Congratulations to all of the shortlisted nominees and our fantastic winners in the inaugural Kent Staff Recognition Awards! At last night’s Oscar-style ceremony, the top awards across four categories – Community Impact, Great Team, Supportive Colleague and Unsung Heroes – were presented by members of our Executive Group and Council. Welcoming everyone, Vice-Chancellor, Professor Karen Cox said: ‘I have been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of interest in these awards in such a short space of time. Thank you to everyone involved – it’s a huge mark of how well this university works as a unit and how much we want to say thank you to each other during what have been truly unprecedented times.’ She added that kindness had been a key attribute during the pandemic and was evident in each of the more than 250 nominations. Award-winners were:

Community Impact

Winner: The PPE response team in recognition of their work to design and manufacture CE marked PPE provided free of charge to care homes, hospices and hospitals in Kent. In the early part of the Covid-19 pandemic, the team of technicians across Divisions and colleagues in Knowledge Exchange & Innovation produced almost 5,000 face visors, specialist ophthalmic breath screens and over 20,000 face mask ear protectors to stringent safety standards. Often working evenings and weekends, the team were able to design a prototype, source materials and create the University’s first cross-departmental manufacturing centre in just two weeks. Donations followed from alumni and local businesses, as well as positive feedback – with, for example, the Pilgrims Hospice, Canterbury, hailing the “huge difference” it had made to both patients and staff. Team members include: Kevin Smith, Technical Manager; Colin Cresser, Technical Specialist; Julien Soosaipillai, Technical Specialist (all Arts & Humanities Division); Daniel Knox, IT & Technical Services Manager; Ryan Morrow, Technical Manager; Jon Foley, Technician; Antonio Mendoza, Technician; Keith Greenhow, Technical Specialist (Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Division); Marcus Wright, Head of Business Development (IS); Paul Sinnock, Deputy Director (IS); Lucy Druesne, GOETEC Partnership Manager (IS); Carole Barron, Director of KEI; and Lauren Keating, Business & Industry Relationship Officer (KEI). Runners-up in the Community Impact category were: (2^nd) Vicky Annis, Sports Physiotherapist (Kent Sport) and (3^rd) Community Gardens: Adam Hancock, Security Officer (Estates); and Emily Mason, Environmental Sustainability Officer (Safety, Health and Environment Unit).

Great Team

Winner: The team of staff supporting our students on campus during Covid – comprising Lucy Foley, Jacqui Double and Laura Maclean and members of the Isolation Team. The award recognises that these staff went well beyond their remit to ensure students received the support they needed. This included guidance on latest travel restrictions and providing quarantine accommodation with daily food packages for international students; co-ordinating support and care for any students required to self-isolate and those unable to travel home over Christmas and the end of term. All of this took place on top of team members’ day jobs, resulting in ‘an outstanding and sustained contribution to the University with far reaching impacts for our students and their families’. Through Lucy and her amazing leadership, they acted as our key contact with the Local Health Protection Team and ensured our students were looked after. Our team’s response was always calm, considered and professional despite the changing and challenging environment in which they were working. Team members include: Lucy Foley, Director of Student Services; Jacqui Double, Head of Colleges (Student Services); Laura Maclean, Head of Accommodation and Customer Services; Louisa Harvey, Senior Events Coordinator; Caroline Hames, Event Services Coordinator; Rachel Walmesley, Events Coordinator; Jan Williams, Events Coordinator; Alison Polden, Events Coordinator; and Sarah Tooze, Reception Services Coordinator (all from Kent Hospitality). Runners-up: (2^nd) Asymptomatic Testing Site Team comprising Charlie Dast, Sports Development Officer (Kent Sport); James Collett, Food & Beverage Assistant (Kent Hospitality); Becky Verlin (Head of Housekeeping); Thomas Tegento, Cleaner (Kent Hospitality Housekeeping); Luis Howell, Student Ambassador (Outreach Ambassadors); Rebecca Sharpe, Bar/Bistro Assistant (Gulbenkian Café); Ryan Tilley, Holly Porton, Orla Dean Odey, Thomas Lennox Robb, and Kemi Abidekun, Test Support Assistants (all Commercial Services). (3^rd) University of Kent eLearning Team comprising Daniel Clark, E-Learning Manager; Phil Anthony, Faculty Learning Technologist; Steve Ganfield, Faculty Learning Technologist; Nick Cornwall-French, Faculty Learning Technologist; Tom Finley, Distance Learning Technologist; Mark O’Connor, Distance Learning Technologist (all e-Learning Team); Dan Bartlett, PHP Developer; and James Keavney, PHP Developer (Learning and Research Development).

