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Carl is a Lecturer in Energy and Environmental Sciences within the School of Engineering and Innovation at The Open University; researching the environmental impact of waste management processes and end-of-life materials. Particular interests include using technology to monitor pollution and ecological disturbance, and understanding the breakdown and impact of plastic-based materials in both natural environments and within waste treatment processes.

Carl teaches on the Environmental Management Masters (F65) with responsibility for T867, Managing for Sustainability. Carl is a PhD graduate from the Open University and is therefore keen to encourage and promote this qualification route to current students.

I’m relatively new to Higher Education as a sector. I have several years of working as a teacher and manager in Further Education (FE) colleges. I enjoy working with adult students.

I returned to study as an adult student after years of working in FE colleges. I started my Masters thinking I wouldn’t be able to manage a whole qualification but was able to study a module or two. I loved it so much I completed the Masters and still wanted more. That was more than 10 years ago and I haven’t stopped since. 

Carol is a Learning and Teaching Librarian and have worked at the OU since March 2022. She works in the Live Engagement, Authoring and Enquiry Teams, delivering and designing training sessions and working on the library helpdesk. She has worked in academic libraries for over 20 years, mainly working with HE students in FE colleges, although she did have a brief period of working as a planetarium presenter, designing and delivering planetarium shows in schools. In her spare time, Carol loves astronomy and space and can be found looking at the sky a lot!

Caroline is a senior lecturer in organisation studies and has been working in the Department for People and Organisations for eight years. She obtained her first degree from The Open University while working full time for Prudential, and as such she is sympathetic to both the benefits and the particular challenges of this form of study.

Prior to working at The Open University, Caroline was a researcher on the Cranfield Change Management Consortium, working with blue-chip practitioners and public-sector organisations in this effective practitioner–academic alliance. Caroline continues to work with practitioners through her research and is currently working with veterinary organisations.

Caroline is chair of B870, the first MBA module, and is also the author of some sessions. She has many years of experience working on the previous OU MBA. 

Info coming soon. 

Dr Caroline Tagg is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and English Language in the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics at The Open University. Her research investigates the language of social media. She began her current post at The Open University in October 2015, and prior to that was a lecturer at the University of Birmingham, where she gained her PhD with a thesis titled 'A corpus analysis of SMS text messaging'. Caroline has an MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL from Leicester University, and previously worked as a TESOL teacher in Spain and then in Vietnam with the British voluntary organisation, Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).

Carolyn Price is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the Open University. She’s been a course author on A333 Key Questions in Philosophy, contributing to units about rationality (what is it?) and knowledge (how do we get it?). She’s also recently contributed some materials on the philosophy of emotion to the Philosophy MA. These teaching materials directly draw on Carolyn’s research, which focuses on questions about emotion and rationality.  Currently, Carolyn is Deputy Chair of A111 Discovering the Arts and Humanities, which will be presented from the first time in October this year, and which is designed to introduce students to a broad range of Arts and Humanities disciplines, including Philosophy.

Cat is the Project Assistant for Student Hub Live and has been with the Open University in this role since 6th September 2022. She handles the day-to-day SHL admin and marketing/ comms. She also is known to pop into the chat to help out with general queries if there is a particularly busy event. She has just finished her first OU module T217, 'Design Essentials', to go towards an open degree, and has enjoyed the challenge and creativity. So much so, that she has enrolled on the Level 3 follow-on module, T317 'Innovation: Designing for change'!

Prior to SHL, Cat had a long career in optics/ FE, spanning 22 years. She worked hard to become a Dispensing Optician/ qualified lecturer. She also had the privilege to sit on the optical Fitness to Practise hearings panel for over 4 years and marked theory papers for the main college for ophthalmic dispensing.

Dr Catherine Pestano is an AL, a social worker and a working carer. She has a research interest in carers, including those going through menopause, and has a research sandpit coming up on that the topic of menopause, in case there is interest. She also founded Croydon Carers choir, now in its 7th year.

Cathy Smith joined the School of Mathematics and Statistics in 2017 with a brief to refresh the curriculum in the degree Mathematics and its Learning. Since then she has been teaching and designing materials for new Level 3 modules about Learning and Doing Algebra and Geometry.   Her own schooling was in Uganda, France and England and, after a maths degree, she taught mathematics in secondary comprehensive schools in Hertfordshire and Suffolk. Juggling part-time work and her three children, Cathy completed a PhD and is now a teacher educator and researcher interested in teachers’ mathematical language and how adolescents – particularly girls - make sense of themselves as mathematicians. She really enjoys knitting and sewing – geometry in action!

Catriona Havard has a lecturer at the Open University since 2011 and a member of the Forensic Cognition Research Group. Her main area of research is face recognition, in the forensic context of eyewitness identification from line-ups. The primary aim of her research is to make eyewitness evidence more reliable, especially for children and older adult (over 60 yrs) witnesses, and to reduce misidentifications that could lead to wrongful convictions.

Chandni Bhana joined the Careers and Employability Service in March 2016. Chandni’s role focuses on supporting students in various forms – from providing tailored one-to-one support, through to delivering careers webinars and hosting forums. Chandni also works on specific projects; such as engaging OU alumni to inform and develop careers resources, and managing the LinkedIn careers group. Chandni has experience of providing information, advice and guidance to students from further education and higher education settings. Before joining the OU, Chandni also worked as a Faculty Employability Adviser at Anglia Ruskin University and prior to this she provided careers advice and employability support to a variety of clients. Chandni has undertaken volunteering roles which have developed her transferable skills and supported local community activity. Chandni’s pastimes include reading books, jogging and studying the Introduction to Law module with the OU.

