Community engagement

Academics working towards our signature research theme, Positive Environmental Futures, have created an online database of more than 150 international researchers working across a wide range of environmental specialisms. From energy, agriculture and finance to ecology, architecture and transport, the database will help you to find the expertise needed to achieve your climate ambitions, find research collaborators and collectively reduce our climate impact. This new tool will help to connect this expertise with teachers, businesses and policymakers across Kent. From engagement activities with schools to technology transfer with businesses, this is a crucial step in the transition to net-zero.’ 

To find out more, visit the project website and search the database here: https://research.kent.ac.uk/environmental-sustainability-experts/ 

We offer a range of in-school talks delivered by our academics. This can be on their current research, about their general research area or about how a topic on the curriculum relates back to studies and research at a university.

If there is anything specific you are looking for, feel free to reach out to us. Due to their flexible nature, these talks can also be adapted to suit a range of age groups.

We have an active outreach team who work with a variety of local schools in order to provide opportunities to students from low income households, from low participation areas, who are care experiences, who are young carers, who are or have previously been in receipt of free school meals, from military families, from traveller communities, who are asylum seekers or refugees, or who are studying without the support of their family.

We have run many campus visits for students from our partner schools and colleges, including a collaboration with the Division of Law, Sociology and Social justice. Students have previously had the opportunity to collect and analyse evidence from a crime scene, and then take part in a mock trial in our MOOT court.

We are proud to be a part of Discovery Planet’s efforts to bring inspirational, enriching and creative experiences to the heart of local communities. Historically, this support has consisted of running a series of workshops for primary schools in Ramsgate. If you are interested in learning more about this program, we recommend checking out Discovery Planet’s website.

We are in the process of developing a virtual learning environment which can support students from low income households doing their GCSEs. The aim of this project is to provide support similar to that found within revision guides without the associated financial barriers. Once this is live, we will be distributing access to the program through our partner schools.

If you are interested in participating in any of the above outreach programs or wanting to offer it out to your students, feel free to email us at natsoutreach@kent.ac.uk for more details.