Gill Ryan is part of the Access, Participation and Success team in the OU in Scotland and is a former carer. She is one of the chairs of the Care and Caring @OU Network and led on the university’s application for the Going Higher for Student Carers award. She has previously worked for a carers centre, led the Equal Partners in Care project for the Scottish Government, and was involved in developing the Caring Counts in the Workplace course on OpenLearn Create. A core part of her role is improving access and outcomes for student carers.