The Open University

The Open University’s future trends predictor reveals list of most in-demand jobs anticipated for major growth over next five years

13 July 2021

Business, sustainability and digital entrepreneurs have backed a new campaign from The Open University that highlights skills and jobs forecast to be of vital importance to the growth of the UK economy in the coming years. Centring around the nationwide skills gap in management & business and computing & IT and against a backdrop of […]

Impact of COVID-19 on weddings reinforces need for marriage law reforms

9 July 2021

Research by Dr Stephanie Pywell, from The Open University and Professor Rebecca Probert from the University of Exeter into the impact of COVID-19 on weddings has reinforced the need for marriage law reforms. Complications thrown up after events were cancelled due to the various lockdowns resulted in hundreds finding it difficult to reconvene, the research […]

New free-floating planet population spotted by “elderly” telescope

6 July 2021

Tantalising evidence has been uncovered for a mysterious population of “free-floating” planets, planets that may be alone in deep space, unbound to any host star. The results include four new discoveries that are consistent with planets of similar masses to Earth, published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The study, led by […]

UK scientists join NASA’s first steps back to the Moon – and onward to Mars

6 July 2021

A team of scientists from The Open University (OU) and RAL Space are collaborating with ESA and NASA to investigate the occurrence and behaviour of water on the Moon. Led by the OU’s Dr. Simeon Barber, the UK team has developed a sophisticated analytical instrument known as the Exospheric Mass Spectrometer (EMS) under a contract […]

Juggling a degree, family and the Forces

5 July 2021

Like many Open University students, Royal Air Force Police Corporal Abi Harding, 32, is no stranger to studying with a newborn baby on her lap. After becoming pregnant during the first year of her Sports, Fitness and Coaching degree, determined Abi has continued to juggle her studies, work life and has just welcomed her second […]

OU student entrepreneur Erin at home in Loch Lomond

The OU student entrepreneur tackling climate change on two wheels

1 July 2021

Erin Charters, 24, from Loch Lomond was inspired to start her electric bike hire business during an Open University (OU) module on renewable energy. The young entrepreneur and mum is using her degree in Environmental Science to power her business and spark sustainable change within her community. “I started Cycle Luss with the idea of […]

OU research finds human impacts on monsoon rainfall could exceed natural changes over last 30 million years

30 June 2021

A study by a team from the Open University (OU) has had its findings published in leading science journal Nature Communications Findings at a glance Study shows that the long-term evolution of East Asian Monsoon rainfall was driven by the rising Himalayas, but Indian Monsoon rainfall is sensitive to a complex mix of drivers, with […]

Opera star Laura Wright backs the Disabled Veterans’ Scholarships Fund as application deadline looms

28 June 2021

Applications for this year’s Disabled Veterans’ Scholarships Fund (DVSF) are due to close on July 9th and the DVSF’s new ambassador, mezzo-soprano Laura Wright, is calling for eligible veterans to apply before the deadline. Laura became one of the decade’s biggest selling artists after she won BBC Chorister of the Year in 2005. She is […]

Gender Critical Research Network – A message from the Vice-Chancellor

24 June 2021

Our University is not only a place of open debate but should be an exemplar of how to have these debates, bringing the standards of inquiry we have as an academic institution not just into our own conversations but taking them out into wider society. This, however, needs to be governed by clear rules that […]

‘Being different makes the best stories’ – author Shereen shares her tips for aspiring writers

23 June 2021

“I get really emotive about an issue and it inspires me to write about it,” says British Palestinian author Shereen Malherbe, who made her writing dream come true while studying for an English Literature and Creative Writing degree with The Open University. Shereen published her debut novel while studying part-time and used the chapters she […]

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