Richard Holliman, Phil Wheeler and Alice Dunford, The Open University, UK.
Denbigh students and teachers have helped to inform future priorities for urban tree research in Milton Keynes.
Why did we engage with students and teachers from Denbigh School?
The Natural Environment Research Council, also known as NERC, funded staff from the Open University and Forest Research to explore an aspect of ecology, urban tree research. The project was called TreeLab.
This is the third of three linked blog posts produced by the NERC-funded ‘Landscape Stories’ team. (The other posts are here: Celebrating diverse connections to nature and Talking the talk: storied walks in nature).
In this post we reflect on a walk from Hambleden Mill to Henley-on-Thames in January 2023 undertaken as part of the NERC-funded Landscape Stories Project. Together, members of the ‘Dadima’s’ Community Walking Group and researchers from The Open University followed the River Thames from Hambledon Weir to Henley before looping back across the hill.
The Dadima’s Walking Group and OU team, hiking near Henley-on-Thames. Credit: Subash Ludhra.
This is the second of three linked blog posts produced by the NERC-funded ‘Landscape Stories’ team. (The first of the three posts is here: Talking the talk: storied walks in nature).
Walking and talking in a winter wonderland
In this post we reflect on a walk near Lewknor from December 2022. Together, members of the ‘Dadima’s’ Community Walking Group and researchers from the Open University walked along parts of the ancient ridgeway as part of the NERC-funded Landscape Stories Project. (The Ridgeway is ‘Europe’s oldest continuously-used road. It runs from the World Heritage Site of Avebury to Ivinghoe Beacon and has been in use since the Stone Age. The Ridgeway is celebrating its 50th Anniversary as a National Trail in 2023 under the patronage of the anthropologist Mary-Ann Ochota.)
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The Dadima’s walking group and OU team, hiking near Lewknor. Credit: Harbind Singh.
Through ‘Landscape Stories’ environmental scientists from the Open University are engaging with a grassroot South-East Asian community walking group called ‘Dadima’s, Connecting Generations Walk and Talk’. Led by Dr Geeta Ludhra, Dadima’s is a Community Interest Company (CIC) based in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
Together, we are co-designing walking routes that showcase aspects of the geological, landscape and ecological evolution of the Chiltern’s AONB. We are particular interested in exploring ways to connect environmental science, people and cultures through ‘storied walks’.
The Dadima’s walking group and OU team on the top of Ivinghoe Beacon. Credit: Kate Ashbrook.
Here we present the first of a series of reflective guides to our ‘storied walks’. This guide is for a circular walk of around seven miles from the National Trust Visitor Centre on the Ashridge Estate to Ivinghoe Beacon. (The latter is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its wildlife.)
Effective communication is at the heart of good science. For as long as humans have tried to understand the natural world they have shared information and ideas, with a view to improving our collective understanding.
With the widespread adoption of digital tools for communication the potential for citizens to contribute to the sciences has never been greater.
The Open University has recently published a new Open Learn course that will help you to explore the evolving landscape of science communication, developing skills in critical evaluation, communication and engagement, whilst exploring a range of contemporary topics in science.
You can access the course here: Assessing Contemporary Science.
A longer version of these materials is available as an Open University module: Evaluating contemporary science.
Professor Richard Holliman, The Open University.
Earlier this year, as part of the Open University’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, the Graduate School ran a film-making project for 50 postgraduate researchers.
As part of the follow-up to this activity I ran two workshops yesterday to explore how researchers can develop a digitally-engaged strategy for communication and engagement.
The workshops are described below, and a copy of the slides is provided. If you’re looking for online resources to support the digitally-engaged scholar, this is a good place to start:
Professor Richard Holliman, The Open University.
I’m off to the University of East London (UEL) today to deliver a keynote presentation at their 2019 Research and Knowledge Exchange Conference.
Thanks to UEL’s Head of Research & Knowledge Exchange Support, Matthew Whyte, I’ve had a chance to look at the abstracts for the conference. This has really helped in informing the talk I’m planning to deliver.
In working through your abstracts, I was impressed by the knowledge exchange work that is being undertaken by UEL researchers, who are engaging with a wide range of publics, community organisations, stakeholders and end-users.
2019 Research and Knowledge Exchange Conference
In particular, I was struck by how many of the abstract sought to address issues of social justice, not least because this echoes the mission of the Open University.
As a result, I’ll be exploring some of the similarities between the UEL and the Open University in terms of our research and knowledge exchange work.
I’ll argue that, to deliver on an ambitious programme of fairness in knowledge, requires a more nuanced take on what it means to increase our reach in our research and knowledge exchange activities, allied with a commitment to Engaged Research Design.
If you’d like to download a copy of my slides, select: Promoting epistemic justice through knowledge exchange.
Professor Richard Holliman, The Open University.
Under the leadership of Sandy Oliver, Sophie Duncan and Pat Gordon-Smith, UCL Institute of Education, NCCPE and UCL IOE Press are running an all-day seminar on 7 May 2019.
We will be discussing progress to date, and the possible futures for Research for All, an open-access peer-reviewed international journal that launched in 2017.
Professor Richard Holliman, The Open University.
Just over two weeks ago, I delivered my inaugural lecture on ‘Fairness in knowing’. It was such an honour to be part of this 50th anniversary programme of lectures.
If you’d like to watch a replay of the lecture, it’s available here: Fairness in knowing.
A sub-titled version of the lecture will be made available in due course.
I’m also planning to write up the key ideas from the lecture for publication.
I argued in the lecture that a key part of ‘fairness in knowing’ is recognising how ideas are generated and developed.
This is one of the really exciting things for me about being an academic; to see how knowledge and ideas travel across both national and cultural borders, and how they morph and adapt as they’re applied in a new context.
Professor Richard Holliman, The Open University.
This year, The Open University celebrates its 50th anniversary. Happy birthday to us!
As part of this celebration, the university is hosting an exciting programme of events and activities.
Yesterday I watched my colleague Martin Weller discuss the ongoing (and increasing influence) of openness in education. (You can access a recording of Martin’s lecture from the link in the previous sentence. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to watch the recording.)
It seems fitting, given the complementary nature of our work, that I was scheduled to deliver my inaugural lecture in this programme shortly after Martin.
Watching the lecture
If you’d like to attend the lecture on 12th March (6-7pm GMT) in person, select How to register. (It’s free to attend, but you need a ticket.)
From 5pm on the day, colleagues will be demonstrating various examples of engagement outside the lecture theatre.
To watch the lecture online, select Watch the webinar. The link will become live shortly before the start of the event. You can submit questions via email or Twitter from the same page.
The lecture will be recorded and made freely available after 12 March.
