Research news

Not enough is being done across the UK to support parents, children and young people experiencing family imprisonment according to new research by The Open University’s Children’s Research Centre and Worcestershire charity YSS. 

Researchers at the OU have created a grab and go guide to support providers of palliative and end of life care services. The guide centres around the Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care: a national framework for local action, a framework which presents an overarching vision, six ambitions and eight foundations to help local health and social care leaders build accessible, responsive, effective, and personal care at the end of life.

A new toolkit to provide practitioners with the information they need to implement ‘relational care’ in practice with older people in a range of care settings has been launched by Dr Manik Gopinath and Professor Mary Larkin at an event hosted at the House of Lords on 17th May, attended by 120 delegates. 

Each year, OU PhD students have the chance to make a cake that represents their studies for the annual Graduate School ‘Bake Your Research’ competition. We caught up with previous contestants from the Faculty to see where they are now.

Two exciting new project proposals by members of the Centre for the Study of Global Development have been accepted by the Open Societal Challenges (OSC) programme, an OU initiative bringing together the university’s academic community to develop inclusive research that will drive positive societal change. 

According to new research led by Dr Hannah Marston and Professor Sarah Earle, people who used social media messaging apps and platforms during the pandemic reported feeling lonelier than those who did not.

Watch new videos of our winners of The Open University’s first ever People’s Choice Award as they share their thoughts about winning, reflect on their current project and discuss how the OU has helped shape the way in which they conduct research.

Results are in for the annual Open University Graduate School ‘Bake Your Research’ competition… and WELS has bagged the top spot for a second year running.

The Faculty of WELS welcomes two new Research Fellows based in Scotland. This is a significant moment as the faculty becomes the first at the OU to have a research presence in the four nations where the OU is based. 

Dr Natalie Canning, Co-Director of The Open University’s Children’s Research Centre, launches the Empowerment Framework, a new tool for childhood practitioners to analyse children’s play and activities. Based on Dr Canning’s research into Early Childhood contexts, the tool supports the understanding of child development through an empowerment focus.