We’re lucky to have some amazing students at Kent. Our Kent Stars campaign acknowledges and celebrate our students’ successes each month.

Do you know of an inspirational student or student group? Complete this short online form to let us know!

If you’re a student or staff member on our Medway campus  this photo challenge is an opportunity for you to share an image or moment that made you smile.

Enter this free photography competition to win great prizes!

How to enter

The competition closing date for entries has now been extended until 21 October 2022 at 17:00. (Late, incomplete, corrupt or inappropriate entries will not be accepted.)

Please email your image (1 image per entry) to Medway Campus Chaplaincy atmedwayinternationals@gmail.com with the following information:

• Your name, contact email address
• A few words telling us the story behind your image (optional)
• The name you are happy to be made public

The winner and two runners up will be chosen by Medway Campus Chaplaincy and will be notified directly via email.

All winning photos will also be shared on the Drill Hall Library social media and in the Medway Campus Chaplaincy blog.

All participating photos will be part of an exhibition in the Drill Hall Library.

The winning prizes are provided by the Medway Campus Chaplaincy.

1^st prize:  £25 Amazon Gift Voucher & a goodie bag

2^nd prize: £15 Amazon Gift Voucher

3rd prize: £10 Amazon Gift Voucher

To find out how to enter visit the Medway website.

Looking for a break from your daily work routine? Want to meet new members of staff and engage with your colleagues in a fun and social environment? Then entering a team in this year’s Vice-Chancellor’s Cup (VC’s Cup) is just the thing for you and your department.

 Our VC’s Cup programme is delivered by your friendly Kent Sport – Sports Development Team (Charlie, Billy and Dean) and offers a light-hearted, inclusive and fair inter departmental events programme for all staff across the University of Kent, regardless of ability, experience or fitness levels.

From November 2022 to September 2023 staff departments across the University of Kent compete twice a month against each other in a series of different activities, including but not limited to volleyball, benchball, The Cube, rounders, golf, pub games and more. Last year we had 14 teams including Kent Business School, Division of Human and Social Sciences, Estates, Central Student Administration Office, Division of Computing and, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Kent Union and more.

Typically departments engage during two lunch hours (12pm-1pm or 1pm-2pm) a month. The Sports Development Team contact team captains and vice captains a week prior to each event to inform them of the location, time and rules of the upcoming activity. All you need to do is get a few colleagues together and show up. You will then play against other departments and begin scoring points. At the end of each event, the Sports Development Team tally the results and share these with all the teams. These results count towards your overall ranking and at the end of the last event, our Quiz and Presentation evening, the VC Cup champion is crowned.

Deadline for entries is Friday 28 October at 17.00 – get your entry in now by emailing sportsdevelopment@kent.ac.uk

You can find out more about the Vice-Chancellor’s Cup, what’s happening and when on the VC’s Cup webpages.

The Sports Development Team look forward to hearing from you! 

Introducing KEF2: what the second round of the Knowledge Exchange Framework means for you

The second iteration of the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF2) was published last month, providing us, businesses and other users with a clearer understanding of how the University of Kent’s knowledge exchange activity compares to that of other higher education institutions in the UK.

Why is this important? Because knowledge exchange is the third pillar of  University assessment, alongside the REF and TEF, and has long been at the heart of our research and innovation activities. Knowledge exchange is any process through which academic ideas and insights are shared beyond the university, and external perspectives and experiences brought into academia – which includes everything from business workshops and graduate start-ups to commercialisation and public engagement.

Research England developed the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) as a tool to track this activity across English Higher Education Providers. The KEF groups similar universities into clusters, depending on size, research output, and specialism, and then examines knowledge exchange activities in relation to 7 aspects. Each aspects is measured in 5 quintiles, ranging from very low engagement to very high engagement. The KEF is a benchmarking exercise to measure knowledge exchange activities against peers in the cluster, but is not a ranking or league table.

The first iteration of the KEF (KEF1) was published in March 2021, and Kent was placed in Cluster X, which is defined as “large, high research intensive and broad-discipline universities undertaking a significant amount of excellent research”. Other universities in this cluster include Bath, Birkbeck, Brunel, Durham, East Anglia, Essex, Exeter, Hull, Keele, Lancaster, Leicester, Loughborough, LSE, Reading, Royal Holloway, SOAS, Surrey, Sussex, and York.

Our results for the second iteration of the KEF were published on Tuesday 27 September 2022. Overall, they reflect the amazing KE work being done across divisions at Kent and show that, while Kent has some areas that need development, there is excellent progress being made.

