This academic year we have launched the Diamond Anniversary Orchard project and planned the planting of an orchard of over 300 fruit and nut trees. This project was designed to celebrate that most undergraduates starting this year will graduate in 2025 which is the University’s 60th birthday and it is hoped that our students can watch the orchard grow and be part of its transformation from grassland to a complete and flourishing space.

Help us plant more trees

We managed to plant some trees last week in the snow (!) but need your help to plant more. Our next planting session is Wednesday 15 March between 10:00-13:00. You can come for as long or as little as you like. There will be a full briefing at the beginning of the session and newcomers throughout will be paired up with someone that has been trained.

Why an orchard? 

The Southern Slopes provides an ideal setting for a semi-natural orchard and meadow that will not only be a beautiful space for students, staff and community members to enjoy, but also provides a complex habitat that will boost biodiversity in the area.  

Step one is planting the fruiting trees, which once mature, will provide future students with fruit and nuts that they can harvest and enjoy. Later this year we will be seeding wildflower seeds to create an understory meadow that we will cut swathes through proving a peaceful space to walk through and enjoy.  

Because this orchard will be a mosaic of trees, grasses, shrubs, wildflowers, and a pond, it will support a wide range of wildlife. As fruit trees age quickly, they create the perfect habitats for invertebrates and birds, such as the lesser spotted woodpecker and the rare noble chafer beetle.  

This unique habitat will also feature key elements for our human community bring people and nature together. Accessible pathing so everyone can enjoy the space; seating with a view for meditation, rest or socialising; an outdoor teaching area; and a bird hide to spot nature from a quiet vantage point.  

All the elements will be tied together with a central point that marks the six academic divisions that make up our learning community, celebrating all the students that will be our class of 2025 and beyond. 

Come and see The Global Challenges Doctoral Centre (GCDC)’s poster exhibition in the Colyer Ferguson lobby by the 15 March 2023.

The exhibition shares and celebrates the doctoral work being undertaken by 29 PhD students whose research is focused on tackling one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals. The students, who come from 17 different countries and are based in every Division, are working on projects that include climate change adaptation strategies, increasing global food security, reducing deaths from snake bites, and developing low cost and environmentally sustainable rapid tests for infectious diseases.

The exhibition was opened by Vice Chancellor and President Karen Cox at an evening reception on 8 March, attended by many of the GCDC supervisors, supporters and friends. The university’s Sustainability team, led by Catherine Morris, also had a display to share the work they are doing across campus to embed sustainability and minimise environmental impact.

Dr Beth Breeze, director of GCDC, says “We are so proud of our talented doctoral students and are confident that, with the help of their supervisors who are also deeply committed to challenge-led research, they will make a meaningful difference to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals”

You are warmly invited to our two Kent and Medway Medical School events on the 22 and 23 March 2023, find out more about each event below:

Interdisciplinary Global Health Research

Wednesday 22 March 2023, 16:00 to 17:30 at Pears Lecture Theatre 1, Kent and Medway Medical School.

This event will include presentations from key members of the global health research group, led by Professor Lisa Dikomitis. The talks and screenings will cover several interdisciplinary global health studies been undertaken at the Kent and Medway Medical School. Researchers will share findings and outputs from several interdisciplinary global health research studies, which are all strongly underpinned by community involvement and engagement.

The event will include screenings of community-produced films as well as presentations of collaborative projects with artists and global health researchers from Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Philippines and the UK.

To book your place visit the Eventbrite site.

Kent and Medway Medical School host Kaleidoscope Live!

Thursday 23 March 2023, 17:00 to 18:15 a hybrid event at Sibson Lecture Theatre 2 at Kent and Medway Medical School. You will find a link to join online in your order confirmation

Each month Dr Dawn Albertson, Professor Sukhi Shergill, Dr Derek Tracy and Professor Dan Joyce write an update and commentary in The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJPsych). Their Kaleidoscope column focuses on developments in mental health and neuroscience from around the world.

In this Kaleidoscope Live, hosted by the Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS), the four researchers will discuss several papers on global and mental health research with a live audience. They will be joined by Professor Kara Hanson who is a professor of health system economics and dean, faculty of public health and policy.

Book your tickets by visiting the Eventbrite site.  You will find a link to join online in your order confirmation.

For International Women’s Day (8 March) we hear from two of our female Executive Group members about the challenges they faced in their academic careers and getting to their leadership positions:

“Balancing family and work has been one of the biggest challenges in progressing my academic career. Maternity leave and family responsibilities impacted my research productivity and advancement while mentoring and career counselling are often absent in academia and female academics would benefit from supporting institutional policies. There is also still a gender issue in the leadership of Business Schools as the Dean’s role is male dominated, and worldwide only 25%-30% of Business Schools have a female Dean. Mentoring and strong role models can send clear messages to aspiring women of the future who wish to embrace academic leadership.”

