Kent Magazine - June 2012 | University of Kent

KENT The Magazine for the University of Kent | June 2012

Inspiring arts Dickens’ Kent links

Welcome Dear alumni, friends and colleagues, I am pleased to be able to say that we have just learned that Kent has been ranked 22nd out of 120 higher education institutions in the Guardian University Guide 2013. This confirms our position as not only a top university in the south east, but one of the top universities in the UK. This is great news for students, staff and alumni, many of whom have worked extremely hard to help Kent get to this position. It is also a reflection of the high standards of academic excellence and student experience we provide across all our campuses. It follows the recent announcement that we have also been ranked 33rd in the Complete University Guide League Table 2013 (see p3), a result which reflects our strengths in research, student experience and employability.

We continue to develop our international activities and, together with Pro-Vice-Chancellor (External) Professor Alex Hughes and staff from our International Development and Alumni offices, I have just returned from a trip to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. While there, we held discussions with alumni, donors, and current and potential partner universities in the region, and with the Hong Kong and China Portal project advisory board (www.kent.ac.uk/hkcp).

We are in the early stages of organising alumni activity in Singapore, but we still held a successful informal event. I also visited Singapore’s main research centre A*STAR which combines both funding/research council activity with many research institutes.

Over a hundred alumni attended the event in Kuala Lumpur. They are an extremely dynamic group and very supportive of the University. In addition, I was interviewed by the main English-speaking newspaper, The Star, and was featured in one of the Sunday editions. We are also exploring potential academic opportunities in Malaysia.

Finally, the visit to Hong Kong was particularly significant. Our alumni event was extremely well attended, and included current students, either working or studying in Hong Kong, as well as prospective students and careers advisers from local schools. In addition, we met with members of the Hong Kong business community. Professor Roger Vickerman (Dean, Brussels School of International Studies) delivered a keynote lecture to the University of Hong Kong’s influential Institute of Transport Studies (see p4).

Without a doubt, we are in uncertain times but I am confident that, as our recent achievements show, Kent is in a position not just to weather the storm but to thrive and develop as one of the best universities in the UK.

Professor Dame Julia M Goodfellow, DBE, CBE Vice-Chancellor

3 News 6 Feature: Arts at Kent 8 Research 10 Feature: Dickens’ Kent links 12 Investment 13 Alumni profile 14 Enterprise 15 Kent Union/Sport 16 Feature: Understanding philanthropy 18 Fundraising 20 Green Impact 21 In memoriam/Books 22 Kent in the news/Who’s what where 24 What’s on Special thanks to: Lesley Farr, University Design & Print Centre.

Photography by Simon Jarrett, Matt Wilson.

News

KENT We have set up a readers’ panel for staff. Please get in touch if you would like to become a member.

We are keen to have your feedback and letters are welcome from all our readers. Simply email the editorial team at kentmagazine@kent.ac.uk Kent is also available online at www.kent.ac.uk/campusonline/kentmagazine Editorial team: Wendy Raeside, Press & Corporate Publications Officer (Corporate Communications); Fiona Jones, Development & Alumni Relations Manager (Development Office); Julia Baxter, Development & Alumni Relations Officer (Development Office); Karen Baxter, Press Assistant (Corporate Communications), University of Kent.

Next issue: the deadline for the next staff issue is 6 July, with a publication date of 3 August 2012.

The next alumni edition will appear in autumn 2012.

Kent’s strong performance in Complete University Guide League Table 2013 Academic excellence and good employment prospects have ensured Kent’s strong performance in the Complete University Guide (CUG) League Table 2013.

further ten in the top 20 (Accounting & Finance; Ancient History; Anthropology; Classics & History; Drama; Economics; Mathematics; Psychology; Sociology; Theology & Religious Studies).

The CUG league table ranks Kent 33rd out of 116 higher education institutions in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Out of the nine measures used for the league table, Kent saw particular improvements to entry standards, the proportion of good degrees awarded and employment prospects.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Julia M Goodfellow commented: ‘Kent’s positioning within the 2013 table is welcome news, particularly during such a challenging period for the higher education sector. I am pleased that our strengths in research, and student experience and employability, have been acknowledged.’

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Seventy two per cent of Kent subjects covered by the table appear in the top 30, with five achieving a top ten position (American Studies; Art & Design; Hospitality, Leisure, Recreation & Tourism; Social Policy; Social Work) and a

The complete CUG League Table 2013 can be found at: www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/ league-tables

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Kent Law Clinic wins Attorney General’s Award 2012

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KENT The Magazine for the University of Kent | June 2012

Inspiring arts Dickens’ Kent links

Cover story Arts at Kent – inspiring the next generation (see p6).

The Kent Law Clinic has been declared joint winner of the Best New Student Pro Bono Activity Award (for its Public Access to Land Project) at the LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards 2012.

At a reception at the House of Commons, the Attorney General, the Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP, presented the award to Clinic solicitor Elaine Sherratt accompanied by Kent Law School (KLS) students Rebecca Newman, Samantha Woodley and Vivian Chan, together with barrister David Graham of Francis Taylor Building chambers.

The Public Access to Land Project has helped hundreds of local people win disputed public rights of way along footpaths through the Kent countryside, and helped hundreds more in their ongoing attempts to register treasured local recreation spaces as ‘village greens’ in Whitstable and Wickhambreaux. In 2010, KLS senior lecturers Donald McGillivray and Nick Jackson developed a new module, Access to Land, which has allowed law students under the

supervision of Elaine Sherratt to work on many access to land cases for local residents, several of which have led to lengthy public inquiries.

The Awards judges said: ‘The link between pro bono casework in the Clinic and the taught module on the law relating to access to land allows students to see the law in practice and to put their learning into practice by helping Clinic clients... This is innovative and important work which deserves to be recognised.’

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News

Psychologists help students prepare for work Psychologists at the University are to prepare students for the changing and challenging world of work by helping them develop leadership, enterprise and initiative-taking skills.

Through a new ‘wild’ module available to all students from September 2012, a team from the School of Psychology will help them gain a greater understanding of how an individual’s skills, knowledge and personal qualities can be related to demands in the world of work.

Culminating in the writing of a business plan, the module will also help students to develop project, initiative and business planning; clarify the values and purpose of a project; assess the skills, knowledge and qualities for initiative; develop communication and personal effectiveness skills; identify sources of inspiration and renewal; learn from their biography; and learn from tips and feedback.

The module has been developed by Dr Ulrich Weger, Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Director of the University’s Centre for Research on Social Climate, in consultation with Martin Large, an external advisor and contributor to the module. Dr Weger said: ‘The idea of this module is to give students an opportunity to research a topic and work on an idea, a project or an initiative they are passionate about. Through group presentations they will also have an opportunity to discuss and develop their initiatives with their peers and perhaps even find other like-minded spirits who are interested in the same area and join the project.’

Kent business student is top young entrepreneur Business student Amy Brooks has been identified as one of the UK’s top 100 young entrepreneurs.

Amy was selected as one of 100 young entrepreneurs to watch across the country by accounting software company Intuit after costarting her own company to support students with a range of new mobile phone-based learning applications.

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The 21-year-old, who is studying for a Bachelor of Business Administration (Marketing) at Kent Business School, was identified as having a winning business idea as part of the Intuit100up project, and attended the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Liverpool.

‘Spark-Ed’ has already attracted interest from potential investors and Amy and her co-founder Greg Mackelden, who is a Kent alumnus, now hope to develop it further.

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Archaeological foundation supports heritage MA The A.G. Leventis Foundation has announced it will support an innovative Masters degree in heritage management, co-run by the University and the Athens University of Economics and Business.

Archaeological and heritage projects in Greece and other ancient centres of civilisation could benefit following the endorsement of the prestigious foundation, established in 1979 to support educational, cultural, artistic and philanthropic causes in Cyprus, Greece and elsewhere.

The MA in Heritage Management course, which was launched in September 2011, is distinctive in offering postgraduates a combination of archaeology and business skills as well an opportunity to be part of a non-governmental project based in Eleusis, near Athens, home of the most famous mysteries of antiquity.

Dr Evangelos Kyriakidis, MA programme director, said: ‘This exciting programme has been specially designed to offer what we think is a unique combination of archaeology and business skills, and this has been recognised by the A.G. Leventis Foundation, which is well known for its great interest in the archaeology of the east Mediterranean. I would expect those completing the MA to immediately be much in demand at archaeology and heritage sites all over the world.’

Inspiring future engineers at Big Bang Fair The University helped inspire future engineers when it exhibited for the first time at the national Big Bang Fair.

The fair, at the NEC Birmingham in March, is the UK’s largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths for young people in the UK. Every year, tens of thousands of four- to 17year-olds take part in hands-on science and engineering activities, from designing a solarpowered water heater to exploring radioactivity, and learn more about career opportunities.

A team from Kent’s School of Engineering and Digital Arts (EDA) took its innovative Defeat SPECTRA exhibit – which invites schoolchildren to use the Electromagnetic Spectrum to try and crack a secret code using electronic devices – to the fair after trialling it in local schools.

