Dr Kaitlyn Regehr, Lecturer in Media Studies in the School of Arts, appeared on the BBC’s Beyond 100 Days yesterday, Monday 5 August 2019.

Beyond 100 Days is a current affairs programme which airs on both BBC News Channel in the UK and BBC World News, and has been broadcast since the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.

Kaitlyn appears in a segment about the link between online culture and regulation, and the mass shootings which have taken place over the weekend in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. At least three mass shootings this year, including at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, a synagogue in Poway, California and a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas were announced in advance on 8chan, a controversial site where users can post unregulated content and which has been associated with extremist content. This week, President Trump has singled out the internet and social media as one of the causes of the mass shooting in El Paso.

Kaitlyn acknowledges that the internet is very often a force for good, but that it does have a darker side: ‘The problem becomes when these communities [on the internet] promote violence and individuals end up in echo chambers where you get this repetitive messaging time and time again, which solidifies this ideology and normalises the violence. And if violence becomes normalised then it’s not such a leap to see how this would move off screens and onto streets.’

‘Part of the issue I think is that these are often seen as isolated attacks by individuals. We’re not actually looking at the extreme alt-right as a pattern; and there is a pattern there. We see individuals going on social media platforms, saying that they are going to commit a mass murder, and then go and do it. As soon as we start to look at this as a real pattern, then we can start to regulate it properly’.

The full episode is available to watch on BBC iPlayer; the segment featuring Kaitlyn starts at approximately 19 minutes into the programme.

Don’t forget – registration closes for this event at 10.00 on Tuesday 6 August!

National Cycle to Work Day is Thursday 8 August. To celebrate this, and to encourage a greener campus, you are invited to breakfast at Jarman Plaza (opposite Blackwell’s Bookshop) 8.00-9.00.

All you need to do is cycle to campus on that day and come and enjoy a free breakfast and cuppa.

To help us get an idea of numbers for catering, please register on Eventbrite by Tuesday 10.00. Don’t worry about bringing a ticket to the event. Just turn up with your bike and join us.

Dr Bike will be in attendance. Dr Bike (Chris) provides bike repairs on campus each Wednesday at the Cycle Hub near the Sports Pavilion.

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday morning.

As part of the process to reorganise our schools into seven large academic divisions, we will shortly start work on recruitment to the Director of Division and Divisional Director of Operations roles. More details on the recruitment process for these are outlined below.

Directors of Division

An internal advert for this will go live on Monday 5 August, with external leadership consultancy Wickland-Westcott supporting us with the assessment process. The key selection and assessment dates are outlined below:

• 5 August: Job advert live
• 26 August: Closing date for applications
• 27-29 August; 2-5 & 10 September: Initial telephone interviews with Wickland-Westcott
• 17 September: Shortlisting meeting
• 18-22 September: Shortlisted candidates to complete pyschometric tests
• 23-25 & 30 September; 2 October: Assessment centres (case study and interview) run by Wickland-Westcott
• Mid-end October: Final panel interviews and stakeholder presentations

If you wish to find out more about the assessment process and what will be involved, Wickland–Westcott will be on campus holding briefing sessions on the following days / times:

• 1 August, 13.30 – 14.30 – Darwin Boardroom
• 6 August 12.30 – 13.30 – Darwin Boardroom

For those unable to make these briefing sessions, a Q&A document will be made available on the Organising for Success webpages shortly afterwards.

A reminder of the new academic divisions can be found on the Organising for Success webpages.

Divisional Directors of Operations

Recruitment to these roles will also be for internal candidates only, with the assessment process managed by external consultancy Minerva. The advert is expected to go live on Monday 12 August, with more details to follow on the selection process.

Message from the Vice-Chancellor

Recent announcements stated that we would be seeking to make interim appointments to cover two DVC positions until the outcome of open recruitment processes.

We are looking at external and internal options for these roles in this period and I am now writing to invite colleagues who may have the relevant skills and experience to make formal expressions of interest in the following interim roles:

DVC Academic Strategy, Planning & Performance

This will be a new role with the post holder providing leadership on, and implementing structural frameworks for, a broad range of institutional planning and horizon scanning activities. This will help ensure that Kent is well-placed to respond to sectoral changes and provide an outstanding student-centred experience.

