Tag Archives: Student Guide

Enjoy grass tennis at Kent Sport this summer

New grass tennis courts are now available to hire at the Pavilion thanks to the tireless work of University of Kent Groundsmen Lee Ballard and Derek Hockett. Kent Sport tennis coordinator Matthew Brears caught up with Lee and Derek to speak to them about their work.

What do you and your team do throughout the year?

Our main tasks are to maintain the sports facilities to the highest standard possible. this includes mowing the grass pitches and marking them out, and brushing the three artificial pitches we have on campus.

Derek and I really take pride in what we do and always want the people taking part in sports such as American football and now tennis to have the best experience.

How did you create these grass courts and what challenges did you face?

The biggest challenge was the time and the weather. We lost two days of work due to rain and we had a Bank Holiday. so another work day was lost. We were really excited about the challenge of setting out grass court tennis, so once we were asked we set to the job straight away.

We mowed the area with our cricket pitch mower, which hadn’t been used for three years. Our first few cuts were at 15mm so that we didn’t take the grass too short too soon. Next, we measured for three courts and over-marked them. Rolling the court took four days, but when we had finished we were happy with the end results. We have now lowered the grass cut height to 10mm and it looks great.

How are you going to maintain the good quality playing surface throughout the summer?

The biggest maintenance job will be the mowing as I think we will have to do this every other day to keep the grass to a playable height. I’m sure as we get into the summer (hopefully a hot one!) we will also have to water the courts.

Is there anything you would like to do differently in the coming years to improve on what you have achieved this year?

Hopefully this really takes off and we can have a few extra courts next year!

The only job we couldn’t do this year was scarify the courts. If we do this next year it will take out the weeds and thatch that is in the ground. Removing this should help with the bounce of the ball and make the court quality better.

Matthew Brears, Tennis Coordinator and Head Coach, said: “The work that Derek and Lee have done in such a short space of time has been exemplary and I’m grateful for their efforts over the last three weeks, and of course the work they will put in over the summer. They have shown a glimpse of what we can achieve here at the University and I’m looking forward to working with them to provide a great grass court tennis offering for years to come.”

Sean Edwards, UKC Tennis Society President, said: “The new grass courts installed by Lee and Del are a huge step forward for UKC Tennis this year and have great potential for years to come. I’d like to thank them for their efforts as the courts are incredibly flat and have a bounce that nobody expected.”

The new grass tennis courts can be booked by Kent Sport members at the Pavilion reception. For more information about tennis and other activities visit the Kent Sport website and follow @UniKentSports on social media.

Film meets social policy at screening of ‘Sink’

The Gulbenkian will screen University of Kent alumus Mark Gillis’ highly acclaimed debut feature film Sink on Wednesday 9 May from 18.30.

The screening will be followed by ‘Film Meets Sociology’; a Filmtalk panel discussion with director Mark Gillis and Professor Alex Stevens, Professor Alisoun Milne and Lawrence Jackson from the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSR).

Sink is a hard-hitting look at the realities of working-class life in Britain. It tells the story of central character Micky Mason who battles to keep his family together in the face of unemployment, caring for his elderly father and helping his son kick a drug habit. The film is a warm and tender study of ordinary people finding their way through.

For more information and to book a ticket visit the listings section of The Gulbenkian website. Tickets are from £6 – £8.70.

Online booking available for Campus Shuttle

Online booking for the summer term is now available for the Campus Shuttle service.

The service starts up again from Tuesday 8 May 2018 and you can now book a seat to guarantee your travel from that date.

The Campus Shuttle is a free coach service between the Medway and Canterbury campuses that is made available for staff and students during term-time only.

World-leading research features in new campaign

Researchers at Kent use their expertise to tackle local, national and global challenges and address pressing public issues.

A new poster campaign celebrating the impact of this research will run in locations across Canterbury and Medway from 7 to 20 May. The campaign, designed by the Corporate Communications team, supports the University’s public engagement with research outreach programme.

The campaign highlights the public benefits of some of the most impactful research carried out at the University last year. The work featured includes scientific discoveries that could lead to new strategies for improving age-related health and for the use of immune therapy strategies to fight leukaemia; work to deliver the next generation of high speed 5G mobile networks; the discovery and identification of fossils that have changed our understanding of human evolutionary theory; and a major report recommending new housing legislation.

Exam accommodation now available at Liberty Quays

Do you commute to Medway Campus? Then why not consider staying in a University of Kent room at Liberty Quays for the duration of your exams. Reduce stress and have more time to concentrate on studying with no need to worry about missing an exam as a result of traffic, train strikes or other travel delays outside your control.

All rooms are single en-suite rooms in flats with other students also taking exams. You will be supplied with a duvet; pillow; bed linen and towels. Kitchens will have basic items supplied for you to prepare simple meals, or you can take advantage of our catered package.

Choose from a room only package available from £110.00 for four nights or our catered package available from £150.00 for four nights.

Rooms can now be booked online. For further information please visit the event’s registration page or contact: conferences@kent.ac.uk.

Fine Art PhD student wins prestigious film award

Fine Art PhD student Stephen Connolly won a 2018 British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) Award for his film, Machine Space.

