Events of May

It's like 1968 all over again. Sort of. Well, a lot of the events we've got planned may well mark 'the beginning of a prolonged struggle'. But be brave! Come along to one of the many events we've got planned, and we'll help you in the (funding) struggle. All are free, there are refreshments, and all staff are welcome, but do let me know if you would like to attend any or all of them so that I can get an idea of numbers.

4 May: UKRO VISIT

•  European Research Council Starting Grants (Keynes LT3, 12:30 -2pm) The next round of European Research Council Starting Grants is due to open in July, with deadlines early in the new year. These grants are very generous, offering those with 2-12 years postdoc experience up to €1.5m for 5 years. Competition is fierce, but success rates are on a par with those for Research Councils. Jo Frost, our Brussels’ UK Research Office (UKRO) rep, will provide an insight into these grants, and Funding Officers will be on hand to offer practical advice about

• Marie Curie Fellowships (Keynes LT3, 2pm – 3:30pm) Jo Frost will follow up her ERC talk by providing more information on the Marie Curie Fellowships. These are intended to encourage mobility for researchers within Europe. They can be on an individual basis, or as a network. The MC schemes are popular, and they have recently been revised by the EC. Jo will tell us more about these changes, and what the Commission has planned for the next Framework Programme.

9 May: EUROPE DAY

• PVC LUNCHTIME SEMINAR: ‘Europeanisation’ (Peter Brown Room, Darwin, 12:30-2pm) To mark Europe Day a special PVC’s Lunchtime Seminar will look at ‘Europeanisation.’ The Seminars offer a chance to find out about what research is happening across the University, and to meet others outside your School. The speakers are:  

Simone Glanert (Law): ‘How ‘Common' Is a Common Law Without a Common Language and a Common Discourse: (Uncommon) Thoughts on the European Union’.

Ben Hutchinson (SECL): ‘International Challenges for National Archives’.

Roger Vickerman (Economics): ‘Economic integration through regional and transport policies in Europe’.

Paolo Dardanelli (Politics & IR): ‘European integration, party strategies, and state restructuring’.

• GRANTS FACTORY: ‘Eurovision: the Pros and Cons of European Funding’ (Peter Brown Room, Darwin, 2pm-3:30pm) This is a rerun of last year’s sell-out seminar  that offers a warts and all view of the European funding. The EC is notorious for the complexity of its applications, but unlike the UK funding for research is ringfenced and growing. Jenny Billings (CHSS) and Simon Thompson (Computing), both veterans of EU funding, offer their insights into the highs and lows of applying for, managing and reviewing  European applications. Places are limited, so book early. 

10 May: UNDERSTANDING & APPLYING TO THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH (NIHR) (Senate Building, 10am-4:30pm) Government funding for health-related research is distributed by the MRC and the NIHR. The MRC deals with basic research, the NIHR with research that will affect the NHS, including social care and public health research. Last year it gave out £210.5m of research grants through a range of programmes. This event will be a chance to understand how these differ and fit together. The programme will include talks by members of NIHR, as well as those who have had NIHR funding, and have helped with applications in the past. The full programme can be seen on the blog, here.

30 May: GRANTS FACTORY: Writing Better Bids (Venue TBC, 10am-12pm) This perennial favourite runs three times a year, and provides those attending with an overview of what makes a good application, and how to draft your application so that it is clear, readable and convincing. David Shemmings provides insights based on the ’Grants Factory’ method developed by Prof Andrew Derrington (formerly Dean of Social Sciences, now PVC at Liverpool) and Jacqueline Aldridge.  These are always well attended; book now if you’re planning to draft a proposal.

Lunchtime Seminars: Call for Topics

The PVC’s Lunchtime Seminars have now been running for four years. They have given staff and pg students an opportunity to explore a research area from a multidisciplinary perspective, and have focused on issues as varied as violent and non-violent protest, genetic disease, risk, institutions, the environment, vocations, neuroscience and security. Over the years more than eighty academics have taken part, and hundreds have come along to listen, question, and meet others.

