We are currently putting together our schedule for Staff Webchats over the Autumn term, ensuring everyone has a chance to hear directly from those working on the University’s key initiatives and can put their questions across. 

Topics planned so far include: 

• USS pensions – reflecting on recent changes and open to all but targeted towards colleagues who are members of the scheme. This webchat will take place on Wednesday 13 October, 12.00-13.00. Find out more and register to join the session on Teams. 
• Sustainability – highlighting events around Climate Action Week, COP26 and the launch of the University Sustainability Strategy in late October. 
• KentVision – updating on latest developments and upcoming changes based on staff and student feedback. 
• University finances – talking through our annual accounts when they are published later in the year 

Got an idea for other topics you’d like to know more about and/or have your say on? Let us know by emailing the Communications team and help us shape the schedule through the year! 

Sunday 10 October 2021 is World Mental Health Day.

If we all do one thing, we can change everything – World Mental Health Day | Mind, the mental health charity – help for mental health problems.

Mental health is often determined by where we live or who we are.

This Mental health day, do one thing:

• Add your voice – start a conversation about Mental Health
• Learn about Mental Health and its inequality
• Ask for and access information and support if you need it.

At Kent, we have a number of resources for all staff to access:

• Employee Assistance Programme
• Psychotherapy available through OH
• Health and Wellbeing Yammer channel
• Health and Wellbeing Strategy Statement and Psychological Wellbeing Standard
• Mental Health ‘One Stop Shop’
• Online Moodle training packages for staff on wellbeing and mental health
• Manager Mental Health @ Work training sessions through T&OD
• Inclusion Passport and Manager Guidance
• Reasonable Adjustments e-learning via Staff Moodle.

Over the next year, we are also planning to provide further support – look out for:

• the introduction of Mental Health Allies
• a number of training sessions via Mind – three sessions of each across the academic year (one per term) in different formats – virtual, on campus and at the Mind facilities in Folkestone. Topics will include:

– Understanding Stress and Anxiety 90 Minutes
– Understanding depression– 90 minutes
– Mental Health Awareness – 90 minutes
– Introduction to workplace Mental health and wellbeing – 120 minutes.

Sixty-seven academic colleagues are celebrating their promotion to professor, reader, senior lecturer or senior research fellow in the 2020-21 academic year.

The new professors are:

Division of Arts and Humanities

Shona Illingworth (Arts)

Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

Mark Batty (Computing)

Division of Human and Social Sciences

Robert Fish (Anthropology and Conservation)

Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice

Heejung Chung and Carolyn Pedwell (Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research)

Professor Heejung Chung

Division of Natural Sciences

Glen Davison (Sport and Exercise Sciences), Simon Holder (Chemistry & Forensic Science), Neil Kad and Mark Wass (Biosciences)

Professor Glen Davison

Martin Atkinson, Director of HR and Organisational Development, said: ‘The career development, personal growth and excellence of our academic staff are vital to the continuing success of the University. Congratulations to all those promoted this year in the most challenging circumstances. And, at a time when the contribution of the nation’s essential workers has been recognised and celebrated, I am sure that those colleagues would fully acknowledge that their achievements would not have been possible without the support of other academic colleagues and the professional services staff working behind the scenes.’

You can see the full list of Academic promotions 2020-21 here.

[Main picture shows newly promoted Professor Neil Kad from the School of Biosciences]

Kent Unicorns, a netball team made up of University of Kent staff get ready for their next season in the Thanet District Netball League which starts this month.

Sponsored by Kent Sport, the team are made up of staff from across the university and have been together since 2017.

Following the successful introduction of Netball in the VC Cup, Sport Development introduced netball coaching sessions for staff to help those get ‘Back to Netball’.  As regulars to training, the team took up the opportunity to participate in the local league to improve their practice and gain further match play.  The team have gone from strength to strength.  Friendly games returned this summer to get teams active after months of lockdown.  Their first match of the new season resulted in a win for the Kent Unicorns, and two of its team earning both Best Attack and Best Defence of the match.

Team Captain, Ali Webster (Quality Assurance and Compliance Manager), says ‘the pandemic has presented many challenges for everybody over the last eighteen months, but I’ve been delighted with the team’s resilience and ability to find ways to support each other throughout. We have already started practicing as a team again and I am excited to play netball with this amazing bunch of women during the coming season.’

The team are grateful to Kent Sport for the support and sponsorship they have given the team over the years and look forward to this next season where fingers crossed, they can keep up the good work.

If you are a member of staff interested in playing Netball, come along to ALL Active Social Netball every Monday lunchtime, 12.30 – 13.30 in the Sports Centre.  Kent Sport membership required. Minimum membership £2 per session with pay to play membership.  For more information, please see website or follow @ALLActiveKent on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or TikTok for updates.