He won the Moving Image category under Best Practice Research Portfolio for his essay film exploring a city as a machine; a place of movement and circulation. Using a kinetic approach, issues of space, race and finance frame the city of Machine Space. Residents testify in voice-over about how the city as a spatial and financial machine shapes their experience. The city is Detroit, a place that has changed from producing the means of movement to producing space itself. The film uses formal representational devices to explore this content, and addresses issues of complicity of audiences in the state of affairs in the city. It is a visualization of the ideas of Henri Lefebvre, philosopher of space and urban life.

Stephen is an artist filmmaker and Kent 50 scholar who also lectures in Film Production at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, and works as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the School of Music and Fine Art.

He said: “The PhD has been such an amazing experience and deeply helpful for my practice, encouraging me to push forward towards publication. The process of academic research has allowed me to place the work in context and in conversation with other disciplines and artists. I aim to contribute to the further development of practice as research as a process of making moving image work in the arts.”

Stephen has also joined forces with Matthew Gibson, Arts GTA (Film) within the School of Music and Fine Art, and Patrick Brian Smith of Concordia University in Canada, to organise an inter-disciplinary symposium of scholars and media-makers on the topic of ‘Visualising Spatial Injustice and Exploitation’. The event takes place on Friday 8 June in Grimond Building on the University’s Canterbury campus and registration is now open.

Summer housekeeping staff vacancies

We are recruiting team members for Kent Hospitality summer housekeeping for Canterbury campus accommodation, who are available to work between 4 June and 16 September 2018. We will offer a minimum of 80 hours per month during this period. Successful candidates will need to be flexible regarding working days and hours, additional hours may be available.

Rates are:

£8.46 p/hr 16 – 24 years old
£8.97 p/hr 25 years and over (Living Wage)

Some weekend working is required; you must be available to work on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 June 2018.

Successful applicants will be required to:

Complete an online contract and return this by 17 May 2018.
Attend a three hour Health and Safety induction in the week commencing 21 May 2018.

For the health, safety and welfare of staff and conference guests, all successful applicants will be required to attend a health and safety induction. Applicants must be able to demonstrate the required level of understanding in all areas covered in the training. Any staff not achieving the required standard will not be permitted to work.

Start working in the week commencing 4 June 2018 (minimum of two shifts for training).

If you think this summer vacancy is for you, please complete our online questionnaire:

Week and weekend applications: https://kent.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/summerhk2018
Weekend only applications: https://kent.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/summerhk2018weekends

Closing date for applications: 10 May 2018 (or earlier if we receive a large number of applications).

The Kent Hospitality HR department will then email you by Tuesday 15 May to let you know whether or not your application has been successful. Please do not contact the Kent Hospitality HR department to check the status of your application, as they will be unable to answer individual enquiries.

Beware: scams targeted at international students

If you receive an unexpected email, phone call or letter from someone claiming to be from the Home Office, be careful, as it may be a scam.

Some students have been tricked into paying large sums of money to fraudsters. The Home Office has issued new guidance on how to protect yourself from tricks and scams. Please see the Student Immigration Compliance website for details and a link to the guide.

Kent Gives Back in London: volunteers needed

Join the next Kent Gives Back project in London on Saturday 12 May. Kent Gives Back is a community outreach project which unites students and alumni by encouraging them to take part in a local community project such as volunteering at a homeless shelter or a food bank, helping tend to a garden and many more activities.

Walk the Walk is the UK’s largest grant-making breast cancer charity that is dedicated to not only raising money and awareness for vital breast cancer causes, but to also encourage women and men to become more aware of their own potential for fitness and wellbeing. They organise the famous MoonWalk overnight power walking challenges and are immensely proud to have raised over £122m, which has been granted to research into breast cancer and to improve the lives of people living with cancer now.

We are looking for dedicated, amazing volunteers to join us at The MoonWalk London on the evening of 12 May at Clapham Common . Join 15,000 women and men walking either a full or half marathon in their fantastically decorated bras, raising millions of pounds and awareness for breast cancer.

We are hoping to join the Saturday Evening Crew, a busy period when the Walkers & Volunteers arrive. Start times vary depending on the role, but are no earlier than 17.00 and finishing at midnight. The 24 available roles include Baggage, Kitchen and Water Crew. Volunteers will be required to make their own travel arrangements for the evening.

If you’d like to take part please register at the event webpage.

Competition: Win ‘Sea Eagles of Empire’ book by Dr Simon Elliott

The School of European Culture and Languages (SECL) is offering you the chance to get your hands on a signed copy of Dr Simon Elliott’s book Sea Eagles of Empire: The Classis Britannica and the Battles for Britain (History Press, 2016).

Sea Eagles of Empire was Dr Elliott’s first book and won Military History Monthly‘s Book of the Year Award. It tells the story of the Classis Britannica; the British Roman Navy.

Dr Elliott is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Classical & Archaeological Studies. He talked about the process of research, writing, submitting and getting published at SECL’s Writing History and Getting Published event, held on 15 March. He was joined at the event by published author and fellow SECL alum, Amanda Thomas. you can see photographs of the event at the Classical & Archaeological Studies at Kent Facebook page.

To enter the competition and win a signed copy of the book, simply answer the following question:

Which Roman Governor of Britain fought the battle of Mons Graupius in AD 83?

Send your answers to secl@kent.ac.uk with ‘SECL book competition’ as the subject of your email. The competition is open until midnight on Friday 25 May 2018.