Over the summer we will be preparing the programme for next year. If you’ve got a good idea for a subject that would benefit from an interdisciplinary approach and would be willing to lead on it, do get in touch.

PVC's Lunchtime Seminars: 'Violent & Nonviolent Protest'

The final PVC’s Lunchtime Research Seminar of the year is a change to that originally advertised, and will focus on ‘protest’:

'Violent & Nonviolent Protest’
Wednesday 11th May 2011 12.30pm-2pm
Cornwallis NW Seminar Room 5

Recently, heroic protests, both violent and non-violent, have achieved astonishing results in some countries in the Middle East. But there have also been protestations at some kinds of protest. The front cover of a recent Private Eye shows Colonel Gaddafi saying to a sidekick ‘What news of the rebels?’, and the sidekick replying ‘They’ve invaded Fortnum and Masons’. Great figures such as Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King have advocated nonviolence, and we tend to think of nonviolent protest as noble. Why? What happens when nonviolent protest is ineffectual? Under what circumstances, if any, is violent protest justified? These are some of the issues that will be debated in this session. The convenor is Laurence Goldstein (SECL) and the other speakers are Helen Frowe (Philosophy), Adrian Pabst (PolIR) , David Radlett (KLS) and William Rowlandson (Hispanic Studies).

A light lunch is available from 12:30pm, together with tea and coffee, and the Seminar itself will start around 1pm.

All are welcome, but do let me know if you would like to come so that I can get a sense of numbers.

Work! What Is it Good for?

Thanks to all those who were able to make it to the 'Reworking Work' Lunchtime Seminar today. Tim Strangleman (SSPSSR) started by outlining the purpose of the Seminar, namely to hear about the range of research with a focus on 'work' that was already happening across the University, but also to kick start a 'work network'.

He spoke a little about his own work, which focuses on ideas of identity, representation and culture, and encompasses the sociology and historiography of work. He has recently worked on the Park Royal Brewery archive, where Guinness was brewed. It contained a rich visual record of the life of the plant, as well as its construction and destruction.

David Hornsby (SECL) spoke of his interest in how work is a factor in modulating our language: for example, we don't expect a coal miner and a banker to have the same accent, vocabulary or syntax. Patricia Lewis (KBS) talked about gender and entrepreneurship. Currently 75% of entrepreneurs are male, and a lot of the language of business reflects this, 'penetrating virgin territory' being an extreme example.

Joachim Stoeber (Psychology) outlined the relatively under-researched question of perfectionism and work. Whilst some work has been done on the negative connotations of this - such as stress - little had been done on the positive - such as efficiency. Finally Dawn Lyon (SSPSSR) finished by explaining her BA-funded project on craft, workmanship and labour, particularly in relation to the processing of fish. Her project had looked at how a trade is learnt and conveyed, tools handled and knowledge transmitted. In addition she had done research on collective identity and memory (in relation to ship building in Sheppey), and on the visual representation of work (in the refurbishment of the Medway Campus).

I know UCAS days, Union meetings and the myriad other draws on academic time might have prevented you from coming, and I'd like to invite all those with a research interest in work to get in touch to be a part of a 'work' network across the University. Such a network will act as a focus for future discussion, debate and collaboration.

In the meantime there's time to look forward to the next Lunchtime Seminar, to be held on 11 May, which will look at 'Violent and Non-violent Protest.' Do let me know if you'd like to come along.

PVC's Lunchtime Seminars: 'Reworking Work'

After the stimulating discussion at the last Lunchtime Seminar, it’s time to look forward to the next, on April 6th.

'Reworking Work'
Wednesday 6th April 2011 12.30-2pm
Keynes Seminar Room 17

This will be the launch event of the University of Kent’s research network on work. Staff from across the University will give short talks on their research followed by a discussion about developing the network in the future. We would especially like to encourage postgraduate students to attend the event.