Supportive Colleague

Winner: Paul Sales, IT Trainer, Student Operations. Paul has played a key training role in the roll-out of KentVision, our new student data system. He has been praised for his ‘huge support to divisional and PSD colleagues trying to find their way with the new system and way of working. His nomination also notes that his KentVision expertise and university business process knowledge has been invaluable for collating feedback and working with users and the KentVision team together to find ways forward. The nomination concludes: ‘Paul has seemingly endless patience, is incredibly knowledgeable, always ready to help, offer advice or just his ear for a rant’. Runners-up: (joint 2nd) Jan Moriarty, Student Success Project (EDI) Manager (Student Success) and Philippa Moreton-Howell, Student Support Officer, Education & Student Experience (Arts and Humanities Division); (3^rd) Heather Ferguson, Divisional Director of Research & Innovation (Human and Social Sciences Division).

Unsung Heroes

Winner: Becky Verlin, Housekeeping Manager, Kent Hospitality. During 2020, universities were asked by the Department for Education to set up asymptomatic testing centres on their campuses for students and staff. Despite the absence of a clear roadmap, the University was able to respond, set up and run a full testing site service for our staff and students and continue to do so during the 2021/22 academic year. Becky’s nomination notes that she was instrumental in the setting up of the site, the training and support of staff and ongoing delivery of this service. She is praised for delivering ‘a great service with skill, professionalism and good humour’ and it is noted that ‘the University owes her a debt of gratitude for her leadership of this project’. The award also reflects that, while working on the new testing centre, Becky continued with her ‘day job’ as well as advocating for others as a staff representative on our Joint Staff Negotiating and Consultation Committee (JSNCC) Runners-up: (2^nd) Charlotte Ransom, Education ＆ Student Experience Manager (Human and Social Sciences Division) and (3^rd) Iris Prieto, Domestic Assistant (Kent Hospitality).

Other awards

The awards ceremony was attended by over 100 staff and compered by Olly Double, Reader in Drama and Theatre at Kent. As well as the main awards presentations, the audience voted on an award for the Most Humorous Moment which went to a mystery piano player during one of the Covid-19 webchats. A special Services Rendered to the Nation award was presented to the Marsh family singers – including Dr Ben Marsh in the School of History and Danielle Marsh in KBS – who performed a popular rendition of their version of One Day More. A number of long-serving staff were also presented with their 25 Year Service Awards, before the evening ended in style with a student cabaret, featuring Harry Negus-Ross, Daniel Lambert, Hannah Etheridge, Harvey Pinder, Ellie Panoula, Roy Clarke and Ruby Sullivan.

Find out more

See some of the best moments from the awards ceremony in our highlights video on YouTube.

To  access the official photos of the staff awards ceremony visit National Expressions Photography and enter the password: kentawards2021

An eclectic range of academic and industry experts have been confirmed for the University of Kent’s 7th annual HR Conference: Keeping Up with the Change.

The virtual conference will run from 9.30 to 14.00 on Wednesday 24 November and is organised by Knowledge Exchange and Innovation, the business and innovation gateway to the University of Kent. To book tickets, please visit this webpage.

The University’s world-leading academics and guest speakers will share their latest research, examples of best practice and tips and tools which can be applied in the workplace. In line with the theme ‘Keeping Up with the Change’, speakers will be cover topics including flexible working, leadership, cybersecurity and stress management. Delegates can expect to gain advice on adapting to cultural change at work and how to cultivate new, future proof ways of working.

