Broadcast: News items

PS Essentials highlights the key priorities for Professional Services colleagues and recent news and updates which you and your teams may find useful. 

If there is information you would like included in future PS Essentials, please submit your request to the Internal Comms team at: internalcomms@sussex.ac.uk. 

Quick links 

About you

• Have you considered using your volunteering days? 
• Be part of the celebration at summer graduation
  
• Help us change the lives of future students at Clearing
  
• Booking your remaining annual leave for 2023

About Professional Services

• Summer of Research spotlights creative approaches and innovation
  
• Sussex ranked top 50 in the world for sustainability
  
• Stay up to date with Transforming Sussex
  
• Sussex signs up to GTRSB pledge to support traveller communities
• Library update: new institutional repository
  
• Social media award for TikTok content

Coming up

• PS Celebration Day: Monday 12 June

About you

Have you considered using your volunteering days? 

Volunteering is a fantastic way to have a positive social, environmental and economic impact and we want to encourage staff to take time out from their day jobs to support good causes in the community. All staff on a contract of 12 months or more now have an allowance of at least two days per year (pro rata) to volunteer. Find out more about staff volunteering including what you can do and how to book.  

Be part of the celebration at summer graduation 

Summer graduation and Clearing are two of the most important events in our University calendar and we encourage you to volunteer to take part if you can, to help us make them a success.  

Summer graduation, taking place at the Brighton Centre from 17 – 21 July, is a hugely celebratory event, with staff playing a key role in helping to create a truly memorable day for our students. For those new to Sussex, this is an opportunity to meet people from across the University and learn more about what we do for graduating students. There are a number of different roles available, and we welcome applications from those who work part-time hours. You will receive a full briefing and tour of the venue beforehand and colleagues are on hand to answer any questions you may have. Find out more and sign up, or contact the team at: graduation@sussex.ac.uk if you have any queries.  

Help us change the lives of future students at Clearing

Be a part of our team of volunteers helping on the phone lines during Clearing on 17 August and you could make a positive difference in the lives of applicants – and help us achieve our student recruitment targets. With around 100 staff members and ambassadors taking part on the day, Clearing is a great way to meet new people from different teams at Sussex and be part of an important and celebratory moment in students’ lives. You can work on campus or at home and full training will be provided in advance, together with support on the day itself. To sign up, please complete our registration form. If you have any questions or would like to find out more, email Dara O’Kane at: dara.o-kane@sussex.ac.uk. 

Booking your remaining annual leave for 2023

With summer approaching, it is important to take some time to rest and recharge if you can. The annual leave year runs from 1 October to 30 September, so make sure that you book any remaining leave days up to 30 September on MyView.  

We also provide an Annual Leave Purchase Scheme to support wellbeing and help staff balance home and work life. The next window to buy additional annual leave will open on 1 July, for leave to be taken between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2024.  

About Professional Services

Summer of Research spotlights creative approaches and innovation

Our first Summer of Research 2023 is now underway and in full swing until 14 July, spotlighting all of the great research that we do here at Sussex. This new festival aims to bring together researchers, PS staff and students from across our campus to inspire new conversations. We have pulled together an exciting diary of events which we would love all members of the Sussex community to be involved in. Everyone is welcome to take part and find out more about the fascinating, influential and motivational work taking place at the University.  

Sussex ranked top 50 in the world for sustainability

Times Higher Education World has published the 2023 Impact Rankingsassessing universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. This year, Sussex is ranked 49^th in the world and 11^th in the UK, putting us in the top 3.1% globally of sustainable universities and underlining our commitment to transformative change through our Sustainability Strategy.  

Stay up to date with Transforming Sussex

Want to keep up to date with what’s happening in the Capital Programme? Take a look at our new Transforming Sussex newsletter to find out about the exciting improvement projects taking place across campus. Make sure you sign up to receive the newsletter. You can also check out our dedicated Transforming Sussex webpages which have more details about each programme and project and what these mean for our Sussex community.   

Find out more about our priorities by signing up for the next Capital Programme webinar on Wednesday 5 July from 2pm – 3.30pm. A full agenda and list of speakers will be confirmed soon. 

Sussex signs up to GTRSB pledge to supprot traveller communities

As Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) History Month gets underway, we are demonstrating our further commitment to traveller communities bysigning up to the Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman and Boater (GTRSB) Pledge. Helping GTRSB students in higher education supports our widening participation aims, and you can find out more about the pledge and events taking place during GRT History Month. 

Library update: new institutional repository

The Library is implementing a new repository to consolidate research data and publication records, which will help us ensure we have robust preservation and simplified workflows. Figshare is our data repository and, from July, the platform will also become the new publications repository. It replacesEprints, the software that underpins Sussex Research Online (SRO). Staff will continue to deposit publications on Elements and upload data to Figshare just as they do now.  

Due to the nature of the migration, staff will be unable to deposit publications throughout June and temporary procedures are in place. For further information contact the team at sro@sussex.ac.uk.  

Social media award for TikTok content

The Social Media team won the award for best heart-warming content at a UK higher education social media conference recently for theirTikTok video showcasing Brighton at Christmas (original sound removed). Created with support from the Digital Content team and student Digital Media Creators, the video aimed to help those staying in the city over the festive period find things to do. The awards were judged by student marketing experts NetNatives and TikTok marketing agency Nonsensical, who also recently named Sussex as one of the top 50 UK universities on TikTok. 

Coming up

PS Celebration Day: Monday 12 June

Our PS Celebration Day is coming up next week, with over 800 PS colleagues set to join the event taking place on campus. Confirmations have been sent out – if you haven’t registered and had a confirmation then you can no longer register for the key note speeches and lunch, but you can stream the speeches and join us for the show and tell and drop-in activities. All the information you need is on the webpage. You can also read about which services will be operating differently on the day.