This term has seen Kent’s students embracing the various online, virtual exchange opportunities that have been on offer so far this year.

As the Covid-19 pandemic has prevented many traditional in-person study opportunities, many students have had to adapt to studying online with our partner institutions as part of their Year Abroad.  However, over 60 students have also opted to take opportunities provided by our partner universities and organisations as an extra-curricular activity, alongside their existing studies at Kent.

Exciting virtual exchange courses include exploring climate change, identity and communication in the digital world, Japanese common reading experiences and more.

My first impression was that it was a safe space to be very open and discuss all sorts of topics. I found it remarkable how honest everybody was about their own experiences and accepting they were of individual and cultural differences…I look forward to the other weekly sessions, it was a refreshing and eye-opening discussion.

Samantha Archer, English & French Law, Connect Express

All students that engage in these activities earn a certificate and transcript where applicable, awarded Employability Points and have recognition on their Higher Education Achievement Report.

Virtual exchange allows students to engage in meaningful, cross-cultural experiences as part of their education.  It can broaden access to international learning for every student, regardless of their circumstances, background or ability.  These projects provide the framework for students to develop their cross-cultural attitudes, skills, and communication in addition to improving their digital literacy skills valued by employers.

If you are a staff member and would like to find out how you could incorporate virtual exchange into your curriculum, register for our introductory workshop on Monday 30th November.

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

‘Resilience in EU and International Institutions’ is the title of a new book co-edited by Elena Korosteleva, Professor of International Politics at Kent, and Trine Flockhart, Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern Denmark.

The book, to be published by Routledge on 30 November, explores the concept and practice of resilience. It proposes a new understanding of resilience, both as a quality and a way of thinking, to argue that a more sustainable way to govern the world today is bottom-up and inside-out.

While carrying a seemingly unifying message of self-reliance, adaptation and survival in the face of adversity, resilience curiously continues to appear ‘all things to all people’, making it hard for the EU and international institutions to make full use of its potential.

Engendering resilience today, in the highly volatile and uncertain world hit by crises, pandemic, and diminishing control, becomes a priority like never before. This book develops a more comprehensive view of resilience by looking at it both as a quality of the system, and a way of thinking inherent to ‘the local’ that cannot be engineered from the outside.

About the editors

Elena Korosteleva is Professor of International Politics and Jean Monnet Chair of European Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at Kent. She is Co-founder and Director of the Global Europe Centre and Principal Investigator for the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) COMPASS project (ES/P010849/1), focusing on resilience and governance in (Eastern) Europe and Central Asia. She has published widely in the journals Contemporary Security Policy, Journal of International Relations and Development, Cooperation and Conflict, Democratization and International Relations.

Trine Flockhart is Professor of International Relations and Co-Director of the Centre for War Studies at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, and Founder and President of Women in International Security–Denmark (WIIS–DK), Copenhagen, Denmark. Her research focuses on international order and transformational change, NATO and transatlantic relations. Her article ‘The Coming Multi-Order World’ published in Contemporary Security Policy (2016) was awarded the Bernard Brodie Prize that same year.

Further information about the new book is available on the Routledge website. You can use the discount code SSM20 to save 20% on purchase.

The University was very sorry to hear of the death of Anne Seller, one of the first members of our academic staff, on Wednesday 11 November.

Anne Seller was appointed to a Lectureship in Philosophy in 1966, and helped to shape the profile of philosophy at Kent. Her speciality was political philosophy.

She was a member of Keynes and played an active part in the life of the college. She also played a central role in setting up the Women’s Studies graduate course at Kent.

Outside the University, Anne Seller also made an enormous contribution. Locally, she taught philosophy for children, working at the Orchard School, and served as Lady Mayoress of Canterbury in 2001-2.

On the national stage, she played a lead role in the Society for Women in Philosophy and took an active part in campaigning against siting Cruise missiles in the UK.

She spent a year teaching at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA, where she continued to be a frequent visitor, and held a visiting appointment at Mother Teresa Women’s University in south India

A fuller tribute to Anne Seller, by Professor Richard Norman, Professor Sean Sayers and former student Professor Miranda Fricker FBA, is available on the Department of Philosophy webpages.

The University’s Warp-it recycling scheme has proved its green credentials. Over the past four years, the scheme has resulted in 134 tonnes of used furniture and other equipment being donated to charities and local schools.

This has led to an estimated saving of £768,919 – based on the cost of recycling these items, and the time and money spent on buying new furniture.

Within the University, we have been able to completely furnish areas such as School of Psychology’s Woodlands Building at a saving of around £40,000. Other areas benefiting from a “Warp-it makeover” have included the School of European and World Languages’ staff room, using a mixture of Warp-it items and reupholstered old seats, and seating in the Rutherford Dining Room.

