News
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Music academic completes new edition of the first Methodist tune book
Prof Martin Clarke completes a new edition and recordings of The Foundery Collection (1742), providing insights into the sound-world of early Methodism.
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The Digital Periegesis launch
The Digital Periegesis provides a searchable database of all the places, objects, people and events described in Pausanias, as well as the raw data; enriched texts; maps and network graphs; and links to global authorities.
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The Society for the Study of the Past launches at The Open University
Classical Studies academic Marchella Ward launches the new Society for the Study of the Past at The Open University on 6-7 October 2025 with its first annual meeting, ‘Beyond Methodological Nationalism’.
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Keynote talk on Tinnitus’ Silences at Brazil conference
OU Music academic Marie Thompson gives a keynote talk on tinnitus’ silences at the 4th International Conference on Sonorities Research (CIPS) at the Federal University of Espirito Santo, Brazil.
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Letter writing is the inspiration for global OU literary event
We are thrilled to announce the launch of our 3-day programme of presentations, creative readings and interviews, ‘Letters and Literature 1500-2025’, featuring researchers from the fields of literature and language, heritage industry experts and guest authors Karen McCarthy Woolf and Sigrid Nunez.
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The Wars of the Roses: New online resource reveals memories
The Battlefields Trust has officially launched its Wars of the Roses Memorial Database. Open University historian Dr David Grummitt worked with partners to establish the crowd-sourced history and heritage resource.
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An enticing subversion: ‘decolonising’ art in Malaysia
Led by Leon Wainwright (Professor of Art History, OU) “Reframe and Resist: Decolonise Here and Now!” is a British Council–supported project featuring an exhibition and events in Malaysia, bringing together artists, activists and scholars to confront colonial legacies and environmental crises through decolonial dialogue.
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FASS academics advise on OU/BBC series Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius
The BBC/OU docudrama, Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius, made for the 250th birthday anniversary celebrations of the world-famous author, has pulled in 4.7 m viewers. Nicola J Watson and Emma Sweeney (ECW) served as nominated academics.
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Opening the Archive of David Jones: Digital Tools and Public Engagement
A collaborative project led by two OU academics is expanding our understanding of the Welsh modernist painter and poet David Jones (1895-1974) through tools old and new.
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Department of Classical Studies wins prestigious outreach award
Classical Studies is a winner! It’s just taken home the Universtity Outreach Award in Classics for All’s annual impact awards.
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Historic England Blog on the Register of Historic Battlefields
A Historic England Blog post by OU historian David Grummitt celebrates the 30th anniversary of Historic England’s Register of Historic Battlefields
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The Routledge Companion to Marxisms in Art History
Three members of the OU’s Department of Art History-Warren Carter, Kim Charnley and Andrew Murray- have authored chapters in a landmark new book, The Routledge Companion to Marxisms in Art History.
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Magic Art - A New Enquiry
Dr Robert J. Wallis, Senior Lecturer in Art History, contributes to the first English translation of André Breton’s L’Art magique.
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Can Books Heal? A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation podcast, with OU English academics
OU English researchers Sara Haslam and Edmund King were heavily featured contributors in this podcast on 3000 years of the history of the healing book. Part of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s programme of contemporary thought, CBC Ideas, ‘Do books have the power to heal us?’ took listeners back to Pharaoh Rameses II in its contextualised history of bibliotherapy - the inscription ‘healing place of the soul’ was placed above the portal of Rameses’ library. Edmund King brought the story up to date before conversation moved to a focused account of what Sara Haslam has termed ‘literary caregiving’ during the First World War.
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OpenARC holds the first Festival of the Arts and Humanities
OpenARC held its first ever Festival, celebrating the research, broadcast work, public engagement and impact in the School of the Arts and Humanities.
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OU Historians in Special Issue of The Historian Magazine
Three Open University historians (Charlotte Brownhill, Chris R Langley and Sara Wolfson) contribute to a special number of The Historian magazine to mark the 400th anniversary of King Charles I’s accession to the throne.
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New book: Korngold in America: Music, Myth, and Hollywood
A new book on opera and film composer Erich Korngold (1897-1957), written by Music lecturer Ben Winters, has been published by Oxford University Press in their Music/Media series.
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The other Pompeii: British Academy Summer Showcase exhibition
Open University Classical Studies academic Dr Jessica Hughes has curated an exhibition, ‘The Other Pompeii: religion and archaelogy in the nineteenth century’, as part of this year’s British Academy Summer Showcase (20-21 June 2025)
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Bandleader Mrs Mary Hamer and Her Boys
Dr Laura Hamer has published a new CUP Women in Music Element, "Bandleader Mrs Mary Hamer and Her Boys".
