bOing! Family Festival is the University’s biggest community engagement event with over 10,000 people visiting the campus over the August bank holiday weekend each year. The festival is produced by the University’s Institute of Cultural & Creative Industries and welcomes both national and international artists making excellent work for children and families. Dates for this year are 26 & 27 August 2023. See more about bOing on the website.

Showcase your work

The festival is an opportunity to showcase the University’s research, innovation and engagement to a public audience. Previously the festival programme has featured forensic crime scene workshops and liquid nitrogen demonstrations by the Division of Natural Sciences, an interactive and participatory art & design exhibition by the Future Human signature research theme, virtual reality showcases by Engineering & Digital Arts and various physical workshops run by Kent Sport.

We would love to expand this offer and would welcome thoughts, ideas and pitches from academics, divisions, schools, departments, signature research themes and professional services about what you might want to bring to bOing 2023.

bOing is a family festival and attended by all ages, but we particularly look for activities which appeal to or can be suitable for children under 12.

If you have an idea you would like to pitch to be part of bOing! 2023, please email r.m.a.lees@kent.ac.uk by 31 March, detailing:

• A description of your event/activity
• Who would run the activity
• Age suitability and capacity
• What kind of space and any resources/equipment you would require

The latest art exhibition in the gallery space in the Colyer-Fergusson Building features an exploration of the art of the portrait by Canterbury-based artist, Adam De Ville.

A series of ten striking paintings reflects Adam’s interest in exploring the human condition, brought vividly to the canvas in an array of arresting paintings that pushes through the space between viewer and subject, looking to capture the essence of the moment.

The display is free to view during the building’s opening hours; there is wheelchair access, and the exhibition is on until May. Read more about the exhibition on the Music blog.

We are excited to be hosting an LTA Level 1 Tennis Assistant coaching qualification course at the Kent Indoor Tennis and Events Arena on Sunday 26 March and Sunday 4 June.

The LTA Level 1 course is ideal for tennis parents, keen players, and anyone considering a career change into sports coaching or looking to get started in tennis coaching.

There are five levels of tennis coaching in this country with the LTA and Level 1 is just the beginning, focusing mainly on assisting a qualified coach to work with children. Level 2 allows you to lead group lessons unsupervised, perhaps going into local schools. Levels 3 to 5 allow you to deliver all types of group and individual lessons with more attention to detail the higher up you go.

This is an ideal opportunity to work alongside our Tennis Development Manager and LTA Level 5 coach, Nick Skelton, as we grow our tennis programme at the University of Kent. It’s an exciting time to get involved!

The two-day course, based on the Canterbury campus, runs from 9am to 5pm both days and costs just £275. You can find more details and book onto the course on the Virtus Leisure Management website. Or to discuss the course further contact Nick at n.skelton@kent.ac.uk

Well sort of. The original play by Aeschylus has been lost bar one remining word. But it has been brought back to life by Foreign Office, the acclaimed team behind The Suppliant Women (Gulbenkian 2021), with help from experts and academics from across the globe, including some at Kent.

Egyptians will be performed between Wednesday 22 and Saturday 25 Feb at 19.30, with matinees at 14.00 on Thursday and Saturday. Tickets are £15 with a £5 student rate. Tickets can be bought from the Gulbenkian website.

As in ancient Greece, the performance uses professional actors and a community chorus – in this case of young men, including local residents and students from Kent.

It is a powerful story, with themes of migration, belonging and consent that remain vital today. The Greeks combined words, music and movement to dramatic effect, reflecting the conflict and tension of the story itself.

Set in a city destroyed by war, the victorious Egyptians demand to marry the fifty daughters of Danaos. But, strange omens, a grieving widow and a mysterious priestess — these are bleak portents for a mass wedding. As the men and women square up to their wedding night, who will finally prevail?

