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INSIDE SPORT AND EXERCISE SCIENCES Spring 2016 MINI Edition
Spring 2016
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INSIDE THIS EDITION Welcome to the Spring 2016 MINI edition of the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences newsletter, designed specifically for Applicants to take a look inside the School... Kent
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Graduate prospects
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The Employability Points Scheme Rewarding Students for Extra-Curricular Activities Drop In Personal Development Planning Service Improve Your Academic and Transferable Skills School Updates New Facilities For This September Changes for the Benefit of Our Students Research Highlights / Think Kent
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Mind Over Muscle? Limits to Endurance Performance Professor Samuele Marcora Talks Muscle Fatigue Optimising Endurance Performance and Training in Elite Cyclists By Professor Louis Passfield, Head of School
DID YOU KNOW? The School now has its own Instagram page! To see for yourself all the latest goings on, follow us @UniKentSportSci Spring 2016
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WHY COME TO KENT?
Why Come to Kent? Still deciding which University you want to go to? Take a look at our top 10 reasons to choose Kent. 10. Strong League Table Position The University of Kent is ranked 14th for Sports Science according to the 2016 Guardian University League Tables. 9. Research Culture The University of Kent ranked 18th in the UK for Research Intensity in Sports Science according to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework.
Spring 2016
8. Investment Ready for September 2016 we are having two new laboratories built on the ground floor of the Medway Building. One of them is specifically for biomechanics teaching and research. 7. Inspirational Teaching Both our undergraduate and postgraduate teaching is informed by the latest research evidence. We provide students with a balance of research and theory, whilst also developing applied professional skills.
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6. Opportunities to Get Involved With over 50 clubs and societies with GK Union at Medway and over 250 with Kent Union at Canterbury, there are plenty of opportunities to join sports teams or societies. 5. Prime Campus Location Medway is ideally located in the Chatham Maritime, five minutes’ walk from a cinema complex. Medway is also a short car journey away from Bluewater shopping centre, and has direct train routes into London from the surrounding train stations. 4. Employability Prospects 80-90% of our students go on to work or further study, 6 months after graduation according the 2015 NSS. For more information on careers opportunities after graduation please see www.kent.ac.uk/sportsciences/ employability/index.html Spring 2016
3. Facilities We have state-of-the-art facilities used for both teaching and research. Students have access to out world class equipment both on Campus and at our Medway Park labs and clinics. 2. Student Life Our previous graduates have described the Medway Campus as ‘a family’ and that the great mix of diverse students is what makes student life great. Read more on what our graduates had to say at www.kent.ac.uk/sportsciences/ employability/graduate-profiles.html 1. Student Rating We scored 89% for overall student satisfaction across the UK in the 2015 NSS.
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HOW WE CAN EHANCE YOUR GRADUATE PROSPECTS The Employability Points Scheme (EPS) The EPS rewards students for active engagement in extracurricular activities whereby points are allocated for the completion of different activities. Points are earned throughout the year and qualifying students will have the opportunity to redeem their points for rewards. All rewards are offered by external businesses and can range from paid internships and project placements to unpaid work experience or mock assessment centers. Points are earned by engaging in activities such as volunteering, parttime work, joining societies and much more. For each activity logged with the EP Scheme, students are awarded points based on the relevance of the activity and the level of commitment demonstrated. SSES students can also gain points through first aid training, student projects, academic peer mentoring and by becoming course reps.
Drop in Personal Development Planning Service This new initiative is aimed at helping you improve your academic and transferable skills. The School providing a weekly open drop-in service in the SSES Student Hub (M1-11) that will be staffed by lecturers. These PDP sessions will help you fill in various tools and exercises to help you identify academic and transferable skills, the skills that you are good at, and those you need to work on as well as to assist you with developing techniques for improvement. You can also discuss any other aspect of skills development, employability, or career planning with the staff, for example about your CV or a specific job application. The timetable for these sessions is posted in the SSES Student Hub.
For more information please visit www.kent.ac.uk/employabilitypoints/ Spring 2016
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New Facilities for this September
One of these is a state-of-the-art biomechanics lab, with a specialised motion capture system. The other lab will be a new physiology lab with We’ve been making some changes specialised equipment for the analysis of the body's response to for the benefit of our students. endurance exercise. There has been a recent investment into a refurbishment of our Medway Park facility. This affected our labs and clinics there. Additionally, we have had a new environmental chamber, costing £250,000, installed at Medway Park, allowing us to test in more extreme temperatures than ever before.
On top of this, the Medway Campus with GK Union is building the ‘Student Hub’. This is set to provide students with all Student Union services in one building as well as bookable activity space for students and a café and bar for students’ leisure.
Back on campus in our main teaching building, the Medway Building, we currently have two brand new labs under construction with an extra £180,000 worth of equipment being invested into these spaces.
All of these developments will be up and running by September 2016. The image below shows the work that is currently underway.
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BE PART OF OUR VIBRANT RESEARCH CULTURE Mind Over Muscle? Limits Optimising Endurance to Endurance Performance Performance and Training in Elite Cyclists As part of the Think Kent series of lectures by world-leading experts, Professor Samuele Marcora talks fatigue. Muscle fatigue due to limited oxygen delivery and lactic acid accumulation is thought to set the maximum speed an endurance athlete can sustain during a competition. It was thought that above that speed, muscle fatigue would develop too quickly and the athlete would reach exhaustion before the finish line. But is that true?
Marcora challenges this physiological model of endurance performance, and proposes an alternative in which perception of effort and motivation are the main factors determining endurance performance.
Another in the Think Kent series by Professor Louis Passfield, Head of School. Professor Passfield worked as lead sports scientist with the highly successful British Cycling team preparing for a number of major events including 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Over this time Louis has been part of several gold medal teams and has worked with many of Britain’s most successful riders and coaches. Louis has also coached Olympic, World Championship and Commonwealth Games cyclists, including the Great Britain team pursuit and England team time-trial teams.
Recently Professor's Marcora and Passfield presented some of their research findings in a short 15-minute video. To watch the presentations visit the University of Kent's YouTube channel and search "Marcora" or "Passfield". Spring 2016
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INSIDE SPORT AND EXERCISE SCIENCES For more information, please see www.kent.ac.uk/sportsciences
University of Kent Medway Campus, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4AG
T: +44 (0) 1634 888858 F: +44 (0) 1634 888890 www.kent.ac.uk/sportsciences Spring 2016
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