Congratulations to Helena Torres, Central Administration Manager, Brussels, on her appointment as an AUA Trustee.

The AUA – the Association of University Administrators – is the professional association for higher education administrators and managers. The AUA promotes excellence and professionalism and is run at local, regional and national level.

Helena is a long-standing member of the University’s local AUA network, which is part of the Southern Region and currently has around 60 members of staff employed in different areas across the University. The Board of Trustees, as the AUA’s governing body, leads and executes the overall vision and direction adopted by the Association at its Annual General Meetings.

Helena has overseen administration at our Brussels centre for the past 22 months. Before that, she was School Administration Manager for the School of English.

Commenting on her new AUA role, Helena said: ‘Having benefited from being a member and fellow of the AUA throughout my career in Higher Education administration, I am delighted to have the opportunity to take on this significant voluntary role.’

Melissa Mulhall, the AUA lead for Kent, highlighted that this is the second time that Kent has had a member of staff serve as an AUA Trustee, which shows the commitment of our staff to engage with the AUA nationally. Melissa said that she is absolutely delighted with this fantastic news and congratulates Helena on her appointment and wishes her every success with her new voluntary role.

Further information on the AUA, including how to become a member, can be found on the Association webpages or via Melissa Mulhall.

More than 1,400 staff enjoyed an al-fresco lunch last week thanks to the Vice-Chancellor, even without the glorious sunshine we experienced in previous staff BBQs.

Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Karen Cox, invited staff to join her for a lunchtime BBQ on Monday 24 June in Medway and Wednesday 26 June in Canterbury. The events provided the perfect opportunity for staff to come together, catch-up with colleagues and friends after another busy year.

Across the BBQs, a total of 1,344 burgers, 204kg of sausages and 1,500 ice creams and sorbets were eaten!

The staff BBQs have become a regular annual event since the University’s 50^th anniversary in2015, and have established themselves as a highlight of the year.

Yet again, the catering staff did everyone proud with amazing food, from the classic BBQ fare of sausages and burgers to tasty paellas and vegan coleslaw, and ice creams and sorbets all round for dessert. It was well received that single use plastics was radically reduced, with wooden cutlery a new addition.

A special thanks goes to Kent Hospitality and the Development Office for arranging such a well-organised and successful event.

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 Professor Douglas Davies, Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University.

Douglas discusses the concept of career planning, its relationship to issues of social class, and why he thinks there is an element of futility to nostalgia as luck and chance are the two great facts of life.

Douglas reveals his a problem with ‘what if?’ scenarios, synchronicity and the desire for patterns, seeing them as a pathological expression of the drive for meaning. We learn about destiny, triviality, why Douglas has a problem with revisiting special moments, the paradox of Durkheim, why the British don’t like apprenticeships, and wisdom.

In September 2019 we will be launching 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 homeware. 

Collection points are located at the following areas Wednesday 3 July 2019

·         The Plaza (opposite the main SU Shop) 12.00 – 14.00

·         Keynes College Atrium (opposite reception) 10.00 – 17.00

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

·         Tinned potatoes, Vegetables and Fruit

·         UHT Milk (and lactose free/vegan alternatives)

·         Tea, Coffee, Hot chocolate and Sugar

·         Long Life Juice and Fruit Squash

·         Breakfast Cereal

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

If you cannot make it to one of these collections but would like to donate some items, please email volunteering@kent.ac.uk.

Professor April McMahon, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education, is leaving the University of Kent to take up a new appointment as Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students at the University of Manchester.

Commenting on Professor McMahon’s new role, our Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Karen Cox said: ‘April joined the University in 2016 and since that time has had a considerable and hugely positive impact on the student experience here at Kent. As a member of the Executive Group, she has been a strong advocate for students and ensured that they have remained at the forefront of all our decision-making.’

Professor McMahon will take up her new role on 1 October. The University will consider interim arrangements while looking to recruit a new Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education.

The latest issue of the Leadership Bulletin, designed to give an overview of key developments at Kent, is now available.

This edition features a ‘Long Read’ from Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost David Nightingale, focusing on a step-change in our approach to marketing and recruitment activities and our preparations for Clearing.

The Bulletin is distributed fortnightly to all members of the Senior Leadership Forum to cascade to staff in schools and professional service departments. If you haven’t received your copy yet, you can read the bulletin online.

