The Open University

The trailblazing women in engineering

23 June 2022

It’s no secret that the engineering sector has traditionally seen more men than women climbing the ladder. Despite this, science, technology, mathematics and engineering (STEM) industries have come a long way in encouraging and supporting women into historically ‘male’ education and career paths. To celebrate this and mark this year’s International Women in Engineering Day […]

Greenwashing: how ads get you to think brands are greener than they are – and how to avoid falling for it

21 June 2022

Brands have several tricks up their sleeves to convince ad viewers their products are sustainable. Here three academics from The Open University: Morteza Abolhasani, lecturer in marketing, Gordon Liu, Professor of Marketing Strategy and Zahra Golrokhi, Lecturer in Engineering, give their views. Ads are ubiquitous in many people’s lives, whether on billboards across our cities or […]

OU academic among next generation of research leaders awarded funds to address global issues

16 June 2022

The OU’s Dr Tracie Farrell has been announced among 84 promising future leaders as part of a sweep of research and innovation awarded fellowships given funding totalling £98 million. These 84 most promising science and research leaders will benefit from £97.8m to tackle major global issues and to commercialise their innovations in the UK, Science […]

Gaia mission: five insights astronomers could glean from its latest data

15 June 2022

Adam McMaster, PhD Candidate, Astronomy and Andrew Norton, Professor of Astrophysics Education, both from The Open University have written a piece for The Conversation about the new data from the Gaia mission. The European Space Agency’s (Esa) Gaia mission has just released new data. The Gaia satellite was launched in 2013, with the aim of […]

Ground-breaking number of brown dwarf stars discovered

10 June 2022

An international team led by researchers from The Open University and the University of Bern have directly imaged a remarkable four new brown dwarfs thanks to a new innovative search method. Brown dwarfs are mysterious astronomical objects straddling the line between stars and planets and are essential to our understanding of both stellar and planetary […]

Prehistoric Planet: TV show asked us to explore what weather the dinosaurs lived through

27 May 2022

Robert Spicer from The Open University; Alex Farnsworth from University of Bristol and Paul Valdes from University of Bristol write for The Conversation about the new TV series, Prehistoric Planet. When conjuring up images of when dinosaurs ruled the planet we often think of hot and humid landscapes in a world very different from our own. However, the new […]

Researchers reveal who will face the financial brunt of net zero transition

26 May 2022

International researchers – including experts from The Open University – have mapped the distribution of over $1 trillion losses from potentially worthless oil and gas assets to the individuals, pension funds and governments who will be impacted, as nations rush to reach their pledges of achieving ‘net-zero’. Driven by technological, societal, and political change, renewable […]

Sustainability in the built environment: OU academics call for change in building regulations

26 May 2022

OU experts have called for greater sustainability in the construction of new buildings, which are globally responsible for 10% of all carbon emissions.[1] Dr Alice Moncaster and PhD student Jane Anderson, international experts in reducing carbon emissions in construction, have provided evidence towards a Select Committee report (published 26 May 2022) that they have hailed as […]

How to grow plants on the moon – OU expert’s view of new study

13 May 2022

Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at The Open University writes for The Conversation on the impact of new findings that reveal why plants don’t thrive in lunar habitats. What do you need to make your garden grow? As well as plenty of sunshine alternating with gentle showers of rain – and busy bees and […]

New research highlights need for change in climate mitigation tactics

6 May 2022

A new study has found that the presence of moisture has a stronger role in developing areas of tropical vegetation than manmade CO2 emissions. The research, undertaken by Dr William Gosling from the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics at the University of Amsterdam and supported by the OU, found previous suggestions that human-elevated CO2 […]

OU News

Category: Science, maths, computing and technology