The Open University’s Faculty of Science has a long and distinguished record of conducting high quality, internationally leading research. Based at the University’s 40 hectare campus in Milton Keynes, a city that’s one of the fastest-developing areas in the UK, it hosts one of Europe’s premier research centres in Planetary, Space and Astronomy research and one of the UK’s largest Earth, Environment and Ecosystems research groups. The Faculty has a suite of state of the art research facilities including world leading analytical facilities and a comprehensive suite of biosciences laboratories.
The Faculty’s research addresses the major scientific and technological challenges of our era including;
• The causes, effects and mitigation of climate change
• The exploration of our solar system and discovery of new worlds in other solar systems
• The search for the origins of life
• The study of the causes and mitigation of a range of diseases
• Understanding the aging process and
• The development of the next generation of technologies including hosting the OU/e2v Centre for Electronic imaging, e2v being a leading developer and manufacturer of specialist components and sub-systems for the medical, aerospace and defence industries.
Our Research is organised through two major research groupings;
The Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space and Astronomical Research and
The Biomedical Research Network, with contributions from 100 Academic staff, over 120 PhD students, over 50 research fellows sustained by some 50 technical and support staff. Current funding (£7 million in 2010-11) is drawn from both national and international funding agencies.
We welcome collaboration at all levels and offer opportunities for postgraduate study (>30 joining in 2011); career development as postdoctoral research fellows (the Faculty has a strong record in obtaining national and international fellowships). We are presently developing an exciting ‘enterprise agenda’ developing partnerships with industrial companies and government agencies both in UK and abroad through sharing of our expertise and facilities
Further details can be found through discipline groups in departmental websites and staff pages. We look forward to collaborating with you and helping you fulfill your research goals and ambitions.
Professor Nigel Mason
Associate Dean for Research,
Enterprise and Scholarship