Welcome to Black History Month 2021!  This October we celebrate Black History, the successes and achievements of Black individuals and offer a critical examination of where we need to do more and be better, both as a University and a society.  

This year’s theme at Kent is Black Excellence, and this is exactly what the month aims to showcase. Black Excellence across a variety of academic and non-academic fields such as Business, Research, Sports, Literature, Media and Culture and celebrates a host of British and international figures.

Led by volunteers from BAME Staff and Student Networks and the Kent Union Representative Officers, this year’s Black History Month features a wide range of events that are sure to capture your interest and attention. They include inspirational speakers, art exhibitions, workshops and training courses, film screenings, a book club and even a reggae night in the Gulbenkian on the Canterbury site. The vast majority of events are free, open to anyone to attend and a lot are online so can be dipped in and out of at your leisure if you are unable to attend on the scheduled time and date or are studying or working at home or at a different site.

You may want to try our recommended reading list, go and see a film in the Gulbenkian, grab a chat and a coffee at Woody’s, listen to Professor Kalwant Bhopal speak on Black Excellence in Higher Education and Scholarship, view the photos from the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, watch some YouTube videos or simply enjoy some food from the Ile Afrik food truck. Whatever you get involved in, make sure you share it with #BHMKent2021

The full programme is available on the Kent Union website

Our programme of activity doesn’t end when Black History Month is over either- keep a look out throughout the academic year for more events and activities on campus to engage with.

We hope you enjoy everything that Black History Month 2021 has to offer.

One of our first three Signature Research Themes – Future Human – is inviting applications from staff for our Vice-Chancellor PhD Studentship selection process, as well as ideas for cross-disciplinary collaboration and innovative research.

The Future Human theme explores the use of science and technology to improve human performance either temporarily or permanently. Its transdisciplinary approach will help us understand the opportunities, limits, challenges and risks of using scientific and technological advancement to restore or improve performance and to overcome current limits of body and mind.

Theme co-lead, Dr Lex Mauger says: ‘Future Human is much more wide-ranging than many might think. By focusing on four sub-themes – Healthy Human, Everyday Human, Working Human and Super Human – our aim is to go much further than just understanding the science and technology. We want to know how enhancing human capability cuts across different fields from business and commercial to ethical and legal.’

You can find out more about Future Human on the Signature Research Theme web page.

PhD Studentships available

As part of its start-up resourcing, the Future Human Signature Research Theme is offering two Vice-Chancellor PhD Studentships for the 2022-23 academic year. The studentships will be allocated to named supervisory teams running a pre-determined project.

To select these supervisory teams and projects, the Future Human leadership team is running a Sandpit event, which will involve 20-30 academics from a range of disciplines and result in up to 15 project proposals. From these project ideas, two supervisory teams will be awarded the PhD studentships, and a further three project teams will be awarded seed-corn funding of £1500 for further development of their idea.

Staff will need to apply for one of the limited places on the Sandpit event, which will be held on 9 and 10 November 2021. More information on the Sandpit sessions, including an application for attendance to be completed by 17.00 on Friday 15 October 2021, is available here.

Share your views

The Future Human leadership team – comprising Dr Lex Mauger, Dr Sarah Hotham and Professor Aylish Wood – is committed to offering opportunities and activities to promote transdisciplinary collaborations and development of innovative research bids. They’re keen to hear from colleagues across the University about current and future plans for providing this. Complete the 10-minute survey to tell the team what you think.

Signature Research Themes

Signature Research Themes are a key part of the University’s strategy to further develop its global research profile. The themes bring together a wide range of ideas and approaches through cross-disciplinary collaboration, and they enhance the excellent practices and activities, highlighting the cutting-edge and innovative research that goes on at Kent.

It is with great sadness that we inform colleagues of the death of Geoffrey Stephenson (1939-2021).

Geoffrey established the Social Psychology Research Unit and the Board of Studies in Social Psychology at the University of Kent in 1978, and created its pathway to become the Institute of Social and Applied Psychology and ultimately both the School of Psychology and Tizard Centre.

Geoffrey was one of the UK’s foremost social psychologists in the 1970s and 80s and a leading figure in the formation and growth of the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology, being elected its President from 1984-7. Following his retirement from Kent in 1998, he continued to be very active in research and teaching for a further decade.

A full obituary will be prepared in due course. Those wishing to convey messages of condolence and remembrance to his wife Astrid and children Lawrence, Kate and David are welcome to contact Professor Dominic Abrams: D.Abrams@kent.ac.uk

In memory of Geoffrey, his family invite donations to be made in aid of Age UK Faversham and Sittingbourne via  https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidStephenson28/1

Professor Georgina Randsley de Moura | Deputy Vice-Chancellor – Academic Strategy, Planning and Performance

We are pleased to announce a new online reporting tool for reporting student incidents of sexual misconduct and assault, harassment (non-sexual), assault, bullying, discrimination and hate incidents. This replaces the previous inform Kent (inK) system ​and helps Kent students to get the support they need promptly.

