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Testing out a theory

Art donation to mark the 50th anniversary of Keynes College

Keynes College is delighted to have been gifted three works by two artists who in 2017 featured in Particular Places, their joint exhibition at the college.

We are extremely grateful to Gabrielle Nesfield, who previously exhibited in Keynes in 2003, for donating Early morning, Eastling, an oil painting made specially for Particular Places. The painting can now be admired in the Keynes Senior Common Room.

Our heartfelt thanks also go to Bay Lees, who has generously donated Baleenor 1 and Baleenor 2, monoprints inspired by window reflections at an old tea factory in Southern India. They are now on display in the teaching gallery on the first floor of the Keynes building.

Baty Lees with Baleenor 1 and Baleenor 2

These beautiful gifts provide a fitting end to our 50th-anniversary celebrations at Keynes College, which first opened its doors to staff and students in September 1968.

Call for papers for British Society of Aesthetics conference

Dr Dieter Declercq, Assistant Lecturer in Film and Media, Dr Michael Newall, Senior Lecturer in History of Art and Professor Nicola Shaughnessy, Professor of Performance in the Department of Drama and Theatre, are organising a conference sponsored by the British Society of Aesthetics and with the support of the Aesthetics Research Centre The conference theme is ‘Art, Aesthetics, and the Medical and Health Humanities’ and will be hosted by the School of Arts from Friday 7 February to Sunday 9 February 2020.

The conference will bring together Analytic Aesthetics and the Medical and Health Humanities. These disciplines share important core concerns and have much to offer one another. The medical and health humanities explore the role of the humanities – and especially the arts – in medicine, medical education and healthcare. In the process they engage with many topics that are central to analytic aesthetics, including narrative, creativity, imagination, empathy, emotion, the value of art, value interaction and sensory perception. The conference aims to stimulate conversations about the connections art and aesthetics have with medicine, medical education, healthcare and the advancement of health and wellbeing.

The keynote talks will be delivered by Professor Rita Charon (Columbia University), Professor Paul Crawford (University of Nottingham), Professor Sheila Lintott (Bucknell University), and Professor Jenefer Robinson (University of Cincinnati), alongside confirmed responses from Dr Julie Anderson (University of Kent), Dr Stella Bolaki (University of Kent), Dr Eileen John (University of Warwick) and Professor Matthew Kieran (University of Leeds).

The organisers invite proposals for paper presentations that explore the connections between art, Analytic Aesthetics and the Medical and Health Humanities. The conference supports a broad understanding of art and aesthetics, ranging from fine art to popular media and the aesthetics of everyday life. Similarly, the organisers encourage exploration of a broad range of contributions that the arts can make to health and wellbeing, including in the delivery of healthcare, the education of healthcare professionals, as well as the advancement of health and wellbeing in the broadest sense. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Narratives, storytelling and narrative medicine
(The decline of) empathy in healthcare
The role or place of imagination, emotion or sensory perception in healthcare
Art, aesthetics and disability
Health in relation to other values of art
Art and aesthetics in healthcare education
Comedy, humour, health and wellbeing
Graphic medicine

Proposals are invited in two formats:

20-minute presentations (with 10 minutes for Q&A). These are traditional research papers. Please submit an abstract of up to 500 words for blind review.
5-minute ‘reverse presentations’ (with 10 minutes for audience response). These are designed for presenters to pitch a new research topic which they consider of interest to both Analytic Aesthetics and the Medical and Health Humanities. This format is designed to give presenters suggestions and ideas about how their topic can be tackled from the perspective of both disciplines. Please submit an abstract of up to 300 words for blind review.

Submissions should be prepared for blind review, accompanied by a cover sheet, attached as a separate file, and should include the author’s name(s), email(s), institutional affiliation(s), and the title of the abstract.

Please send proposals to aestheticsandhealth@kent.ac.uk by Sunday 1 September 2019. Please also use this email address for any queries you may have.

Five-year unconditional professional validation for KSAP

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Visiting Board reviewed the Kent School of Architecture and Planning last week, and concluded its validation on Friday 21 June.

The RIBA validates architectural education in the UK, and worldwide, and its seal of approval is an important marker for the quality of any institution’s provision of architectural education.

Head of School Professor Gerry Adler commented ‘I am delighted to report that the RIBA Visiting Board recommended a full five-year unconditional validation for our Part 1, BA (Hons) Architecture and Part 2, MArch, programmes. This is the best possible outcome, and an endorsement of the quality of our offer at Kent. We look forward to welcoming new entrants to our validated programmes in September, and success to all our continuing students.’

