The Open University

OU partners with University of Oxford to improve support for older people with learning disabilities

1 September 2020

The Open University and The University of Oxford have been awarded £900,000 by the National Institute for Health (NIHR) to investigate how to improve support for older people with learning disabilities and their family carers. The project is funded through a specific call issued by the NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) programme for […]

OU and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime join forces on learning

28 August 2020

The Open University’s Open Justice Centre and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are continuing their partnership to deliver the Education for Justice (E4J) initiative. E4J has been developed to prevent crime and promote lawfulness – by supplying integrity and ethics education resources for schools, colleges and universities around the world. The original, […]

Open University students join Freedom Law Clinic Race and Policing Forum project

27 August 2020

Ten students from The Open University’s Open Justice Centre are taking part in a Freedom Law Clinic project exploring race and policing in the UK and the USA. The project has been launched following recent events in the USA, namely the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and subsequent response. The incident […]

The key to language is universal psychology, not universal grammar

24 August 2020

Dr Paul Ibbotson, lecturer in Developmental Psychology at The Open University explains how psychology shapes our language. What makes language special is part of what makes us special, so understanding what language is made of and how we learn it brings us closer to our human nature. Is language special because it runs on its […]

Jo hopes to “make a difference” with place on student panel

21 August 2020

An OU English Literature undergraduate, grandmother and former student advisor has been appointed to serve on the student panel for the Office for Students. Jo Barlow from Cornwall was one of ten people selected for the year, after an initial pool of nearly 900 applicants for the posts. The Office for Students (OfS) is the […]

‘Better health’? More questions than answers about the government’s new plans

17 August 2020

The UK government recently announced its plans for a new package of measures, which it hopes will help the nation lose weight. But, with the worst childhood obesity in Europe, is it enough to help the younger generation live a healthier future? Dr Mimi Tatlow-Golden, Lecturer in Developmental Psychology and Childhood at The Open University […]

Making online teaching even better is focus of OU’s bite-size course

17 August 2020

The Open University is pleased to offer a new bite-size course for those tasked with moving teaching and learning online in today’s “new normal”. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen many organisations and individuals move courses and teaching online at unprecedented speed. With the likelihood of variations of lockdown and remote working remaining for some time, […]

Clearing 2020: OU leads the way in online learning

12 August 2020

A Level Results Day (13 August) is challenging even in normal circumstances, but with the uncertainty around this year’s grading and the anxiety and stress caused by COVID-19, it’s important now more than ever that students take a step back and consider their next move. The pandemic has changed the landscape of education, with many […]

Modern plant diversity hotspot traced to mountain ranges 30 million years old

6 August 2020

An international team, including researchers from The Open University, has discovered that highly diverse plant life found in China can be traced back to the formation of ancient mountain ranges. In a new study, published in Science, researchers examined the plant life in China’s Hengduan Mountains, the Himalaya Mountains, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Using DNA […]

Stephen’s story on film: from prison life to PhD student

4 August 2020

How I went from Prisoner to PhD is a new BBC/OU short film which tells the remarkable and compelling story of one man’s journey from jail to academic research, in his own words. Stephen Akpabio-Klementowski had no qualifications when he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. He’s now a PhD candidate with The Open […]

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