The Open University

The best of both worlds – working and studying cyber security with the OU

24 March 2021

Pierce Holland was at a crossroads in his life at 18. He had a been offered a place at university, but the subjects he was going to study didn’t excite him. His employer offered him a managerial role and his parents wanted him to work. Then a conversation with an old school teacher led him […]

Funding award supports OU partnership to protect climate and restore floodplain meadows

22 March 2021

The OU’s Floodplain Meadows Partnership has won a substantial grant from Ecover to help restore and protect 50 hectares of floodplain meadows along the banks of the River Thames in Oxfordshire. The team, which includes scientists from the OU and partners; Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust and Long Mead Local Wildlife Site, will work […]

Ice, sand and the spiders from Mars in the laboratory

19 March 2021

Open University researchers have recreated the formation of spider-like patterns on Mars in their laboratory, which provides the first physical evidence that these features can be formed by a unique process unlike anything seen on Earth. In a paper published in Nature Scientific Reports, led by OU Postdoctoral Research Associate, Dr Lauren McKeown, the team […]

The Disabled Veterans Scholarship Fund opens for applications

18 March 2021

Now in its fourth year, The Disabled Veterans’ Scholarships Fund is once again open for applications offering 50 free study places at The Open University to individuals injured whilst in military service. So far the OU has given 160 scholarships helping veterans from a variety of service backgrounds who have a range of complex health […]

BBC/OU Co-Pro unveils the undiscovered life in sewage

18 March 2021

A fascinating look into the world of sewage and how scientists are searching for ways to upcycle human waste comes to our television screens this week. The Secret Science of Sewage a BBC/Open University co-production, explores the biology, chemistry, and history of feces – looking inside the tanks of one of the UK’s largest and […]

OU scientist with meteorite fragment in his hand

Unimaginable: The first scientist to confirm and identify extremely rare meteorite that fell to Earth

9 March 2021

Just over a week ago on Sunday 28th February at about 10pm a bright fireball lit up the sky. This was seen by over 1,000 eyewitnesses across the UK and northern Europe and the event was captured on meteor cameras and home surveillance systems. This created a flurry of excitement in the hunt for any […]

TV cameras explore rich story of goldmining in Scottish Highlands

5 March 2021

For almost 40 years, it has been known that there is gold in the hills just outside the village of Tyndrum in the Scottish Highlands. Now a new Open University/BBC Scotland documentary, Gold Town, follows the fortunes of a band of miners as they attempt to extract it and establish Scotland’s very first commercial gold […]

OU scientists discover extra-terrestrial organic compounds on asteroid from space

5 March 2021

A paper has just been published in the renowned science journal SpringerNature which highlights just how ground breaking our OU scientists are. The report looks into the painstaking analysis undertaken on particles from the Hayabusa space mission, that set off in 2003 and returned to Earth in 2010, after taking samples from asteroid Itokawa. Using […]

Change Management microcredential from the OU tackles the impact of AI on organisations

4 March 2021

The Open University today launches a new microcredential aimed at business professionals and graduates who want to learn new skills to get them ahead of the game in the post COVID-19 era. Management of Change: Organisation Development and Design will be hosted on the OU’s international social learning partner platform, FutureLearn. It’s open today (4th […]

OU study unlocks ambition for Glasgow support counsellor

4 March 2021

Starting an Open University (OU) degree course has unlocked new ambitions for Glasgow based Zara Dyer who was told she has ‘no prospects’ at school but now studies part-time while working as a support advisor for people who have experienced alcohol and substance abuse. Speaking on the new Open University podcast Life…On Our Terms, 27-year-old […]

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