OU News

News from The Open University

  1. Home
  2. Category: Arts and social sciences

Category: Arts and social sciences

Researcher at a computer

Spotlight on OU Researchers at 50

As The Open University celebrates its 50th anniversary, we take a look back at some of the key people who have influenced the course of OU research along the way. Derek Pugh Professor Derek Pugh is a British psychologist and business theorist known for his work in the field of organisational development. In 1983, he […]

Read more about Spotlight on OU Researchers at 50

Jane Green The Open University

From OU Student to Autism Campaigner

Jane’s story is one of resilience and of achieving against adversity. Despite her own deteriorating health, singlehandedly raising two sons with their own health conditions, homelessness and redundancy, Jane was determined to further her education and be a voice for others. Jane has won awards for her studying achievements and, although she can no longer […]

Read more about From OU Student to Autism Campaigner

spice girls

Charity t-shirt scandals: Is a low wage better than no wage at all?

The news that workers in Bangladesh were being paid 35p an hour to produce the Spice Girls t-shirt, emblazoned with ‘Gender Justice’ on the back, caused consternation. Dr Lorena Lombardozzi, Lecturer in Economics, blogs for LSE about the problem with the lack of accountability in value-chains. Empty celebrity promises Dr Lombardozzi says there is a […]

Read more about Charity t-shirt scandals: Is a low wage better than no wage at all?

Little dog sat waiting

Paging the poets!

Following on from our hugely successful 50 word flash fiction competition in January, we’ve decided to continue the theme for World Poetry Day! All in aid of helping us celebrate our 50th anniversary, join us on social media today for an inspiring photographic prompt, and then get involved by submitting a 50 word poem.

Read more about Paging the poets!

Signs Brexit

How will history view the UK’s Brexit process?

As negotiations continue over Brexit and politicians hold various votes on leaving and delaying one might well wonder how historians will look back at this unprecedented time in UK/EU relations. Last week Theresa May’s deal was rejected for a second time and then MPs voted to rule out leaving the EU without a deal and […]

Read more about How will history view the UK’s Brexit process?

£1million to research care of child migrants

£1million to research care of child migrants

A researcher who travelled to ‘the Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais to see how unaccompanied child migrants lived has secured £1million of funding from the Economic and Social Research Council to study the care of lone child refugees. The new research project, which is co-led by The Open University and University College London, will investigate […]

Read more about £1million to research care of child migrants

Imperfect and absurd, the modern literary heroine is a woman of our times

Imperfect and absurd, the modern literary heroine is a woman of our times

Sally O’Reilly, Lecturer in Creative Writing at The Open University discusses how the female characters in the books that we read are changing. The way women are portrayed is changing. In film, The Favourite has won numerous awards and features three women, variously wild and untameable, as joint protagonists. Other movies such as The Wife and Can You Ever Forgive Me? show older […]

Read more about Imperfect and absurd, the modern literary heroine is a woman of our times

Girl reading in a field

Books are delightful as they are – don’t fall in the trap of competitive reading

“My happiest times in childhood were spent reading the books of E. Nesbit, C.S. Lewis and Joan Aiken. Preferring to read in hidden corners where nobody could find me, I immersed myself completely in these stories and believed utterly in their magic, even attempting to enter Narnia via the portal of my grandmother’s wardrobe. As […]

Read more about Books are delightful as they are – don’t fall in the trap of competitive reading

LGBT History Month: a retrospective on Alan Turing

LGBT History Month: a retrospective on Alan Turing

February of each year is LBGT History Month, a month-long focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, with the overall aim of promoting equality and diversity, and increasing the visibility of the LGBT community. Professor Sophie Grace Chappell, Professor of Philosophy at The Open University, regularly writes about her own experiences as transgender, as well as discussing […]

Read more about LGBT History Month: a retrospective on Alan Turing

Why Glasgow’s ‘Bolshevist Uprising’ in 1919 wasn’t quite the red threat to UK many believed

Why Glasgow’s ‘Bolshevist Uprising’ in 1919 wasn’t quite the red threat to UK many believed

January 31 is the centenary of Bloody Friday 1919, in which thousands of protesting workers were attacked in Glasgow’s main civic square by police, causing multiple injuries. Coming barely a year after the Russian Revolution and with insurgency in the air across much of Europe, then Scottish Secretary Robert Munro claimed that Glasgow was in […]

Read more about Why Glasgow’s ‘Bolshevist Uprising’ in 1919 wasn’t quite the red threat to UK many believed

Page 32 of 52