OU News

News from The Open University

Living Roof planting

OU brings environmental research to the rooftops

Work has commenced on The Open University’s first green roof research installation, thanks to a collaboration between scientists and a Milton Keynes-based Living Roof contractor. Living Roof Live Lab, located on top of the Stuart Hall office building at the OU’s Walton Hall campus, features a vista of rectangular beds – known as rigs – […]

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Leonie dressed in graduation gown, smiling at the camera with a tree in the background.

‘I feel like I can do anything, thanks to OU study!’

Having struggled with the structure of school and college, Leonie, 25, was convinced that higher education wasn’t for her, until a TV advert for The Open University (OU) made her think again. Now a proud Business Management graduate, Leonie shares how she juggled being a new mum with a busy job and full-time study. Figuring […]

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Television wasn’t the death knell for cinema – and that holds lessons for the creative industries and AI

Television wasn’t the death knell for cinema – and that holds lessons for the creative industries and AI

As television grew rapidly in popularity in the second half of the 20th century, many people assumed it would cause a knock-on crisis for the film industry. After all, it meant that viewers no longer had to leave their sofas to enjoy onscreen entertainment, says Mark Fryers, Lecturer in Film and Media. But the reality […]

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Elijah Akinfenwa co-founder of Liz Pie Pastry

Applications open for fresh ideas and business creators

The Open University’s support for entrepreneurs lifts off this month with the 2025 launch of its fund awarding grants towards setting up a business, open to students and alumni. Called the Open Business Creators Fund the initiative offers grants of up to £1500 to support OU students and alumni as they start and progress on […]

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Westminster and the River Thames

Spring statement: defence spending boosted as further disability benefit cuts announced

Not even six months on from Labour’s first budget, and the world is a much-changed place. Geopolitical tensions and uncertainties, already high last year, have risen further, and with them the cost of the UK’s debt, while economic growth has stalled. As such, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confronted an array of unpalatable choices – notably […]

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pipet dripping oil

From hempseed gruel to CBD: the curious history of cannabis as a health product

The cannabis-derived product CBD has been hailed “the wonder drug of our age”, offering potential health benefits without the high, says Dr Lauren Alex O’Hagan, Research Fellow from the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics at The Open University. Writing in The Conversation she says: From juices and coffee to truffles and ice cream, CBD […]

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tower block, social housing

Why the social pain of welfare reform overshadows any economic gain

The UK government is calling it the “biggest shakeup to the welfare system in a generation” – prompted by what the Prime Minister described as the “devastating” cost of sickness and disability benefits.  Alan Shipman, Senior Lecturer in Economics, writing in The Conversation, says planned reforms to cut those costs are designed to save £5 […]

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Pot of coins. Photo: Josh Appel, Unsplash

Five things you need to know about: releasing trapped pension surpluses

In a bid to fuel-inject the economy and provide opportunity for growth, the UK Government is intending to announce plans to make it easier to tap into the surplus funds lying in corporate pension schemes. Following an earlier heads-up about this intention, we can expect the Chancellor Rachel Reeves to reveal more in the coming […]

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OU celebrates neurodiversity week

OU celebrates neurodiversity week

To mark neurodiversity week, 17th -23rd March,  The Open University has created a hub of resources on its free online learning platform, OpenLearn, designed to educate and inspire neurodivergent learners, allies, educators, and employers. The OU has a long history of teaching neurodivergent learners, such as those with ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, autism, dyspraxia, Tourette’s syndrome, […]

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New Professor of Education, Policy and Practice

New Professor of Education, Policy and Practice

In 2018, there were only 25 Black women professors in the UK, compared to 12,500 white men (WHEN, Women’s Higher Education Network). Today, that number has risen to 74, with the promotion of Dr Carol Azumah Dennis, SFHEA, to Professor of Education, Policy and Practice, within The Open University’s Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language […]

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