News

A fascinating, new three-part documentary series, co-produced by The Open University and BBC Two Northern Ireland, Languages of Ulster aired Sunday 12th November at 10pm.  It explored Ulster’s unique linguistic traditions – Irish Gaelic, northern Hiberno English and Ulster-Scots – and the relationship between them.

The OU Faculty of STEM is celebrating the inauguration of its remotely-controlled robotic telescopes, which will bring astronomy and space science to life for students whenever and wherever they are in the world.

Renowned Gaelic football manager Mickey Harte was honoured by The Open University with the award of Doctor of the University at a ceremony in Croke Park on Friday 28th April. Mr Harte had his award conferred alongside 135 graduating students – from all walks of life, of all ages and backgrounds and from a spectrum of careers.

OU PhD student, Jack Wright has been given the honour of naming a 120km diameter crater on Mercury which he identified through his mapping of the planet.

The Rosetta Mission will end with a controlled descent to the surface of Comet 67P on Friday 30 September 2016*; however, its legacy will live on in applications on Earth, developed by academics at The Open University, including detecting cancer and sniffing bed bugs.

An international team of astronomers has detected a planet orbiting our nearest star, Proxima Centauri. The research, which has been published in Nature to a global audience, suggests that the planet is at just the right distance from Proxima Centauri for liquid water to exist on its surface and has the potential to support life.

People from all walks of life, of all ages and backgrounds, from a spectrum of careers and industries gathered at Croke Park on Friday 13th May to celebrate achieving their degrees with The Open University.

Scientists at The Open University (OU) have published their first findings from Ptolemy, their gas analysis instrument on the Rosetta spacecraft’s lander Philae which landed on a comet last November. Analysis of the comet’s dust particles collected by Ptolemy has revealed the presence of organic compounds – key elements in the formation of life on Earth.

Nearly 200 Open University students from across Ireland received their degrees on Friday 10th April 2015 at a ceremony in the iconic surroundings of Croke Park, Dublin. 

The Open University recently participated in an evidence session hosted by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection in Dublin entitled, "Studying at University through on-line learning, including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)"