The DVC Academic Strategy, Planning and Performance will also develop frameworks to support the delivery of academic and research excellence in our new school groupings. The key accountable areas for this role will include strategy and planning, as well as academic leadership, working closely with the emerging school groups and their leadership teams, to ensure that Kent maintains a competitive offering to students.

A full job description is available here

DVC Education & Student Experience

The post holder will be responsible for the University’s continued excellence in student experience and will be accountable for developing and delivering further innovations in educational programmes.

The interim DVC Education and Student Experience will work across the University to implement new strategies and impact our education offer alongside student support.  The role holder will ensure that our educational programmes are relevant for the graduates of the future, and of an excellent standard; that student needs are met both curricular and co-curricular dimensions and that we are working towards our ambition of offering one of the best student experiences in the UK.

A full job description is available here

Both positions will be interim until appointments are made following open recruitment processes and offer an excellent opportunity to step up into a more senior role and take on a new challenge which will play a key part in shaping these roles for the future.

Should you wish to express interest in either or both of these interim appointments please provide an up-to-date CV, together with a covering letter setting out how you feel you would contribute in the role to s.power@kent.ac.uk.

Please note that the closing date is 12 noon on Friday 30 August 2019.  Interviews will be held on Tuesday 10 September (DVC Education and Student Experience) and Friday 13 September (DVC Academic Strategy, Planning and Performance).

If you would like to have an informal, confidential conversation about either post, then please feel free to email me or Ruth Johnson, so that a suitable date / time can be arranged.

The latest instalment of Newton Talks, a podcast project by Dr James Newton, Lecturer in Media Studies, has just been published. The episode features Dr Dieter Declerq, Lecturer in Film and Media Studies in the School of Arts.

In the podcast series, James discusses topics (mostly) related to cinema, television, and culture.

In this episode, James and Dieter discuss Dieter’s research on satire, and how his interest in the topic began by watching The Simpsons whilst growing up in Belgium. James and Dieter discuss satire’s limitations and paradoxes, as well as the distinctions between satire and mockery. The podcast also covers Dieter’s new research on satire and mental health.

‘[The Simpsons] was television about television. It was mocking other television; it was quite clever about being different from other kinds of television’, says Dieter. ‘I think, for a lot of reasons it’s an important television show. For me it’s because of the satirical worldview, going against the establishment at the time. I think for a teenager who’s in a Catholic school in Belgium, not having a very good time, that was really important’.

To listen to the episode, and others in the series, please see the page here.

Learning & Organisational Development are pleased to announce that the University has achieved Level 2 of the Disability Confident Grading Scheme and we are now accredited with ‘Disability Confident Employer’.

Through Disability Confident, we will work to ensure that disabled people and those with long-term health conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations. Recognition of this scheme will help us to recruit and retain the widest possible pool of talent and help develop our valuable skills and experience.

As a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer, we have committed to all elements of Level 1 and also commit to:

• getting the right people for our business
• keeping and developing our people

Disability Confident Employers are recognised as going the extra mile to make sure disabled people get a fair chance.

The certification is valid for two years and we can now display the Disability Confident Employer badge on University stationery, correspondence and websites.

Please review where and how you can use this badge within your own processes.

Over the next two years, we will continue to review the criteria for the Level 2 certification ‘Disability Confident Employer’ to improve services and the experience for all employees. We will also review the next level of the Disability confident scheme ‘Disability Confident Leader’ and understand requirements to move forward.

In the latest episode of the Nostalgia podcast series, Dr Chris Deacy, Reader in Theology and Religious Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, speaks to Peter Stanfield, Professor of Film and Media in the School of Arts.

Peter works in American popular cinema from the 1930s through to the 1970s, and we learn why it was that the 50s resonated in the way it did in later films, including the rise of Teddy Boys in the early 70s.

The pair also discuss: singing cowboys; American popular cinema; photographs and memories; growing up in Hemel Hempstead; New Musical Express; seeing Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin on stage; the emerging punk scene; sitting next to Nick Cave at the cinema; how there is no separation between being a fan and being a researcher; why Peter doesn’t have a longing to return to his teenage years; the relationship between nostalgia and repetition; and why Peter has never had the ambition to be a filmmaker.