Furniture and other items have also been donated to local schools such as St Edmund’s, Dane Court Grammar School, Sandwich Technology College, Archbishop’s School, DaVinci Dance School and Animal Care Specialist School, and to charities such as Canterbury Scouts and the Necessary Furniture Group.

Warp-it furniture at Dane Court Grammar School

Warp-it furniture has even reached as far as Sierra Leonne! A previous Vice-Chancellor’s meeting table and chairs is being used in a school there, following a donation to the Kori Women Development Project.

Most commonly reused items have included desks, chairs, coffee tables, filing cabinets, tambour units and whiteboards, but sofas, modular furniture units, magazine racks, a water cooler dispenser and a safe have also featured!

The Warp-it team

The University of Kent Warp-it team comprises Jenny Martine, Interior Services & Signage Manager; Peter Hayes, Interior Services & Signage Administrator; Emma Dimond, Facilities Management Coordinator, Recycling & Waste; and the Estates Support Services Team managed by Calvin Froud, Support Services Supervisor.

Peter Hayes and Jenny Martine

Emma Dimond commented: ‘The team started using Warp-it in 2016 for several reasons; we were seeing how much good quality, pre-used, furniture the team were collecting and recycling and we knew that these items could have a second, third or even fourth home depending on their condition.

‘Over the years, Support Services had informally collected, stored and donated pre-used furniture to departments right across the University and we decided that we needed a more organised approach in order to document the types of items being reused, the cost savings and the improved environmental impact of these actions.’

Emma Dimond

Why Warp-it?

As part of the University of Kent Waste Strategy, the Waste and Recycling team within Estates targets different waste streams and how to sustainably improve the disposal method. In addition to reducing the amount of waste the University produces, there is an agreed target to increase our reuse by 36% in 2020-2021.

Warp-it is one of the ways that we are working towards this target. Changing the disposal method from recycling to reuse allows us to reduce our CO2 emissions, moving up the waste hierarchy (prevention, reuse, recycling, other recovery, responsible disposal).

Emma comments: ‘The Waste and Recycling team are focused on goal 12 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals – these are designed to form a blueprint for a better and more sustainable future for all. With Warp-it on our team, that bright future becomes more achievable every day.’

Find out more

You can find out more about accessing Warp-it for our free on-site service via the Estates webpages. Or you can email the Warp-it team at warpit@kent.ac.uk

More information on recycling and waste disposal on campus is available on our recycling webpages.

Further details of our Sustainable Development Goals and the Sustainability team can be found on our sustainability webpages.

Representing a range of culture, academic discipline, and personal interests, we are delighted to showcase this year’s cohort of Global Officers who are taking part in the Global Officers Leadership Development (GOLD) Programme.

Here are the Global Officers Profiles.

The programme is a co-curricular venture, designed to fit around your academic studies.  It provides a framework of activities for globally-minded undergraduate students at Kent to develop their leadership skills, global citizenship and cultural awareness.

So far this year, our Global Officers have explored their own Cultural Intelligence and how they can develop this further; engaged in various virtual exchange projects with students from across the world; participated in inspirational talks offered by our partner universities in addition to playing a key role in future culturally themed WebHangouts.

In addition to their core activity under the programme, Global Officers are available to partner with Kent staff for any divisional, school or departmental projects, events or activities on campus.  Some students are already engaged with International Recruitment on an International Experiences at Kent project as well as working with International Partnerships on supporting its activities relating to the Year Abroad.

“The Programme so far has been excellent, and I’ve been given so many opportunities to develop.  I’m looking forward to managing and organising events myself and engaging with the diverse student body” 

Jordan Pali, first year student, Finance and Investment with a Year in Industry.

If you have an activity that you would like to engage our Global Officers, please get in touch.

Did you know that you can also incorporate the GOLD Programme within your degree programmes by listing it as a wild module option, GOLD500? If your programmes do not allow for this, then students can still take this as an extra-curricular activity; applications for 2021/22 will open in the summer.

For more information about the Programme, please email deaninternational@kent.ac.uk

Despite tighter safety measures in place, the majority of catering outlets at Canterbury remain open for breakfast time treats, delicious lunches, barista coffees, and everything in between.

With the exception of K-Bar, The Street Kitchen and Create, all other units remain open for business, operating a takeaway only service.

Please remember to follow current safety and social distancing procedures when visiting an outlet, to keep yourself and those around you safe. If you would like more detailed information regarding Coronavirus and the University’s catering operations, a full list of FAQs can be found on the catering website.

