The Turing Scheme is the UK government’s scheme to provide funding for international opportunities in education and training across the world. It supports Global Britain by providing an opportunity for UK organisations from the higher education, further education, vocational education and training and schools sectors to offer their students, learners and pupils life-changing experiences to study or work abroad.

Launched earlier this year, following the UK’s departure from the EU, the Turing scheme is a replacement for the UK’s participation in the EU Erasmus Programme, which will cease as current Erasmus projects reach an end, by May 2023.

The Turing Scheme will provide grants for students from UK institutions to study or work abroad for periods of four weeks to 12 months, starting in September 2021. There is a focus on widening access with additional funding for less advantaged students.

Applications from UK institutions to the Turing Scheme are now open and International Partnerships is leading Kent’s submission, in consultation with Divisions and other relevant parties across the University.

Subject to the outcome of our application and the levels of funding available, Kent students due to carry out an international study or work placement in 2021-22, who are not already covered by the Erasmus funding we have secured until 31 May 2023, will be supported by the Turing Scheme.

In addition, we hope to provide funding to encourage other Kent students to participate in shorter-term international placements (eg summer schools).

We will be working closely with colleagues in academic schools to provide more information about the opportunities available to students and further details of how the scheme will be implemented.

For more details, please contact internationalpartnerships@kent.ac.uk

Or visit the Turing website

Article by Dr Alison Charles, Researcher Developer (Academic) in the Graduate and Researcher College.

Kent’s commitment to supporting colleagues who research is further demonstrated with the launch of a new section of the Graduate and Researcher College (GRC) website. The ‘Academic and Research Staff‘ webpages provide a wealth of information for academic researchers and are designed to showcase the wide range of information, resources and support available to them.

Divided into four sections comprising 27 pages, this online portal includes information about the University’s strategy to support staff who research and emphasises our efforts to build a supportive and inclusive research culture. Highlights include details of forthcoming central and Divisional training and development sessions, as well as recordings of and material from previous sessions which can be viewed on demand via the relevant GRC SharePoint pages.

Professor Paul Allain, Dean of the Graduate and Researcher College, commented: “The recent expansion of the GRC to enable us to support staff as well as postgraduates marks the start of an exciting journey for researcher development at Kent. Our new webpages are one of a series of steps on the road to increasing awareness about the services and support which are provided by the University for our academic and research colleagues.”

A further phase of web development is planned for Summer 2021, which will focus on the three areas covered in the  Researcher Development Concordat: environment and culture, employment and professional and career development. In the meantime, we trust that our new digital resource will become your first port of call for information relating to academic and research staff development.

For any further information please email acresdev@kent.ac.uk

The E-Learning Team are pleased to announce that the next event in our series of ‘Digitally Enhanced Education webinars’ will take place on Thursday 1 April, from 10.00-12.10, with the theme ‘What can we learn from distance learning?  Supporting teaching in the post-COVID world’.

Please find the agenda for the event below:

10.00 – 10.05 – Dr Phil Anthony (University of Kent): Introduction

10.05 – 10.20 – Associate Professor Chie Adachi (Deakin University, Australia): Going beyond ‘blended learning’ – re-imagining digital learning for higher education

10.20 – 10.35 – Sally Jordan (Open University): Lessons for assessment in a post-Covid world

10.35 – 10.50 – Dr Mark O’Connor (University of Kent): What can we learn from distance learning?

10.50 – 11.05 – Professor Diana Laurillard (UCL): Teachers collaborating to improve blended learning

11.05 – 11.20 – Sarah Knight (Jisc): How are students experiencing learning online? What the data from our digital experience insights 2020-1 student surveys is telling us

11.20 – 11.35 – Dr Chris Headleand (University of Lincoln): Cutting The Rubber Band of Practice: Developing Post-COVID Pedagogies

11.35 – 11.50 – Andrew Clegg (University of Portsmouth): Help! I have not left yet. Engaging staff in transition journeys to online delivery – reflections from an emergent motorway analogy.

11.50 – 12.05 – Associate Martin Compton (UCL): Dealing with dissonance: digital education in crisis and beyond as a challenge to mindset.

12.05 – 12.25 – Dr David Baume (University of London): Keeping it good and simple

If you would like to join the webinar series, please express your interest by enrolling on the Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars Moodle module, or by requesting access to the Team ‘Digitally Enhanced Education webinars‘ linked to the webinar series.

Colleagues from outside the University of Kent are very welcome to join and so feel free to circulate. Please register your interest via the link here if you haven’t already. We add you the Microsoft Team linked to the series.

We hope to see you there.

The E-Learning team

Dear Colleagues,

This week we welcome a number of students back to campus under the first phase of the Government’s roadmap for easing lockdown restrictions. It’s fantastic to have them back, and I know there has been a great deal of work across the University to make sure both they and staff on campus are safe. We will continue to make sure they have the right support available in the weeks ahead, and will be reiterating safety messages to students to make sure they understand the steps we all need to take to keep each other safe. This includes regular testing, which will be a key part of helping us all get things back to normal as quickly as possible.

