Exhibition: PhD Pioneers

I would like to welcome you to this exhibition which celebrates The Open University’s first PhD graduates. The project, undertaken by researcher Liz Currie, supported by OU Library and Archive colleagues, was designed to research the experiences of the first Open University PhD graduates, from the first, Professor Neil Wynn in 1973, and all those who graduated throughout the 1970s. We were fortunate to find and interview 12 graduates and have collected their experiences of studying for their PhD at The Open University and how it impacted their lives, through video and audio interviews. This exhibition has been built using interview excerpts and photographs that they, and others, have kindly shared with us. The exhibition puts these in context with information provided by conversations with contemporary 1970s Open University staff and historical records. 

You can also view the full video and audio interviews by following links to The Open University Archive. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the participants for giving their time for this Open University project to enable us to celebrate their life-long achievements. We are immensely proud of our Doctoral graduates, who are pioneers of our current research programmes. 

Professor Lindsay O'Dell

Academic Director, Graduate School