We are excited that Estuary 2021, a key element of Creative Estuary opens this coming weekend, bringing over 90 artworks and events to the 107-mile trail of the Thames Estuary between 22 May and 13 June.

The festival has been curated in response to the Thames Estuary and the lives, landscapes and histories found there. A mix of large scale and intimate visual art, literature, music and film, it celebrates culture, creativity, recovery and renewal. Conceived to be enjoyed for free, outdoors and in a COVID-19 secure way, the festival invites visitors to take an epic walk along the stunning shorelines of South Essex and North Kent encountering contemporary artworks, storytelling and performance within the estuary’s landscape, historic sites and coastal towns.

Gravesend Pier

The programme for the ambitious online opening weekend of specially commissioned artworks and discussion exploring the three festival themes of climate, rebellion and imperial legacy has been announced.

An Unknown Earth – 22 May – 23 May

This Unknown Earth event  has been curated by four artists all of whom know the Thames Estuary as home:

1. Jas Dhillon is a multimedia practitioner inspired by the people, script, language, symbolic objects, and poetic experiences, of the love and identity imprinted on her as a first-generation Indian female raised in Kent.
2. Elsa James is a British African-Caribbean, conceptual artist and activist living in Southend-on-Sea. Recent projects Forgotten Black Essex (2018) and Black Girl Essex (2019) explore the historical, temporal and spatial dimensions of what it means to be black in Essex.
3. James Marriott, writer, artist, activist and naturalist lives on the Hoo Peninsula and works as part of Platform. He is co-author of the forthcoming book Crude Britannia, which tells the story of Britain’s energy past, present and future with a focus on the Thames Estuary.
4. Lu Williams who, through Grrrl Zine Fair, has been amplifying marginalised voices with a focus on DIY culture, workshops, intersectional feminism and working class culture since 2015.

Nadav Kander, Water3 III, part 1,2 and 3, (Shoeburyness towards The Isle Of Grain), 2015

Alongside the festival, the Associated Programme offers a rich range of events, installations and digital content, and includes work commissioned as part of Creative Estuary Co-Commissions: Ebb and Flow, Precarious Straights and Siltings

Find out more about the full programme on the Estuary Festival website.

Creative Estuary is supported by The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and led by the University of Kent on behalf of a consortium of public sector and cultural organisations.

Entries are now open for the University’s Research and Innovation Prizes 2021.

The annual prizes are designed to celebrate the achievements of academic and professional services staff across a range of areas – especially activities that have had a transformative effect, created new knowledge, benefited a particular community and/or supported others in the research and innovation ecosystem.

This year’s prizes include:

• Starting Research Prize
• Consolidator Research Prize
• Advanced Research Prize
• Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Prize
• Technician of the Year Prize
• Professional Services Support of the Year Prize
• The 2021 Kent Research and Innovation Community Prize

Entry deadline is 12.00 on Friday 28 May. To find out more about the categories and how to apply, please see our Research webpages.

The University has submitted its first funding application to the Turing Scheme – the UK’s new global programme for study and work abroad.

The application has been submitted by our International Partnerships team, who will manage the University’s activities within the Turing scheme, in consultation with Divisions and other relevant parties across the University. We will receive the outcome of our bid by the end of July 2021, allowing us to support students going abroad in 2021-22.

In this first year of the Turing scheme, we have bid for funding for Kent students going on a term/year abroad outside Europe and, if successful, additional grants will be available to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Those going to Europe will continue to be covered by Erasmus funding during 2021-22.

We have also bid for additional funding to support students taking part in shorter-term, co-curricular activities abroad such as summer schools. Priority will be given to students from disadvantaged backgrounds and under-represented groups.

We look forward to sharing the results of our bid in July and working with colleagues in Divisions and professional services to promote and support the opportunities available to Kent students.

For more details, please contact internationalpartnerships@kent.ac.uk or visit the Turing Scheme webpages.

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 17 May – Friday 21 May ) webinars are as follows:

Monday 17 May 2021 – ‘How Care first Can Support You’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Tuesday 18 May 2021 – ‘Understanding the new COVID-19 guidelines and things to consider’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 19 May 2021 – ‘Easing of Lockdown Anxiety‘
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 20 May 2021 – ‘The benefits of Nature on our Mental Health’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 21 May 2021 – ‘Things to consider when returning to the Workplace’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Calling all applied health and social care researchers – the Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) KSS Academy is running a Researcher’s Week from Monday 12 to Friday 16 July 2021.  Over the course of the week, there will be a varied programme of workshops and presentations from ARC KSS colleagues and external speakers in the areas of capacity building, co-production, Public and Community Involvement and Engagement (PCIE),and Implementation.

The full programme of events and booking details are available

As part of Researcher’s Week a poster competition is taking place for outstanding contributions to research.

The aim is to recognise and celebrate the contributions that applied health and social care researchers have made, over the last 12 to 18 months.

The competition is open to any applied health and social care researchers working in Kent, Surrey and Sussex including academics, health care professionals, social care professionals or anyone who works to support health and social care in our region.

Closing date is 17.00, 18 June 2021

Find out more on the NIHR website 

Our next staff webchat will take place on Teams on Thursday 20 May, from 12.00-13.00. The theme will be Health and Safety on Campus.

The webchat, will be chaired by Professor Richard Reece, DVC Education & Student Experience, and takes place as the latest lockdown continues to ease. Richard will be joined by our Head of Safety, Health and Environment, Dr Jim Bloor, who will outline what the University has been doing to ensure everyone stays safe and how staff can help as more of us start returning to campus.

Ahead of the session, it would be helpful to have as many questions as possible so we can do our best to cover everything in the time. To do this, please sign-up via the form where you can include your question when prompted.

Webchat in June

You can also sign-up to our webchat taking place in June:

Thursday 10 June, 12.00-13.00: Kent Summer – Our plans to mark the end of term with a fortnight of fun and community on our Canterbury and Medway campuses from 21 June to 2 July. Sign-up via this form.

Find out more

Recordings and slides from all previous webchats are available on our staff webpages.

Kent Law School Director of Lawyering Skills, Darren Weir, has been honoured with a ‘COVID Hero Award’ by Kent Law Society. The award was presented in recognition of Darren’s work on the Law School’s Lawyering Skills Programme.

The honour was one of a number awards made by Kent Law Society in recognition of legal professionals across the county “who have gone above and beyond over the last 12 months”. Award winners were announced by Stephanie Boyce, President of The Law Society, at an online ceremony held on Friday 7 May.

Darren was recognised for his work in directing the innovative Lawyering Skills Programme at Kent. He said: ‘This programme, which had to largely move virtually, would not have been possible without the help and assistance of the very many legal practitioners and judges (too many to mention). Thank you to them and thank you to the hundreds of students who have been coping with all their studies this year and taking part in the programme. What a great evening arranged by Alexandra Gordon TEP CTA and her team and sponsors. So many worthy winners.’

Darren was called to the Bar in 1998. For 12 years he specialised in criminal and regulatory law and practised from Stour Chambers in Canterbury following his London pupillage. Darren prosecuted and defended an array of offences from motoring to murder and appeared in all level of court including the Court of Appeal. He was the ‘go to’ local counsel for the Crown Prosecution Service at the time in cases of fraud and sexual offences. He was formally a member of the Criminal Bar Association and is a member of Middle Temple. Having previously been a pupil supervisor, he is undertaking further training to train pupil barristers in advocacy.