University visit strengthens Hong Kong links The University strengthened its links in Hong Kong in April with a visit by senior figures and a keynote lecture by transport economics expert Professor Roger Vickerman.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Julia M Goodfellow led a high-level delegation to meet members of the Hong Kong business community and the University’s Hong Kong Alumni Association on 24 April. The visit was part of the University’s £2 million Hong Kong and China Portal fundraising campaign, launched in 2010.

On 25 April, Professor Vickerman delivered a keynote lecture to the University of Hong Kong’s influential Institute of Transport Studies. His lecture, titled ‘On the Wider Economic Impacts of Transport Projects’, was part of the Institute’s Distinguished Transport Lecture Series 2012.

Professor Vickerman is Professor of European Economics at Kent and Director of its Centre for European, Regional and Transport Economics.

He is also Dean of the University’s Brussels School of International Studies.

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discovery of the universal machine paved the way for the digital computer in 1945. During World War Two, he led a team at the government’s code-breaking centre, Bletchley Park, which cracked the German U-boat Enigma cipher.

National award for University chefs 2

Bursary for future cricket stars The University has teamed up with Kent Cricket Academy to once again offer a cricket bursary to a rising star.

This year’s scholarship has been awarded to Kent Cricket all-rounder, Adam Ball. Adam, studying for a degree in Sports Science at the University, is a member of the Club’s first team, who also recently captained the England Under19 squad.

The scholarship is funded by the J & K Huntley Bursary. The Huntley brothers left a significant sum of money to the Club, to be used for the development of young cricketers in the county.

Adam Ball said: ‘I’ve signed a new three-year contract with the Club and I am very grateful to have support from the University which will enable me to fulfil my potential and pursue my cricketing career whilst achieving an academic qualification.’

Rare Enigma machine on show A rare Enigma encryption machine was on show at the University in April.

The machine, one of only a few remaining, was used by the German military during World War Two. It was on display to coincide with a lecture on computing pioneer and wartime codebreaker Alan Turing. The lecture, given by Oxford University Fellow and Turing biographer Dr Andrew Hodges, was part of the annual British Mathematical Colloquium which was hosted by the University of Kent for the first time in over 40 years.

Born 100 years ago in 1912, Alan Turing is widely-known as the ‘father of computer science’.

His 1936 definition of computability and

Three chefs from the University have won the silver award in the 2012 University Catering Organisation (TUCO) Chefs Competition.

Teams from 17 universities had to produce a fourcourse meal for four in two hours, making use of a set list of ingredients. Judges at the annual competition, held in Blackpool, included Nigel Haworth, of the Michelin-starred Northcote Manor restaurant, and Paul Gould, retired executive chef of the NEC Group.

The Kent chefs – Rob Grimer, Will Hooker and Eris Hoxha – served up a menu including confit of salmon with celeriac foam and rack of lamb with spinach and kidney tortellini to impress the judges.

Keith Williams, Kent Hospitality’s Catering Operations Manager, said: ‘We’ve been commended in previous competitions for our main course, but this year’s silver award proves Kent’s chefs really are among the best when it comes to university catering.’

Falklands conference marks war anniversary Falkland islanders joined soldiers, reporters, policy-makers and academics for the first time to discuss the conflict that shook their lives when the University hosted a conference on 26-28 April to mark the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War. British and Argentinian historians of the conflict and journalists who covered it shared their analyses, perspectives and memories with residents of the islands and the service personnel who fought for them.

The conference was organised jointly by the University’s School of History and Centre for Journalism. Among highlights were: Sir John Nott, the Secretary of State for Defence who despatched the Royal Navy Task Force, opening

Links with Hong Kong Award-winning chefs

proceedings; Major-General Julian Thompson and Commodore Michael Clapp, describing how the amphibious phase of British military operations was planned; and Professor Peter Hennessy assessing what British intelligence knew of Argentinian intentions on the eve of the invasion.

Students’ rare performance of Elizabethan play Kent students revived the rarely performed Endymion by Canterbury-born Elizabethan playwright John Lyly. Their revival took place over three evenings on the University’s Canterbury campus.

John Lyly was the best-selling playwright of Shakespeare’s time and one of England’s first novelists. It is believed that Endymion, his innovative comedy where a boy falls in love with the moon, was first performed by the troupe Children of Paul’s before Queen Elizabeth on Candlemas 1588.

Dr Andy Kesson, Lecturer in Early Modern Studies, said: ‘John Lyly’s writing helped to define the English novel and play but since then he has been almost totally forgotten. In the School of English, we are trying to promote his extraordinary writing and have introduced two of his plays to our students’ modules this year.’

Gold Medal success Kent was part of a consortium of 13 universities to win a Gold Medal award in May for a project to bring together universities, artists, performers and local communities in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.

The Creative Campus Initiative involving Kent and the other universities won the Gold Medal Award for the best Creative Cultural project at the Podium Awards ceremony, held to recognise the contribution of higher and further education institutions to the ideals of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Creative Campus Initiative was also shortlisted for the Coubertin’s Olympic Vision Award, established to recognise the project seen to most embody the ideals of the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin.

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Feature

Arts at Kent – inspiring the next generation The importance of the arts at Kent is underlined by our ongoing investment in new courses and outstanding facilities. Julia Baxter tells KENT how this investment is set to inspire the next generation of students.

Investing in the future The University is investing over £5 million in its Arts at Medway initiative to provide its Fine Art, Music and Audio, and Event and Experience Design students with the best possible study environment. Buildings in the Historic Dockyard will be transformed over the next two academic years to create inspiring environments for our students to work and study in.

Following last year’s opening of the awardwinning Jarman Building on the Canterbury Campus, and the construction of the ColyerFergusson Music Building, this development

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represents a significant investment in the arts at the University of Kent. It also highlights the importance that the University places on this subject area.

Head of the School of Arts Dr Jonathan Friday commented: ‘Our new creative arts developments on the Historic Dockyard will provide our students with excellent facilities and a truly inspiring environment in which to study the creative and performing arts. When combined with the innovative new programmes we are designing, these developments represent an exciting educational package for students of the arts.’

Link to the past The Arts have been taught at the Historic Dockyard since 2006 and, following recent investment by the University, the School of Arts at Medway is set to grow rapidly. In the 2012/13 academic year, with new postgraduate degrees in Fine Art and Music, student numbers are expected to increase by 50%. This will create one of the strongest creative and performing arts course portfolios in the country.

Staying close to the University’s roots of encouraging interdisciplinary study, students from different subject areas are encouraged to work together closely; for example, Event and Experience Design students creating innovative work with those studying Music. With the range of courses available at the campus broadening opportunities of this kind, creative interactions are set to increase, leading to the potential for further exciting collaborations.

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Inspiring environment The School of Arts is thriving, with courses oversubscribed and some of the highest levels of graduate employment in the UK. Located in the south east, where recent growth has been sparked by investment in the creative arts – including the Turner Contemporary in Margate and the new Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury – Kent students are well placed to benefit from opportunities in the local area. The existence of this vibrant artistic community, alongside the School’s proximity to London, attracts students who are keen to get involved with the local arts scene while receiving a world-class education.

The Historic Dockyard itself also provides a huge source of inspiration to students, both through the incredible nature of the spaces they are working in, and the immediate community that surrounds them. The 20-acre dockyard site is home to a host of small businesses, visitor attractions and exhibition spaces, including The Joiners Shop, which houses about 40 small creative businesses including design, film, photography and video game companies.

Exploring the dockyard further, you will find a wealth of creative talents, including a rope maker, a sign writer, a microbrewery and a forge!

Community interaction The School is also forging partnerships with local groups, showcasing the talents of students and playing a part in regenerating local communities.

A recent partnership with Medway Council saw a group of second-year Fine Art students – the New Kent Creatives – put on their first external show at historic Eastgate House in Rochester.

Having stood empty for nearly ten years, the house is being transformed into a hub of creativity for the local community, and Kent students were invited to display work inspired by the spaces and history of the venue. Their show, ‘The Voices In Our Heads’, was a great success, and the School hopes to continue this collaboration in the future. For more information, see: www.newkentcreatives.co.uk Another recent project saw the School of Arts work with the Crafts Council, Kent Architecture Centre and Chatham Historic Dockyard on their Place Making project, which explored how makers and architects can collaborate effectively on shaping the spaces we live in. Fine Art students worked alongside architects and craftspeople, including jewellers, metalworkers and textile makers, to design new spaces for the last major undeveloped site in the former Royal

Naval Dockyard. This live learning experience provided an excellent opportunity for the students, and highlighted the potential for ground-breaking collaborations between these disciplines in the future.

Value of the creative industries Over recent years, the importance of the creative industries to the UK has risen significantly; by 2013, it is predicted that the sector will employ 1.3 million people, and contribute up to £85 billion to the economy. The potential for growth in this sector is widely recognised, with the UK Commission for Employment and Skills forecasting that culture, media and sports occupations will see the fastest rates of employment growth in the economy between now and 2017.

