Exhibition: PhD Pioneers

Acknowledgements: 

The PhD Pioneers project includes information from literature (see bibliography), discussions with Open University retired staff and recorded video interviews with 12 Open University PhD graduates from the 1973-79. The collection of recorded interviews is part of The Open University Digital Archive and is managed by the University Archive Team and the PhD Pioneers project Team.  

During this 10-month project, started in January 2021 at the height of the 2020 Covid pandemic, many Open University staff from Milton Keynes have been part of the project, including: Dr Inma Alvarez, Professor Keith Attenborough, Ruth Cammies, Bernard Coen, Professor David Elliott, Professor Sara Haslam, Professor Trevor Herbert, Sarah Jones, Gabi Kent, Dr Sinead McEneaney, Babette Oliver, Professor Stephen Peake, Professor Steven Rose, Emily Rowland-Portch, Professor Robin Roy, Professor Eileen Scanlon, Professor Wendy Stainton Rogers, Cameron Tapley, Professor Dan Weinbren, Dr Chris Williams, Rob Wilson and Emily Yossarian, and from the University of Hertfordshire, Dr Ceri Houlbrook. 

The project is an Open University Graduate School project and has been led by Professor Lindsay O’Dell, Director of the Graduate School and written and run by Open University researcher, Elizabeth Currie. The core team developing the exhibition is made up of Elizabeth Currie, Matthew Taylor, Emma Blowers, James Alexander and Allana (AJ) Nixon. We would also like to thank Katie Meade and Deana Plummer from the CLIP (Contents, Licensing & Intellectual Property) team for clearing all images and videos.

The exhibition focusses on the experiences of these 12 graduates and the themes that their stories bring to light.   

For further information on the PhD Pioneers project, contact Professor Lindsay O’Dell on Lindsay.ODell@open.ac.uk 

 

Bibliography:

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Bourner, Tom, Bowden, Rachel, & Laing, Stuart. ‘Professional Doctorates in England’ Studies in Higher Education Volume 26, No. 1, 2001 

House, Ginevre, ‘Postgraduate Education in the UK’, Higher Education Policy Institute, Analytical Report 1 (2020) 

Mandler, Peter, ‘Educating The Nation:II: Universities’ Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 25 pp. 1–26 (2015) 

Mellors-Bourne, Robin, Robinson, Carol, Metcalfe, Janet ‘Provision of Professional Doctorates in English HE Institutions’ Careers Research & Advisory Centre (CRAC) (2016) 

Miller, David I. and Wai, Jonathan, ‘The Bachelor’s to Ph.D. STEM Pipeline No Longer Leaks More Women Than Men: a 30-year Analysis’ Front. Psychol.,(2015)

Nicoll, Irena, ‘A Statistical Profile of the London PhD in History 1921-90’, Oxford Review of Education, 22:3, pp. 273-294 (1996)

Park, Chris ‘Redefining the Doctorate’ The Higher Education Acadamy (2007) 

Peake, Stephen, 'OU at 50: Hay Festival Talk ', (2019)

Phillips, Estelle, and Pugh, Derek.S., How To Get A Phd : A Handbook for Students and Their Supervisors, McGraw-Hill Education, 2010

Smith, David N., ‘Academics, The ‘Cultural Third Mission’ And The BBC: Forgotten Histories Of Knowledge Creation, Transformation And Impact’, Studies in Higher Education, 38:5, 663-677 (2013) 
 
Taylor, Stan ‘Towards Describing the Global Doctoral Landscape’ UK Council for Graduate Education, (2021) 
 
The Open University, Report of The Vice-Chancellor to The Council 1973, The Open University, p7, 1975) 

UK Council for Graduate Education, ‘Quality And Standards Of Postgraduate Research Degrees’ (1996)

Universities UK, International facts and figures 2019 (2019) <https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Pages/Intl-facts-figs-19.aspx> [accessed 16 June 2021].

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Watson, David, ‘The Coming of Post-Institutional Higher Education’, Oxford Review of Education, 41:5, 549-562 (2015)

Weinbren , Daniel, The Open University: A History. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2014)

Worth, Eve, ‘Women, Education and Social Mobility in Britain during the Long 1970s’ Cultural and Social History, Vol. 16, No. 1, 67–83 (2019)