Biological Anthropology student at the University of Kent wins Oxford University Press award

 

Jenny Martin, a University of Kent student from Herne Bay, has been awarded the Oxford University Press (OUP) Achievement in Biosciences Award.

 

The aim of the Award, which is presented to students who have shown exceptional promise in experimental work, exams or their studies in general, is to encourage students in their study of the biosciences. The winners receive £100 worth of OUP books.

 

Jenny, who is studying for a BSc in Biological Anthropology at the University’s Department of Anthropology, was nominated by the Department’s Biological Anthropology Research Group because of her consistent dedication to the programme and for achieving the best aggregate marks in her course.

 

Jenny Martin said: ‘I was surprised to receive the Award, and very grateful for the recognition of my achievements. I have chosen some great books that will be useful during the remainder of my time at the University of Kent.’ 

 

Dr Sarah Johns, Lecturer in Biological Anthropology at Kent, said: ‘We are so pleased that Jenny has received this award as it is a reflection of her hard work over the past two and a half years, and her dedication to becoming a biological anthropologist. The Award will strengthen her CV and the book prize will also assist with her studies in the final year of her degree.’

 

Biological Anthropology is the study of human adaptation, evolution and variation. A relatively new subject at the University of Kent it includes ecological, archaeological, psychological and forensic methodologies in its research and teaching. Its research group members are engaged in exploring a diverse range of topics such as male-female aggression in chimpanzees, the evolutionary advantages of teenage motherhood and life history events as evidenced in human skeletal remains.

 

 

The University of Kent is one of the UK’s most dynamic universities. The first institution within the county to be granted a university charter, it now has over 16,000 students studying at Canterbury, Medway and Tonbridge and is a major educational, economic and cultural force throughout Kent.

 

In the 2007 National Student Survey, the University was ranked not just top in the region for course satisfaction, it was among the top ten nationwide. It also has a strong international presence and, according to the 2007 Sunday Times University Guide, it ‘can claim to be Britain’s only international university’ as a result of recent developments including the University’s expanding Brussels campus and its ‘involvement as one of five partners (and the only non-French one) in the bilingual University of the Transmanche’. The Guide ranked Kent 42 out of 123 participating higher education institutions in the UK, an increase of four places from the 2006 printed edition.

 

More than 80% of research staff work in departments which contain research of national or international levels of excellence and the University’s commitment to its research activities was recognised by the shortlisting of one of its academics for Young Researcher of the Year in the 2007 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) Awards.

 

The University’s Law Clinic was also shortlisted in the Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community category. Last year, Kent was one of only five UK universities shortlisted for the THES Institution of the Year award.