List all items in exhibition PhD Pioneers - Open University Digital Archive

PhD Pioneers

This exhibition features the stories and experiences of twelve of the OU’s first PhD graduates from 1973-79. It focusses on their video interviews which took place between April and June 2021 during the world-wide Covid pandemic.

42 items in total

Content type	Title	Description	Date
Video	The Open Forum 02 (1971) Introduction	James Barber introduces the Open Forum.	1971
Image	The Brain Research Group	Members of the Brain Research Group from the OU student newspaper Sesame.	1975
Image	The Ballad Of Walton Hall	Rehearsals for "The Ballad of Walton Hall", which was written and produced by Peggy Aprahamian for...	1977
Image	Professor Stephen Peake	Profile photograph of Professor Stephen Peake, Professor of Climate Change and Energy at The Open...	2019
Image	PhD Pioneers	The 12 interviewees of the PhD Pioneers oral history project...	2021
Image	Open University Andean Volcanoes Project	Peter Francis of the Open University Andean Volcanoes Project, working in the Andes Mountains on a...	1974
Image	OU students	OU students, possibly a couple with their young son, working with home experiment kits in their home.	1975
Image	OU Oman Project	A campsite in the Oman Mountains, part of a geological research project supported by OU researchers...	1975
Video	Neil Wynn's graduation	Neil Wynn becomes the first Open University PhD student to graduate and is presented with his award...	1973
Image	Jennie Lee at the first OU graduation ceremony	Jennie Lee at the first Open University graduation ceremony on 23 June 1973 when she was awarded an...	1973
Video	Jeff Haywood demonstrates paper chromatography and high voltage electrophoresis	To analyse haemoglobin samples, Jeff Haywood demonstrates the techniques and results of using first...	22 July 1972
Video	Introduction to PhD Pioneers exhibition	Professor Lindsay O'Dell, Academic Director of the Graduate School at The Open University,...	2021
Image	First OU Graduation Ceremony	VC Walter Perry speaking at the first Open University graduation ceremony at Alexandra Palace on 23...	1973
Image	Elizabeth Currie and Bill Morris Video Interview	Elizabeth Currie interviews Bill Morris for the oral history project, Looking Back, documenting the...	2021
Image	Doreen Massey	Portrait of Professor Doreen Massey
Image	Don Aldiss & Microscope	Geology PhD student Don Aldiss looking into a microscope. More information on this can be found...
Image	Bill Morris & Globe	Geology PhD student Bill Morris posing with an inflatable globe. More information on this can be...	c.1974
Image	A Brief History of Postgraduate Research Study	This timeline demonstrates the history of postgraduate research study, as well as the rising...	2021
Video	"you've got to become very self-reliant, or the ship will sink"	Max Bramer compares working at the OU to other institutions, and shares his experiences with...	2021
Video	"whatever it took to make the OU a success, it was all hands on deck"	Jeff Haywood describes the opportunities available at the OU alongside studying for his PhD.	2021
Video	"well, at this point I'm thinking this is Game Over"	Bill Morris describes finishing his degree and sitting his external exam in Milton Keynes.	2021
Video	"we had this new world, and then we also had the old world of Oxford"	Julia Goodfellow describes her experiences at Oxford and the OU.	2021
Video	"there was no sense of Higher Education at all in my family, none"	Bill Morris describes his early education and first experiences with STEM.	2021
Video	"there was even a Dutch/Belgian TV crew who came along at one point"	Stephen Potter describes the experience of being in Milton Keynes during its development, and the...	2021
Video	"the other amazing thing was the group of people I found myself in amongst"	Early PhD students Ken Richardson and Don Aldiss describe some of their memories working with...	2021
Video	"the first ten years worth of history was played out on stage"	Alfred Vella shares his memories of Walter Perry and the operetta The Ballad of Walton Hall.	2021
Video	"the atmosphere was hurried and near-chaotic - I fitted in perfectly!"	Stephen Potter describes his interview at Walton Hall in 1974 and his initial tour of the...	2021
Video	"that lonely feeling of heavy burden of responsibility"	Oliver Boyd-Barrett describes working on his dissertation and his interactions at Walton Hall.	2021
Video	"so I was kicked out of school at 15 and went to work in a factory"	Ken Richardson describes his early childhood and schooling in Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham.	2021
Video	"one thing that doing the PhD had taught me was the value of scholarship"	Ken Richardson shares his memories of working on his PhD, and the politics surrounding The Open...	2021
Video	"once the first graduates came out at the end of '72, the whole situation changed"	Max Bramer describes how it felt to work and study at the OU in the early 1970s.	2021
Video	"my interest in being an educator increased"	Jeff Haywood describes the long-lasting impact of studying with The Open University and becoming an...	2021
Audio	"it's become increasingly recognised, and I made a small contribution to that I think"	Joan Whitehead discusses a questionnaire she created for her PhD and the contribution she has made...	2021
Video	"it was extremely odd… to find a university in the middle of the Buckinghamshire countryside"	Early PhD students Alfred Vella and Neil Wynn describe some of their earliest memories of arriving...	2021
Audio	"it was a school with a mission"	Joan Whitehead shares her experiences of attending a comprehensive secondary school and being...	2021
Video	"it felt like a kind of pioneering setting… it was a Wild West"	Jeff Haywood shares his memories of what it was like to study at the OU in the 1970s.	2021
Video	"in fact I was the first postgraduate student, I think, in the Faculty of Arts altogether"	Neil Wynn describes the academic community at the OU during its first decade as a higher education...	2021
Video	"he… basically told me to buy myself a plane ticket and head off to California"	Don Aldiss describes his OU field research in Cyprus and the USA.	2021
Video	"amazingly, I've actually still got a copy of the graduation programme"	Max Bramer describes his graduation day at Alexandra Palace.	2021
Video	"all cooking had to be done on a pressure cooker which we had in the back of the Land Rover"	Michael Baker describes his experiences in Chile, working on the Open University Andean Volcanoes...	2021
Video	"I… never stopped being drawn back into the fray of academic work"	Oliver Boyd-Barrett describes working for The Open University and moving to the USA.	2021
Video	"I think the OU is so part of my life, it's not just about my PhD"	Julia Goodfellow describes the importance of the OU and her career at Birkbeck.	2021

PhD Pioneers: list all items

PhD Pioneers