The news at the weekend that we were entering into a second period of lockdown meant most of us have spent the week preparing for how we are going to manage it both at work and at home. Many of you have, once again, gone the extra mile to enable the University to respond to the current situation. My greatest thanks go to you for this continuing effort.

I also wanted to thank all those who have worked hard to support the delivery of O4S during this time. We have now reached a major milestone in this significant change programme with new structures in place across the organisation and a new leadership team now in place.

I know, at times, this has been challenging and it has taken a huge amount of effort to get to this point. However, I am confident that the changes we have made are the right ones and the Divisions will play a major part of our future success.

Our focus will now turn to supporting Divisions and wider teams as they come together, ensuring that they have what they need to work well together. This will take time and I know there is still a lot more we need to do – both to manage this ongoing transition period and continue to simplify how we work together.

Staff in the professional services still have a considerable amount of work to do as teams come together, and I would ask that colleagues are mindful of this, particularly over the next few weeks.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to those colleagues who have left us under KVSS, and I know there are others who are due to leave shortly. Thank you for everything you have done to support the University, it is hugely appreciated and you will be greatly missed.

My very best wishes go to you and your families,

Karen

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President

From Professor Karen Cox, Vice-Chancellor and President.

With lockdown due to start tomorrow, I wanted to thank you for all your hard work, commitment and dedication to our university during what has been a very challenging year.

As you know, the Government has decided that universities are to remain open to protect the wellbeing and long-term futures of students. We have now received further guidance from the Department for Education which reiterates the importance of face-to-face teaching, including for the mental health and wellbeing of students, and expects this to continue where it can be done safely.

In discussion with our local Health Protection Team we will continue to operate in much the same way as we are currently doing, although we will have to make some changes, as set out below, to ensure we are compliant with the new Government restrictions. You are therefore expected to continue in your established work pattern unless you hear otherwise from your line manager.

Government guidance has now confirmed the need to close sports facilities and gyms on campus. However, we can continue with the provision of eat-in catering services for those students in catered accommodation and our campus catering outlets will be open on a take-away basis. Libraries and study spaces on campus will also remain open.

The guidelines also clarify that students should only socialise in household units; that they should not travel to and from their term-time address to home for the duration of the lockdown; and that commuting students are able to travel from home to university.

We are working to ensure students are aware of these requirements as well as confirming we will continue to deliver a mix of online and face-to-face teaching and support. On Friday, together with Kent Union, we are holding a WebChat to update students on the current situation.

We will continue to update the information for staff and students on the website and will be touch on a regular basis.

Once again, thank you for all you are doing for the university, our students and our staff, it is very much appreciated.

My very best wishes go to you and your families.

Yours sincerely

Karen

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President

The E-Learning team is launching a new series of Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars on Friday 13 November from 10.00-12.00.

The first session, on ‘Pedagogy and Practice When Teaching Online’, will feature six speakers from across the University. They will share their teaching experiences and provide some concrete examples that colleagues could adopt or adapt for their own practice.

The E-Learning team is aiming to run two webinars each term with a range of exciting speakers.

If you would like to join the webinar series, please express your interest by enrolling on the Digitally Enhanced Education Webinars Moodle module.  You will find links to all sessions on this module page and you will always be kept up to date with the latest talks as soon as they are announced.

From Professor Karen Cox, Vice-Chancellor and President.

I am writing to update you following the Government announcement that a four-week national lockdown is due to come into force on Thursday 5 November.

The Prime Minister’s speech made it clear that, given the importance of education, universities would remain open during this time. Our aim is to continue to provide the best possible education and student experience which is line with Government guidelines for the lockdown period. Having made the necessary health and safety assessment, we are planning to move to Tier 2 under the Department of Education ‘Tiers of Restriction’ for HE provision. This means we will continue to offer a mix of online and on-campus teaching/supervision in a Covid-safe environment.

All our on-campus accommodation will remain open as will the libraries and study spaces. Our catering outlets will also continue to be open but will need to move to a take-away only service.

The new Government guidelines also provides guidance on travel for students living at university either on-campus or in private accommodation off-campus. This states that they should not move back and forward between their permanent and student home during term time.

The number of active cases of Covid-19 remain low for students and staff, and we also have a local testing site at both the Canterbury and Medway campuses. We continue to work closely with our local public health officials and a huge amount of effort have been put in to ensure that our campuses are Covid-safe. The safety and wellbeing of our students and staff remain our key priority and we will continue to work with trades unions and staff representatives.

We are currently waiting for further information from the Government and will write to you again as soon as we have more details.

In the meantime, please continue with your current pattern of work as agreed with your line manager/school. We offer a range of support for staff but if you have any concerns about the current situation please talk to your line manager in the first instance.

If you are a line manager of staff currently working on campus/essential to the student experience, HR will be writing to you shortly asking that you revisit the assessments you made over the summer and to ensure that Risk and Concern conversations are up to date and that appropriate Tier 2 risk mitigations are in place. Advice will be available to you if needed.