Below is a list of campus outlets currently open during the national lockdown:

Origins (Darwin College)

• Monday – Friday, 12:00 – 21:00
• Saturday – Sunday, 15:00 – 21:00

Gulbenkian Café Bar (Gulbenkian)

• Monday – Friday, 10:00 – 15:00

Mungo’s (Eliot College)

• Monday – Friday, 09:00 – 14:00, 15:00 – 21:00

Dolche Vita (Keynes College)

• Monday – Friday, 08:30 – 17:00

Sibson Café (Sibson Building)

• Monday – Friday, 08:45 – 15:00

Hut 8 (Turing College)

• Monday – Friday, 12:00 – 22:00
• Saturday – Sunday, 17:00 – 22:00

Bag It (Rutherford College)

• Monday – Friday, 09:30 – 16:00

Rutherford Dining Hall (Rutherford College)

• Monday – Friday
• Lunch 12:00 – 14:00
• Dinner 17:00 – 20:00
• Wok Bar 12:00 – 20:00
• Saturday – Sunday
• Brunch 08:30 – 14:00
• Dinner 17:00 – 20:00

No.1 and The Galvanising Cafe at Medway are currently closed until the new year.

Please note, eat-in arrangements have been made for students on Bed and Bistro or Bed and Flex contracts.

Colleagues across the University continue to work to respond to the government’s plans to enable students to travel home safely before Christmas and to provide clarity for our students about how this will impact on them.

We are working to ensure those students who wish to travel during the ‘travel window’ of 3-9 December are able to do so. However, we are also very aware that this may not work for everyone, some will have travel arrangements already in place and others will have been planning to remain in their accommodation over the Christmas break. We need to make sure our students are able to decide what works and is the safest option for them and their families.

We have ‘expressed an interest’ in taking part in the national scheme for asymptomatic testing of our students and wait to hear back from the government. We are aware this scheme will be prioritised to those areas with a high incidence of coronavirus cases. We continue to work closely with our local public health team in terms of decisions we are making and on advice to staff and students at this time.

Against this backdrop of Covid-related activity, it is fantastic to hear about great work that continues to take place across the University in support of our core activity of education, research and engagement. I would like to congratulate three colleagues in the Department of Philosophy and School of Arts (Division of Arts and Humanities) who have been shortlisted across three categories in the 2020 Medical Humanities Awards.

Dr Jon Williamson, Professor of Reasoning, Inference and Scientific Method, has been shortlisted in the Best Research category for ‘Evaluating Evidence in Medicine’, an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project that aims to broaden the range of evidence considered by evidence-based medicine. Dr Michael Wilde, Lecturer in Philosophy, has been shortlisted in the Best Early Career Research category for ‘Improving evidence evaluation in medicine’. Michael’s research develops a theory of evidence to enhance the understanding of how causal claims are established in medicine. Dr Nicola Shaughnessy, Professor of Performance, has been shortlisted for the Leadership Award. Nicola has been at the forefront of new fields of research around creativity and neurodiversity, in particular, the projects ‘Imagining Autism’ and ‘Playing A/Part’. She has also demonstrated exceptional leadership of PhD students and early career researchers in the field.

The Medical Humanities Awards are a highly renowned collaboration between the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Wellcome Trust and it testifies to Kent’s strength in the Medical Humanities that ours is the only institution to be shortlisted across three categories in this year’s awards.

My very best wishes to you and your families,

Karen

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President

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 16 November – Friday 20 November) webinars are as follows:

Monday 16 November 2020 –  ‘How Care first can support you’
Time: 12.30-13.00 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link.

Tuesday 17 November 2020 – ‘Nurturing relationships during Lockdown’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 18 November 2020 –  ‘Information for MHFA’s, Mental Health Champions & Managers on supporting teams during Lockdown’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 19 November 2020 – ‘Men’s Health Awareness in line with ‘Movember’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 20 November 2020 – ‘Building resilience during lockdown’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Care first ZEST is a Wellbeing Resource which is part of the Employee Assistance Programme package provided by Sodexho/Care first.  It is open to all staff.  It is the same resource package that was available previously via the University of Kent Wellbeing Hub.

The resource allows you to self-assess your health in 12 areas by answering a series of simple questions.  You can then set goals to improve your scores in the areas where you might be weaker.  You can access exercise regimes and dietary advice through the programme using various tools, for example, a food diary.  You can even link up with friends using the same resource and form buddy groups.  You can use these for diet and exercise challenges.  And you can link up exercise and movement apps, like Fitbit and Strava, to the Zest system as well.

One of the great features of the Zest Wellbeing Resource is that it has lots of articles on all elements of health and wellbeing.  There is something there for everyone.

To access the resource please visit the Care first zest website.  You can use the Organisation Code –  SODEXO01 and then register using your own details and set up your own password.