A panel discussion will follow the performance on Saturday 25 Feb, 14.00, chaired by Prof. David Wiles (Emeritus Professor of Drama at Exeter University) and including Egyptians director Ramin Gray alongside experts in Greek drama from the University of Kent (Dr. Rosie Wyles and Dr. Angeliki Varakis) and from the University of Oxford (Prof. Oliver Taplin, also production dramaturg).

And you can eat like a Greek! To celebrate Egyptians Gulbenkian Cafe is offering delicious Greek specials alongside our Showtime Menu every evening from 22 – 25 Feb.

Each year, the University awards a number of prizes to individual staff or teams for outstanding work in teaching and/or learning support. For 2023, colleagues are encouraged to submitted applications which address three criteria:

• Excellence in Teaching or Supporting Learning
• Dissemination and Influence
• Above and Beyond Expectations of Normal Operation.

Prizes will be at the University level, and will include both Academic and Learning Support categories. Individuals or teams can apply from all divisions and professional services teams.

The panel will be chaired by Professor Richard Reece (DVC Education & Student Experience) and will meet in April 2023. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the Learning and Teaching Conference in June 2023.

The call for applications for the 2023 prizes is now open. The closing date for applications is Thursday 6 April 2023. Please fill out the application form.

This year the University of Kent is applying for University of Sanctuary status. As part of the City of Sanctuary movement, the Universities of Sanctuary network aims to ‘make Higher Education institutions places of safety, solidarity and empowerment for people seeking sanctuary’.

To help ensure that the University’s application process is properly reflective and self-critical, the Migration and Movement SRT is continuing its series of seminars that address the question ‘What is Sanctuary?’

Speakers from a range of disciplines, career stages and backgrounds consider what sanctuary means and entails. Contributions are a mix of academic talks and reflections on lived experience.

All sessions are online. Everybody is invited to join the conversation.

What Is Sanctuary 3, 16.00-17.00, Wednesday 8 March 

Rachel Larkin, Lecturer in Social Work (SSPSSR) 

Sanctuary: A place or a feeling? This presentation will explore sanctuary as a relational affective space, drawing on data from research with migrant young women in the UK. Using psycho-social and affect theory, it will consider the role of emotion in both the attempt to create sanctuary and the experience of seeking it.

Matthew Whittle, Lecturer in Postcolonial Literature (School of English) 

In this talk I’ll be looking at Walton Ford’s painting ‘Sanctuary’ (1998) as a jumping off point to discuss the relationship between forced migration and colonialism. The context of the painting is the Congo region and the privileging of eco-tourism over human life. It invites a contrast between forms of sanctuary relating to the forced movement and precarity of animals and humans in (neo)colonial contexts.

Join Zoom meeting:
Topic: What Is Sanctuary 3
Time: Mar 8, 2023 04:00 PM London 
Meeting ID: 831 8572 4134
Passcode: 657680 

What Is Sanctuary 4, 16.00-17.00, Wednesday 29 March 

David Roberts, Reader in Biodiversity Conservation (School of Anthropology and Conservation) 

What is a refuge in conservation and ecology?During the process of extinction, the last individual of a species has to have occurred at a specific location at a specific time. This, however, does not mean the location contributed significantly to its persistence (i.e. that it was a refuge) as its persistence could merely be the result of chance, that this individual at this location was the last of its kind. Understanding why populations persist in the face of adversity is fundamental to conservation and ecology. There are numerous definitions of what constitutes a refuge, with most incorporating some form of spatial and temporal isolation from the cause of, or resistance to, disturbance. However, use of the term refuge is often imprecise, has been used interchangeably with other terms such as relic population and biogeographic nodes, and is often based on unsubstantiated statements. Here we look how the term refuge is applied in ecology and its application to some famous extinctions and environmental events.

Jonathan Rock Rokem, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography (School of Anthropology and Conservation) 

Mounting violent borders and rising inequalities bring new global challenges and opportunities facing the enablement of migrant arrival and settlement. This talk brings to light differences in migrant access to public urban resources across the socio-economic and ethnic profile of three major cities. Comparing Stockholm, Berlin and London, the research investigates spatial inequality and urban segregation, and shows how this can affect migrant mobility and accessibly to public urban resources. Taken together, this is argued to have an impact on newly arriving people’s participation in diverse urban societies.

