News

Counting the Dead on World Refugee Day
21st June 2021
This moving blog is written by Helen Hintjens, Assistant Professor in Development and Social Justice at the International Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands. Helen is a member of the Cov19: Chronicles from the Margins project, a joint collaboration with The Open University.
We need to talk about mental health
13th May 2021
Marie Gillespie, Professor of Sociology at The Open University joins Ahmad Al-Rashid and Kelly Wearing to highlight that while there has been a surge in mental illness during the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains a taboo subject for many asylum seekers and refugees.
The impact of COVID-19 on reproductive justice
25th November 2020
Umut Erel, Professor of Sociology at The Open University, chaired a webinar this week which explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the 'Politics of Social Reproduction, Migration and the Hostile Environment'. You can now watch it back in full here.
The new SSGS magazine
4th November 2020
We're pleased to announce the publication of SSGS Magazine, which offers insight into the breadth of work across the School's eight disciplines.
OU Relationship Research behind $1m Paired App
6th October 2020
OU Research is behind a newly-launched relationship app designed to tackle the fact that two-thirds of us don’t talk about our relationships with anyone.
Building a better society: Hearing the Sisters not Strangers report
27th July 2020
Jeni Williams is Chair of Swansea Women’s Asylum and Refugee Support Group and co-researcher on the COVID-19 Chronicles project. She shares the chilling findings of a report outlining the experiences of refugee and asylum-seeking women during the pandemic
International Development research and COVID-19
8th July 2020
In a recent Open University webinar, a panel of researchers and practitioners explored the numerous issues faced by those conducting research with mobile populations in a time of lockdown and social distancing. Now available to watch again
Patients Not Passports: Challenging border controls in healthcare
19th June 2020
Dr Kathryn Medièn, OU Lecturer in Sociology, shares an interview she conducted with the authors of a recent report published by Patients Not Passports, a campaign which seeks to challenge the imposition of border controls within UK healthcare institutions
'COVID-19 Chronicles from the Margins'
18th June 2020
A project led by Marie Gillespie, Professor of Sociology, is exploring what it is like to be an asylum seeker, a refugee or an undocumented person under lockdown. Find out about the COVID-19 Chronicles from the Margins project
Understanding Refugee Experiences Refugee Week 15-21 June 2020
16th June 2020
Professor Marie Gillespie has worked alongside colleagues to launch on OpenLearn a collection of the Open University’s research and teaching since the beginning of the refugee policy crisis in 2015.