This growth is certainly reflected in our graduates’ prospects: Kent is ranked 2nd in the UK for graduate employment for Art and Design students, according to the 2011 Guardian University Guide.

Profile: Angus Pryor Director of the School of Arts at Medway, Angus Pryor joined the University as Director of Fine Arts in 2006.

Angus studied at the Wimbledon School of Art (where he gained a distinction), Bath College of Higher Education (BA (Hons) in Sculpture), and the Kent Institute of Art and Design (MA in Art and Architecture).

Before coming to Kent, he was the founding Head at Ashford School of Art and Design.

Angus is a practising painter with a studio in Kent. He regularly travels abroad on behalf of the University. His next major trip will be to India in November where he has been offered a painting residency, with an exhibition and the opportunity to hold workshops for local people.

Date for your diary Official launch of Medway School of Arts: 17 October 2012

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Research

New study on impact of small island tourism Reducing the conservation impacts of climate change How to mitigate the conservation impacts of climate change on protected areas in West Africa is the focus of new research by the universities of Kent and Durham.

The Global Environment Facility-funded project, which involves Dr Bob Smith at Kent’s Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), will measure how well different species within West Africa’s national parks and wildlife reserves are currently protected, and how this will change when species start changing their distribution in response to climate change. The specific role of Dr Smith and his team will be to identify where new protected areas and corridors could be developed to conserve these species for the century ahead, while minimising impacts on local people.

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A new research project sponsored by the World Bank and led by the University of Kent is, for the first time, examining in detail the economic impact of tourism – both in sparking growth and on poverty – in small island states such as the Maldives.

Although many small island developing states (SIDS) are highly dependent on tourism as measured in GDP and employment, little research has been carried out to date on how tourism fosters growth within the local economy and what impact it has on poverty and local opportunities.

Now Dr Mark Hampton, of the University’s Kent Business School (KBS), has begun a study funded by the World Bank on how tourism may contribute more effectively to inclusive growth within SIDS and what policy changes might promote this.

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‘Since the 1970s, the conventional wisdom of policy-makers and the international donor community has seen international tourism as a main driver of overall economic growth,’ said Dr Hampton.

‘Tourism contributes to GDP and employment – both direct and indirect – as well as being an important source of government revenue.

However, the net benefits of tourism to the host economy in SIDS are not well understood nor, specifically, how tourist expenditure circulates within such small economies.

The work is led by the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and will utilise newly available regional climate data and projections from the Met Office Hadley Centre, and species and protected area data collected by UNEP-WCMC, BirdLife International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The geographic scope of the project, known as PARCC (Protected Areas Resilient to Climate Change), covers the whole of West Africa but will focus on Chad, Gambia, Mali, Sierra Leone and Togo, and will involve working with partner organisations in each country. DICE will also help train people from these countries so that they can use the conservation planning systems that they help develop.

‘In addition, tourism’s potential impact upon poverty in small economies, and its potential to facilitate inclusive growth, are presently little researched.’

Dr Hampton, who is the study’s principal investigator, is leading a team that includes senior academics from Birmingham and Bournemouth universities. The project is based at KBS’ Centre for Tourism in Island and Coastal Areas and it is expected that the final report will be delivered to the World Bank in July 2012.

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Research 1 2 3

£125,534 award to gain a better understanding of using Skyrmion Scattering for experimental predictions that are hard to make with standard techniques in nuclear physics.

Dr Smith explained the urgent need for this project: ‘Climate change is likely to have a large impact on protected areas in West Africa, but we currently have little information on which species will be most affected. This work will show which species are most vulnerable and let governments and conservation groups identify where they would be best protected in the future.’

He also explained that there are a number of geographical features that reduce the impacts of climate change, either because they are naturally cooler than the surrounding landscape or because they provide natural corridors that species can use to move to more suitable areas.

‘Fortunately, these features are relatively easy to map from elevation and landcover data,’ he said.

‘So this project will also measure how well these gorges, north-facing slopes and corridors are protected.’

Centuries-old paradox ‘solved’

by University philosopher It’s been puzzling great thinkers for 2,000 years but now a University philosophy professor has proposed a novel solution to the famous ancient riddle known as the Sorites paradox.

Professor Laurence Goldstein’s solution to the paradox – featured in the January issue of Analysis – connects with research on a neural mechanism structurally identical to a process devised as part of the World War Two Bletchley Park code-breaking operation.

He said: ‘There are many versions of the paradox.

One involves taking a series of cards. The first is painted pillar box red. The next card, which looks exactly the same colour as the first, must also be red. A third that looks exactly like the second must also be red, and so on.

‘However, this series of cards has the first card red and the last orange, and there is no perceptible difference between the colour of any card and that of its immediate neighbours. There seems to be nowhere in the series of cards where a transition occurs between one card being red and its neighbour being anything other than red. So the last card in the series should be red. But it isn’t – it’s orange. We are faced therefore with a paradox.’

Martinique Pygmy Hippopotamus Professor Laurence Goldstein

Dr Lemmens’ £123,540 grant aims to tackle unsolved problems in the non-linear version of the Perron-Frobenius theory, which in its classical form was used to design the Google search engine. Dr Rosenkranz’ award of £124,948 will fund his research on developing exact symbolic computation methods for linear boundary problems.

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Professor Goldstein’s proposed solution to this paradox breaks the problem into two parts: the first part draws on experimental work and connects with research on choice-making neural mechanisms; the second argues that some traditional reasoning about the Sorites is marred by a fundamental error, or fallacy.

He said: ‘The history of paradox solutions is a history of failure, so a rational theorist must expect refutation. But, in the absence of a refutation to date, one can enjoy feeling cautiously optimistic. If the first part of the theory is correct, then the mathematical description of the relevant neural mechanism reveals its function to be structurally identical to that of the Banburismus process devised by Alan Turing as part of the Bletchley Park code-breaking effort in World War II.’

Triple grant success for University mathematicians Mathematicians at the University are celebrating a hat-trick of grant awards, worth a total £374,000.

Three lecturers from the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science (SMSAS) have been awarded funding through the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) First Grant Scheme. The grants will be used to fund postdoctoral fellowships to support ongoing research within the Mathematics Group.

The successful principal investigators are Dr Steffen Krusch, Dr Bas Lemmens and Dr Markus Rosenkranz. Dr Krusch will be using his

Professor Malcolm Brown, Head of SMSAS, said: ‘This is excellent news and demonstrates the strength of the research undertaken within the School. We look forward to seeing the first results of these three very different and exciting projects, each of which is bound to have a farreaching impact.’

Research awards list Some recent research awards

Ben Baumberg (SSPSSR): £35,969 from Elizabeth Finn Care ‘To further understand the impact of social influence and relating pressures on applying for benefits’.

Roberta Comunian (School of Arts): £7,134 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for ‘Music communities’.

Dr Alex Klein (School of Economics): £25,937 from the Leverhulme Trust for ‘Reconstructing the national incomes of Britain and Holland’.

Dr Mark Price (School of Physical Sciences): £99,972 from the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) for ‘What role does impact-driven chemistry play in the lithosphere of Mars?’

Dr Wei-Feng Xue (School of Biosciences): £428,737 from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) for ‘Quantitative investigations into the molecular mechanisms of amyloid fibril fragmentation’.

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Dickens’ Kent connections 10

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Bicentennial celebrations

Charles Dickens had strong links with the county of Kent and the University is playing an important role in his bicentenary celebrations, writes David Clark.

The University of Kent has also been playing an important role in the remarkable range of celebrations being held around the world to mark the 200th anniversary of Dickens’ birth.

Forthcoming university-based events include the Dickens Society’s 17th annual symposium, business meeting and dinner, which will take place at Rutherford College from 13-15 September. Then, on 17 October, the Canterbury campus will host an open lecture by Professor Michael Slater, a prominent Dickens scholar and the author of an acclaimed Dickens biography.

Although Charles Dickens was closely associated with London and has been widely praised for his vivid evocations of city life in the mid-Victorian period, the county of Kent had an equally important place in both his personal life and his fiction.

Dickens’ connections with the county began at the age of four when his family moved from London to Chatham, where they lived until Charles was 11. He travelled widely around the county in later life and from 1837-59 he spent summers with his family at Broadstairs. In 1856 Dickens bought Gad’s Hill Place in Higham, near Rochester, where he settled permanently in 1860 until his death ten years later.

Dr Cathy Waters, Reader in Victorian Studies in the School of English at Kent, Director of the Dickens and Victorian Culture MA and the author of two books on Dickens’ work, believes that his life-long affinity with the county was rooted in his early childhood experiences.

‘Dickens told his first biographer, John Forster, that Rochester was “the birthplace of his fancy” and I think the county itself was the soil for his development as a writer,’ she says.