• Dr Tim Strangleman, Reader in Sociology, SSPSSR, ‘Visualising Work Identity’
• Dr David Hornsby, Senior Lecturer English Language and Linguistics, SCEL, 'Language, work and social network'
• Dr Patricia Lewis, Senior Lecturer in Management, KBS, 'Revealing Masculinities and Femininities in Entrepreneurship'
• Dr Joachim Stoeber, Reader in Psychology, School of Psychology, ‘Personality at Work’
• Dr Dawn Lyon, Lecturer in Sociology, SSPSSR, ‘Working Bodies and Space’
  

A light lunch will be available from 12:30pm. Do let me know if you intend to come so that I can arrange the catering.

Thoughts on the 'Vocation' Lunchtime Seminar

I went along to the excellent Lunchtime Seminar yesterday. A wide ranging panel tackled the concept of vocation from different perspectives: Iain Mackenzie looked at the vocation of teaching, Stefan Rossbach considered the religious vocation, Abdulrazak Gurnah the artistic or writer’s vocation, and Farzin Deravi the academic. There was a refreshing disagreement amongst the panellists on how vocation should be understood, and the audience engaged and challenged them. Issues of excellence, professionalism, commitment, sacrifice, responsibility and visibility were raised, and these were interrogated and questioned to see if they were integral or irrelevant to vocation.

Talking to people afterwards, I got the sense that the discussion had energised and inspired people, but that it had also raised awareness of people and ideas outside of their immediate disciplines. It was what I’d always wanted the series to be: a chance to take an hour out of the academic routine to look beyond your own School and find out what’s happening elsewhere on campus, and potentially be stimulated by alternative disciplinary viewpoints.

There are two Seminars left this year: ‘Reworking Work’ on 6 April, and ‘Violent and Non-violent Protest’ on 11 May. Do come along if you are able.

PVC's Lunchtime Seminars: 'Vocation'

The next PVC’s Lunchtime Seminar is due to take place on Wednesday 16 March at 12: 30pm, and will focus on 'Vocation'.

In our target-driven academic culture, it can be difficult for scholars to find a deeper sense of meaning or worth in their research and teaching. This seminar, involving people from a number of different disciplines, is about the nature of ‘vocation’ and what it can tell us about the scholarly enterprise. Drawing on both spiritual and secular approaches, and speaking from personal and theoretical perspectives, the contributors will explore if and how their university work can be seen as a kind of ‘calling’ that transcends the immediate box-ticking requirements of the job. This is important, for it is surely only work done out of real conviction that is of the highest quality.

Those speaking at the event will include:

• Dr Philip Boobbyer (History)
• Dr Farzin Deravi (Engineering & Digital Arts)
• Professor Abdulrazak Gurnah (English)
• Dr Iain Mackenzie (Politics)
• Dr Stefan Rossbach (Politics)
  

All are welcome; as ever, the seminar is intended to be of interest to those working in a wide range of disciplines. The event will take place in Keynes Lecture Theatre 6 (KLT6). Lunch will be available at 12:30pm, and the talks and discussion will be between 1 – 2pm. Do let me know if you would like to come so that I can arrange catering.

PVC's Lunchtime Seminars: 'Medical Research & Raising Money from Non-standard Sources'

The next PVC’s Lunchtime Seminar is due to take place on Wednesday 2 February at 12: 30pm.

Medical Research at the University
and Raising Money from 'Non-Standard’ Sources

Lab-based medical research is expensive. Typically, funding must be found for the salary and stipends of the investigators and researchers, plus consumable costs, equipment and overheads. As it is becoming increasingly difficult to access Research Council funding, attention is turning to "non-standard" means such as charities and philanthropists. While some charities (such as the Wellcome Trust or Cancer Research UK) act in similar ways to the Research Councils (i.e. a grant application for a post-doc, consumables and equipment), other organisations and individuals may provide funding for specific projects in focussed areas for smaller sums. Cooperating with charities may also offer a potential avenue for social and economic ‘impact’. These collaborations can make all the difference to the research profile of an academic.