Charlie Andrew is Training and Resources Manager at Classics For All, and also teaches Latin and Classics part-time at Greig City Academy in Haringey. Before going into teaching, Charlie worked in the publishing and digital content industries, and uses this experience to develop and promote Classics-related classroom materials. She takes a special interest in helping primary school children access Classics and develop a lifelong love of the subject.

Charlotte joined the Open University in November 2019 as a Student Experience Manager, looking after Law and Business modules. She is also an associate lecturer on W111 and W211. Charlotte’s background is in lecturing for over 12 years. She studied law as a mature student at the same time as building a successful career in charity administration, completing her LL.B part-time through evening classes with the University of London, followed by an LL.M in Public Law and Global Governance at King’s College London. Charlotte completed a Post-graduate Certificate in Education in adult education to enable her to teach law and is a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy. She is committed to supporting students from diverse backgrounds and has taught subjects including Public Law, Employment Law and European Union law to students ranging in age from 18 to 80. 

Charlotte Stone joined the Student’s Association in January 2022. After 6 months of being an administration assistant, she took up the reins of Student Advisor for the Individual Representation service. Her job entails helping students with complaints and appeals that they are going through with the University, along with supporting students who have been accused of academic misconduct. She finds it a really fulfilling role, being able to support students on a 1-1 basis so that they feel heard. Outside of work Charlotte looks after her two young children, along with working towards completing her degree and volunteering as a Samaritan. If she has any time left at the end of the day, she enjoys reading.

In her role with OUSA, Cherry liaises with her CEC colleagues, the OU and students on all subjects and issues that come under the banner of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. She became an Association student volunteer in May 2008, and was elected to Association’s Disabled Students Group Committee in the same year. Over the next eight years, she performed almost every job on the Committee, and served twice as Chair, before being elected as V P Equal Opportunities in 2016. Other student volunteer roles currently include: Central Committee Representative Open Board of Studies; South East Regional Assembly Executive member; Open University/Association Degree Ceremony Co-ordinator; Moderator DSG (Disabled Students Group) on the VLE. Cherry contributes to several online Consultative forums, and advises on accessibility issues, especially involving screen reader software.

Chris French is the new Head of the Open University’s video unit, looking after a team of 20 film-makers who produce and commission the videos and the audios used in OU modules. He has been with the OU for ten years and before that worked in broadcast television and radio.

Chris has been a Senior Student Advisor with the OU for a little over a year now. Previous to this he worked as an english teacher as well as various management roles on the railways, the London Underground network and the online gaming industry.

These roles were heavily focussed on training, coaching, community involvement and he also studied alongside them. Chris graduated from Loughborough University in 2005 with a BSc (Hons) in Geography and then moved into transport as a successful applicant onto the National Express Graduate Management scheme.

Like many students he speaks with daily, he believes his studies were life-changing both from a career and personal perspective. He has huge admiration for OU students because of how they balance their studies, work, responsibilities, personal lives and various challenges.

Associate Head of School (Learning, Teaching and Innovation) and has strategic responsibility for developing and enhancing the school’s learning and teaching strategy. Originally trained as a community psychologist, he joined the Open University in 2004 and has developed modules in areas such as health and social care, youth justice, mental health and practice-based learning. In his spare time Chris enjoys travelling, photography and gardening.

Chris Williams is a Senior Lecturer in History at the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences (FASS), whose specialism is the history of crime and policing. He’s written parts of all the History modules currently offered by the OU and works with ‘History and Policy’ to help policymakers become more aware of historical context. He is also the Arts Media Fellow for the Open Media Unit, in charge of liaising between FASS and the OU’s OpenLearn team, as well as FASS co-operation with the BBC.

Christine joined the Open University in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic so this event is very relevant personally!  She has an MBA from the Open University, acquired while working in the corporate and public sectors prior to moving into Higher Education. She was originally awarded a Double Honours degree in Modern Languages from the University of Manchester and as a graduate worked in marketing for Grant Thornton accountants, moving onto Oxfam GB and public sector management roles. 

Claire is a social scientist by trade has a PhD in Organisational Behaviour. She started tutoring for the OU in 2009 and became a Student Experience Manager in 2022. Aside from her research and teaching career she has done lots of other jobs that have added to her skill set.

Claire Corkram is a Careers and Employability Consultant (Learning and Teaching) for the Open University, who supports the Open Qualification team. She joined the OU in July 2018 from Northampton University and has also been a distance student, studying Level 6 Diploma in Career Guidance & Development.

Further information to follow.

Claire is Director of PRAXIS, the Scholarship and Innovation Centre in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies. She is also a Staff Tutor working in the Early Childhood Team. As well as working for the OU, Claire also has experience as a student; she completed both her MA and her EdD with the University. Claire’s research interests focus on building and sustaining writing communities.

More to follow.

Clare Spencer has been an Associate Lecturer in Arts and Humanities with the OU for more than thirty years, and is now a Staff Tutor and Deputy Director of Teaching for the School. Her specialist areas are English and Creative Writing, and she's currently busy writing material for our new Stage 2 Creative Writing module. Clare is based at the OU in Wales, and is on her way to becoming a lifelong Welsh language learner.

Colin is Senior Manager of Policy and Control within Academic Services at the Open University.

Cristina Chimisso (PhD, Cambridge) joined the Open University in July 2000. Previously she lectured at the University of Aberdeen, was George and May Sarton fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Cambridge, Mass.), research fellow at the Department of History of Science, Harvard University, and Walter Rathenau fellow at the Max Planck Institute for History of Science (Berlin).

She was head of the philosophy department from 2009 to 2013; she is currently a member of the OU Senate.

She is the author of the monographs Writing the History of the Mind: Philosophy and Science in France 1900-1960s (Ashgate, 2008), written with the support of an AHRC grant, and Gaston Bachelard: Critic of Science and the Imagination (Routledge, 2001).