Inter Department Staff World Cup Netball Tournament

In celebration of the Netball World Cup 2019 being hosted on home turf in Liverpool (12-21 July) this summer, Kent Sport would like to take this opportunity to invite departments throughout the University to participate in our University of Kent Departmental Netball Tournament, being staged here at the University of Kent!

This event is open to all abilities and departments, and aims to be a fun celebration of Netball.

Date: Monday 22 July 2019

Venue: Sports Centre, main hall

Timings:

17.30 to 19.00 tournament (please try and arrive promptly)
19.00- 20.00 complimentary buffet

In celebration of this event, Kent Sport would like to invite your team to join us in a complimentary buffet on the sports hall balcony after the tournament.

Team details: Teams are to be made up of players from within your department only. Departments can enter more than one team, if they have enough players interested.

Team size: Seven aside (maximum squad nine). Maximum three men in squad, two men on court at any one time.

Equipment and clothing: All equipment will be provided. Please ensure your team are in suitable clothing and footwear to take part in sporting activities. We recommend that you remove jewellery for the safety of everyone.

Charity collection: As one of England Netball’s partners is Cancer Research UK, we would like to use this event as an opportunity to support a very worthy cause and raise some money. Suggested voluntary donation of £5 per person.

How to enter: Please email mailto:sportsdevelopment@kent.ac.uk no later than Monday 8 July with your entry request, detailing:

Your team name
Your department
Contact name
Contact email
How many participants will be staying for the buffet and any dietary requirements: (we will need to know for catering purposes)

Student Foodbank and Freecycle Donations

In September 2019 we will be launching STUFF a new Student Foodbank and Freecycle Scheme run by Kent Union. The service will support University of Kent students in financial difficulty by providing them with food provisions and recycled homeware. After some successful collections, we are looking for extra donations to build our stocks up ready for the next academic year.

We welcome any donations of unopened and in-date non-perishable food, but there are some items that we could really do with:

• Tinned potatoes

• Tinned vegetables (carrots, green beans, mushrooms, peas)

• Tinned fruit

• UHT Milk (and lactose free/vegan alternatives)

• Tea, coffee & hot chocolate

• Juice/squash

• Sugar

We are also looking for donations of kitchenware, cleaning products, sanitary products, and bedding, but please no electrical equipment.

If you have any items to donate please email volunteering@kent.ac.uk.

Special deals for Rochester Castle Concerts 10-13 July

Medway Council is offering Kent staff special deals for next week’s Rochester Castle Concerts. Don’t miss the opportunity for some nights of great music and dancing from Brit Award nominees, music legends and soul superstars in a wonderful setting.

Offers include:

Wednesday 10 July – Rudimental (Sound System). The genre-defying supergroup and BRIT nominees – who have sold more than 20 million singles and over two million albums – will be bringing their own unique sound to the castle with their Sound System set which features a DJ set with live brass and vocals. Joining Rudimental on the opening night are two special guests; platinum-selling artist Example, and fellow BRIT nominee, Mahalia. SPECIAL OFFER for University staff £35 (down from £48.50) – just click on the partner offer button on the Castle Concerts website.
Thursday 11 July – Craig David. We are delighted to welcome back superstar Craig David who replaces Jess Glynne who had to cancel due to ill health. From his iconic early tracks and club classics, to his numerous recent hits and collaborations, Craig takes a break from his Ibiza Rocks residency to perform his packed back catalogue. Tickets £45.
Friday, 12 July – is party night at the Soul Party concert, when the audience will get to boogie the night away under the stars and singalong to their favourite floor-filling hits from the likes of Chaka Khan, Tina Turner, James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Lionel Richie, to name just a few. The evening will be headlined by legend George McCrae, singer of the smash hit Rock Your Baby. Joining him will be the disco group Odyssey and Heather Small, singer of the famous Proud track and former M People star. Tickets 37.50 – SPECIAL OFFER – FOUR TICKETS FOR THE PRICE OF THREE.
Saturday, 13 July – The great Proms finale, featuring the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra who will be performing a selection of James Bond movie themes along with classical hits such as Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Fantasia on British Sea Songs, Rule Britannia and Jerusalem. They will be joined by with special guests Collabro – the world’s most successful musical theatre group and stars of Britain’s Got Talent – and soprano Laura Wright, one of the biggest selling classical artists this decade. The Kent Rock Choir will also be performing and interval entertainment will be provided by NChant, the Senior Girls’ Choir from The Rochester Grammar School. Tickets £35.