Professor Bill Gullick will chair a session in which Professor Darren Griffin will give a brief overview of the lab-based medical research going on in the University, an idea of some of the charities that give money to the University and some examples of how small pots of money can make big differences. Mary Buchanan of the Kent Cancer Trust will talk about the activities of the charity and some of its successes, and Alison Coles, the Director of the Development Office, will say a few words about the prospects for philanthropic giving at the University. The session will finish with Professor Gullick leading a discussion about the issues raised in the presentation.

All are welcome; the seminar will have relevance to all Sciences, but to many other disciplines beyond. The event will take place in the Senate Building. Lunch will be available at 12:30, and the talks and discussion will be between 1 – 2pm. Do let me know if you would like to come so that I can arrange catering.

PVC's Lunchtime Seminars: 'Drama & Neuroscience'

After the packed-out success of the first PVC’s Lunchtime Seminar this year, the next will be taking place on Wed 1 December in the Senate Building. This time the focus is on Drama and Neuroscience. Hosted by Dr Nicola Shaughnessy (Arts), there will be an external speaker, Lorna Marshall, who will bring her experiences and insights to the Seminar.

All are welcome. Lunch will be available in the Foyer from 12:30, with the Seminar to follow at 1pm in the Chamber. Do let me know if you intend to come so that I can book the catering.

PVC's Lunchtime Seminars: 'Risk & Uncertainty'

The first PVC’s Lunchtime Seminar of 2010-11 will be taking place in two weeks time on Wednesday 3rd November, and will focus on 'Decision Making under Risk and Uncertainty: a View from across the Sciences'.

This seminar will try to explain how quantitative subjects measure and account for uncertainty in decision making. We will look at examples from monetary policy making, environmental conservation and extinction probabilities, evaluating probability of low frequency high impact events in finance e.g. house price crashes, and how we can deal with increasing life expectancies. The speakers (Prof Jagjit Chadha (Economics) and Dr David Roberts (DICE), Prof Radu Tunaru (KBS) and Prof Paul Sweeting (SMSAS)) will provide short intuitive outlines of their work, followed by a discussion of the issues raised.

Lunch will be available from 12:30pm, and the Seminar itself will start at 1pm. All are welcome, and the event will take place in Woolf Seminar Room 5. I would appreciate it if you could let me know if you intend to come along so that I can book the food.

PVC's Lunchtime Seminars 2010-11 Programme Announced

Prof John Baldock, PVC Research at Kent, has announced the Lunchtime Seminars programme for 2010-11.

As in previous years, these are an opportunity for academics from across the University to get together to hear about work happening in other Schools, to share expertise, and identify areas of common interest that might lead to future collaboration, funding and publication.

This year we have asked staff to suggest topics, and the programme reflects a diverse range of people who volunteered to host a session.

Do come along if you are able. Lunch is available from 12:30, and the Seminars themselves begin at 1pm. The format is usually one where the panel make very short presentations of their work and arguments and then discussion amongst the panel and with the audience follows. The events end just before 2.00pm. Venues will be confirmed in due course. Please contact me if you would like to attend any or all of these events.

The Pro Vice Chancellor Research
presents
Lunchtime Research Seminars 2010-11

• 3 November 2010: ‘Decision Making under Risk and Uncertainty: a View from across the Sciences’, hosted by Prof Jagjit Chadha (Economics) and Dr David Roberts (DICE)
• 1 December 2010: ‘Drama and Neuroscience', hosted by Fran Barbe (Arts)
• 2 February 2011: ‘Experiences of Working with Local Charities to Support Research', hosted by Profs Darren Griffin & Bill Gullick (Biosciences)
• 9 March 2011: 'What Does It Mean to Have a Vocation? Spiritual and Secular Perspectives', hosted by Dr Philip Boobbyer (History) and Dr Stefan Rossbach (Politics)
• 6 April 2011: 'Reworking Work’, hosted by Dr Tim Strangleman (SSPSSR)
• 11 May 2011: ‘Sub-conscious Aspects of Decision Making’, hosted by Prof Laurence Goldstein (SECL)
  

