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Welcome ....
to your June newsletter, featuring the latest news from The Open University Business School (OUBS)
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National television coverage highlights Project Bluestone
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A pioneering research project with Avon and Somerset Police that aims to transform the police response to rape and sexual offences featured on BBC2’s Newsnight (starts 23:28). Project Bluestone combines academic learning with professional practice and brings together leading academics from across the UK to work alongside police officers.
Dr Emma Williams, Director of Research and Strategic Partnerships in our Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL), was the academic lead for the learning and development workstream and worked alongside Avon and Somerset’s Detective Chief Inspector Larisa Hunt. They looked at improving learnings from previous cases, reviewing officer training and development – specifically around sexual offences – and examining officers’ wellbeing to ensure they are able to deliver best practice.
With this pathfinder project now finished, it is hoped that more funding will become available to enable academics to implement their recommendations in Avon and Somerset and, importantly, extend Project Bluestone to a further four police forces across the UK.
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Mark’s making waves on the radio
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Professor Mark Fenton-O'Creevy discussed the link between emotion and money on Sangita Myska’s BBC Radio London show. You can hear more as our Professor of Organisational Behaviour explains his work on impulse buying here (starts 1-38:30, ends 1-56:35).
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The Bottom Line continues on Radio 4
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The latest series of the OU/BBC collaboration The Bottom Line on Radio 4 looks at the business world post-pandemic, covering a variety of topics with top business leaders from Britain and around the world. OUBS academic consultants for the nine-part series, again presented by OU honorary graduate Evan Davis (pictured), are Dr Björn Claes (Senior Lecturer in Operations Management) and Dr Henry Lahr (Senior Lecturer in Finance). Broadcast at 20:30 every Thursday and repeated on Saturdays at 17:30, the podcast is available on the Radio 4 website following transmission with more content via OpenLearn.
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Open up your learning with microcredentials
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The OU offers employers a range of ways to support employees in developing their confidence in learning and set them on a path to work and career-related qualifications. Microcredentials are the focus of the latest in the ‘Open up your learning’ podcast series exploring the different options available to employers. Lecturer in Strategic Marketing Dr Haider Ali (pictured), who is leading the production of the first series of management microcredentials, and the OU’s Managing Director for Short Courses and Microcredentials Tim Plyming are interviewed by corporate learning journalist Martin Couzins – full story here.
OUBS has now launched five microcredentials hosted on the OU’s social learning partner platform FutureLearn. These skills-based short courses take only 10-12 weeks to complete, many endorsed and created in collaboration with leading industry partners. See more on the OU’s microcredentials here.
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Former OUBS research student marks Refugee Week
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PhD graduate Marco Distinto discussed his research, which looks at the human stories behind the 2015 refugee crisis in Italy, to mark the recent Refugee Week. Marco passed his PhD viva with no corrections on 21 October last year with his thesis, ‘Refugee reception centres and the integration of the migrant: an exploratory study of discourses and practices of not-for-profit organizations working to support refugees in Italy’. As a migrant from southern Italy, Marco wanted to challenge current ideological discourses around migration by sharing the real stories of migrants and the people who support them – watch Marco talk about his research here.
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Policing and prisons under the spotlight ahead of Pride Month
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Dr Matthew Jones and Dr Saoirse O’Shea presented their research during a special evening event in May to mark the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. Matthew, Head of the Department for Policing Organisation and Practice (POP), discussed the ways in which lesbian, gay and bisexual police officers proactively challenge the occupational culture of policing. Senior Lecturer in HR Management and Organisation Studies Saoirse, a non-binary person who joined the OU in October 2020, focused on the lived experiences of transgender and non-binary prisoners in England and Wales.
Dr Nela Smolovic Jones introduced ‘Breaking Bad: Challenging the heteronormative environment in the UK’s police and prisons’ as director of our Gendered Organisational Practice (GOP) research cluster, part of the Research into Employment, Empowerment and Futures (REEF) academic centre of excellence. As we celebrate Pride Month this June, you can watch the webinar recording here.
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Exploring post-pandemic integration policies in Scotland
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Research on the need for a new approach, following the pandemic, to unleash the benefits migrants, refugees and asylum seekers bring to Scottish society and the Scottish economy was presented at an international event earlier this month. OUBS academics Dr Francesca Calo and Dr Hilary Collins were part of ‘Time for action: integration policies in Scotland post Covid-19’ on Friday 11 June which also included a panel discussion. You can watch the webinar recording here and read a post-event blog post here.
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Electric vehicles are the future for a greener world
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Rising environmental concerns, favourable government policies and attractiveness for investors are some of the factors behind positive projections of global growth rates for electric vehicles after an initial slow embrace of this technology in its early years. There was a lunchtime webinar, ‘Electric Vehicles and the quest for smarter urban mobility strategies: Cases from Milton Keynes, UK and Kampala, Uganda’, on Thursday 17 June. Dr Terry O’Sullivan introduced the Head of Transport Innovation at Milton Keynes Council, Brian Matthews, and the founding CEO of the pioneer electric vehicle maker on the African continent, Paul Musasizi from Kampala-based Kiira Motors Corporation in Uganda. Event organiser Dr Charles Mbalyohere drew on his current academic research to examine the implications of the transition to electric vehicles for both urban mass mobility and improved energy access in new frontiers. You can watch the webinar recording here and read a post-event blog post here.
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We are immensely proud of our alumni community and this space is an opportunity to share some of your news, a personal achievement or a promotion, so please get in touch.
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Moore the merrier in OU’s new digital skills report
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MBA alumnus Zak Moore, the founder and director of smartBIDI, is included as a case study (on page 36) in a new report from the OU. Skills for Success: Supporting business leaders with digital adoption explores the attitudes of small and medium-sized business (SME) leaders when it comes to digital adoption in the context of Covid-19, as well as the skills gaps that exist at both a leadership and employee level. This new ‘Skills for Success’ campaign was launched by the OU’s Business Development Unit (BDU) in early June, in partnership with Be the Business.
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Join this European conference on governing the internet
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MBA alumnus Roberto Gaetano (pictured), who graduated in 2004, is one of the organisers for a European virtual conference next week discussing the internet and how it is governed. EuroDIG (European Dialogue on Internet Governance) is a free event from Monday to Wednesday (28 – 30 June). You can view the programme for the three days here and you can register here.
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Quality quartet extol the virtues of studying with the OU
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Some fascinating case studies have been added to the Business School website in recent weeks. These include four more winners from the 2019-20 Student and Alumni Awards with MBA Student of the Year Tim O’Donovan (pictured right) and MBA Dissertation of the Year winner Joe Finucane (pictured below left) both crediting their studies for achieving two promotions apiece. The MSc in Human Resource Management top student, Melanie Robinson (pictured below centre), describes how her studies have proved so beneficial during the pandemic as the Commander of the Maritime Reserves, the part-time specialists of the Royal Navy. And retiree John Gibson (pictured below right) talks about being awarded the MSc in Finance Dissertation of the Year in his 70s as well as his future plans!
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Catch-up on our gr-eight careers webinars
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There have been eight free lunchtime webinars exclusively for our alumni throughout the 2020-21 academic year, presented by OU alumni and business professionals. You can watch all these ‘How to take charge of your career’ recordings, in association with The Career Farm, via the archive.
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We have a range of exclusive offers for our OUBS alumni. Click the buttons to find out more. Remember, you can access our career webinar recordings on our website along with a whole range of online careers articles.
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Best wishes
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OUBS Alumni Engagement Team
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