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Thought Leadership

Learn from the insights of a trusted source

Our faculty across the university are informed opinion leaders and often the go-to people in their field of expertise.

Here, they share their many insights and opinions gleaned from years of research and/or experience in their respective fields in order to further debate, inspire new ideas and help turn these into reality with a view to finding a way forward in meeting the many and diverse challenges of an increasingly uncertain and changing geopolitical and socioeconomic landscape.


The challenge of smart contracts

During this Breakfast Briefing on 29 November 2018, Dr Robert Herian, Senior Lecturer in Law at The Open University Law School, discussed the concept of 'Smart Contracts'.

29th November 2018
A group of people hold up signs that read 'For health, homes, jobs, education JC4PM'

We live in a populist age – but who are ‘the people’?

We live in a populist age – but who are 'the people'?

10th August 2018

Three days is still too long to hold pregnant women in immigration detention

It’s been two years since a coalition of lobbying groups in the UK successfully challenged Home Office policy on the immigration detention of pregnant women. 

26th July 2018

The Future of Work 4.0: Disruptive technologies, opportunity or threat?

During this Breakfast Briefing on 19 June 2018, Dr Peter Bloom, Senior Lecturer in Organisational Studies and Head of the Department for People and Organisations at The Open University Business School, gave his thoughts on the Future of Work in relation to the widely-predicted 'fourth industrial revolution'.

9th July 2018

Doubt, depression, anxiety – just some of the problems plaguing the veterinary profession

Mental health issues, alcohol and drug abuse, a high incidence of stress and suicide, excessive staff turnover rates, and a failure to adapt to the increasing demographic dominance of women. These are all serious challenges facing the veterinary profession in the UK.

21st May 2018
Business Perspectives Logo

Money for nothing? The pros and cons of a ‘basic income’

The recent news that the Finnish Government will not be expanding its trial which provided 2,000 unemployed people with a state-supplied basic income has sparked fresh debate on the topic.

14th May 2018
Dr Charles Barthold, Lecturer in People Management

Have we anything to fear from the ‘fourth industrial revolution’?

A life full of copious amounts of leisure time with mundane tasks a thing of the past, or a world with mass unemployment which is ruled by machines?

11th May 2018

Charities left out of pocket by probation scheme for ex-offenders

In 2014, the British government said the sector would be “at the forefront of a new fight against reoffending”. But the reality is sharply different, according to our new research.

8th May 2018

Why accountants of the future will need to speak blockchain and cryptocurrency if they want your money

If you haven’t already heard of Bitcoin, you either haven’t been paying attention or you’re a time traveller who just touched down in 2018.

21st March 2018

I befriend women detained at Yarl’s Wood: their life in immigration limbo is excruciating

For nearly two years, Joanne Vincett, PhD Student in the Deparment for Strategy and Marketing at OUBS, has been researching and volunteering as a “befriender” and trustee with Yarl’s Wood Befrienders, a charitable volunteer visitors’ group that offers emotional and practical support to women migrants and asylum seekers detained in Yarl’s Wood.

12th March 2018