Dr Clare Taylor, a Senior Lecturer in Art History at The Open University, devised an innovative way to combine her passions during lockdown. Find out how a series of architectural guides known as ‘Pevsners’ inspired her to explore rural Oxfordshire

Louise Ryland-Epton is a Visiting History Fellow at the OU. Louise highlights the devastating impact of smallpox in the eighteenth century, once the cause of around 400,000 deaths per year in Europe, and shares the tale of how Edward Jenner discovered its vaccine

Elizabeth Chappell is studying for a PhD with the OU. She was working on a co-edited special issue of Wasafiri: Japan – Literatures of Remembering, just as the pandemic hit. Here, she discusses its implications and the strategy she and her colleagues developed in response

Dr Leah Clark, Senior Lecturer in Art History at the OU, highlights the role Art History plays in helping us to make sense of the pandemic. Find out about the activities she and her colleagues have been involved with since lockdown started

As COVID-19 forces us to work from home and attend endless online meetings, our bookshelves are suddenly on public display. An online conference this November will be critically examining this particular cultural phenomenon

Richard Danson Brown is a Professor of English Literature at the OU. In this blog, he discusses the work of Edmund Spenser, written in the 16th century, during the height of the plague. Find out what his writing tells us about that experience

Helen Chambers is an Honorary Associate in English at the OU. She explores the role that reading played for those embarking on epic voyages to Australia in the late nineteenth century, namely those who travelled on the purpose-built passenger clipper the Torrens

Dr Christine Plastow is a Lecturer in Classical Studies at The Open University. In this blog, Christine talks about the implications lockdown has had on public performances, drawing on examples sourced through her involvement with the By Jove Theatre Company

Dr Sandip Hazareesingh, a History Research Fellow at The Open University, explores his first encounter with Albert Camus’ classic La Peste as a student in Mauritius and observes the novel's parallels with the current pandemic

Dr Naomi Barker, Senior Lecturer in Music at The Open University, highlights the extraordinary parallels between how music is being used during the current pandemic and how it was used during the Italian plagues of the 14th and 16th centuries