‘As an imaginative child, there was plenty in the neighbourhood of Chatham and Rochester to stimulate him. Also, although his father, John Dickens, was never terribly good with money, the family was solvent in this period and Charles was able to go to school. Things went downhill after the family moved back to London, so I guess he looked back on that earlier period of his childhood as a more idyllic time.’

Dickens frequently used Kent locations as a backdrop in his fiction, starting with his first novel, The Pickwick Papers. In later books, David Copperfield famously walks from London to Dover in search of his aunt and later goes to school in Canterbury. Pip, in Great Expectations, initially lives in north Kent, where he encounters the escaped convict Magwitch and is sent to Miss Havisham’s house. Finally, the location of the unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Cloisterham, is a thinly-disguised Rochester.

Other county-wide events include the special bicentenary Dickens Festivals at Broadstairs (16-22 June) and Rochester (8-10 June and 1-2 December). Dickens’ houses at Gad’s Hill and Broadstairs will also be open to the public, as will Restoration House in Rochester, the building on which Dickens based Miss Havisham’s forbidding home in Great Expectations.

University links Given Dickens’ links with the county, it’s appropriate that there has been a history of Dickens studies at the University of Kent going back over 40 years, when Dickens specialists Louis James and Stephen Lutman joined the staff.

In the 1970s they were joined by Malcolm Andrews, who later took charge of the undergraduate course in Dickens’ fiction. Around ten years ago he initiated a new course, the Dickens and Victorian Culture MA, which is the only Masters programme specifically on Dickens available at a UK university.

Malcolm Andrews, now Emeritus Professor of English, remains a distinguished Dickens scholar and continues his long-standing role as Editor of The Dickensian, the journal of the Dickens Fellowship.

Meanwhile, further links between the University and other institutions specialising in Dickens studies are developing. This year, Kent’s School of English formally joined the Dickens Project, which is based at the University of California. It’s a scholarly consortium of around 30 universities from around the world and, this year, Kent will be sending a graduate student and a member of staff to attend the prestigious ‘Dickens Universe’ event which takes place annually on the Santa Cruz campus.

For Cathy Waters, one of the highlights of the year took place in February when she helped organise a week-long travelling conference titled ‘A Tale of Four Cities’. ‘We went to four locations central to Dickens’ life: Paris, Condette near Boulogne, Chatham and Rochester and finally London,’ she says. ‘The Faculty of Humanities and the School of English very generously gave funding towards the Medway section of that conference.

‘The overall theme of the event was Dickens and the idea of ‘The Dickensian’ and each city had a narrower theme under that umbrella. We made festive pilgrimages to various Dickens-related locations and the London event included attending the memorial service in Westminster Abbey on Dickens’ birthday followed by a dinner in the Mansion House in the evening. We must have been mad to attempt it, but it was a real extravaganza and we celebrated the bicentenary in true Dickensian style.’

For a full list of the Dickens Bicentenary events, see www.dickens2012.org

The University’s Special Collections and Archives hold material relating to Charles Dickens’ work, including first editions, serial parts and 19th-century publications. To celebrate the bicentenary, three exhibitions will be mounted this year, displaying 19th and 20th century materials, including political cartoons inspired by Dickens’ famous works. See www.kent.ac.uk /library/specialcollections/theatre/dickens

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Investment

Investing in our facilities

Artists’ impressions © Penoyre & Prasad

system for clearer display of experiment results.

Other new facilities include student lockers, fume cupboards and moveable benches to create a more flexible teaching space.

Templeman Library extension project gathers pace The flagship project to extend and remodel the Templeman Library has entered an exciting new phase with the appointment of award-winning architects Penoyre & Prasad. They will work alongside engineers and landscape architects to transform the Templeman Library into a leading 21st century university library to coincide with Kent’s 50th anniversary in 2015.

The Penoyre & Prasad team previously worked on the celebrated Portsmouth University Library.

Their design for Kent aims to unlock the potential of the existing library building, by creating flexible and adaptable spaces that are also responsive to developing trends in the use of digital devices. Library and teaching facilities will be brought together to include a variety of study spaces, a dedicated special collection and exhibition space, and a versatile teaching floor including a 250-seat lecture theatre.

A key feature of the design is its unified façade that consolidates the heritage of the original building and is sympathetic to the overall visual identity of the Canterbury campus. The design also aims to maximise the use of natural daylight and ventilation to deliver an environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient library building.

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These initial design proposals are only the beginning, however, and detailed design work will take place over the next few months and will include consultation with staff and students.

The first phase of the project, building the Templeman Library extension, is set for completion in the summer of 2014. In the meantime, Information Services will continue its programme of ongoing improvements to ensure current library users get the best experience possible, as well as enhancing online services to provide a virtual library space. Find out more at www.kent.ac.uk/is/projects/templeman

Science teaching to excel in new-look labs New £2.5 million laboratories will help ensure that the University continues to excel in science teaching.

The new School of Physical Sciences laboratories, in the Ingram Building on the Canterbury campus, were officially opened by Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Julia M Goodfellow.

The new-look teaching wing includes four stateof-the-art laboratories, one of which is dedicated to forensic analysis. The refurbishment also features new equipment such as 25 computers, wireless internet access and a data projection

New music building moves a step nearer completion The University’s new building for music performance and rehearsal moved a major step nearer completion with a topping-out ceremony on 23 March.

The Colyer-Fergusson Music Building is being built next to the Gulbenkian Theatre at the Canterbury campus and will provide a multipurpose music centre and concert hall for performances and rehearsals. Work began in June 2011 and is expected to be completed by September 2012 in time for the new academic year.

The music building has been funded almost entirely from philanthropic donations: a £1 million posthumous bequest from Kent philanthropist Sir James Colyer-Fergusson and a further grant of £5.2 million from the charitable trust that bears his name, as well as matched funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and donations from over 100 individuals.

A topping-out ceremony saw guests being given a guided tour of the new building before a ceremonial tightening of the final bolt in the building’s steel frame.

Professor Keith Mander, University Deputy ViceChancellor, said the Colyer-Fergusson Building promised to be the ‘best concert hall in Kent.

This new facility will be hugely attractive, it will enable us to nurture the musical talent of students coming to the University and to host visiting groups.’

Jonathan Monckton, Chairman of the ColyerFergusson Charitable Trust, said: ‘It is a pleasure to see the results of our investment. Looking at this building, all I can say is that it is excellent.’

The construction process has seen contractor Durtnell use 250 tonnes of steel in the main frame and a further 1,500 tonnes of concrete in the building.

Alumni profile

Wayne Otto OBE R92 Wayne Otto is a Karate World Champion. He holds nine world titles, has won 47 gold medals in international competition, and has been awarded an OBE for his contribution to Karate. He is the current England Team Coach.

What made you decide to come to Kent?

Initially, I had two university offers which meant I could live away from home; however, the idea of living on a campus like Kent really appealed to me. The other reason, which now sounds very shallow, was that the McDonalds in Canterbury was a lot easier to find!

What is your favourite memory of Kent?

After winning double Gold at the 1990 World Karate Championships in Mexico, I returned to campus and proceeded to Rutherford College for lunch. At the top of the stairs, I heard my name called very loudly and the whole dining area started to cheer and whistle as I descended. I was totally unaware that news of my success had travelled on to campus. For me, it was a great moment in time.

What would be your perfect day?

My perfect day would be not having anything to do, but doing whatever I felt like, totally unplanned, and then finding out I won £100 million on the lottery!

What (if anything) would you like to change about yourself?

Bigger calves… I wish I had bigger calf muscles; no matter what I do they won’t get bigger!

Which country would you most like to visit?

Fortunately travelling around the world is not a problem for me because of sport. However, I have not travelled through India yet and, if I had my wish, I would visit all of the islands in the Caribbean.

What is your greatest achievement since graduating?

Not wishing to sound corny, my greatest achievement will always be my three children: Jamaal, Jhanay and Naimah-Raine. After that, receiving an OBE from the Queen was a very special moment in time for me.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

The best advice was from my grandmother just before I started secondary school. She said “Choose your friends wisely and don’t keep bad company” and I have to say she was 100% right.

Who or what inspires you?

What can sometimes inspire me are ordinary people beating the odds and coming out on top; I have to admit I am a fan of the underdog. But I also love watching great people achieving the impossible; for example, Steffi Graf’s comeback at the 1993 Wimbledon final, Mike Tyson becoming Heavyweight World Boxing Champion and Usain Bolt smashing the 100m World Record.

Where do you see yourself in ten years’ time?

In ten years’ time, I still hope to be performing seminars around the world and fulfilling my role as an international coach. I will have successfully launched my new range of martial arts sports clothing and training equipment, which I would manage from New Zealand, which is where my wife and I would like to retire in our later years...I think.

What have you been up to since graduating?

After graduating, I focused mainly on my sporting career, achieving a total 37 World and European Championship medals. After retiring from competition, I was appointed Assistant National Coach for the Great Britain and England national team and, on two separate occasions, held the post of National Coach. I am currently travelling throughout the world, giving seminars and providing expert advice to other national federations on developing elite Karate athletes.

