The Open University

ESG is discussed in board rooms but lack of skills is holding back action, according to new report by The Open University

6 November 2023

While nearly four in five (77%) businesses agree that ESG (environmental, social and governance) factors impact their organisation’s brand or reputation, less than a tenth (8%) have a fully realised ESG strategy Businesses are held back from implementing ESG due to lack of financial resources (28%), missing essential skills (24%) and complexity (23%) New report […]

El Niño may be drying out the southern hemisphere – here’s how that affects the whole planet

3 November 2023

Kevin Collins is a Senior Lecturer in Environment & Systems at The Open University. Here he gives his academic opinion on what effect the drying of the southern hemisphere will have the rest of the planet.It is a well-known fact that water is the key to life on Earth. But it is less well known […]

Gertrude Bell – the death of an unusual woman

2 November 2023

Open University creative writing PhD student Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone, a distant relative of explorer, archaeologist, writer and diplomat Gertrude Bell, delves into history to discover the circumstances leading up to the overdose that cut short the life of a brilliant woman. In the centenary year of the founding of The Iraq Museum, Rebekah’s studies into the […]

Halloween Horrors: Feel the fear and watch it anyway

31 October 2023

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 […]

Image shows group of 29 North Yorkshire Police apprentice graduates in their uniform

North Yorkshire Police’s first cohort of apprentice police officers graduate

26 October 2023

North Yorkshire is set to benefit from 29 newly qualified police constables thanks to a partnership between The Open University (OU) and North Yorkshire Police (NYP) . The recent graduation ceremony for the first two groups of Police Constable Degree Apprentices was held at the Harrogate Convention Centre. All the graduates completed their studies with […]

Image of young girls in a football team sitting on the field speaking to their coach

Social prescribing could help support young people’s mental health – but calls for a national strategy in England may be premature

25 October 2023

Jackie Musgrave, Associate Head of School of Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport, at The Open University, writes for The Conversation about how social prescribing could help support young people’s mental health. A growing number of children and adolescents in England are seeking access to mental health services. But the demand for these services is far […]

Image shows four Metropolitan Police Officers with the words 'The Met' written across the middle of the image

OU/BBC Series ‘The Met’ Returns for a fourth series

24 October 2023

A captivating fourth series of The Met, co-produced by The Open University (OU) and the BBC, is set to air on BBC One tonight (Tuesday 24 October) at 9pm. The six-episode series provides insight into the Metropolitan Police in the face of complex cases. Filmed over ten months, the series offers an unfiltered look into […]

OU scientist to help define the science strategy for the next Japanese Mars mission

24 October 2023

Juan Alday, a scientist in the Atmospheric Research and Surface Exploration research group at The Open University (OU), has been appointed by the European Space Agency (ESA) as a member of the Science Strategy Team for Mars Science of JAXA’s Martian Moons eXploration mission (MMX). The MMX mission will launch in September 2024 and is […]

Britain’s Housing Crisis Unveiled in New OU BBC Series

20 October 2023

A pivotal new series co-produced by The Open University (OU) and the BBC premiered on BBC Two this week. ‘Britain’s Housing Crisis: What Went Wrong?’ provides an in-depth exploration of the UK’s housing market and sheds light on the various barriers to homeownership. The first episode can now be viewed on BBC iPlayer. The first […]

Sir David Attenborough explores the natural world’s history in landmark OU/BBC series, Planet Earth III

19 October 2023

Join nature historian Sir David Attenborough on a journey around the globe in a brand-new series co-produced by The Open University (OU) and BBC, Planet Earth III. Beginning on 22 October at 6.15pm BBC One and iPlayer, this eight-part series follows some of the world’s most amazing species, telling extraordinary stories that are dramatic, thrilling, […]

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