Welcome to the latest edition of OpenMinds e-news. As we enter a new academic year, I know you will join me in welcoming the University’s new students, as well as those returning to complete the next levels of study. I’m sure you remember the mixed feelings of nervousness and excitement as you received your latest course materials. We wish them all the best with their OU journey and welcome them to the OU family.

In this issue, you can discover some of the recent OU/BBC co-productions, including the latest in the Saving Lives series – Saving Lives in Cardiff. The University has also been celebrating success having been awarded the ‘University of the Year for Teaching Excellence’ in the Daily Mail’s University Guide.

I hope you enjoy learning more about your University, and thank you for being a valued member of the OU family. 

Best wishes

Emily Rowland-Portch

Alumni Engagement Manager

The Open University

Celebrations as the OU wins ‘University of the Year for Teaching Excellence’ in Daily Mail awards

The Open University is celebrating its win in the Daily Mail’s second ever university guide, picking up the award for ‘University of the Year for Teaching Excellence’.

The win comes barely two months after the National Student Survey (NSS) showed the OU received scores higher than the sector average for teaching, organisation and management, assessment and feedback, and learning resources.

Open University launches funding opportunity to support disabled entrepreneurs

The Open University’s (OU) brand new Open Business Creators Fund for Disabled Entrepreneurs is now open. £25,000 in total funding is being offered from the OU to help disabled individuals in the UK kickstart their business ideas.

This opportunity has been launched in collaboration with Scope, the UK’s leading disability equality charity, to support disabled entrepreneurs.

Mini lab designed by OU scientists secures NASA ride to the Moon

A miniaturised laboratory created at The Open University will fly to the lunar South Polar region in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Prospect package in search of volatiles, including water ice, as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.

NASA has selected the commercial vendor for this flight opportunity in the 2027-2028 timeframe that will deepen our understanding of the Moon and answer key questions about where and how volatiles can be found on the lunar surface. Volatiles, such as water ice, are chemical components that easily evaporate or vaporise under certain conditions.

Prospect, led by Italian prime contractor Leonardo, is a suite of instruments that will drill up to at least one metre depth beneath the lunar surface, extract samples, and process them in the OU-designed mini lab, ProSPA. The combination of a robotic drill and sample analysis package is designed to identify and quantify volatiles trapped beneath the surface at extremely cold temperatures down to –150 °C.

A more varied diet would help the world’s economy as well as its health

The Open University’s Professor of Environment and Development Shonil Bhagwat and Emmanuel Junior Zuza, Senior Lecturer, from the Royal Agricultural University, reveal their research on how the health and wealth of the world’s economy could change for the better with a more varied diet.

Five books with musical backdrops if you are inspired by the BBC Proms Season

Are you enriched by the Proms season? Check out the five book choices of The Open University’s Dr Joanne Reardon, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing. These tales feature the melodious golden threads of music and musical instruments as varied as the BBC Proms itself. From classical and opera to jazz and folk, these intensely human stories are woven around the music that forms them.

The Juice spacecraft buzzes the Earth-Moon tower in world’s first dual flyby on its way to Jupiter

Space researchers from The Open University Atmospheric Research and Surface Exploration group, led by Prof. Manish Patel, and the Centre for Electronic Imaging, watched in trepidation as the Jupiter and Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft flew back past the Moon and the Earth on its long voyage to Jupiter. In a world-first space manoeuvre, JUICE did a combined flyby of both the Moon and the Earth in close succession.

JUICE carries the JANUS camera, which uses UK-built Teledyne e2v detectors provided by The Open University.

Saving Lives returns to your screens

Against the backdrop of rising waiting lists and overstretched staff, Saving Lives in Cardiff follows the clinicians who face the daily dilemma of deciding who gets treated first and the impact these decisions have on the lives of patients, their families and the staff who care for them.

The new six part OU/BBC co-production from the ‘Saving Lives’ series returned in August – you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

The Zelensky Story

A new OU/BBC programme charting the journey of President Zelensky and his journey from comedian to president at war, began in early September on BBC Two. In the series we see how the former comic actor went from playing the fictional president on TV to assuming the role in real life. Now he presides over a nation at war with Putin’s Russia.

The OU’s Dr Precious Chatterje-Doody, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Studies who specialises in communication, misinformation, and security, particularly in Russia, was one of the consultants on the programme.

