The Open University

OU Law student Clara stands outside her home

‘I’ve turned my life around – now I’m helping others’

29 July 2021

Clara Collins, 21, is proof that it’s never too late to turn things around. After experiencing a disrupted education and spending time in care, Clara is now studying Law with The Open University (OU) and determined to use her skills to advocate for others. Clara shares how she now has the right support to change […]

Close-up of a golf ball and a man putting

OU research informs development of new golf athlete monitoring app

27 July 2021

Informed by Open University (OU) research, a new golf monitoring app has launched, which is designed to offer in-depth athlete analysis as well as research insight. The AMI Sports: Golf app enables golfers to track their training, practice, tournaments and daily wellness measures to provide insights to optimise their performance and reduce the risk of […]

World’s finest minds come together for new educational website

23 July 2021

An academic from The OU’s Institute of Educational Technology is among more than 150 of the world’s best minds chosen to record a series of conversations about their subjects for a new educational website called EXPeditions. Mike Sharples, Emeritus Professor of Educational Technology, is part of an international cast of doctors, professors, lecturers, lawyers and […]

New flexible learning route to becoming a Nursing Associate with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

22 July 2021

London residents can now take advantage of a new route into healthcare thanks to a partnership between The Open University and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust – one of the country’s largest NHS Trusts. The London-based trust, together with the OU, is offering a Foundation Degree in Nursing Associate Practice, which is part-sponsored (the Trust […]

Open University lab final destination for extraterrestrial samples that could reveal secrets of the Universe

21 July 2021

Scientists from The Open University have today taken delivery of pristine samples from an asteroid which could reveal the secrets to how our Solar System formed. The spacecraft ‘Hayabusa2’ launched by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) in December 2014 travelled over 5 billion kilometres before flying past the Earth in December 2020 to deliver its […]

More secrets revealed at the museum

20 July 2021

Five-inch-tall little Tommy Tittlemouse is 111 years old and for 50 of those years he’s been on display and looked after by curators at the world-famous Victoria & Albert Museum. In the latest OU/BBC co-production and second series of Secrets of the Museum, we see the teddy bear undergoing a ‘condition check’ before being packed […]

Five ways emojis have reflected COVID culture

16 July 2021

Written by Dr Philip Seargeant, Senior Lecturer in Applied Statistics at The Open University. Over the past decade, emojis have become an integral part of the way we communicate, and have attracted attention from scholars in subjects ranging from linguistics to psychology. Just as the pandemic has impacted so many other parts of everyday life, […]

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OU ranked third in National Student Survey

15 July 2021

The results of the National Student Survey (NSS) 2021, commissioned by the Office for Students (OfS) have been published, with The Open University (OU) ranking third amongst 174 participating degree-awarding universities. This is a significant improvement from 17th in 2019, when the university last met the threshold for publication of its results. The OU maintained […]

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 […]

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