The Report and Support online tool allows both anonymous and named reports. If a student chooses to provide identifiable information, we will be able to offer support or discuss ways that they can (if they wish) report the incident formally. Reporting anonymously will provide information that will help us to make our university the safest ​environment it can be. Anonymous information will be reviewed at regular intervals throughout the year, to ensure that we are ​monitoring incidents reported and putting ​new strategies in place where needed.

Take a look at Report and Support online for about how to report, and well as several support articles relating to these incidents. It may be worth familiarising yourself with the tool in case you need to advise a student to make a report in future. You can also find information on positive safety campaigns and ways in which you can get involved in promoting a culture of respect at Kent.

Visit Report and Support now.

Article by Chris Morrison | Copyright, Software Licence & IS Policy Manager

Universities are increasingly receiving copyright infringement notifications from photographers and their representatives. This blog post provides advice on how to avoid receiving an unexpected demand for licence fees.

It’s been a while since I’ve written a post on this blog, but that doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been a lot of copyright literacy related activity at Kent. One of the most pressing copyright issues that has arisen recently across the education sector is the number of claims received from picture agencies demanding licence fees for the unauthorised use of their clients’ photographs on institutional websites. This includes use of a stringent termination mechanism in the 2.0 version of Creative Commons licences which has caught many people out. This post provides an overview of what can happen when you don’t take care in selecting and posting images online, and what you can do to avoid receiving an infringement notification.

Copyright and photographs online: the basics

As per the updated copyright guidance we published last year, photographs are protected by copyright. This means the copyright owner (usually the photographer themselves, but potentially an employer or a commissioning organisation) has the exclusive right to do or authorise certain activities with their photographs, such as copying them or communicating them to the public. It is only legal to post photographs online if you have the permission of the copyright holder, or if your use is covered by an exception to copyright such as ‘quotation’ or ‘illustration for instruction’. If you use someone else’s photograph without the copyright owner’s permission, and the use is not covered by an exception, then you will have infringed copyright. Infringement of copyright means that both you and the University may be liable in the event of legal action so it’s important to follow a few simple steps to avoid this.

Finding and using licensed content

We all want to find engaging images to use on our blogs and web pages and we have information on finding and sharing content online as well as guidance on how to find and attribute images online. The attribution guidance explains how to use the following types of content:

• Images supplied by staff
• iStockphoto and Getty Images
• Creative Commons
• Public domain and CC zero

One of the key messages here is to always provide a credit to the photographer unless you are certain that no attribution is required. This principle also applies to use of images in teaching where copyright exceptions might apply. For example, the exception covering ‘illustration for instruction‘ only applies if the author or creator of a copyright work is acknowledged unless this is ‘impossible for reasons of practicality or otherwise’. And even in cases where no attribution is required we recommend that you do where possible.

Attribution is also one of the fundamental elements of the Creative Commons licences which allow people to share content freely online. All Wikipedia content is published under a Creative Commons licence as are millions of Flickr photos. It is also the most widely used set of licences for open access publishing.

The issue with Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 licences

We have experienced a number of people getting caught out by photographers using older versions of the Creative Commons Attribution licence which has very strict attribution requirements. As reported in a recent Computer Weekly article some photographers have developed a business model that involves seeding large amounts of Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 licensed images on platforms like Flickr, and then using automated image recognition tools to identify where these are being used without attribution. Older versions of the licence are specifically chosen because, unlike 4.0 version of the licence, they do not have a provision to ‘cure’ any failure to comply with the attribution requirements. The photographer or their agent then contacts the organisation or individual responsible for the website demanding a licence fee payment. The amounts demanded are usually between £600 and £1000 and appear to be calculated to be just low enough to make getting legal representation unaffordable, but high enough to make it worthwhile for an agency to pursue those who have used images without attribution.

I recently organised an event with other copyright specialists in the sector to discuss this issue and we were joined by representatives from Creative Commons. Whilst Creative Commons note that the business model above is not in the spirit of the licensing scheme, they are not able to intervene in disputes between copyright owners and users of their works. They are currently working with their partners and others to create a statement of principles about licensing enforcement to influence community behaviour. They are also working on updated guidance on how to attribute photos appropriately, and I am working with others in the UK HE sector to develop further guidance on the implications of this for online learning.

In the meantime I would advise that you always provide attribution for any images you use online, and be careful when using images licensed with CC BY 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 licences. And if you are contacted by someone claiming payment for copyright infringement please contact copyright@kent.ac.uk.

Image credit (c) Lake Reflections by Vlad Podvorny CC0