KENT MAGAZINE AW - University of Kent

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New £1m research centre A £1m Research Centre for the study of Law, Gender and Sexuality has been launched at the University.The first research centre to focus on these areas in the UK, it is the result of a partnership between Kent, Keele and Westminster Universities, and will bring together academic expertise to develop understanding of the relationship between gender, sexuality and the law. The Centre, led by Director Professor Davina Cooper, is administered from Kent.The Associate Directors are Sally Sheldon from Keele and Rosemary Auchmuty from the University of Westminster. It is primarily funded for five years by the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) with additional support from the partner institutions. Research already under way at the Centre includes equality and anti-discrimination law, sexual violence, support services for Irish women seeking abortion, cohabitation and property rights, HIV/AIDS and gay rights in Southern Africa, male reproductivity and reproductive rights, and the relationship between lesbian and gay urban communities and British local government. 1 Rising sons A study led by Kent biological anthropologist, Dr Sarah Johns, has revealed that contemporary British women who believed they had a longer time to live were more likely to give birth to a son than women who thought that they would die earlier.This may be because it requires more effort to be pregnant with, give birth to, and raise a son to adulthood. The study suggested that the sex ratio even in a relatively affluent, Western setting can be influenced by how a woman views her future health and environment. Earlier studies of developing countries showed poorly-nourished mothers were more likely to give birth to girls. The findings are a result of a survey of British women who had recently become mothers and was funded by the ORS Awards Scheme, the University of Bristol, and from a grant received by Gloucestershire’s Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. Research Focus NEW FRONTIERS 16
1 Rising sons 2 Older workers 3 Seychelles kestrel 4 Peter Taylor-Gooby 2 The end of early retirement According to a new University study, the era of mass early retirement is over. Research by Professor Sarah Vickerstaff, Professor John Baldock, Jennie Cox and Dr Linda Keen has found the expectation of retiring early on a comfortable pension has disappeared among older employees and their managers. Yet it has not been replaced by any new certainty or predictability in the timing of retirement for most people. Happy Retirement? The impact of employers’ policies and practice on the process of retirement, published by the Policy Press in association with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, examined how people working for three organisations have been affected by the interaction of their employers’ policies and their own personal choices. Sarah Vickerstaff, Professor in Employment Policy and Practice, said, ‘What workers need most is more organised career planning, in which they gain greater control and understanding of the retirement process.’ High-flyer A new research project in the University’s Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) is looking for genetic evidence of a historical population bottleneck in the Seychelles kestrel by analysing DNA extracted from museum specimens estimated to be 100-150 years old. Dr Jim Groombridge, a Lecturer in Biodiversity Conservation, has £14,600 funding from the Royal Society to carry out this work. Museum collections throughout the UK, Europe and the US are contributing samples for DNA analysis from their preserved kestrel specimens, which were collected on the Seychelles by early Victorian naturalists.The aim is to interpret temporal changes in genetic variation in the Seychelles population alongside historical records of population size to help improve understanding of genetic bottlenecks in conservation biology. UK welfare policies lead European countries vary considerably in their response to the ‘new social risks’ resulting from changes in patterns of work and family life. Britain’s places it firmly at the forefront of current directions in EU welfare policy, according to research by Kent’s Professor Peter Taylor-Gooby. European welfare states developed when the main social risks were to do with loss of income or the need for health care. Now people also face needs arising from the changing work-life balance and from much greater insecurity in employment. While New Labour has expanded child care, family-friendly employment, tax credits, minimum wage and other new social risk policies, the EU’s attempts to harmonise old social risk policies have been largely unsuccessful and it now seeks to co-ordinate national policies in these new areas. Peter Taylor-Gooby comments: ‘The UK is often seen as an outsider in EU debates. However, here is a real opportunity for Britain to establish itself at the forefront.’ 3 4 17
Page 1 and 2: ENT The magazine for the University
Page 3 and 4: Contents 4 News 8 Development news
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Page 9 and 10: RIDING THE WAVES OF CHANGE 1 ‘Ano
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KENT MAGAZINE AW - University of Kent

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