Head of the Business School, Professor Keith Schofield

I have had a whirlwind start to this academic year. After barely 100 days in post, I am already really proud of the work that I have seen in this short space of time: from the launch of our new Black Leadership and Empowerment Programme (BLEP), to huge Faculty of Business and Law (FBL) successes at the OU's Celebrating Teaching Excellence Awards, as well as marking ‘10 Years of Policing at the OU’.

We have celebrated the fantastic achievements of our students at graduation ceremonies across the UK and have witnessed some impressive societal contributions from our talented alumni. The Business School truly is somewhere to be proud of.

I am now looking forward to some downtime and the opportunity to pause and reflect over the festive period, ready to start again in January; I am excited to see what 2025 brings!

Wishing you a happy and healthy festive period. 

New series of The Bottom Line

Colleagues in the Business School have acted as academic consultants for the new nine-part series of OU / BBC co-production The Bottom Line on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

A Senior Lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain Management, Dr Oznur Yurt, and a Senior Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour, Dr Alex Bristow, have contributed their expertise to the business conversation show hosted by OU honorary graduate Evan Davis (pictured).

It starts on Thursday 9 January and will be broadcast weekly just after midday (12.04) on BBC Radio 4, with repeats on Tuesdays at 21:30.

Business graduate shares story for International Men's Day

Business Management (Marketing) graduate, Callum Craig, shared his story recently as part of International Men’s Day.

The 31-year-old dad of two (pictured) described how his journey back to higher education helped unlock new opportunities, despite experiencing many struggles in his personal life. His decision to leave University College Dublin halfway through a History degree due to financial constraints led him to seek a more flexible educational path, with the OU offering the flexibility he needed while working full-time.

Thanks to his degree, Callum progressed from an Ecommerce Executive to the Head of Ecommerce. He is now Marketing, Communications and Event Manager for Belfast One, a business improvement district in Belfast City Centre.

New research cluster on supply chains and operations

Business School researchers gathered recently to launch the new Intelligent Operations and Resilient Supply Chains (IORSC) research cluster, which aims to tackle global challenges in supply chain management and operations.

The research cluster will focus on two core themes: ‘Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chain Systems’ which is designing adaptable, efficient supply chains that can cope with disruptions, and ‘Intelligent Operations Systems and Product Innovation’ which is leveraging data and technology to enhance operational efficiency and sustainability.

At its launch event, researchers discussed shared insights, showcased recent work and generated innovative ideas. It also highlighted the cluster’s commitment to advancing intelligent, sustainable and resilient systems through collaboration with industry, policymakers and external academic partners.

SHORT COURSE SPOTLIGHT: Evaluating financial performance

This continuing professional development (CPD) course will help you to analyse published financial information in a meaningful way. It deals with performance measures that can be calculated from information in published, audited financial statements of a business or public sector organisation. You'll also learn about the measures of profitability, efficiency, financial sustainability and financial results.

Alumni mentoring programme to kick-off in 2025

The Business School’s Alumni Council (AC) met in December to continue their review of alumni benefits and to discuss new ways of bringing together our inspiring community. As part of the AC’s mission to act as a sounding board for new ideas and to support OUBS projects and events, the group meet quarterly to propose and progress projects that benefit both students and alumni.

In their latest meeting, the group (pictured) outlined next steps for the new mentoring programme that aims to support alumni with their professional development after graduation. A pilot for this new initiative is scheduled to start in 2025.

The AC also prepared for recruitment of new members to join the Council in the coming months and plan to release more information about this exciting opportunity in the New Year.

Back row L-R: Caroline Clarke, Mike Stevenson, Nick Wilkinson, Tillmann Henssler, Rob White. Middle row L-R: Keith Schofield, Emily Hill, Sadia Ahmed, Astrid Alvarez, Rajeev Gupta, Sara Vermeulen-Anastasi. Front row L-R: Ailsa Darroch, Zoe Lawson.

The potentials and pitfalls of GenAI

The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) as a tool to create content and ideas is a hotly debated topic.

In this article, alumnus Dr Mark Burgin explores generative AI in the world of education and demonstrates how universities can harness the potential power of GenAI while at the same time avoiding the pitfalls.

The risks and rewards of meaningful work

A key component of job satisfaction is the sense that our work is meaningful. Sometimes, the search for meaning becomes insistent, even triggering a career crisis. However, prioritising meaning in our career can be high-risk: increasing the odds of burnout and locking us into a rigid career path.

In this webinar, Dr Kira Schabram will investigate what happens to people who devote themselves to a professional “calling”, which approaches work (and which lead to burnout), and what tends to be the most sustainable long-term approach to finding purpose.

Focus on your future with Career Maximiser

This free CPD-accredited career development course will help you get clear on what you want from your career and what you have to offer.

Once you have completed the course you will:

• Know what key strengths, values, interests and preferences you’ll want to deploy in your future career, whatever that may be
• Be able to make applications to employers with greater confidence and more authenticity, putting you ahead of the competition
• Understand where you’d like to focus your time to research and network for your career and improve the productivity of these activities

Career Maximiser will provide you with a framework for evaluating different roles or career options in a consistent and systematic way, ensuring that your strengths, values, interests and goals are always at the heart of the next step in your career progression.

This framework will save you time by allowing you to efficiently narrow down the range of roles and employers that may be suitable for you.