PVC's Lunchtime Seminars: It's Your Call

The PVC’s Lunchtime Seminars at Kent have now been running for three years. They have provided an opportunity for staff from different Schools to meet others and hear about the research that goes on elsewhere across the University.

Previously, the topics or the hosts for the Seminars have been chosen by us. This year I’d like to open it up and ask for your suggestions. Ideally they should be topics which have the potential for interdisciplinary cross-over (particularly across faculties), or involve speakers who are open to, and have some record of, interdisciplinary collaboration.

I hope to prepare the programme in September, so if you could get back to me before then, that would be great.

Details of last year’s programme are available here.

'Violence': Seminar Recording Available & Next Meeting

Thanks to all those who took part in the 'Relgion, Community and Violence' Lunchtime Seminar at the end of last month. For anyone who didn't make it (or even if you did and want to relive it!), a recording is available on the Research Services website here.
The Violence Research Group will meet again on 12 May between 3:30-4:30. It will focus on considering where next to go with the Group: there is clearly a wide interdisciplinary interest in violence at the University, but how should this be developed, and what specific activities should be undertaken, including possible collaborative research? In addition they will think about another public event, possibly on the theme of whether violence is innate or learned. If you want to be involved drop me a line.

Lunchtime Seminar: 'Energy Security and Climate Change'

Dr Amelia Hadfield in the School of Politics and International Relations will be hosting the next PVC’s Lunchtime Seminar on 5 May.

She will bring together a panel of academics to examine two key aspects of contemporary energy policy: ‘energy security and climate change’. As well as outlining the broad definitions of what these are as government policies, she is also keen to discuss these from the perspective of those on whom it actually impacts: consumers of energy, ordinary citizens.

It’s free, and all are welcome. It will be held in the Senate Chamber, with lunch from 12:30pm. Do let me know if you can come.

PVC's Lunchtime Seminars: 'Flesh and the Body'

Patricia Debney, a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing based in the School of English, will be taking the helm for the next PVC’s Lunchtime Seminars. She will be leading a discussion on ‘Flesh and the Body’, and in particular focusing on illness and ideas of 'normality': how do we understand and negotiate them in their social, cultural, artistic and medical contexts? She will also explore notions of physical 'difference' more generally, in both its visible and invisible forms. How do society, culture and individuals understand and incorporate ‘difference’?

As always, the panel and the audience will be made up of a wide range of academics from across all faculties who will be able to input into the discussion. All are welcome, but I’d appreciate letting me know if you intend to come so we can sort out the catering.

Extra PVC Lunchtime Seminar Announced

An extra PVC's Lunchtime Seminar has been added to this year's programme of events. It will take place on 31 March, and will focus on 'Religion, Community and Violence'. It comes out of the violence research cluster that has been developing this year, and will act to showcase the range and breadth of research going on in this area. Hosted by Prof Larry Ray, it will include Drs William Rowlandson (SECL), Lucy Williams (SSPSSR), and Chris Deacy (SECL), and Glenn Bowman from Anthropology. Do get in touch if you would like to come along.

PVC's Lunchtime Seminars: 'Diagnosing Diseases in IVF Embryos'

Following on from the thoughtful and engaging discussions on ‘Experts’ and ‘Institutions’ last term, the first PVC’s Lunchtime Seminar of 2010 will be taking place later this month. Prof Darren Griffin (Biosciences) will be looking at the ethical, legal, social, psychological and biological issues around the diagnosis of diseases in IVF embryos. He will be joined by Prof Sally Sheldon from Kent Law School, and the audience will include a range of academics who will be able to contribute to the discussion, including some from SSPSSR, SECL (Philosophy) and the Centre for Health Service Studies (CHSS).

