The Department was established in 1969 and the founding professor was the late Professor Ian Gass FRS. The Department comprises about 68 staff and 20 full-time PhD students. There is a large and very active undergraduate student society, Open University Geological Society (OUGS). They have >2500 members and run more than 150 field trips/events every year as well as an annual 2-day conference. About 4,500 students are studying Earth Science courses this year (equivalent to about 1,600 full-time undergraduates). All undergraduate students study at home by distance learning methods