News & articles

A child playing with colourful craft material

OU wins ESRC fellowship to transform how children read stories

The Open University has secured a £124,955 Economic and Social Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship to explore how young children engage with stories beyond words on the page.

30th September 2025
Women playing rugby

Blood, bruises and belief: how England’s women’s rugby team embody physical and mental endurance

As women’s sport surges on the global stage, hosts England have lit up the Women’s Rugby World Cup. But the tackles, speed and power fans see on the field are only part of the story.

25th September 2025
A view of grass and snow-covered mountains and a valley in between

Giving silent nature a voice: A groundbreaking paper on geodiversity

A new paper by Open University PhD researcher Elaine Hooton is shining a spotlight on one of nature’s most overlooked elements — geodiversity — and calling for a shift in how we talk about the non-living foundations of our planet.

22nd September 2025
Katherine Staden, with dark hair and wearing a white blouse and black and white striped jacket, looking at the camera

OU secures £1.17m UKRI fellowship to explore extremal graph theory

The Open University has been awarded a prestigious £1.17 million Future Leaders Fellowship from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to lead groundbreaking research into extremal structures in graphs.

22nd September 2025
Chiara Berneri on the left with blonde, short hair and wearing glasses and a black and white coloured top, and Chiara Berneri on the right, with long, dark hair and wearing a blue top

OU secures Fellowship to advance refugee protection research

The Open University has been awarded funding for a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Economic and Social Research Council to support cutting-edge research on refugee protection and integration.

19th September 2025
Katerina Alexiou, with short, grey hair and wearing a blue jumper, looking it the distance and smiling

Research image of the month - Planting seeds of community

This month’s research image of the month (September 2025) captures Dr Katerina Alexiou’s research, which brings communities, local organisations, and practitioners together to share resources, build partnerships, and co-design projects or ventures that strengthen places and improve people’s lives.

18th September 2025
The PolicyWISE logo

OU research helps shape a more collaborative UK

The Open University’s PolicyWISE initiative is at the forefront of shaping the UK’s evolving model of territorial governance, with Director Dewi Knight co-authoring a new landmark report on the Council of the Nations and Regions – a flagship innovation of the new Labour government elected in 2024.

16th September 2025
The Jennie Lee Building at The Open University, with coloured glass windows

OU awarded £4.9M to lead research skills hub for social scientists

The Open University has been awarded £4.9M by the UK Research &; Innovation (UKRI) Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to lead the delivery of an exciting new approach to research skills development in the social sciences.

11th September 2025
An elderly lady with glasses and wearing a blue coat, with her arm around an elderly man wearing a cap, glasses and scarf. The woman is giving the man a piece of banana

OU academics expose the hidden inequalities facing unpaid carers

Unpaid carers, sometimes described as society’s “invisible army”, are being pushed to the brink by rising costs, shrinking statutory provision and entrenched inequalities, according to new research led by The Open University.

10th September 2025
The Times Higher Awards 2025 logo

Three OU projects shortlisted in THE Awards 2025

The Open University has been shortlisted for a research-led international collaboration of the year project, innovative teaching and widening participation in this year’s Times Higher Awards.

4th September 2025
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