OU News

News from The Open University

David Attenborough in Life in Cold Blood

Happy 90th birthday to Sir David Attenborough

Today, Sir David Attenborough – Britain’s best-known natural history film-maker – celebrates his 90th birthday. With a career as a naturalist and broadcaster spanning six decades, Sir David was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Open University in 1980 and has been supporting our work ever since, endorsing projects like iSpot. In his speech, back […]

Read more about Happy 90th birthday to Sir David Attenborough

Image courtesy of Channel 4

Dementiaville scoops Learning on Screen Award

The Open University and Channel 4 co-produced documentary series that explored a radical approach to dementia care has won the General Education Broadcast Award at the Learning on Screen Awards. Now in its 12th year, the Learning on Screen Awards is the UK’s only celebration of media production in learning, teaching and research. Held by the […]

Read more about Dementiaville scoops Learning on Screen Award

Voting. Image credit: Thinkstock

Podcast: UK election results summary

The OU’s Dr Richard Heffernan, Interim Head of Politics and International Studies, caught up with OU News over the phone following results of yesterday’s (May 6th) UK elections. In this short podcast, he talks about local elections, the Scottish Parliament result and poll predictions…

Read more about Podcast: UK election results summary

Work life balance signpost. Image credit: Thinkstock

How do we manage work-life boundaries and whose responsibility is it?

With digital tools and technologies making it all too easy for us to switch between home and work life with the touch of an app or the ping of an inbox, how do we manage the boundaries? And whose responsibility is it? Transferring from home to work life and back again was a longer process […]

Read more about How do we manage work-life boundaries and whose responsibility is it?

Flexible business communication - woman calling phone. Image credit: Thinkstock

Digital Brain Switch – how digital technologies are impacting work-life boundaries

Digital technologies – smartphones, tablets and social media – are changing our relationship with work. The traditional clock on at 9am, clock off at 5pm work pattern is disappearing as the internet and our ability to be connected to it 24/7 allows us to work whenever and wherever we want. Is this a good thing? […]

Read more about Digital Brain Switch – how digital technologies are impacting work-life boundaries

Star Wars Stormtroopers by Julian Fernandes via Unsplash

What can Star Wars teach us about leadership?

It may have taken place in a galaxy far, far away, but in terms of leadership, there is much in Star Wars that we can learn from. The epic battles between the Jedi and the Empire have become part of the fabric of popular culture.  But take a closer look behind the light sabres at […]

Read more about What can Star Wars teach us about leadership?

Leicester City FC's football stadium

How Ranieri’s Leicester City rode the perfect storm to Premier League success

Was it the right players, the right manager, the right opposition or all of the above? OU sport and fitness lecturer Simon Rea on how Ranieri’s Leicester City rode the perfect storm to Premier League success… While it was deemed less likely than Elvis Presley being found alive or the Loch Ness monster finally being […]

Read more about How Ranieri’s Leicester City rode the perfect storm to Premier League success

Leicester City football ground.

Leicester City: the classic triumph of the football underdog

The German philosopher Theodor Adorno once wrote: “Football implies the desire to suffer” and by and large that is probably the experience of most football fans most of the time. But once in a while comes the pure joy that Leicester City fans are currently experiencing. And this is why fans put themselves through it, […]

Read more about Leicester City: the classic triumph of the football underdog

Mars simulation chamber

Mars: Boiling water could be carving slopes into surface

Features on Mars which had been attributed to flowing salty water could be caused by an altogether more explosive reason, according to new research published this week in Nature Geoscience.  Scientists at The Open University used a unique Mars simulation chamber to conduct experiments and found that the streaks and slopes on the planet’s surface […]

Read more about Mars: Boiling water could be carving slopes into surface

Belfast City Centre. Image credit: Thinkstock

Opinion: OU nation director on Northern Ireland Assembly election

From the OU in Northern Ireland… The third opinion piece in our series of three from OU nation directors sees The Open University in Northern Ireland‘s John D’Arcy sharing his views on higher education’s contribution to the economy ahead of the Northern Ireland Assembly elections on May 5th… It has been a busy six weeks of tireless […]

Read more about Opinion: OU nation director on Northern Ireland Assembly election

Page 219 of 238