Fateh Shaban, Academic Fellow in Human Geography (School of Anthropology and Conservation) 

The Syrian civil war, which began with a revolution in 2011, has led to a vacuum in higher education in north-western Syria. Some universities in the area have continued to provide tertiary education, whilst others have emerged since. However, higher education in northern Syria faces significant challenges due to the war and the conditions it has generated, most notably the lack of infrastructure, neglect by international support, the interference of armed forces, and other problems associated with war conditions. This paper will consider the urgent needs faced by the higher education sector in north-western Syria, the most pressing of which are financial support, unification of the sector, attaining accreditation, and building relationships at the international level.

Join Zoom Meeting:
Topic: What is Sanctuary 4
Time: Mar 29, 2023 04:00 PM London
Meeting ID: 858 9353 1278
Passcode: 953000  

What Is Sanctuary 5, 16.00-17.00, Wednesday 5 April 

Sian Lewis, Senior Lecturer in Law (Kent Law School)  

This talk will consider forms of sanctuary provided by religious groups in ancient times and the significance or otherwise of that to present day ideas of sanctuary. Building on this, the talk will address the cities of sanctuary movement in the USA, in particular the refusal to implement (repressive) federal immigration laws.

Hayley Gibson, Lecturer in Law (Kent Law School) 

Constituting Sanctuary: Theorising law and refusal. Aside from its connotations of mercy and kindness, the phenomenon of sanctuary often elicits a jurisprudential discourse concerning the conflict between two normative or legal regimes: one claims sanctuary from the reach of the law; and at the same time there is some force, uniquely capable of providing a space in which the law may be refused, which runs contrary to the monopoly on force that is definitive of sovereignty and, by extension, State law. This paper aims to think through the jurisprudential implications of this unique territory-within-State-territory, in which law is not suspended, but refused. It will draw on the work of Jacques Ranciere in conceptualising the territory of sanctuary as an aesthetic realm in which the ‘part of no part’ is made manifest; and in doing so, it shall consider what the significance of this unique space might be for the concepts of human rights and citizenship. 

Reda Mahajar, Doctoral Researcher in International Relations (Brussels School of International Relations) 

In this talk, I will illustrate my experience as a refugee pursuing my lifelong dream of a PhD research project against all the odds of war, danger and displacement in Syria and Lebanon. Born and raised as a refugee in Syria, I became a refugee again in Lebanon from 2013 to 2018. However, my life changed when I came to the Brussels School of International Studies, University of Kent, in Sept 2018.

Join zoom meeting:
Topic: What is Sanctuary 5
Time: Apr 5, 2023 04:00 PM London
Meeting ID: 893 1719 8474
Passcode: 680916 

Before the Christmas break, Professor Richard Reece, KentVision Executive Sponsor met with the six KentVision Functional Groups (KVFG) and communicated the decision by the KV Project Board, to move the KV work from a separate project to an IS business-as-usual delivery model by the summer of 2023 and the decision to re-focus delivery priorities.

By way of reminder, between now and summer of 2023, the project has been re-focused to deliver features, functionality, and data improvements in the following areas:

• Compliance (e.g., features relating to UKVI reporting)
• Statutory obligations (e.g., features relating to HESA Data Futures ensuring we maintain our link to UCAS)

Throughout January, each of the six KV Functional Groups (KVFG) have been conducting a thorough assessment of the feature requests which are not related to compliance or statutory obligations. In addition, an assessment of all existing operational workarounds is also being completed to understand the scale of time and effort required to manage these, and all associated risks ­– engaging with colleagues across divisional and central teams.

The KVFGs are making significant progress to confirm the workaround assessment of the KV specific features to be delivered in the future. By March we expect to have completed the assessments – ensuring that a revised KV Product Backlog can be confirmed.

The possible options we will consider for addressing the remaining KV feature requests include:

• Further technical development work to KentVision
• An alternative existing software solution (e.g., Office 365)
• A process and or policy change.

