The Open University

NASA mission to asteroid Bennu set to return with new space rock samples

9 October 2020

Space rocks returning from near-Earth asteroid Bennu on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will bring never-before-seen samples back to Earth. Open University (OU) researcher Dr Ben Rozitis, a collaborator on the OSIRIS-REx mission, asserts that the mission, if successful, will return with a large collection of space rocks not currently represented in existing collections on Earth. Launched […]

OU’s partnership with Uber wins international education award

7 October 2020

The Open University (OU) has won Public/Private Partnership of the year at the 2020 PIEoneer awards in recognition of its successful partnership with Uber. The winners were announced in a virtual awards ceremony on Friday 2 October and the OU was up against some very strong competition in its category. Accepting the award, Simon Tindall, […]

Survey finds couples “avoid conversation on their relationship”

5 October 2020

Research taken up among couples, conducted in collaboration with the OU shows nearly two thirds do not talk about their relationship – with anyone. The polling (*) was carried out in collaboration with the OU’s Professor Jacqui Gabb to coincide with the launch of Paired – an app for couples to engage in relationship matters. […]

Black History Month: how the OU will be celebrating

30 September 2020

This October, the nation will be recognising Black History Month (BHM) – an annual celebration of the history, achievements and contributions of black people across the world. The Open University will be marking the occasion by sharing inspirational stories and experiences of our black students, alumni and staff. In the coming weeks, we’ll be publishing […]

Mars: mounting evidence for subglacial lakes, but could they really host life?

29 September 2020

David Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences at The Open University, discusses the discovery of subglacial lakes on Mars and if this could lead to finding out if there was, or is, life on the planet. Venus may harbour life some 50km above its surface, we learned a couple of weeks ago. Now a new paper, published in Nature Astronomy, […]

Open University provides more free courses to boost UK Government’s skills push

29 September 2020

The Open University is adding a dozen new free skills-based courses to The Skills Toolkit, the UK Government’s website dedicated to helping people build skills in the wake of the pandemic and aid vital recovery efforts among employees and employers. The new courses from the OU will appeal to a broad set of learners who […]

OU Language School launches beginner short courses

25 September 2020

The Open University’s School of Languages and Applied Linguistics (LAL) have launched a collection of new 16-week short courses in beginners French, German, Spanish, Italian, Welsh, Chinese and Chinese Business Culture Essentials for leisure, work, professional development and academic study. With European Day of Languages this weekend – a day to celebrate linguistic diversity and champion […]

OU joins forces to launch hub to collate stories of people with learning disabilities through the pandemic

23 September 2020

The Open University has partnered with Three Ways School, learning disability charity, Generate and independent consultant and researcher, Dr Nicola Grove to launch a project to collect and archive the stories of people with learning disabilities through the pandemic. Surviving Through Story content hub will gather stories, artwork, video, photos and tributes to better reflect […]

Attention to mental health is thrust of OU’s latest online short course

18 September 2020

The latest in a suite of short online courses to help get learning and teaching online has been launched by The Open University (OU) on its FutureLearn platform. Teacher Development: Embedding Mental Health in the Curriculum follows hot on the heels of two earlier short accredited courses – called microcredentials – by the OU which […]

OU research could improve mobility of Huntington’s patients

17 September 2020

A case study conducted by The Open University (OU) has found that wearable haptic devices – technology similar to a mobile phone vibrating at a set rhythm – could improve the mobility of people living with Huntington’s Disease. OU PhD student Riasat Islam and former OU PhD student Dr Theodoros Georgiou, used haptic rhythmic cueing […]

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