In addition, whilst Darren was in the process of putting together a course proposal for an MSc course provisionally entitled “Reproductive Medicine: Science and Ethics” he became aware of just how much interest there was in this field within the University (albeit from a range of different disciplines). Thus he would be interesting in hearing from people who might be interested in becoming involved in a research cluster around this area, which would meet 3 or 4 times a year to discuss various issues (perhaps a recent paper or piece of legislation) from a range of different perspectives, or invite an eminent speaker. This might, in turn, lead to new ideas for publications or avenues of funding.
Do let me know if you would like to come along so that I can arrange the catering. It will take place between 12:30 – 2pm on 27 Jan in Keynes Seminar Room 17. Lunch will be provided.

PVC's Lunchtime Seminar: 'Institutions'

A quick reminder about tomorrow's PVC's Lunchtime Seminar. Prof Jeremy Carrette in SECL has drawn together an interesting and diverse panel to discuss the notion of 'Institutions,' broadly defined. Institutions are part of the fabric of our social world. We live and work inside them, we are shaped by them and organised by them. They can range from social habits and behaviours to more formal organisations. They can be personal engagements, like marriage, and public international structures, like the EU and the United Nations. They can be physical buildings and invisible social contracts. They can create conflict and be mechanisms to resolve conflict. In the wake of the world economic crisis the politic of institutions returned to intellectual debate: banking institutions failed and government institutions prevailed. The crisis reopened the problem of individualism and government; it sparked old debates about freedom, power, individual choice and the very nature of our institutional life.

This seminar, following the style of the previous PVC seminar, takes the Radio 4 ‘In Our Time’ format to explore the issue of institutions in the present global climate. Are institutions the source of knowledge and power in the contemporary global world?

• Professor Jeremy Carrette (SECL, Religious Studies) will chair a discussion on the theme of institutions with five academics from the University of Kent from across the fields of sociology and political science. Professor Carrette has recently secured the largest grant in the AHRC’s Religion and Society Programme for a project looking at religious NGOs and the UN.


• Dr. Gulnur Aybet (PolIR) a specialist on NATO, the EU and security issues


• Dr. Patrick Brown (SSPSSR) a specialist on healthcare institutions


• Dr. Frank Grundig (PolIR) a specialist on international institutions


• Dr. Monika Krause (SSPSSR) a specialist on humanitarian aid and NGOs


• Dr. Adrian Pabst (PolIR) a specialist on institutional economics

Violence Research Group

I went to a very productive meeting of the new 'Violence Research Group' on Tuesday. It was a small gathering - many couldn't make it because of teaching commitments - but there was an obvious enthusiasm for developing the Group as a forum for meeting others with shared or complementary interests around research into violence, for exploring issues and for engaging with people outside the University. Those attending agreed to host two public debates in the New Year: one on religion and violence, and the other on the biological or social causes of violence. They also suggested getting involved in the PVC's Lunchtime Seminars. More details to follow. The Group will be meeting next on 12 January; come along if you are interested in finding out more.

PVC's Lunchtime Seminars: Jeremy Carrette and 'Institutions'

After the success of the last Lunchtime Seminar, led by Charlotte Sleigh, which drew a capacity audience to listen to a fascinating discussion on the nature of expertise, next month's is already taking shape. The host this time will be Prof Jeremy Carrette, who has recently won the largest grant given by the AHRC in their Religion and Society programme. His project will examine the relationship of religious NGOs to the UN in New York and Geneva. Understandable, then, that he has chosen to focus on 'Institutions' for his Lunchtime Seminar. He's invited speakers from Politics and International Relations and SSPSSR, and will be using the same 'In Our Time' format that worked so well for Charlotte. It will take place on 9 December at 12:30pm. All are welcome; contact me if you'd like to come along.