The next meeting of the University’s Honorary Degrees Committee will take place in March 2021 and we are looking for nominations for the award of honorary degrees for the consideration of the Committee.

Anyone can put forward a nomination and to ensure the award of honorary degrees across a broad range of academic disciplines and subject areas it would be helpful to receive a number from each Division (for example one from each School/Centre).

You can find all the necessary information, including the nomination form on the honorary degree nominations webpage.

Nominations should be returned by 25 February 2021 by email to B.R.L.Carroll@kent.ac.uk’

The Careers and Employability Service at the University of Kent has again been shortlisted for ‘Best University Careers Service’ in the upcoming National Undergraduate Employability Awards.  The awards celebrate excellence in undergraduate employability, and are judged by a mix of graduate recruiters and professional bodies, who are looking for excellence in delivery as well as innovation and proactive industry engagement.  The Careers and Employability Service last won this award in 2017, and has continued to develop and grow.  Last year, they supported thousands of students, delivering 6,342 appointments, with 8,000 students attending events.

‘We are very proud of what we have been able to achieve in recent years, changing the way we work to better meet student need.  We have increased student engagement by 80% over 3 years, and hope to continue building on this success. Students and graduates are entering a challenging labour market, with graduate jobs running at about 70% of 2019 levels.  This means that Kent students and graduates need to be prepared to compete harder for roles, which is where effective career planning, application writing, and interview preparation are key’.

James Corbin, Head of Careers and Employability

If you would like to speak to someone in the Careers and Employability Service about supporting your students, you can contact James on jihc2@kent.ac.uk. There is also a wealth of staff resources, including advice for Academic Advisers on the Careers and Employability Service website.

As many of us continue to feel the strain of living and working with the impact of Covid-19, the Executive Group is actively considering ways we can ease the pressure on staff.

You will know from the email sent to all staff by Alison Ross-Green, Director of HR and Organisational Development, that we now have agreed that RPD paperwork and the requirement for formal probationary paperwork, apart from academic probation plans, should be suspended for this academic year.

We are now looking at what further short-term adjustments can be made and we will keep you updated on this work. In addition, our longer-term project ‘How We Work’ will consider our key processes with the aim of minimising the administrative burden on staff. Please let us know your ideas on the changes we could make in order to achieve this.

This week the staff webchat focused on online learning teaching, practice and advice and covered a wide range of areas including our revised no-detriment policy, the approach to exams and technical support available. If you were unable to attend this meeting, a recording of the meeting has now been included on the webpage.

While much of our focus is inevitably on how we manage the impact of Covid-19, a great deal of work continues across the University in support of our engagement with the wider world.

Last week, we held a ‘Kent in Europe’ special event designed to support our continued commitment to our European partnerships and our links with the world at large. Over 40 of our partner institutions took part including representation from the SGroup Universities in Europe, of which we are a member, and the 3i Network, a new initiative we have formed together with Universiteit Gent, KU Leuven and the Université de Lille.

The event provided us with the opportunity to present our new Signature Research Themes and to explore future collaborative opportunities under Horizon Europe and the new Turing scheme which replaces the UK’s participation in Erasmus+.  My thanks go to all those involved in organising such an exciting event.

Best wishes to you and your families,

Karen

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President

Acting in accordance with the Higher Education Code of Governance and the Office for Students Audit requirements, the University Council has established a Register of Interests for members of Council and for all staff.  It is at the discretion of individual members of staff what, if any, interests they declare.  It should be noted, however, that declaration provides a protection for the University and individuals against any possible allegations of impropriety.

For the purposes of the Register, an interest is defined to be any financial or other personal interest an individual may have in any relationship or proposed relationship between the University and an external body.  This would include consultancy, employment, directorship or other activity within a commercial concern, shareholding or membership of statutory and public authorities.  Other education establishments and companies with which the University has an actual or potential business relationship should be included, as should any interest that a family member might have that could give the appearance of a conflict, even where no actual conflict exists.

All staff are invited to submit new or updated declarations for incorporation in the 2020/21 Register. Council Secretariat will be pleased to provide confidential advice to any member of staff on this matter.

Documents, including the Policy and a Declaration Form can be accessed on the Council Secretariat website.

The University’s Policy on Personal Benefit can be found here.

Article from Kelsey Laidler-Symes, Travel Advisor | Security & Transport Centre Estates Department

Cycling is good for health and fitness; it’s beneficial to the environment and is a quick, cheap mode of transport in urban areas.

The Staff Cycle to Work Scheme offers employees the opportunity to purchase a brand new bike and accessories from a range of participating local stores at a discounted rate. You will also save on Income Tax and National Insurance contributions, against the cost of the bike, and can even spread the cost over a 12 or 18 month period.

In order to qualify, you must use the bike for at least 50% of your journeys to and from work. To find out if you are eligible visit the staff finance page.

