OU News

News from The Open University

Image of a white hashtag symbol on a blue background

#JeSuisCharlie was one of the most viral hashtags in history – here’s why it wouldn’t happen today

Emma Connolly, PhD Candidate, Politics and International Studies at The Open University writes for The Conversation about how #JeSuisCharlie was one of the most viral hashtags in history and why it wouldn’t happen today: It will be nine years on January 7 since a shooting at French weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo killed 12 and […]

Read more about #JeSuisCharlie was one of the most viral hashtags in history – here’s why it wouldn’t happen today

Interest rates have stopped rising, but 2023 hikes could still cause recession for some economies

Interest rates have stopped rising, but 2023 hikes could still cause recession for some economies

Alan Shipman is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at The Open University who says that even though interest rates have stopped rising the sting in the tail is there’s still a danger of recession for some economies. Central banks on both sides of the Atlantic kept their main interest rates unchanged for the fourth successive month […]

Read more about Interest rates have stopped rising, but 2023 hikes could still cause recession for some economies

Putin’s four-hour Q&A is a valuable insight into the Russian president’s version of reality

Putin’s four-hour Q&A is a valuable insight into the Russian president’s version of reality

Dr Precious Chatterje-Doody is a Senior Lecturer in politics and international relations academic at The Open University and specialises in communication, misinformation and security, particularly in Russia. Here she gives her view on Vladimir Putin’s appearance at his annual press conference. Russian television audiences didn’t have much choice but to watch Vladimir Putin’s annual press […]

Read more about Putin’s four-hour Q&A is a valuable insight into the Russian president’s version of reality

Online learning to support counselling professionals

Online learning to support counselling professionals

Counsellors and psychotherapists are being given the chance to enhance their skills by taking part in online learning from The Open University to meet the changing demands from society. The OU is Europe’s largest provider of psychology education and has developed high-quality continuing professional development short courses to arm professionals with essential skills that they […]

Read more about Online learning to support counselling professionals

Destruction of Ukrainian heritage: why losing historical icons can leave a long shadow

Destruction of Ukrainian heritage: why losing historical icons can leave a long shadow

The Open University’s Professor of Philosophy Derek Matravers discusses how the destruction of historical artefacts and buildings currently being experienced by Ukraine can have a profound affect. Destruction of Ukrainian heritage is happening on a scale not seen there since World War II, a report published by the journal, Antiquity, has claimed. The report lists […]

Read more about Destruction of Ukrainian heritage: why losing historical icons can leave a long shadow

Lloyds of London archives show how important the City was to the transatlantic slave trade

Lloyds of London archives show how important the City was to the transatlantic slave trade

Katie Donington is a Senior Lecturer in Black, Caribbean and African History, and here she talks about how the archives owned by Lloyds of London show the City’s connection to slavery. In 1783, the City of London was gripped by a court case which symbolised the brutal economics of slavery. Two years previously, the Liverpool […]

Read more about Lloyds of London archives show how important the City was to the transatlantic slave trade

Treasure trove for lovers of documentary film

Treasure trove for lovers of documentary film

From the BBC’s Planet Earth and ITV’s Seven Up! to Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler these documentaries are a well-loved and huge part of our culture and heritage that attracts audiences in their millions. Now The Open University’s short course, A Story of Documentary Film, co-produced with the British Film Institute (BFI), takes a long look […]

Read more about Treasure trove for lovers of documentary film

Halloween Horrors: Feel the fear and watch it anyway

Halloween Horrors: Feel the fear and watch it anyway

As the nights draw in and the spooky season is here, many of us turn to scary stories on screen to indulge in a little bit of supernatural fright so we asked Dr Mark Fryers, lecturer in Film and Media at The Open University for his top spooky film recommendations. Once derided as infantile at […]

Read more about Halloween Horrors: Feel the fear and watch it anyway

£2.72m EU research funding hopes to manage extremist views

£2.72m EU research funding hopes to manage extremist views

An international team of academics led by The Open University has won £2.72m research funding, (€3.16m) to help people manage the development of extremist views at home and abroad in the run up to major political events. Psychologists at the Open University are working on developing tools for the project that has been funded by […]

Read more about £2.72m EU research funding hopes to manage extremist views

Locked up – but given the gift of a new future

Locked up – but given the gift of a new future

Open University history professor Rosalind Crone features in a new film commissioned by the Ministry of Justice showing how prisoners are being given new skills by training them for roles in the catering industry. “Served” is a 40-minute film available on YouTube that charts the progress of a team of prisoners from HM Prison Lincoln […]

Read more about Locked up – but given the gift of a new future

Page 6 of 10