Dr Kaitlyn Regehr, Lecturer in Media Studies, featured in article published in iNews this week, published on 25 June 2019.

The article, entitled ‘Love Island Shows How Men Use Female Sexuality to Increase Their Own Social Capital’ and written by Ruchira Sharma, explores how the reality TV show demonstrates the way that some men use ‘locker room talk’ to boast about themselves and objectify women.

The article cites a particular example from Love Island, where contestant Tom Walker bragged about his own conquests while belittling fellow contestant Maura Higgins. The piece draws upon Kaitlyn’s expertise in digital and modern culture and its impact on gender.

‘I think this is very telling as it shows how normalised this behaviour is,’ explains Kaitlyn in the article. ‘The fact that he continued this banter while he knows she’s there shows that it’s not about her – it’s about his own capital within this group of men.’

Read the full article

From Monday 1 July to Friday 12 July, 20 staff members from institutions in the Lille area will attend a bespoke two-week programme in CEWL entitled ‘Everyday English for Work and Business’. The programme includes Business English language classes, Presentation Skills classes and visits to places of cultural and historic interest. There are also sessions on topics of interest delivered by colleagues from around the University (including sessions on International Partnerships, Research Services, Internationalisation at Kent).

A networking afternoon tea will take place on Thursday 4 July with staff from across the University of Kent. This will allow Lille colleagues to meet with their Kent counterpart to present their institution and explore potential collaboration.

The visit has been arranged in the context of the I-SITE ULNE project led by the University of Lille and in which the University of Kent is a partner, along with Belgian universities Ghent University and KU Leuven, creating a cross-border network of institutions. A range of activities are already taking place within the network including joint Kent-Lille PhD Scholarships and joint Kent-Ghent projects  with more collaborative activities under development.

If you would like to meet with members of the delegation or to find out more please contact International Partnerships: internationalpartnerships@kent.ac.uk

Lecturer Dr Jason Nurse has been called on to give his expert opinion on a security vulnerability on a popular gaming platform.

Jason is quoted in a Wired UK article entitled ‘A series of dumb security flaws left millions of EA Origin users exposed’.

EA are the makers of hugely popular games such as the FIFA series of football games, Star Wars, Madden NFL and SIMS. Researchers managed to find a flaw in the way EA managed its subdomain names which left users’ data vulnerable to hackers. However there is no evidence that this vulnerability has been exploited in the wild.

Earlier this year, Jason was also asked to give his cyber security expertise on a Fortnite security flaw also in Wired.

Jason’s  research focuses on the interaction between users and aspects of cyber security, privacy and trust. He is part of the School of Computing’s Cyber Security Group and is a core member of the Kent Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Cyber Security (KirCCS). The Centre has NCSC and UKRI recognition as an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research (ACE-CSR).

Colleagues from the departments of Comparative Literature, English Language and Linguistics and Modern Languages hosted this year’s Text and Language Day on the theme of ‘Unlocking Language’ on 26 June.

Text and Languages Day is an annual event which forms a key part of the School’s outreach programme, and is aimed at enthusing and motivating students about language and culture. It follows World Languages Day events for younger pupils, which took place at the University’s Medway and Canterbury campuses on 19 and 25 June.

Aimed at year 12 pupils studying English Language or Modern Languages, Text and Language Day explores approaches to language and text at A Level and beyond. The day is designed to encourage pupils to think more boldly about text and language, exploring different approaches to key ideas covered at A Level and providing an opportunity to discover some of the ways in which language and literature are studied at university. The University was delighted to welcome pupils from St George’s C of E School, Dover Grammar School for Boys, Rainham Mark Grammar School, Ashford School, The Harvey Grammar School, and Chatham Grammar School for Girls.

Dr Alexandra Martin-Carey, Humanities Subject Specialist in the University’s Partnership Development Office, who organised the day, said: “It was fantastic to work with a range of colleagues and postgraduate students from across three departments to create a day of exploration for local year 12 pupils. Students from a range of A level subjects were able to discover the connections between their own studies and disciplines taught here at the University, and to forge connections between those various disciplines, whist learning about university life and our campus.”

Feedback from students attending the day included:

“The subjects discussed were different from A Level so were eye opening”

“I already wanted to do linguistics and modern languages and now I am even more excited to!”