With my very best wishes to you and your family,

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 2 November – Friday 6 November) webinars are as follows:

Monday 2 November 2020 –  ‘How Care first can support you’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link.

Tuesday 3 November 2020 – ‘Managing Stress & Pressure’
Time: 14.00-14.45 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 4 November 2020 –  ‘Stress, Anxiety & Sleep’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 5 November 2020 – ‘How to keep motivated when you’re feeling stressed’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 6 November 2020 – ‘he links between Nutrition, physical activity and stress’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

The results from the last Athena SWAN submission round have been announced and we are delighted to announce that three new Schools were successful in securing Athena SWAN Bronze.

Congratulations to the School of Anthropology and Conservation, Kent Business School and School of Arts for securing their first Bronze award!

The overall success rate for an award this time round was 82%. You can read more about the Athena SWAN submission and success rate statistics on the Advance HE website.

These results bring the total number of Schools holding an Athena SWAN award to 13. Our current awards holders are:

Division of Arts and Humanities: School of Arts, School of European Culture and Languages, School of History

Division of Natural Sciences: School of Biosciences, Medway School of Pharmacy

Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences: School of Computing, School of Engineering and Digital Arts, School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science (Silver)

Division of Human and Social Sciences: School of Anthropology and Conservation, School of Psychology

Division of Study of Law, Society and Social Justice: Kent Law School, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research

Kent Business School 

Congratulations again to our newest award-holders SAC, KBS and Arts! Securing an award is always a result of hard work and commitment to the Athena SWAN principles.

You can find out more about Athena SWAN, including latest news and how you can get involved on Kent’s Athena SWAN webpages.

The Estates Staff Reward Scheme is open again from 1 November 2020, following a temporary suspension due to Covid-19 and lockdown.

The reward scheme was launched in 2017 to recognise Estates staff who have made a difference to colleagues or customers through dedication, innovation, understanding or skill.  Since then, more than 100 awards have been presented.

Award categories

The Customer Services Award is given to a staff member or team who provided a timely and professional service to customers, were responsive to customer needs and requests, were courteous and considered the needs of the customer when making decisions. Nominations are invited from colleagues across the University.

The Staff Excellence Award is given in recognition of a colleague who has shown consistent exemplary performance and has demonstrated integrity and a significant support to their teams in the course of their working day, whilst upholding the spirit of the Estates core values. This category is open to nominations from Estates colleagues only.

The winner/s in each category will each receive a £20 Amazon voucher to be awarded on a monthly basis.

In addition, the winner/s of each category will be entered into the Staff Member of the Year Award. This award will be presented to someone recognised by the Senior Management Team as providing outstanding commitment to the department. Nominees will be selected from the Customer Services Award and the Customer Excellence Award entries. The winner will receive a £100 Amazon voucher and the runner-up, a £50 Amazon voucher.

Nominations

To make a nomination, follow this link on the Estates webpages. Deadline for the November nominations will be Friday 27 November at midday. Any nominations received after the deadline will be rolled over to the following month.

A third public hearing for the Airspace Tribunal – an international forum to consider the case for and against a new human right to protect the freedom to live without physical or psychological threat from above – will be hosted online, from Toronto, next month.

The Airspace Tribunal is a public forum established two years ago by Kent School of Arts  Reader Shona Illingworth and Kent Law School Emeritus Professor Nick Grief.

The public tribunal is examining the impact of accelerating geopolitical, technological and environmental change on the composition, nature and use of airspace, and considering the case for and against a proposed new human right to protect all people from physical or psychological threats from above.

This year’s hearing in Toronto will take place over three two-hour panel discussions via Zoom on:
•       Sunday 1 November (14.00 –16.00) https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bAjf_rYARQa9iJhYgsMmLA
•       Wednesday 4 November (14.00 –16.00) https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2N9Ha14_TuacEUKSWWVITA
•       Saturday 7 November (14.00 –16.00) https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UGG35bQFTiGb2pNQbr-3tA
•       A final one-hour summative session will be held on Saturday 14 November (14.00 –15.00). https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqfuqorTwrG9H-6TDKDEtujPAmasBf6YZJ

All the webinars are free, with times indicated in Eastern Standard Time.
The first webinar will feature presentations by Shona and Nick, together with Kent Law School Reader in International Commercial Law Dr Gbenga Oduntan.

The Toronto hearing of the Airspace Tribunal is co-presented by The Power Plant and the Master of Visual Studies program at the Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto.

The Power Plant’s Director, Gaëtane Verna, will Chair each session and Counsel to the Tribunal, Kirsty Brimelow QC of Doughty Street Chambers will pose questions to the Experts. Members of the audience – acting as judges – will also be able to ask questions.

A full programme is available on The Power Plant website.