TO BOOK tickets, visit the Castle Concerts website or ring 01634 338338. You will need to click on the Partners, Armed Forces button when you book on the Rudimental offer.

No hot breakfast service in Gulbenkian on Thursday 4 July

Due to an essential water mains inspection we are unable to provide a hot breakfast service at the Gulbenkian on Thursday 4 July.

We will still be open for hot drinks, snacks and cakes. While you are here try our new cakes from local baker Winnie Bakes including Jammy Dodger Blondies, Cookie Dough Brownies, Salted caramel flapjacks and Caramel Crumb Cake.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused, we hope to reopen Gulbenkian Cafe’s kitchen for lunch on Thursday 4 July and resume hot breakfast service on Friday morning.

Alumnus Henry Palmer in the Bristol Post

Alumnus Henry Palmer, who graduated with a BA (Hons) in Film and Philosophy in 2016, was interviewed for the Bristol Post last week, as he has authored a non-fiction book Voices of Bristol (Arkbound Press, 2019).

This book is about Bristol’s changing face. Henry grew up in the heart of Bristol’s ghetto, and his book sheds light on the supposed ‘renovation’ that Bristol’s poorer quarters have been undergoing. For his research, he interviewed members of the local community, which revealed the shocking reality that residents face: rent hikes, snobbery, institutional racism, homelessness, and removal from the communities they once loved.

‘When you start to hear that you and your friends can’t afford to live there anymore because house prices have surged so much and it’s now up and coming, it’s a bit bitter sweet,’ he observes in the interview.

Speaking of his time at Kent, Henry told us: ‘For some reason, my time at Kent is grouped closely in my mind with imaginings of a young, studious Scrooge – though admittedly less grey. Not all universities harvest this sort of independence of learning, and this carried me through the enterprise and continues to do so.’

To read the interview with Henry in the Bristol Post, please see the page here.

Kent Hospitality’s June PRIDE Award Winner

Lizzie Arbus, a Chargehand for Kent Hospitality is the winner of the June Pride Award. The Personal Responsibility in Delivering Excellence Award recognised Lizzie as an ‘active and supportive member of the team’ and specifically her ‘swift action’ in resolving a problem that occurred in a student flat.

Lizzie’s nomination noted how she went ‘above and beyond to help support [the students] giving advice, reassuring them and contacting the relevant people in order to quickly come up with a resolution’.

Another extract from her nomination read ‘I would like to thank Lizzie for her help and support on this day and week, having just returned from annual leave and getting straight into dealing with this issue in the absence of her supervisor and managers. Great job.’

Any Kent Hospitality staff (permanent or casual) may be nominated from Canterbury and Medway campuses. The award is given in March, June, September/October and December with each winner receiving £100 of shopping vouchers, a certificate and a Pride pin badge.

It’s really easy to nominate a member of the Kent Hospitality team for a Pride Award. Just visit the Pride website and complete our online form.

The closing date for the next Pride Award is Wednesday 25 September 2019 at 12 noon.

Mapping out the impact of machine learning

Delegates were welcomed by Professor Philippe de Wilde, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) to an event on 20 June 2019 at the University of Kent to understand the future of machine learning and its impact on society.

Organised by Kent Innovation and Enterprise, businesses and other organisations attending the event heard from wide range of speakers about how machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) is disrupting traditional business models in key sectors.

Speakers included KROHNE, a world-leading manufacturer and supplier of solutions in industrial process instrumentation. Edward Dukes, General Manager and Technical Director, KHRONE Ltd outlined the benefits of adopting a collaborative approach to complex flow measurement through data-driven modelling.

The issue of cyber security and the role of machine learning was presented by the University’s Professor Shujun Li while the likely future role of robotics was discussed by Dr Konstantinos Sirlantzis from the school of Engineering and Digital Arts.

As an example of a key sector where AI and machine learning will have a significant impact, Professor Jian Zhang from the SMSAS focused on whether these developing technologies could power new drug discovery and affect the timescales between discovery, development, testing and availability of new drugs in the healthcare market.

Delegates attending were able to spend time looking at new areas of research in a series of posters presented by PhD and graduate students. Dr Fernando Otero, School of Computing, offered some insights into how organisations make sense of data through the power of machine learning, and the role of Network Structure Learning was explored by Sa Ren, a PhD student in SMSAS.

The event was closed with concluding remarks from Professor Farzin Deravi, Head of the School of Engineering and Digital Arts.

If you would like more information about this event or any future events like this please get in contact with Innovation & Enterprise www.kent.ac.uk/enterprise