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The Open Psychology Research Centre is the research centre of the School of Psychology & Counselling at The Open University. The Centre represents a progressive approach to psychological research, theory and practice that is tightly connected with other social sciences and humanities disciplines. It champions creative, critical and credible psychological research that makes a difference to real social issues, that informs practice, and that inspires a positive vision for living together fairly, equitably and imaginatively. Our engaged research also feeds into scholarship for teaching at the OU.

I want the world to recognise with me the open door of every consciousness.
Frantz Fanon

The dream is the small hidden door ... which opens to that cosmic night ... long before there was conscious ego ...
Carl Jung

When we are open to new possibilites, we find them. Be open and sceptical of everything.
Todd Kashdan

Let us keep our minds open ... [but not] so open that your brains fall out! There are still things ... which are true and things which are false.
Walter Kotschnig

To pass freely through open doors, it is necessary to respect the fact that they have solid frames.
Robert Musil

Zealous conviction is a dangerous substitute for an open mind.
Elizabeth Loftus

Often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
Helen Keller

£650k forensic science psychology project launched this month
4th April 2024
‘Trust in forensic science evidence in the criminal justice system: The experience of marginalised groups’, a £650k psychology project led by the OU’s Lara Frumkin, launched on 1 March after winning major funding last year. The project will explore the experiences of people, particularly from more marginalised groups, when looking at DNA and digital evidence.
Sexual Citizenship and Social Change
26th March 2024
Examining the use and abuse of critique in contemporary sexuality scholarship and associated activism, Professor Darren Langdridge implicates a particular form of critique that is detached, unfettered, and set loose from the usual anchor of tradition.
Looking back to last year’s Open Psychology Research Centre Event
21st February 2024
In 2023, the Centre’s International Advisory Board visited the OU over July 10th-11th. The next Centre Advisory Board meeting takes place on 15th May 2024.