The Open University

OU researchers help to solve major planetary science mystery

12 February 2025

A researcher at The Open University (OU) has made strides in cracking an ongoing space unknown by discovering fragments of planets thought to be long gone. A lack of olivine (a magnesium iron silicate mineral that is a major component of the Earth’s upper mantle) dominated material in the asteroid belt and in our recorded […]

OU academic awarded Accelerator grant from the Wellcome trust

11 February 2025

OU academic Dr Jenny Douglas has been selected for a prestigious Accelerator Award from the Wellcome Trust. The grant of £ 153,273 will fund research into improving Black women’s health and wellbeing in the UK. The Wellcome Trust Accelerator Awards support researchers of Black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage in the UK to undertake activities that […]

OU’s win for ‘Zelensky Story’ at prestigious Broadcast Awards gala event

8 February 2025

A three-part Open University/BBC documentary about Volodymyr Zelensky – comedian, actor and president – has won the Best Specialist Factual Programme category at the 2025 Broadast Awards. The powerful documentary featured interviews with his close friends, allies, wife Olena Zelenska, and, before the war, Zelensky in his previous entertainer role, interposed with Ukraine’s current reality […]

The Open University produces an award-winning film that challenges perceptions of youth violence

5 February 2025

The Open University has developed an award-winning film and a thought-provoking interactive quiz that challenges perceptions about knife crime and youth violence. Available on OpenLearn, which is the OU’s free learning platform, ‘Exploring Youth Violence: What would you do?’ aims to provide a better understanding of the complex lives and situations of young people who […]

Chancellor’s plans for growth will be slow to emerge: academic opinion

31 January 2025

The UK’s Chancellor’s plans for growth and ambitious industrial policies will only work if she can reset European trade, says Alan Shipman, Senior Lecturer in Economics at The Open University. When the Labour government returned to power last year it chose not to act rapidly against one of the biggest growth constraints, Britain’s isolation from […]

Mystery mounds reveal the history of water on Mars: study discovers erosion the size of the UK

20 January 2025

A team led by a researcher at London’s Natural History Museum and The Open University (OU), Dr Joe McNeil, have published a study into the history of water on Mars’ surface, how the surface evolved, and its potential to support life. The experts used high-resolution images and compositional data captured by orbiters to understand the […]

New treasures emerge from Pompeii in an OU/BBC TV programme

17 January 2025

For the second time Open University academics have been working with programme makers for the BBC on the latest exciting finds in Pompeii: The New Dig, House of Treasures. The broadcast is due to air on Monday 20 January at 9pm on BBC Two and iPlayer. It will show the results of an archaeological excavation […]

Woman with long-dark-brown hair standing in front of an OU banner in her graduation robes

‘Studying with the OU has broadened my horizons’

17 January 2025

Fallon, 38, achieved a BSc (Honours) Mathematics and Statistics from The Open University (OU) whilst studying from her home in Malta. Gaining a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degree has always been her dream and she hopes to inspire other women to join the industry. “I’ve loved the science subjects since I was young, […]

Five poetry books to inspire your winter wanderings

14 January 2025

Whether you love poetry or are new to it, dip into the collections suggested by Dr Wanda O’Connor, Lecturer and Staff Tutor in Creative Writing at The Open University. These books can help us explore the way we live and respond to nature, enhancing our walks and rest stops along the way. As poet Philip […]

An OU/BBC Radio series examines how the UK’s major issues could be rethought

14 January 2025

A new Open University/BBC radio series called Rethink examines the emerging issues in society, economics, technology and politics in relation to the UK’s standing in the world. Simon Usherwood, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the OU, is a consultant to the programme makers who show how we might approach those issues differently. The […]

OU News