This week is British Science Week, and so I wanted to take a moment to celebrate the STEM research and expertise we have across our University. This is an area of strength and one where we want to further raise our profile in the years ahead. We have a number of events taking place this week shining a light on the fantastic work taking place across our Divisions. Do sign-up for the remaining events in the next couple of days if you can.

Monday also marked International Women’s Day, and, while we need to continue to challenge ourselves, I am proud to be part of a university that is determined to celebrate and promote women as part of our wider commitment to equality, diversity and inclusivity. It was fantastic to see research and comment on the day from inspirational women across Kent, from ‘Ten tips on how to succeed as a woman taken from the past’ to the impact of Covid on gender inequality and new research on barriers for women in some STEM areas. Also on Monday Dr Louise Naylor chaired our Women’s Staff Network and our BAME Staff Network hosted the Right Reverend Dr Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover, as keynote speaker at an evening event that explored race and gender. Thank you to all who were able to be present at these events.

With all best wishes to you and your families,

Karen Cox

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President

A new walking trail has been installed around the Canterbury campus that follows the 17 Sustainable Goals on a route that takes you from central campus to the Kent Community Oasis Garden (KentCOG) located in Parkwood.

The Sustainable Development Goals (also known as the Global Goals or SDGs) are 17 goals that outline a vision for a sustainable world by 2030. The 17 goals and underlying targets were created and signed by 193 countries at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in 2015.

The University of Kent has signed the SDG Education Accord that commits us to embedding all 17 goals into our operations, teaching and research. As part this we would like all staff and students to become familiar with the goals by getting out and about across campus and discovering all 17, whilst visiting some of the greener spaces on campus and discovering the hidden gem of KentCOG.

The trail starts with SDG 1: No Poverty, which aims to eradicate extreme poverty and reduce overall poverty by 50% by 2030. You will find the starting board on central campus between the Senate building and Rutherford Extension.

The trail ends with SDG 17: Partnerships, which you will find at the Kent Community Oasis Garden, our flagship community partnership project at the Canterbury campus where food growing is used as a way of meeting new people, reducing stress, learning new skills and getting some fresh air. This project is run in partnership with Mind in Bexley and East Kent.

The Sustainability Team would like to thank the Interior Services Team and Landscape and Ground Teams from Estates for their support with this project.

Learn more about the SDG Trail or email sustainability@kent.ac.uk for more information.

KentVision, a new, simpler way of supporting the student journey, will be available to staff from 19 April.

KentVision brings together a number of different administrative processes to help us work better together. It includes a new Student Record System to replace the Student Data System (SDS) and introduce easier, more consistent ways to input, manage and process our student data

Launch timetable

To prepare for the University-wide launch of KentVision on 19 April, staff should make note of the following key dates:

• Friday 9 April – Student Data System, Cressida and Admissions System close at 17.00
• Saturday 10 to Sunday 18 April – KentVision data migration
• Monday 19 April – KentVision will open to all staff

Regular updates and reminders will be shared with affected staff as we get closer to launch, including detailed information and support on managing the transition between the two systems.

We are also planning a Staff Webchat on KentVision, led by Richard Reece, William Collier, Paul Sales and Anthony Brenton, on Wednesday 7 April, from 12.00-13.00. More details and sign-up information for this webchat will be circulated shortly.

Training and support

A series of online and face-to-face support has been available to staff in the run-up to the KentVision launch. This will continue throughout 2021 as users get used to the system, and we identify further ways to improve it. The KentVision team will also be on hand, with their dedicated trainer Paul Sales leading on ensuring that colleagues are equipped to make the most of the new simplified system.

A number of resources and video guides are available on the KentVision staff webpages to help staff familiarise themselves with the new system at their own pace ahead of more in-depth support and guidance provided throughout the year. Further staff and student communications will be scheduled in the run-up to launch.

Find out more about KentVision

Reader at the School of History, Dr Philip Boobbyer, has recently published his new book, The Life and World of Francis Rodd, Lord Rennell (1895-1978): Geography, Money and War (Anthem Press, 2021). Dr Boobbyer has long known that Francis Rodd, Lord Rennell was a possible subject for research, but it’s only been in recent years that Philip explored his late grandfather’s life in greater detail. The book follows an article Dr Boobbyer published in the journal War in History.

Having already written two books of a biographical nature, S. L. Frank: The Life and Work of a Russian Philosopher 1877-1950 (1995) and The Spiritual Vision of Frank Buchman (2013), this third book was enhanced by papers at the Bodleian Library and the Royal Graphic Society, and Dr Boobbyer’s access to family letters of a more personal nature.

Francis Rodd, Lord Rennell led an incredibly interesting life; he ran the first military government in Allied-occupied Europe in World War II, made a robust stand against the Mafia in Sicily, he was well-known as a geographer for his journeys to south-central Sahara in the 1920s and President of the Royal Geographical Society (1945-48), friend of Lawrence of Arabia and was an early influence on the Long Range Desert Group, which was active in guerrilla operations in North Africa during the Second World War.

Here’s the Telegraph’s review of Dr Philip Boobbyer, book, The Life and World of Francis Rodd, Lord Rennell (1895-1978): Geography, Money and War .