Are you still in touch with friends from your University days?

I am in touch with a few friends from University and, from time to time, we try to meet up for a drink. Facebook is a great tool for me to stay in contact with many of my friends who now live in different countries.

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Enterprise

Innovation funding for business partnerships or exploration of new systems and processes, or developing frameworks and training to improve staff productivity.

The last round of funding included projects investigating new business markets, evaluation and analysis to support strategic company decisions, evaluation of a new exercise programme, and the development of software to enhance company growth.

New Innovation Voucher funding is now available to support smaller project collaborations between SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and the University.

The funding, which builds on the previous successful round, provides a 50% contribution towards the cost of a project.

The aim of the initiative is to stimulate new SMEUniversity collaboration and to provide opportunities for fostering longer-term partnerships. The funding can be used for a range of projects such as improving existing or scoping new products or services, initial set-up

For more information and to discuss potential projects, contact Lesley Chater on 01227 823802 or email enterprise@kent.ac.uk

Students collect points to win work The University’s most employable students took centre-stage at a prestigious awards ceremony on 7 June, opened by the Chancellor Sir Robert Worcester.

The ceremony was sponsored by the Chaucer Group who last year offered two internships to Kent graduates as part of the Employability Points scheme.

Visit our new web pages Kent Innovation & Enterprise (KIE) has launched the University’s brand new enterprise web pages at www.kent.ac.uk/enterprise The new pages give an insight and overview into how businesses can work, partner and collaborate with University academics and experts. Staff at Kent can also learn how to engage with innovation and enterprise activities, to generate new opportunities, impact and added-value funding.

The new web pages feature the latest case studies, illustrating the many collaborative projects undertaken between the University and industry and highlight available funding streams to develop new project opportunities.

Based on a clubcard-style model, the Employability Points scheme rewards students for engaging in activities which are not part of their degree, but enhance the individual’s transferable skills so they stand out to a potential employer.

Students receive points for activities such as fundraising, charity work, being involved in a society, part-time work, or participating in a business competition. Students collecting the most points are rewarded with prizes that further increase their employability.

Prizes are sponsored by companies who offer internships, work experience placements, training courses and vouchers. The list of 80 sponsor companies includes many local and regional businesses as well as brands such as Tesco, the National Trust, Skanska, Penguin Books and Coca-Cola Enterprises. Together, the sponsors are giving out 265 rewards which will go to the most engaged students. The scheme has so far encouraged over 2,000 students to take part.

Supporting innovation and growth – an event for SMEs in the south east In partnership with the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, we are holding an event to support academic business collaboration with SMEs. ‘Business Growth through Innovation – Unlocking Regional Potential’ will take place on 19 June from 1-4.30pm in the Darwin Conference Suite on the Canterbury campus.

The event will showcase University expertise and provide information on wider funding and support available to promote business innovation and growth.

For further information and to book a place, please contact Kent Innovation and Enterprise at: enterprise@kent.ac.uk or 01227 827376.

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Kent Union 1 2.

Another Sunday Times award for Kent Union John Harwood and Kate Heywood (external trustee), who both had Kent Union rooms named after them

An exciting year so far Room-naming ceremony Kent Union held a prestigious room-naming ceremony on 21 April to celebrate the Union and thank those who have played a key part in its success.

Over 200 people from all parts of the UK and overseas attended, including John Harwood, first President of Kent Union in 1965, and Jen Carpenter, the longest-serving member of staff (with Kent Union for more than 25 years).

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2012 has been an exciting year so far for Kent Union. We achieved a record turnout in our leadership elections in March, with 4,543 students voting for our new sabbatical team.

The elections were covered in our student-run newspaper, Inquire and broadcast across the city via CSR. We are thrilled to see student media thrive this year, with Studio Blue opening at Canterbury Christ Church University and listening figures at their highest ever.

volunteering hours have been recorded – already beating the total achieved last year, which is testament to the dedication of our membership. Kent Union has continued to employ students across our services, with 495 working for us already this year. As well as putting £495,000 back into students’ pockets, we are equipping graduates with necessary skills for the future and the opportunity to take part in valuable training for all our student supervisors.

We are increasingly proud of students willing to give up their free time to volunteer for projects in the community. Since September, 67,524

We were also proud to be recognised, for the fourth year running, in the Sunday Times ‘100 Best Not for Profit Organisations to Work For’.

Sport

Graham Holmes, Director of Kent Sport, commented: ‘We have worked really hard to bring this plan to fruition and I am delighted that work begins during this Olympic year to create facilities that will help realise our legacy plans.’

Redevelopment of facilities As part of its Olympic Legacy programme, Kent Sport is investing £4.75 million in a major redevelopment of sporting facilities on the Canterbury campus. The new development is due for completion in 2013 and will include: • significantly enhanced fitness suite with brand new cardio vascular equipment and a greater range of free weights and lifting platforms • third multi-purpose sports hall • larger dance studio that can be split into two for smaller, more intimate classes with enhanced lighting and sound • covered structure providing three indoor tennis/netball courts which can also be used for other activities • physiotherapy clinic linked to the new training facilities, providing a seamless pathway from acute injury to full fitness.

Current President Tom Ritchie was thrilled to meet some of his early predecessors, saying: ‘It was fantastic to see so many old faces back together.’

John Harwood, who had the main meeting room named after him, said: ‘It is a great honour to have a room named after me – certainly for the first, and probably the only, time in my life. I am amazed at how much both the University campus and especially the Students Union have developed since the 1960’s. The Union has now become an essential working part of the University and provides a level of support and representation for students, unimaginable when I graduated in 1968.’

Olympic-inspired summer camps for kids SummerZone, Kent Sport’s summer camps for children, returns this Olympic year in August. The camps, packed with various sporting activities, are led by double Olympian Mel Clewlow and a team of qualified instructors and start just after London 2012.

The week-long summer sports camps will run from Monday 13-Friday 17 August and Monday 20-Friday 24 August 2012, offering sports fun and learning for children aged 5-12 years from just £99 a week. Day passes, discounts, early drop-off, late pick-ups and lunches are also available. Find out more at www.kent.ac.uk/summerzone

Alumni Kent Sport membership Kent Sport is pleased to offer an alumni membership, allowing unlimited visits, entry to all fitness and dance classes, use of the fitness suite and all sports facilities. Members also enjoy discounts on courses, personalised fitness assessments and exercise programmes from just £281 for off-peak and £306 for peak membership. For further information, see www.kent.ac.uk/sports/membership/student.html KENT Magazine

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Feature

Understanding philanthropy: three years on

Artists’ impressions © Tim Ronalds Architects

Shortly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers bank signaled the onset of a global economic crisis, 100 people – including academics, dignitaries and charity leaders – gathered in Darwin College to mark the establishment of a new Centre for Philanthropy, Humanitarianism and Social Justice within the University of Kent.

Dr Beth Breeze, who co-founded the Centre, reflects on the launch and tells KENT what happened next.

Whilst the timing of our launch was not intentionally linked to these global events, it did provide extra impetus. A robust understanding of the philanthropic impulse became more important than ever, as voluntary charitable giving was widely considered the best hope for replacing – or at least mitigating – the inevitable cuts in public expenditure.

Philanthropy in a cold climate At the launch event, the keynote speaker Professor Nicholas Deakin, whose work has significantly shaped the policy context for the UK charity sector, warmly welcomed our initiative and noted that it ‘comes at a particularly interesting and challenging time, now that philanthropy will be entering a cold climate’. But it is not just the economic climate that has chilled in the three years that the Centre has been in operation. The political context for philanthropy in the UK has also undergone significant transformation. The coalition government formed in 2010 showed early promise of creating a particularly encouraging policy environment, but the 2012 Budget announced a cap on charity tax reliefs that will make giving more expensive – and therefore less likely – and saw the use of intemperate language to announce and defend the measure, equating philanthropy with tax avoidance and making claims about ‘dodgy charities’.

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This twin assault on both the fiscal and social aspects of philanthropy reinforces the reasons why our Centre is based in the School for Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSR).

Philanthropy is often viewed as purely an economic activity, because it involves the allocation of financial resources, but we believe it is better understood as primarily a social act.

This is because philanthropy occurs when people decide to use their personal resources – including money, time and expertise – to enact their idea of the public good and to put their values into practice.

We have since secured a further £56,000 from the same funders to study social justice grant-making; £80,000 from the European Commission to undertake a survey of philanthropic fundraising in universities across the European Union; £55,000 from Coutts bank for an annual publication on ‘million pound donations’; and £25,000 from two private philanthropists to revisit a landmark study on ‘Why Rich People Give’. We continue to pursue funding from a range of sources and are always ready to explore opportunities that arise.

Success in fundraising

In 2009 we welcomed our first doctoral student within the Centre, Jon Dean, whose research explores the role that volunteering plays in young people’s employability and social life. Jon has become an integral part of the team, providing administrative support and research assistance on a range of projects. He has also made an impact on policy-making through his role on the board of ‘v’, the national young volunteers service, and on the academic community, having already presented papers at conferences, and been published in an international peer review journal.