The OU/BBC partnership has existed for over 50 years and if you watch one of our latest series and you’re keen to continue your learning or discover more – you can visit OU connect. OU Connect is the home of The Open University and BBC Partnership and will encourage you to take your learning even further!

Darren’s story: ‘OU study taught me a lot about myself’

As the overwhelmingly successful Paris Paralympic Games concludes, we caught up with Darren who, whilst competing in two separate Paralympic disciplines, completed a Psychology Conversion Course with The Open University (OU).

Darren reflects how the flexibility of OU study made it possible to juggle the demands of training with an intensive postgraduate programme, in a field that was completely new to him.

Kyle’s story: ‘My confidence is the best it’s ever been, thanks to the OU.’

Hampered by low confidence, Kyle, 36, rejected the place he was offered at a campus university, despite his lifelong dream of achieving a degree. Now studying Arts and Humanities at the OU, Kyle shares how a promise to his late nan gave him the strength to fulfil his potential and unleash an insatiable love for learning.

We would love to know what inspired you to become a student. Did you have any extraordinary moments while studying? Has completing your qualification changed your life or helped you discover a new self-confidence?

We want to hear from all OU alumni of different ages and experiences, identities and backgrounds, diverse ethnicities and cultures, abilities and disabilities, mental and physical health conditions and intersectionalities.

Please get in touch and share your story with the rest of the OU community.

Victorian prison treadmills – the brutal reality and the lessons for today

Professor Rosalind Crone visits one of the only remaining prison treadmills in Britain at Beaumaris Goal on Anglesey, north Wales. The prison or penal treadmill was not something you’d find in a gym; it was a machine used, some would argue, as an instrument of torture. What can it teach us about the idea of punishment vs rehabilitation in prisons today?

OpenLearn

Have you visited OpenLearn – the home of free learning? We have nine subject categories for you to explore containing thousands of free resources – from Languages, History & the Arts to Nature & Environment, there really is something for everyone.

Remember, you can keep up to date with upcoming events across the University by visiting the events page. There are range of events taking place, both in person and online, so make sure to take a look.

Below are a couple of highlights taking place soon…

Abolition and International Aid and Development: Retreat, Repair and Dignity

Thursday 17 October 16:00-17:00, In person or online

The Open University is a longstanding hub for interdisciplinary, critical, and forward-looking research on international development. Celebrating its work and engaging with current debates, the University is launching the OU Global Development Annual Lecture series.

In the first in the series, Abolition and International Aid and Development, Dr Olivia Umurerwa Rutazibwa, Assistant Professor, MSc Human Rights and Politics, Department of Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science offers reflections on what it means to take anti-colonial and decolonial critiques of international aid and development seriously.

Dr Rutazibwa argues that this requires a genuine engagement with abolition rather than reform; and repair and dignity rather than aid and development.

Including whom? Practices and consequences of inclusion and diversity

Thursday 27 October, 17:00-18:00, In person or online

In her inaugural lecture, Cinzia Priola, Professor of Work and Organisation Studies in the OU’s Faculty of Business & Law, will explore her research on inclusion, diversity and inequalities in the workplace and social lives.

Starting from her work on gender and sexuality, the talk will offer reflection points challenging definitions of inclusion to demonstrate that inclusion itself is a fragile concept, contested and ever changing.

Careers and Employability Services at The Open University

If you're a new member of the OU's Alumni Association, did you know the OU Careers and Employability Services are here to help you explore your options, plan and work towards your career or personal goals and support you with searching and applying for opportunities? Support is available for up to three years after you graduate.

If you completed your studies with us over three years ago, we still have lots of information that can be accessed without an OU student login. You can get help with your CV and preparing for job interviews, find out the range of careers your degree can lead you to or even increase your career confidence.

If you don’t follow us on social media, please do! Just click on the icons below and join our online conversations. Your contributions help inspire the next generation of OU students and spur current students on to get to that well-deserved graduation day.

Have you visited your alumni website recently? If not, why not have a look today? Here you will find information on events and ways to keep in touch.

Here's a reminder of your PI number if you would like to register: 

Time to treat yourself?

Our OU Students Association Shop has a range of OU merchandise for you to enjoy and proudly own as one of our alumni, from clothing, accessories, home and leisure, to stationery and jewellery. Why not have a look for yourself?