Speakers from the University include:

• Dr Dawn H Nicholson, Senior Lecturer in Business/Organisational Psychology, partnering with Jenny Varley, Founder of Flink, to argue the case for job sharing.
• Dr Jason Nurse, Senior Lecturer in Cybersecurity, focussing on the unique cyber security challenges posed by working from home.
• Coral Warner, counsellor, mental health mentor, supervisor and trainer who will help delegates to identify and offer support to staff members who are suffering with stress.

Industry experts include:

• Antonio Fletcher, Employment Lawyer at Brachers who will provide expert advice on how not to break the law when working from home.
• Chris Preston, Founder and Director of The Culture Builders sharing his tips for managing change in a new world of work.
• Sonya Sikora and Alice Capell talking about their experience of embracing the ‘anytime, anywhere’ philosophy whilst working at Holiday Extras.
• Kelly Wakeman, Founder and Director of Start Inspiring sharing her tips on how to become RADICAL leaders in a post-covid world.

Staff tickets for the University Carol Service are now available.

The service will be taking place in Canterbury Cathedral on Monday 6 December at 20.00.

Please email your request for up to 4 tickets (which are free of charge) to Revd Dr Stephen Laird s.c.e.laird@kent.ac.uk and don’t forget to provide your location/address so that they know where to send the tickets.

This year’s appeal, for homelessness charity Porchlight, is online only via the Justgiving platform.

Covid Safety

This year, some aspects of the Carol Service have been modified in order to maximise safety: there will be no physical collection for the appeal, so please donate online, individual candles will not be involved, processing by singers etc will be minimised and the event will be shorter.

For further details of the event please visit the Carol Service webpage.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered to work at our October Open Days. We had a great turnout and it was so useful having extra helping hands to meet, greet, direct, register and talk to students and their families.

Our next Open Day will be on Saturday 20 November, from 10.00 – 14.00 and we need your support! Staff up to Grade 6 will be able to claim either TOIL (time for time) or the standard overtime rate.

It’s a great chance to work with people across the directorate and see the campus in action with giant LED screens, roving reporters and lots of activities to show visitors what we have to offer. Staff will be needed from 09.30 – 14.30. More details about exact arrangements and your role will be sent out before the day. Any questions, just let us know!

Please email schoolsliaison@kent.ac.uk if you are able to help.

Thanks in advance!

Events & Student Recruitment Team

If you are an Academic Adviser or Senior Tutor, you will now have access to the new Progress Profiles. A Progress Profile is a web-based report which tracks a student’s academic progress. It displays information such as module marks, attendance and enrolment data and is updated daily.

Why are they important?

Students told us that sometimes it is hard to know how well their studies are going. We created Progress Profiles to give our students a clear understanding of their performance across every stage of their degree journey. Every undergraduate will have their own Progress Profile. Academic Advisers can see the reports of all their advisees and Senior Tutors can see all the reports for students in their school.

Staff who can access Progress Profiles will also be able to view cohort data alongside a student’s individual data. Students are already having regular conversations about their studies with their Academic Adviser and Progress Profiles can help focus these conversations as it displays key data from KentVision in a format that is quicker and easier to digest.

Progress Profiles can be accessed directly from the top banner of the Student Guide.

Need Help?

A short video providing a detailed explanation of how Progress Profiles work can be found in the ‘About’ tab on the report page.

For any queries relating to access to, or content of, Progress Profiles, please contact the Information Services Helpdesk: helpdesk@kent.ac.uk

For further information or to provide feedback on Progress Profiles please contact the Student Success Team studentsuccessproject@kent.ac.uk.

Looking for the perfect Christmas gift or reward for your staff ? Let them choose exactly what they’d like, and support the city’s businesses at the same time, with the Canterbury Gift Card!

What is the Canterbury Gift Card ?

Launched in 2020, it’s a Mastercard that can be pre-loaded with however much you wish to gift the recipient.

Where can recipients spend their gift card?

