Kent Initiatives

A need was highlighted for a dedicated role to work on and deliver the university's Technician Commitment action plan. In response to this need The Technical Manager (Technician Commitment) role was created to provide the university community with a dedicated resource for the Technician Commitment and its activities. This role supports the Head of Technical Services in the delivery of the Technician Commitment short- and long-term strategic plans through the implementation of its action plan.

The role was initially created as a secondment opportunity for internal candidates. It was successful in it's targets and objectives and was well received amongst the technical community internally and externally to the university. The value of the role was officially recognised by the university through its permanent implementation within the university's structure.

As part of Kent’s Technician Commitment activities and action plan, we created an opportunity for our IT & technical services community to apply for funding for Knowledge Exchange activities. 

This funding provides individuals from our technical community the opportunity to attend and participate in Knowledge Exchange events such as training, conferences, forums, lectures and expos (online, in-person, off-site and on-site) that is relevant to their role, teams and career development.

As part of our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, the funding application has incorporated a confidential supplement application process that takes into consideration and addresses, to the best of our abilities, some ‘barriers’ that individuals may face. In this case, a barrier is considered to be something that that would prevent an individual from applying for and attending a Knowledge Exchange event. We offer, anyone that applies for funding, the ability to apply confidentially for additional financial support, where possible and funding permitting (e.g., supporting one person should not deplete the majority of funding allocated and therefore disadvantage others ability to apply), in order to put measures in place that would support and facilitate the attendance of the individual to their chosen event (e.g., those with caring responsibilities or disabilities).