Our interest in the philanthropic distribution of wealth has shaped our research programme in these early years. When we launched the Centre, we had secured £235,000 to undertake six research projects related to the topic of ‘charity and social redistribution’. This funding came from a consortium of funders led by the Economic and Social Research Council, and including the Carnegie UK Trust, the Scottish Government and the Office for Civil Society.

Our first doctoral student

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The Centre’s research finds that higher education is a top choice for ‘million pound donors’. Kent’s Colyer-Fergusson Music Building is a good example of this (see p12).

Dr Beth Breeze discussing philanthropic issues with Kent students.

First doctoral student Jon Dean.

Making an impact on charities, government and the media As the staff associated with the Centre includes a number of people who have previously worked in charities, we are particularly keen to disseminate useful knowledge to practitioners.

So far, we have given over 20 research presentations at major and local charities, ranging from the NSPCC to the British Museum and the Pilgrims Hospice here in Canterbury.

We also regularly interact with charity sector umbrella groups and policy-makers at the Treasury and the Cabinet Office, as the former covers all charitable tax reliefs and the latter houses the Office for Civil Society and the Charities Minister.

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Teaching on fundraising, philanthropy and volunteering A further landmark came in January 2012 when we welcomed the first students onto a new Master’s module on ‘Fundraising and Philanthropy’ (SO839). The syllabus covers historical and contemporary issues relating to philanthropy and fundraising, theories and ideologies regarding the existence of philanthropic behaviours and the role of

government and policy-makers in shaping the legal, fiscal and cultural context for philanthropy and fundraising. Students also have the opportunity to achieve a professional qualification in fundraising alongside their academic studies. As raising funds from voluntary sources is an increasingly important skill in a range of jobs, from arts administration to working in conservation, museums and research, to corporate social responsibility roles in the private sector, and of course every senior management role in the charity sector, we anticipate high demand for this course in the future.

At undergraduate level, Centre staff are becoming involved in the existing successful module in Volunteering, KSCV Platinum SO670, co-run by SSPSSR and Kent Union, and we look forward to enhancing this module by offering teaching and increased support to students choosing this course.

Ongoing high levels of media interest in our topic means we have also been able to share research findings and offer comment in a wide range of print and broadcast media, including the Today programme on Radio 4, The Economist, the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Telegraph – and even Hello magazine, who sought our opinion on the charitable choices made by the new Duchess of Cambridge! Our blog (https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/philanthropy/) and Twitter feed (@UKCPhilanthropy, which has over 1,400 followers) have also proved useful in making an impact.

Looking ahead We are pleased with the achievements of our first three years, and are optimistic about the future. Philanthropy and volunteering are now core research and teaching interests within SSPSSR, and we look forward to developing more taught courses, attracting more excellent PhD students and continuing to undertake useful research.

Please do not hesitate to contact Beth Breeze at b.breeze@kent.ac.uk to follow up any issues raised in this article.

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Fundraising

Kent Scholarships Campaign Every gift makes a difference!

If 80 alumni gave a gift of £10, we could provide a hardship bursary of £1,000 to a student in danger of dropping out due to difficult financial circumstances.

The Hardship Fund and Alumni Postgraduate Research Scholarship are entirely reliant on voluntary donations from alumni and friends of Kent; and it means all the more to the students who receive the funding, to know that former students are making such a difference to their lives.

Please make a donation today and help give a student the opportunity to experience Kent as you did.

To make a gift to the Kent Scholarships Campaign, you can: • Complete the donation form enclosed and return it to us in the prepaid envelope provided • Donate online at www.kent.ac.uk/scholarshipscampaign • Call us on 01227 827830.

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A team of students took to the phones in March, calling over 2,000 alumni to talk about their time at Kent, share their experiences and raise vital funds in support of the Kent Scholarships Campaign The focus of this year’s appeal was to raise money for the Alumni Postgraduate Research Scholarship and the Alumni Hardship Fund – a fund which allocates bursaries to students in severe financial difficulty. Support for both funds

was extremely generous, with hundreds of alumni making a donation, and over £72,000 raised in four weeks.

Since it was established in 1995, the Alumni Postgraduate Research Scholarship has supported 21 outstanding postgraduate students, including 2011 recipient Katy Upton, who has recently embarked on a six-month conservation research expedition to the Peruvian Amazon. Katy’s conservation work is just one example of the world-leading research possible at Kent solely due to the generosity of our alumni.

“I am incredibly grateful for this bursary, which will allow me to continue my studies at the University of Kent and prevent me from becoming homeless or having to leave university to find full-time employment, both of which were very real possibilities before I received this award. Without the support of either of my parents, I have no home to return to during the summer holidays. Now I will be able to afford accommodation, bills and general living costs and will be able to return to university in September, to continue my studies, with teaching as my ultimate goal.”

2012 Hardship Bursary recipient

Thank you!

Everyone involved in the campaign would like to pass on their thanks to all the alumni who took the time to speak to a Kent student. Thank you for sharing your stories, offering such valuable advice and opening our students’ eyes to the opportunities available to them as Kent graduates.

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Fundraising 1 2

Students who helped with our ‘phonathon’ Emma Perot, Trinidad and Tobago Scholar 2010-11, with Chancellor Sir Robert Worcester

Conversation with a caller

Did you hear any good stories?

Laura Naude is a first-year undergraduate at Kent studying Film Studies and English Literature. Here, she shares a student caller’s view of the campaign:

I spoke to lots of people who met their partners at Kent including one alumnus who met his wife of 40 years here.

What did you enjoy most about the role?

It was great speaking to people who enjoyed their time at Kent so much, and I received a lot of advice about what to expect when I graduate.

The best part of the experience was speaking to members of the ‘First 500’ – the first students to study at Kent in 1965. Many of them spoke about how lucky they felt to have studied here at the beginning, and to have played such a big part in the establishment of something that has grown so much over the years.

I had a conversation with an 86 year-old alumnus who had enrolled at Kent this year to do his doctorate. He was truly inspirational and it is people like him and conversations like that which I will remember.

What will you take away from the experience?

Speaking to alumni and hearing what a big impact Kent had on their lives has made me want to take advantage of every opportunity that Kent can offer me. I only have three years here and it will go by really fast!

Scholarships reception On 22 March, we were delighted to welcome supporters of Scholarships at Kent to an evening reception at the University, thanking them for their generosity and giving them a chance to meet scholars benefitting from their gifts.

We were particularly pleased to welcome such a wide range of scholars to the event, representing many aspects of life at Kent, from our talented music scholars to those who have excelled in sporting or academic pursuits. Katy Upton, the 2011 Alumni Postgraduate Research Scholar, spoke about her research on amphibians in the Peruvian Amazon, and highlighted the importance of her scholarship in allowing her the time to research, travel, and network with experts in her field.

Thank you to everyone who joined us, and all of those who generously support our students.

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The Chancellor’s Fund The University would like to record its grateful thanks to the Chancellor, Sir Robert Worcester, for establishing The Chancellor’s Fund in 2007. The Fund is now supporting a wide range of University projects including music, and awards academic scholarships and prizes to students from a variety of schools.

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Green Impact

Green Impact success Winners Gold Award Medway Student Services Origins (Darwin) Research Services

Silver Award School of Engineering and Digital Arts

Bronze Award

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The Green Impact initiative celebrated its third year at Kent with an awards ceremony on 26 April. Award-winners were presented with their prizes by the Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Julia M Goodfellow.

Almost a quarter of University staff are now influenced by Green Impact and there have been over 700 positive environmental actions, from introducing new recycling facilities to promoting sustainable transport to visitors. The Green Impact team hopes to encourage more departments, and especially academic schools, to take part next year by introducing an introductory level. This will provide a simple framework for new teams to begin embedding good environmental practice and familiarise themselves with the scheme.

The Green Impact team is delighted with the initiative’s success which, this year, attracted 25 teams – up from 16 last year – representing departments and schools across the University.

In total, 20 teams gained accreditation with 16 Bronze, 1 Silver and 3 Gold winners (see right).

For the first time, catering outlets competed alongside other teams through their own bespoke online workbook. The catering scheme has been such a success that the National Union of Students (NUS), who manage the Green Impact project, are hoping to roll it out nationwide next year.

Corporate Communications Deanery Dolche Vita (Keynes) Enrolment Management Services Estates project team Finance Gulbenkian Café and Bar Human Resources K Bar (Keynes) Kent Innovation and Enterprise Mungo’s (Eliot) Rutherford kitchen School of Economics School of Politics and International Relations Vista Vista (Sports Pavilion) Vice-Chancellor’s Section

Special awards

Environmental Co-ordinator Catherine Morris said: ‘It’s great to see so many new teams this year and to see the scheme go from strength to strength. I was especially pleased this year that so many students were able to be involved in Green Impact either as part of their school’s team or as one of our auditors.’