Now the Knowledge Exchange and External Engagement team – responsible for gathering the data which feeds into the KEF – would like to give you an opportunity to explore the KEF2 results in more detail. They will be hosting a webinar alongside the DVC of Research and Innovation, Shane Weller, and Director of Research and Innovation Services, Kerry Barber, to talk through Kent’s KEF2 results and what they mean for you.

Sign up to the staff webinar taking place at 2pm on Thursday 20 October

Following this webinar, you’ll have another opportunity to ask questions about the KEF2 at in-person drop-ins with Cat Tate (Knowledge Exchange and Engagement Manager) and Joe Jones (Knowledge Exchange Officer) on 10 and 11 November. Keep an eye out for more details about these closer to the time!

If you have any questions about the KEF or are wondering whether these sessions are relevant to you, please get in touch with the team at keinnovation@kent.ac.uk. You can also find out more about the University of Kent’s commitment to knowledge exchange on our website.

On Monday 3 October, the International Programmes team, part of Global and Lifelong Learning, launched a new 10-week pre-sessional English language course for staff and students at Kherson State University, Ukraine.

The pre-sessional English language course helps enhance students’ skills in academic reading, writing and critical thinking, while also helping them gain experience with using academic sources. These skills are invaluable for students looking to conduct further studies in English and helps prepare them for listening effectively in lectures and classes, and for taking notes. It also gives participants a chance to practice speaking in seminars and delivering academic presentations.

According to Anthony Manning, Director and Dean of Global and Lifelong Learning, “We are delighted to welcome the staff and students of KSU to our classes this term. The war in Ukraine has presented the KSU community with a wide range of challenges and our staff have been pleased to support in this small way. It’s inspirational to see how committed, determined, and positive staff and students at KSU remain, despite the obvious impact and unpredictability that their circumstances bring on a daily basis. I’m sure that we at Kent are learning just as much as our colleagues in Ukraine from collaborating in this way.”

Since the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine in February this year, the University of Kent has been supporting Ukrainians effected by the conflict in various ways but has also twinned with Kherson State University as part of a nation-wide initiative organised by UUK and Cormack Consultancy. The Twinning agreement allows our two universities to continue collaborating over the coming years to help Kherson colleagues continue to deliver educational programmes during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Last month, as part of this agreement, the University of Kent successfully delivered 100 laptops and other equipment to Ukraine to support Kherson State, and we will be launching a new Think Kent for Kherson State lecture series in November.

You can find out more about our work to support Kherson State by reading our news story.

Regular staff Mindfulness drop-ins

Occupational Health will be providing monthly online Mindfulness drop-ins for staff once a month from October to July this academic year. Sessions will take place on Teams from 8am to 8.50am on the second Thursday of each month (first Thursday in April).

Who will run the sessions?

These drop-in meditation and discussion sessions will be led by Lorraine Millard, an experienced psychotherapist and registered Mindfulness instructor who has spent many years working as a counsellor at the University. Lorraine has run Mindfulness sessions for staff on and off over the years, and you may have come across promotion of her regular Mindfulness sessions for students.

What will the sessions involve?

The sessions will involve an introduction to Mindfulness practice and theory, followed by a guided meditation (think Headspace in a group setting!) and an opportunity to discuss any observations and concerns which might arise from this. This will be a great way to learn more about Mindfulness and how to incorporate it into the working day, as well as a chance to connect with likeminded staff from across the University.

How do I join?

To receive a Teams invitation, please email Mindfulness@kent.ac.uk, specifying that you are a staff member.

At this year’s Staff Conference we introduced the new brand identity for Kent, centred around the theme of Ambition. Since then we’ve been working on rolling this out across the University, with our new website homepage live at the end of September, updated social media pages in place and recruitment campaigns being built in the new brand. If you’ve been walking round our campuses you may have also spotted changes to signage and some of our Open Day materials too! 

The next stage of this is to support you, wherever you work, in how you can make use of the new brand too. It may be you just want to update your email signature or pull together a quick presentation, or you may be planning an event that needs wider promotion. Whatever level of support you need, we will be providing templates and guidance to help make your comms look right and sound right – making ambition count! 

We’re aiming to have the new Brand Book available online next week, which will have comprehensive guidance on the new brand. This will be supported by key templates including: 

• PowerPoint template 
• Social Media templates 
• Email signature 
• Email headers, footers and templates 
• Poster template 
• Video start and end frames 
• Stationery 

Alongside this will be tone of voice guidance, top tips on using images and advice on what to do yourself and when the Design team are there to help.  

Watch our brand video and look out for more updates next week!