Our revised plan will prioritise areas where we will get maximum benefit for professional service, academic staff, and our students. We are developing plans with Senior Leadership and the KV Functional Group Chairs to move forward these key areas of work, reprioritising the plan.

In addition, we have two delivery teams focused on delivery of KV features and we’ve established a dedicated KV Operational Support Team who are providing technical support during intensive operational processes, that require manual workarounds, throughout the academic year (e.g., online module registration and academic roll-over activities). They are also focused on improving the efficiency of the service desk, and they are progressing KV related tickets daily.

In the coming months, we will continue to communicate with you about our progress and updates.

KentVision Technical Upgrade

Work took place from the 20-23 January to upgrade KentVision to keep us in support with the system supplier (Tribal) and to ensure that we continue to receive essential updates. On Monday 23 January, after careful testing, the upgraded system was switched back to live at 11:00 – 3 hours earlier than scheduled.

Thank you to everyone for their hard work and dedication to make this a success. Your contributions are invaluable and greatly appreciated.

KentVision Online Open Meeting

Colleagues are invited to attend an online open meeting with Professor Richard Reece KentVision Executive Sponsor.

This is an opportunity to hear from Richard and get an update on the future direction of KentVision and for colleagues to ask questions of him.

• 1 March 2023 – 1PM-1:45PM

Please register your attendance via Microsoft Forms for a diary invitation.

Upcoming Drop-In Sessions

The friendly CSAO training team are running monthly KentVision drop-in sessions, the aim of which is to answer your KentVision related questions and demonstrate the system in-person.

• 2 March 2-4pm in Darwin Board room.

With best wishes,

The KentVision Project

This week saw the fourth VC Cup event take place, with The Cube. This was an event based on the original TV show, in which contestants completed a series of challenges without losing all their lives.

For this event, teams met for a social evening at the Pavilion Café Bar, where they took on five different challenges. Following a tense first round, teams headed off to Woody’s common room for the second half of the evening, where teams were able to grab a refreshment before playing three additional challenges, this time earning lives when victorious.

By the final there were two teams standing strong, DoNATS and Kent Union. To determine the evening’s victor and winner of the prestigious Cube trophy, teams competed in the final event, a series of ‘Ball flick’ challenges, which saw team members tasked with flicking balls from their stands in order, by colour and in the fastest time. After a tough and close three rounds, DoNATS finally took the win, leaving Kent Union relegated to 2nd place.

Despite failing to reach the semi-finals, teams Liquorice All Sports, Campus Sporting Exploits and Living La Vida Mocha remain at the top of the leaderboard, with just two points separating them. The heroes of this event though must be Kent Union, who had yet to reach the top five in any of the VC Cup tournaments to date! They clearly found their calling here, working well as a team and using their individual strengths to reach an epic final. This had propelled the team to 9th position overall, with several events still to come!

If you’re curious about the upcoming VC Cup events, check out the information webpage!

Come along and attend the Canterbury for Ukraine fundraising dinner on Thursday 16 March 2023 at Darwin College.

The evening will include welcome drinks, a three-course meal, live music, a bar and auction. All proceeds will go to Canterbury for Ukraine.

The evening will begin with welcome drinks at 6.30pm and tickets will include a three-course meal, a glass of wine at the table, live music, a bar and a live auction will be held in aid of Canterbury for Ukraine’s (C4U) extraordinary and vital work.

Through the enormous generosity and dedication of the local community, including local businesses,C4U provides a wide range of much-needed services to support the growing number of Ukrainians coming to Canterbury and surrounding areas as a result of the devastating and illegal war in Ukraine.

Please do join us in support of this invaluable and inspiring work.

Tickets cost £50 each or £450 for a table for ten

To book please go to: C4Udinner.eventbrite.co.uk

We are looking for volunteers to make the event as welcoming and accessible as possible on both nights. If you’d like to volunteer, contact info@eea.org.uk for more information.