As well as achieving one of the standards on offer, all participating departments had an opportunity to submit text as part of three special awards. The Office Depot Innovation, Best Energy Saving Idea and Environmental Hero awards were judged by an independent expert.

To learn more about the scheme or get involved, please contact greenimpact@kent.ac.uk

Office Depot Innovation Award Deanery

Best Energy Saving Idea School of Engineering and Digital Arts

Environmental Hero 1

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Winston Waller and Dr Jim Ang collect the Silver Award for the School of Engineering and Digital Arts – the highest scoring academic school for the third year running.

Sue Prout, Green Champion for Research Services, collects one of the three Gold Awards.

KENT Magazine

Lynne Regan from Medway Student Services

In memoriam

Obituary Sir Robert Horton, 1939-2011 Sir Robert Horton, DCL (honoris causa), the University of Kent’s third Chancellor, died on 30 December 2011 aged 72. He attended every meeting of the University’s Court and every graduation congregation but one during his five years as Chancellor, accompanied by Lady Horton. He was someone I knew well and greatly admired, initially from when he was a rising star at British Petroleum, then Chairman of BP Chemicals, before promotion after promotion until he was made Chairman of one of the world’s great oil companies.

Sir Robert was educated at the King’s School, Canterbury, attended University College, Dundee, then part of the University of St Andrews, and won a Sloan Fellowship to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, which began a close relationship with

America. At one point in his career, he left BP to become President of Standard Oil and then, when it merged with BP, became President of BP America before his appointment as BP’s Chairman and then later as Chairman of Railtrack.

Robert Horton was also Chairman of the Tate Gallery Foundation, on the Board of MIT and served as a Governor of King’s School, Canterbury, for nearly 20 years.

Robert Horton was installed as Chancellor of the University on 24 November 1990 and served until the end of 1995 when he was succeeded

by Sir Crispin Tickell.

Sir Robert’s portrait is in the University’s Senate Building. The Court’s minute of the unveiling of his portrait records that he thanked ‘the University for five very enjoyable years as

Chancellor and said that he wished the University well for the future. The University’s future was bright and he would watch its progress with pride in the years ahead.’

Sir Robert Worcester, KBE DL Chancellor, University of Kent

Books The Body and Social Theory

‘It’s really a personal story,’ she says. ‘After being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2000, my life changed completely. I had to give up a job I was happy in and, at first, felt really angry and bitter about it all. But then I bought a horse and my interaction with her took me out of the shell I found myself trapped in by disease.’

Chris Shilling, Sage Publications Ltd Since the 1980s, the ‘rise of the body’ in sociology and related disciplines has developed into an interdisciplinary field that has affected profoundly the study of society, work, identity, culture and technology.

Chris Shilling, Professor of Sociology at the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, will publish the third edition of his book The Body and Social Theory in September 2012.

Few books have been as influential as Chris’s in helping to establish and consolidate this concern with the embodied basis of social action and cultural life. It was first published in 1993 and has been translated widely, reprinted 13 times, cited on well over 2,000 occasions in books and articles, and reviewed as a ‘contemporary classic’.

Chris says: ‘The third edition engages with some of the important developments in the field over the last 20 years. It addresses the centrality of the body to identity, explores the growing importance of what I’ve referred to as body work, examines how an appreciation of the absent-presences of

embodied existence and death can inform our understanding of inter-generational communication and influence, and touches on the importance of such developments as actor network theory and neuroscience.’

Find out more at www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book235613

Horseplay Gillian Ware, Melrose Books The real-life story of a woman and her first horse is the inspiration behind a new novel by University receptionist Gillian Ware. Gillian wrote Horseplay based on the diaries she kept while recovering from illness with the help of her horse.

Although a keen rider as a child, Gillian knew nothing about keeping a horse and Horseplay is based on the learning curve of her experiences.

She says: ‘I really hope that many people get as much pleasure from reading my book as I have from my horse.’

Gillian first worked at the University of Kent in the early 1970s before travelling and living in Europe for around 15 years. On her return to the UK in 1991, she joined the Home Office as an Immigration Officer, based in Dover. She returned to the University in 2007, firstly working as a notetaker for the Disability and Dyslexia Support Unit and then moving to Keynes College reception on the Canterbury campus.

Further information, news, blog and pictures can be found on Gillian’s website at www.gillianwareauthor.com

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Kent in the news

Who’s what where Class Notes are also available online at www.kent.ac.uk/alumni

Kent experts continue to feature strongly in international and national news coverage. There have been contributions from, among others, the schools of Politics and International Relations, Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSR) and English, as well as Kent Business School, Kent Law School and the Centre for Journalism.

International broadcast coverage of University research and expert comment included Professor Richard Sakwa, of Politics and International Relations, who commented on the Russian elections and was featured by ABC (Australia), CNN, CNBC-TV (India) and Russian Profile. Professor Alex Stevens, of SSPSSR, was interviewed by CBC (Canada) on Portuguese drug criminalisation while Dr Francesco Messineo, of Kent Law School, provided comment on the Council of Europe inquiry into the migrant boat tragedy for Italian broadcasters Class TV-MSNBC and Radio Capital. Professor Tim Luckhurst, of the Centre for Journalism, commented for American Public Radio on James and Rupert Murdoch’s appearances before the Leveson Inquiry.

National broadcast coverage included Professor Marion FitzGerald, of SSPSSR, commenting on a decision by a police force to outsource part of its operation and Dr Will Pettigrew, of the School of History, on Antislavery International Walking Tours, both for BBC News. Also appearing on the BBC were Professor David Herd, of the School of English, who took part in Radio 4’s Adventures In Poetry to discuss the American poet e.e. cummings, and Dr Paolo Dardanelli, of Politics and International Relations, who featured on the same channel’s Beyond Westminster programme to comment on direct democracy and Swiss politics. Dr Beth Breeze, of SSPSSR, also featured on BBC Radio 4 to discuss the morality of philanthropic giving.

Regional broadcast coverage included Dr Mark Hampton, of Kent Business School, for BBC South East on the economy of Reunion Island, and from the same school, Professor Katie Truss discussing employee engagement issues for BBC Radio Kent. Dr David Roberts, of the School of Anthropology and Conservation, commented on the impact on wildlife of unseasonable weather, while his school colleague, Professor Richard Griffiths, appeared on BBC’s Inside Out programme to discuss the effects of a prolonged drought on wildlife. Graham Holmes, Mel Clewlow and Ben Trott, all of Kent Sport, commented on 100 days to the Olympics for BBC South East and Radio Kent.

International, national and regional online and print coverage included coverage of research by Dr Sarah Johns, of Anthropology and Conservation, into the assumption that the colour red acts as a proxy for female genitalia colour. This story appeared in the Mail on Sunday, Times of India, Science Daily, Live Science and Allure. Dr Jim Groombridge, of the same school, was featured in Wildlife Extra and Scientist Live for his research to gain new insights into a rare virus that is threatening to wipe out the Mauritius parakeet. The School of Arts’ Dr Oliver Double was featured online on BBC News commenting on Shakespearean fools, while fine art students from the same school received online coverage in Rochester People for Artistic Solutions, their final-year show of work.

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KENT Magazine

Key:

70s

D Darwin | E Eliot K Keynes | R Rutherford W Woolf

Kizilbash, Perwaiz (R70) I worked as a development engineer in the UK from 1973-78. I returned back to Karachi (Pakistan) in 1978 and joined Pakistan Steel Mills. In 1983 I joined Pakistan Machine Toll Factory (PMTF), Karachi, where a new shop of CNC (Computerised Numerical Control) machines was being established. I married in 1981 and have four children, one girl and three boys. My daughter, Naba, got married in 2007 and now I have two granddaughters. I retired as a Dy. General Manager from PMTF in Dec 2010. Friends and colleagues (1970 – 1973) can contact me via the Alumni Office. Karachi, Pakistan, February 2012.

The year given is the year that each person commenced their studies at Kent, and the location at the end of each entry is from the mailing address we have for each individual. Please let us know if any corrections are required. To submit an entry, simply register on the alumni website and follow the links to Class Notes. You’ll be able to post updates, and search for news from your classmates. Alternatively, email us at alumni@kent.ac.uk.

60s Ross, Charles (R66) Sad reading the obituaries of my tutors and teachers at UKC (my BA) and Birmingham (my MA).

Living since 1984 in Eppertshausen in Germany and locally very active, having founded (with others) a One World Shop and a Twin Town (Codigoro in Italy) Organisation. Founded the first Hessian Marbles Club (Hessian Champions 2003 & 2004) and thereafter hosted the German Marbles Championship, but no further trophies – maybe next year! I'm a Nature Reserve Warden and keen birdwatcher. Self-employed, but gradually closing down the companies I have with my partners. Lucky to have four children, three grandchildren and one on the way – life promises to be fun.