From Professor Marian Garcia, Dean of the Business School 

“Role-modelling is really important in supporting women into leadership positions – creating a culture where women are ‘seen’ to be in leadership positions at all stages from leading a discipline to having a female Vice Chancellor dispels the myth about what a leader should look like; there are after all many different leadership styles. Providing support and training as appropriate, such as LASR and Aurora, and also Stellar, is also key, along with appointing a mentor.”

From Prof Juliette Pattinson, Director of Division Arts and Humanities

“As a young female academic working in STEM I never questioned being in a minority group. For me this was my norm and I simply sought to find my place and navigate a pathway that was right for me at that time. Often this was very challenging and I did experience set backs, some of which undoubtably caused me to question my credibility or aspirations. The most beneficial and impactful thing that has supported my progress has been building a critical network of champions and supporters, at work and at home. This has been instrumental in enabling me to be authentically successful in achieving my ambitions, to be confident and feel credible in my roles.  

It’s important to understand everyone’s journey is unique and to celebrate what diversity brings to leadership. To encourage people to carve out a pathway to leadership that works for the and share your experiences to inspire others.” 

Prof Claire Peppiatt-Wildman, Director of Division Natural Sciences

As you will have seen from the previous message from Martin Atkinson, the voluntary severance scheme that the University is currently running was recently extended to give more people a chance to apply if they wanted to. The closing date for applications is 5pm on Friday, 10 March.  

The scheme offers generous terms to eligible staff who could consider leaving the University this academic year, where a significant cost saving could be made. Find out more about the scheme or email VSscheme@kent.ac.uk if you have any questions, 

Have you ever wanted to volunteer at the Graduations but not sure what it would be like?

If you are interested in volunteering at our students’ special day in July, then please come to the Graduation Launches to find out more about the volunteering roles, how graduations work and meet the team.

Canterbury Launch 7 March in Darwin Conference Suite from 12.00 -13.00 and Medway Launch 8 March in the Oasis Lounge from 10.00 -11.00.

We have now launched Salary Finance to help support you through the cost-of-living crisis.

Salary Finance is our new financial wellbeing benefit provider that offers:

• Simple savings: Savings account with Yorkshire Building Society where contributions are transferred directly from salary to an instant access savings account, with 2.75% gross Annual Equivalent Rate (AER). You choose how much you want to save and there are no fees or hidden costs.
• Help to Save: With this government-backed scheme, anyone receiving Working Tax Credit, Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit could earn bonus payments on their savings. You could earn up to £1,200 in tax-free bonuses from the Government over four years. That works out at an extra 50p for every £1 you save.
• Money insights: Visit the Learn platform and access simple and accessible educational resources to help you navigate and understand your finances. There’s support for all employees including webinars, videos, guides and tools to help make money simple.
• Loans repaid through salary: Salary Finance also offers loans at affordable rates with a higher acceptance than banks. A lower-rate loan could help to pay off more expensive debt or pay less interest if you need to borrow money for a car, home improvement or unexpected expense. Representative Rate 9.9% APR (fixed). For loans under £5,000, Salary Finance offers a price promise – if you get a better rate they’ll match it.

To find out more about Salary Finance, visit the FAQs page and head to the Salary Finance webpage see the options available.

Don’t forget about our cost of living support webpage and the Emergency Support Fund, where you can get up to £500 from the University to help with a short-term, emergency cash flow problem.

Important: This is an option, not a recommendation. University of Kent does not benefit from offering this service and all your communications will be with Salary Finance. Loan applications will be assessed to ensure the loan is appropriate and affordable for you. “Learn” content is for guidance and educational purposes only and is generic in nature. Salary Finance does not offer regulated financial advice. Please seek independent financial advice.

As part of Kent Giving Week, we are creating a cookbook jam-packed with recipes, all for under £5 per serving. We have had some fantastic contributions from the likes of Joe Wicks, local chefs, staff and students.

Priced at £5, pre-orders for The Thrifty Cook are starting soon, you will also be available to buy during Kent Giving Week. There’s also the option to donate one to our students. All proceeds will help to provide nutritious meals to students facing financial hardship at this time.

To get a taster for what’s to come, check out Philip Pothen’s Easy Cauliflower and Spinach Dal with Coconut recipe:

Number of Servings: 4
Cost per serving: £3.50

Ingredients

250g red lentils
2 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2cms ginger, grated
2-3 green chillies, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp salt
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
250ml coconut milk
1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets
200g baby spinach leaves
Coriander leaves, chopped (optional)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and cook for ten minutes or so until the onion starts to soften. Add the garlic, ginger and chillies stirring for two minutes.
2. Add the cumin, coriander, tumeric and a teaspoon of salt, stirring continuously for one minute. Add the chopped tomatoes, and then add the red lentils stirring until all lentils have been coated in the spiced mixture.
3. Add 500ml of water and the coconut milk and bring to the boil. When boiling, turn down the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally until the lentils begin to become a soft mush. This should take about 25 minutes. Season with salt, to taste.
4. Add the cauliflower florets and stir occasionally.
5. After eight minutes or so, add the spinach leaves. After two more minutes, take the saucepan off the heat. if using coriander leaves, add them and stir.
6. Serve with a portion of rice or naan bread.