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‘Art and Ecology’ connects people and climate
OU art historians work with local people in Perthshire to reflect on climate change in new ways.
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New chapter publication: ‘Beyond Nostalgia: Hearing Anachronism in Westworld and Television’s New Golden Age’
Kolassa’s chapter in The Palgrave Handbook of Music and Sound in Peak TV explains the cutting-edge ‘Peak’ TV soundtrack for Westworld and its complex depiction of history.
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Netherlandish networks: Home-making in an age of emerging global capitalism (1565-1799)
In partnership with the Museum of the Home in London, the Department of Art History at The Open University has been awarded a fully funded Collaborative Doctoral Fellowship.
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Concerts and cures in nineteenth-century Scotland
Rosemary Golding’s latest article examines the social and therapeutic roles of music in a nineteenth-century Scottish asylum, demonstrating its links with memory and identity.
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History Lecturer publishes biography of Queen Charlotte
A new biography of Queen Charlotte, written by History Lecturer Dr Natalee Garrett, has been published by Routledge. Queen Charlotte: Family, Duty, Scandal is the first scholarly biography of Queen Charlotte published in fifty years.
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OU Historian publishes piece on smoking and vaping in history
Dr Michael Reeve, Lecturer in Modern British History, has published an article: ‘Smoking and Vaping in Historical Perspective’ focused on Michael’s ongoing research project into tobacco consumption and modern war in Britain.
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The Polyphonic Cornett album released
A collaboration between James Dooley (The Open University) and Jamie Savan (Birmingham City University), The Polyphonic Cornett (album released November 2024) presents music exploring the intersection of ‘old’ musical instruments with ‘new’ music technology.
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'Navigating the Nineteenth Century Institution' published
This edited volume brings to the forefront the pauper voice to explore how different groups of men, women and children sought to navigate their way through the asylum and workhouse of the nineteenth century from 1834 onwards.
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Building bibliotherapy project awarded £29,657 by the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy
Open University researchers Francesca Benatti, Siobhan Campbell and Alessio Antonini awarded £29,657 for 'Immersive Online Reading for Mental Wellbeing' project
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From Okinawa to Cornwall: the music of Kikuko Kanai introduced by Maiko Kawabata
The Open University is proud to support the Truro Sinfonia in bringing Japanese composer Kikuko Kanai's music to life in Cornwall. Collaborating with OU researcher Dr. Maiko Kawabata, the orchestra performed Kanai’s symphonic poem Ryūkyū where the Deigo Flowers Blossom on 9 November 2024, marking a rare UK appearance for the composer’s work.
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Art History secures PhD partnership with Transport for London
Art History have secured a funded PhD studentship, ‘Art on the Underground’ with the Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership.
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Warriors’ Wives by Emma Bridges republished as an Open Access book by Oxford University Press
Thanks to the Open University’s pilot Open Access Book Fund, Warriors’ Wives: Ancient Greek Myth and Modern Experience by Emma Bridges will be re-published as an Open Access book by Oxford University Press in 2025.
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Togas, truncheons, and terrific panellists – OpenARC Research Centre launches
The new research centre for the School of Arts and Humanities, OpenARC, launched on 10 June with a lively on-campus and online event.
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History academic consults for 80th Anniversary series D-Day: The Unheard Tapes
History Lecturer Dr Frances Houghton consults for OU/BBC co-production 80th Anniversary series D-Day: The Unheard Tapes.
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‘Poetry and Performance’ nominated for award
‘Poetry and Performance’ interactive for ‘Being Kae Tempest’ nominated for Learning on Screen award.
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History and Politics academics consult for new series on Cold War spies
The Open University History and Politics academics consult for new OU/BBC co-production on Cold War spies.
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OU Creative Writing partner with MK Lit Fest for fiction writing series
OU-sponsored MK Lit Fest series The Long and Short of It: From flash fiction to the doorstop novel brings new audiences to ground-breaking Creative Writing research and offers PhD students valuable public engagement experience.
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Classical Studies academics consult for new OU/BBC series ‘Pompeii’
Classical Studies academics Dr Emma-Jayne Graham and Professor Phil Perkins bring their expertise as academic consultants for new OU/BBC co-production Pompeii: The New Dig.
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Unknown heritage of military bases unveiled by groundbreaking project
Unknown military heritage of island of Ireland is unveiled by groundbreaking project.
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