News

Over recent decades, flood risk management has often involved communities adopting decentralised and people-centred approaches. This includes the emergence of property flood resilience, sustainable urban drainage systems and nature-based solutions. As all of these approaches tend to be small-scale and implemented at the household or neighbourhood level, they require increased levels of community involvement to support implementation and stewardship compared to traditional ‘hard engineering’ flood defence strategies such as flood dykes and walls.  

On the 4th of April 2025, Prof Katerina Alexiou and Prof Theo Zamenopoulos celebrated the conclusion of a six-month project funded by the OU's Open Societal Challenges programme and led in partnership with MK Community Foundation. The project piloted a Community Innovation Hub in Milton Keynes, aiming to support SMEs and ethnic minority businesses. The event was hosted at the OU Business School with support from academic colleagues Fidele Mutwarasibo and Aqueel Wahga.

Work by researchers in the School of Engineering and Innovation has informed recent horizon scans on Transport Innovations and Transport System Resilience by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). POST briefings and horizon scans primarily support the select committees of both Parliamentary Houses to ensure that the best available research evidence and information is brought to bear on the legislative process and scrutiny of Government.

Researchers in the School of Engineering and Innovation published a collaborative paper reporting insights from their work supporting co-design and cross-sector collaboration in the context of place-making. They report on a creative method developed and used in their action research projects and reflect on the conditions that support civic design initiatives to emerge and grow.

On 5th March 2025, Kevin Collins attended and facilitated sessions at the UK national meeting of climate smart agricultural advisors as part of his role as Work Package co-lead in the Climate Smart Advisors project funded by Horizon Europe. Convened at the Royal Agricultural Society of England (Kenilworth, UK), this meeting was to review progress and identify next steps. This research aims to build a new generation of agricultural advisors across the EU, able to engage with and support farmers to adapt to climate change. 

Academics from the OU STEM Faculty, including the School of Engineering and Innovation, have once again contributed to the BBC Radio 4 science documentary series Rare Earth. Each episode explores the relationship between humans and the Earth.

From human impact on the ozone layer to the return of wolves in Europe, the series highlights both the damage done and possible solutions. The programme also tackles contemporary issues like the challenges associated with plastics and the future of shipping. 

On 25th February 2025, Kevin Collins gave an invited talk on systems thinking for an online event on Nature and Climate Change.

Co-produced by The Open University, The Secret Genius of Modern Life, the show that unpacks the amazing science and mind-boggling innovation behind everyday objects, is back for its third series! Once again, Prof. Hannah Fry will be your hammer-wielding, tech-savvy tour guide to the extraordinary stories behind everything from Air fryers to Rollercoasters. This series was supported by leading OU academic expertise from the School of Engineering & Innovation.

Watch all episodes on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001f1tg

On 3^rd March 2025, Kevin Collins gave a presentation on Drought and Communication Strategies to over 100 Environment Agency staff as part of the Agency’s Behavioural Science Webinars. This is an ongoing series of staff development webinars and Kevin is the first external speaker to be invited. 

Between 11-14 February 2025, Kevin Collins attended the General Assembly of the SALAM-MED project in Marrakesh in his role as International Member of the Project Advisory Board. Funded by PRIMA, SALAM-MED (Sustainable Approaches to LAnd and water Management in MEditerranean Drylands) is using Living Labs in Italy, Greece, Spain, Morrocco, Tunisia and Egypt to improve agro-ecological-social relationships and sustainability. Drawing on his experiences relating to Living Labs in previous projects, Kevin gave a paper on the outcomes and ev