her educational background and the differences in career advice given in those days compared to today.

Janet talks about the days when married women were not allowed to teach; why she became a junior school teacher; her thoughts on the National Curriculum; not having a TV before 1962; singing in the Swansea Philharmonic Choir; having a grammar school education; studying Religious Studies as a mature and disabled student; being bullied on her first day at school; the taboo around calling teachers by their first names; why as a teacher she was ‘strict, firm and fair’; and her fascination with genealogies.

The next interview will be with our own Professor Jeremy Carrette, Professor of Philosophy, Religion and Culture and the University’s Dean for Europe.