The cards can be spent at around 120 local businesses, big and small. There’s something for everyone on the list, from big multiples such as Boots, M&S, Fenwick, Primark, Cote, McDonalds and New Look, to unique local independent stores. It covers everything from The Cheese Shop to high end jewellers, from The Marlowe Theatre to the local butcher, all the way to hairdressers, nail salons and beauty services, toyshops, clothing, shoes, restaurants, pubs and cafes. You can see the whole list of participating businesses on the Canterbury gift card page.

How do I find out more?

If you would like more information on how to give the gift of Canterbury to your staff or customers, please get in touch – we would love to help. It’s quick and easy, it supports local business and we guarantee it’ll never get regifted!

Email Kathy.Moulton@Canterburybid.co.uk

For orders of total value £2,000 or more, please contact Miconex who can arrange this for you.

Staff from the Department of Audio and Music Technology release new compositions on German Record Label, Gruenrekorder.

Dr. Aki Pasoulas and Dr. Brona Martin were commissioned by the Soundlapse project to create soundscape works using recordings from the project as source materials.  The recordings are from three wetland areas around the city of Valdivia, Chile. The album Soundlapse features works from various artists which explore these field recordings. The purpose of the project is to highlight the acoustical heritage of wetlands in the south of Chile. You can listen and download the album here.

‘ Financial wellbeing with care first Lifestyle’Our official Employee Assistance Programme provider, Care first offers a numbers of services and provide useful advice and support, including weekly webinars.

This week’s (Monday 8 November –  Friday 12 November) webinars are as follows:

Monday 8 November 2021 – ‘How Care first can support you’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Tuesday 9 November 2021 – ‘Financial wellbeing with care first Lifestyle’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 10 November webinar – CANCELLED

Thursday 11 November 2021 – ‘Winter heart health’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 12 November 2021 – ‘The benefits of giving back and supporting other’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Dr Gary Robinson, Senior Lecturer in Microbial Technology in the School of Biosciences, is in the frame for this year’s Scottish Portrait Awards.

Gary is the subject of a shortlisted portrait, by his artist brother Keith Robinson, for the Awards, which will be announced on Wednesday 17 November.

The portrait of Gary is titled ‘My brother the microbiologist and his microbiota’ and reflects Keith’s interest in the interface between science and art developed over many years with Gary and colleagues within the School of Biosciences. Keith has previously worked on various SciArt projects with Professor Darren Griffin (some of the resulting works are on show in the Senate Building) and Professor Mark Smales (works on display on the 4^th floor of the Ingram Building).

Gary is relatively humble about being the focus of a major piece of art: ‘As far as I’m concerned, it was to support what my brother wanted to do and an extension of the many discussions we’ve had and continue to have about art and science. I applaud his skill as a portrait artist and I’m just proud and really pleased for him.’

Gary is hoping to join his brother, and see his portrait on display, at the awards ceremony at at the Scottish Arts Club, Edinburgh on the 17^th. You can see Gary’s portrait and other shortlisted entries on the Scottish Portrait Awards website.

The Research Excellence Team at Kent are hosting a series of workshops designed to help academic researchers and post graduate researchers with stakeholder engagement and raising their public profile through social media.

The aim of this workshop series is to encourage researchers (at whatever stage of their research career they are) to start thinking about building their public profile to benefit their research impact and create and nurture their stakeholder relationships.

Often, research impact is not widely promoted due to researchers not understanding how to create their public profile, how to identify their stakeholders and consequently build relationships with these stakeholders. These workshops cover all these aspects and as they are also at the start of the next REF cycle, it is a great time to start this process for the REF 2028 submission.

From the feedback from the first workshop that was held last week (‘Initiating and retaining stakeholder relationships’), many researchers have just be awarded grants following bid applications and do not know how to engage through research to maximise the impact of their research.

The next two workshops to take place are:

Enhancing stakeholder relationships: using social media to create your profile – 5 November 12.00 -14.00

To find out more about this workshop and how to book your place please visit this Research Policy and Support webpage.

Fast, easy and free audio-visual content creation for academics – 11 and 22 November 15.00 – 17.00

To find out more about this workshop and how to book your place please visit this Research Policy and Support webpage.