Married to Annette since 1982. Golf handicap still only 39 (found myself in a lot of tricky situations!) so hoping for better things in 2012. Any bagpipe players out there? I am (as a feudal baron of Scotland) entitled to two to march in front of me – so get your applications in. Eppertshausen, Germany. November 2011.

Watte, Nigel (K70) Recently retired after many years teaching English and would love to hear from anyone who may remember me. Lincolnshire, November 2011.

80s Saward, Sarah (D82) Qualified CPFA. 1985-2008 Accountant – Westminster City Council – stopped work when husband became ill and disabled. Now undertaking voluntary work and a gardening course. Obtained Floristry C&G L2 and two OU short courses. Be great to hear from anyone who remembers me. Sussex, April, 2011.

Derus, Shima (E83) I studied Communications Engineering (went straight into 2nd year). Upon graduation, I worked with Telekom Malaysia. I pursued an MSc in Communications & Computer Networking at Leeds Metropolitan University in 1994, joined Ericsson AB in Malaysia in 2000 and left employment in 2005. I then started on a soul-searching journey and got myself involved in social works. For the past two years, I have been a real-estate negotiator with Malaysia's biggest realtor, Reapfield Properties. I am married with three adorable girls aged 21, 19 and 14 years. Contact me via the Alumni Office.

Subang Jaya, Malaysia, December 2011.

90s Bae, Younglae (K91) Greetings from South Korea! After 20 years at the Korean Institute of Science and Technology, I’m now working as a professor at Dept. of Digital Management, Chungbuk Provincial University, Korea. I’m missing you guys at the Control and Computer Research Laboratory. Contact me via the Alumni Office. ChungcheongBuk-Do, South Korea, September 2011.

Kuehling, Klaus (E93) I joined UKC in 1993 for one year with a focus on Chemistry. As there was no exchange program that I could join, I had the choice to collect a number of credits to eventually get the ‘University Diploma’ (which I did). A great year to remember with a lot of wonderful people from England and abroad. Back from UKC, I finished my studies in Germany with a Diploma in Polymer Chemistry and then did my PhD on enzyme catalysis and screening systems with the Max Planck Institute in Muelheim, Germany. Since 2000, I have been working for BASF in Ludwigshafen where I am currently working on energy storage systems in the context of electromobility. Ellerstadt, Germany, June 2011.

00s Mupemo, Flavian (E00) I left DICE in 2001 armed to my teeth with power tools in Conservation Biology. The same year, I joined the Zambia Wildlife Authority as Extension Services Manager responsible for refining and implementing the now famed community-based Natural Resources Management in Zambia. I left the Zambia Wildlife Authority in 2006 for the Reclassification and Effective Management of the National Protected Areas System Project in Bangweulu located in northern Zambia where I have since been serving as Technical Officer (or Team Leader). The six-year project aims at reviewing the national legislation, protected areas policies, expanding categories of Protected Areas (to have representative samples of habitats included in the Protected Area System and to devolve management

responsibilities to legislated bodies such as public/private/community partnership entities), identifying and creating mechanisms for tapping private sector finance to meet conservation costs in Protected Areas operated as a viable business. This ultimately is also aimed at making Zambia a tourist destination of choice. Lusaka, Zambia, November 2011.

Only Connect Lost touch with an old friend? The Kent alumni database team may be able to help. If we have a current address for them, we would be happy to forward a message from you. If we too have lost touch, Only Connect, which is printed in KENT twice a year, may get a response: And please, if you do connect, let us know! You can also search for old friends on our website – register at kent.ac.uk/alumni to search the alumni directory.

1980s

In memoriam

Antonio Galvez (E83) wltf Sameh Said (D82)

Since the last issue of KENT magazine went to press, the University has learned of the deaths of the following alumni, honorary graduates and former staff. If you would like to be put in touch with the families or friends of anyone listed here, please let us know – we may be able to help.

Matthias Kutzscher (E85) wltf Geoff Wallis (R85), Robert Pearce (E84) and Anthony Watt (K83) Mark Chapman (E86) wltf Tracy Howard (E86) Gary Steele (E86) wltf Catrin Davies (K94) Robert Sturgeon (K86) wltf Rika Ishii (K86) 1990s Roy Haworth (K91) wltf Richard Springate (K91), Robert Stroud (E91, Melanie Rowledge (E91), Erika Salafia (R91) and Stephane Simonnin (R93) Philip Thomas (E92) wltf Fay Gibson (D92) Geoff Phillips (D95) wltf Saurav Mitra (D95)

1960s

2000s

Tamara Dragadze (E66) wltf Helen King (K67)

Demetris Demetriou (E05) wltf Dmitry Bragin (E05)

Helen Mate (R66) wltf Dudley Winterbottom (R65) Sarah Roberts (Mitchell) (E66) wltf Amanda Farquhar (R66) and Petra Dolby (K66) Eitan Rehan (R67) wltf Jan Williams (D67)

Professor John Adams (former staff) Rebekah Alderson R06 Alison Allberry E65 Dr Edwin Boorman (honorary graduate 2004) John Boyle (K70) Professor Frank Cioffi (former staff) Kevin Fulcher R70 Sir Brandon Gough (honorary graduate 2009) Dr John Haynes (honorary graduate 1966) Sir Robert Horton (honorary graduate 1990) (see p21) Marc Jackson D03 Charles Lambie E82 Alan Langford E67 Valerie Lavers K02 Professer Jim Mansell (former staff) Craig Muir E82 Nafizah Nadzim E80 Clifford Pearce (honorary graduate 1991) Annabel Spencer Todd K75 Sir Maurice Wilkes (honorary graduate 1975)

1970s Phil Williams (E71) wltf Malcolm Bent (E71) Heather Carlyle (Cook) (R73) wltf Malcolm Fish (D73) Claudia Ives (McNulty) (R78) wltf Evelyne Little (R78)

KENT Magazine

23

What’s on

Gulbenkian Theatre highlights Sunday 17 June, 2pm, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly. The People’s Theatre Company brings one of the world’s bestloved nursery rhymes to life for the first time. This magical new show has been written especially for parents to enjoy with their children.

Tickets: £6. Suitable for ages 4+.

Monday 18 June, 7.30pm, Michael Winslow – The Man Of 10,000 Voices. A true Hollywood legend (best known for playing Sgt ‘Motor Mouth’ Jones in Police Academy) tours the UK for the first time.

Tickets: £15. Suitable for ages 16+.

Saturday 7 July, 7pm, The Girl with the Iron Claws. Following a sell-out success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011, The Wrong Crowd presents this captivating dark fairytale, which shares its roots with Beauty and the Beast. Tickets: £6.

Suitable for age 8+.

Monday 6 – Saturday 11 August 7.30pm The Old Stagers present, for their 161st season, You Never Can Tell, one of Bernard Shaw’s most delightful and popular comedies. A topical musical revue (known as the Epilogue) follows the play on Friday and Saturday nights.

Friday night is ‘gala night’, when there will be a 40-minute interval for picnickers. Black tie optional.

Tickets: Monday – 2 for the price of 1 £12; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – full £12/concessions £10; Friday- £19; Saturday – £15/concessions £12.

Gulbenkian Cinema highlights Friday 15 – Tuesday 19 June, Albert Nobbs (15) Friday 15 – Sunday 17 June, Goodbye First Love (15) Friday 22 June, Glyndebourne: La Cenerentola (recorded 2005). Sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Tickets £13 Sunday 24 June, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake 3D (PG).

Tickets £13 Saturday 23 – Tuesday 26 June, Dark Shadows (12A) Friday 29 – Monday 2 July, Café De Flore (15). French with English subtitles Sunday 1 July, Singin’ In The Rain (U)

Friday 6 – Thursday 12 July, Moonrise Kingdom (12A)

Studio 3 Gallery

Saturday 21 July, Top Cat: The Movie 3D (U)

A new exhibition, John Blackburn – And God Cryed will run from 24 September to 14 December 2012.

Opening times are Monday to Friday 9am-5pm and admission is free. For more information, see http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/wordsforpict ures/2012/02/02/john-blackburn-atstudio-3-gallery/

Friday 27 July, Grease Sing-ALong (PG)

Football reunion

Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 July, Jaws (PG)

Calling all Kent footballers! If you played for the University during your studies, please join us on Saturday 14 July for the Kent Football Reunion. In recent years, events have seen players from across the decades (and around the world!) returning for a game or two and the chance to catch-up with old friends.

Saturday 7 July, Beauty & The Beast 3D (U) Friday 20 – Monday 23 July, Prometheus 3D (CertTBC)

Sunday 29 July, Chariots Of Fire (PG) Friday 17 August, Glyndebourne: Le Nozze di Figaro (live). Sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Tickets: £15

The event kicks off at 3pm with games for those who wish to participate, before the drinks reception and dinner from 6.30pm.

If you wish to attend the drinks reception and dinner, the cost is £33 per person. This includes a glass of sparkling wine on arrival, a three-course meal, and half-bottle of wine. For more details, or to book, please contact the Alumni Relations Team on alumni@kent.ac.uk