The new cycle scheme provided by www.cyclescheme.co.uk means the purchase hire value has been extended above the previous £1,000 limit. This change in scheme will enable employees to continue enjoying the benefits of a cycle to work scheme arrangement with the opportunity to hire a bicycle plus relevant safety equipment up to the value of £3,000 as a tax-free benefit, through a salary sacrifice arrangement; employees take a reduced gross salary during the hire period thus making savings by paying reduced income tax and national insurance contributions.

Some common FAQ’s can be found on the Employee answers – Cyclescheme Knowledge Base

Please also remember if you are cycling to, from, or around the campus be bright and be seen. Make sure you are visible to motorists. For more information, hints and tips check out the roadwise website.

Microsoft Yammer is coming this month (February)

Yammer, a Microsoft 365 communications tool, is being launched to all staff this month.

About Yammer

Yammer is a workplace based social network, similar to Facebook, where friends are colleagues. You’ll see workplace reminders instead of advertisements, and updates are linked to University news, events, and questions or thoughts shared by colleagues.

It will offer us an informal open staff communications channel, where you’ll be able to:

• Interact with University news by liking and commenting on posts
• Follow other members of staff
• Create or join community groups: these can anything from sports and leisure interest groups such as ‘walking group’ or ‘book-club community’, to groups based on work-related topics and themes. Groups can be open for anyone to join, or private, where requests to join need to be approved

Yammer is part of Microsoft 365. Where Microsoft Teams lets us set up formal collaborative online workspaces with access restricted to members only, Yammer will be open to everyone, and is envisaged to be a more informal communications tool.

What’s next

When we release Yammer, you will be able to access it via office.com or the Yammer mobile app, and we will be releasing further tips for using Yammer in the summer. Yammer is an optional, open, communications tool, and not something that you will need to check on a regular basis, unless you want to!

When you access Yammer, you can search for communities that interest you, and if one doesn’t exist, create one and start having conversations with like-minded colleagues across the University. If you want to find out more about Yammer please take a look at Microsoft Yammer for staff.

Yammer will email you with the latest updates from communities you follow, but you can unsubscribe from these emails if you wish.

If you have any questions, please get in touch.

Best wishes, 

Information Services 
University of Kent 
helpdesk@kent.ac.uk
01227 82 4888 

Three projects from academic colleagues in the School of Physical Sciences (Division of Natural Sciences) have been awarded New Horizons Grants of £200,000 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The four academics involved are celebrating global acknowledgement after being recognised as part of a ground-breaking new programme to support adventurous, high-risk research. The review process focused on the transformational potential of the research, and the three projects from our academics were amongst approximately 100 funded in the UK.

Dr. Emma Pugh, Lecturer in Physics, School of Physical Sciences, has been awarded an EPSRC New Horizons grant for the project “A New Window for the Control and Measurement of Quantum Systems”. The project aims to create a new type of experimental probe for magnetism in quantum matter which will enable us to simultaneously create and measure new quantum states.

The work is being undertaken in collaboration with Professor Crispin Barnes from the University of Cambridge. Our innovation will combine innovative optical techniques with high pressure methods at low temperatures producing a new measurement system to allow us to study magnetic behaviour in materials.

Dr Gunnar Möller, Royal Society University Research Fellow in SPS, won his grant to design New Platforms for Topological Superconductors, which could open up novel ways of designing quantum computers. The project will also involve Prof. Seyed A. Jafari from the Sharif University of Technology.

Dr Moller’s proposal aims to explore a new platform for creating topological superconducting states of matter. The new systems can also be regarded as analogues of gravitational fields, so could also be used to explore connections with astrophysical settings.

The third successful SPS project come from Dr. Gavin Mountjoy and fellow SPS academic Prof. Anna Corrias. The pair’s project on “Persistent Phosphor Glasses” is designed to create a new type of phosphorescent glass for optical applications.

Modern technology depends on mastery of materials, and functional glasses and glass-ceramics are used in a range of devices in the sectors of communications, healthcare, energy, and aerospace.  The aim of the new project is to make fully dense and transparent materials which can be functionalised with a variety of oxide nanocrystals to overcome the following limitations in the manufacturing of such materials. This project will create an exciting new generation of functional materials through oxide nanocrystal doping of glasses.

Science Minister Amanda Solloway said: “It is critical we give the UK’s best researchers the resources to drive forward their revolutionary ideas so they can focus on identifying solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges, such as climate change.

“This government funding will allow some of our brightest mathematicians and physicists to channel all their creative ingenuity into achieving potentially life-changing scientific breakthroughs – from mathematics informing how we save our rainforests to robotics that will help track cancer faster.”

New Horizons grants were evaluated without knowing the identities of the project leaders or their institutions which highlights the recognition given to the science behind the proposals, and demonstrates how the School is delivering world class research with a real-world impact.