Having been at Music College followed by Teacher Training College from 1975-1979, I started studying with the Open University in 1992 for my first degree whilst running my own music teaching business and as a mother of four children then aged 2, 4, 6 and 8.
I gained my BA Hons in 1998 (having become a single parent in 1995) and completed my MA in 2012.
My PhD research is an ethnomusicological study, ‘Amateur, professional and in between, music-making in 21st century Truro, Cornwall’.
Rachel Garnham is a Senior Manager in the Office of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Students) at The Open University.
Dr Rachel Penny is the director of teaching for psychology and counselling at The Open University. Rachel has been passionate about psychology since she studied it as an undergraduate; she went on to complete a PhD exploring children’s understanding of nationality. Rachel joined the OU as a tutor in 2004 and has since taught on a range of Level 1 and 2 social science and psychology modules. Helping students to develop study skills alongside their subject knowledge and to balance their studies with other areas of their lives is of key importance to her role. Outside of work, Rachel enjoys running with the family dog and exercising her creative impulses with some relaxing crochet!
Rafael (known as 'Rafa' - pronounced 'Hafa') is the Project Manager for Student Hub Live, and joined the OU in April 2022.
He comes from Brazil, and used to have his own Language school! In his spare time, he likes to play video games, runs around after his big, soft dog Mikey, and is a whizz at DIY!
Ramla started her professional career as a junior engineer in a private construction company and moved on to working on a number of natural disaster projects during her course of postgrad degree, as a research assistant in the institute of space technology, and later as a researcher in an artificial intelligence lab. These days she is working on analysing the impact of heatwaves on the urban trees in Milton Keynes.
Ray is the new area representative for students in Continental Europe and lives in SW France.
Rebecca Harrison is Lecturer in Film and Media at the OU. She is interested in film history and is an experienced arts festival curator and culture journalist. She has worked at the OU since July 2021.
Dr Rebecca Kelly is a legal academic in the OU Law School. Before her career in higher education as a lecturer and researcher specialising in human rights, Dr Kelly worked in health and social care policy management for central government and the NHS.
Rebecca has worked at The Open University for almost 10 years. She started her career in Student Recruitment, and has spent the last seven years supporting students and tutors on the Access programme. Rebecca loves helping students to start their study journey with the OU and seeing the transformative effect it can have on their lives. She is a lover of languages and literature, has a degree in Spanish and English Literature and an MA in English, and is currently studying French in her spare time. Outside work and studies, Rebecca enjoys going to the theatre and cinema, baking (and eating in general!) and is obsessed with all things home and garden.
Rebecca is a Lecturer in Mathematics Education for The Open University, joining in the autumn of 2019. Rebecca has been on the module production team for both new modules “Learning and Doing Geometry” and “Learning and Doing Algebra”. Her background in teaching made her contributions especially valuable. She also enjoys engaging with schools through outreach events.
Rebecca has worked as an educational editor and publisher and is now deputy external engagement lead for the school of Mathematics and Statistics. She is a big fan of knitting, and has knitted mobius strips, Klein bottles, and a neuron!
Professor Rebecca Taylor is Executive Dean for the Faculty of Business and Law at The Open University.
Rebecca is a highly experienced educator at undergraduate and postgraduate level, having spent several years lecturing in quantitative economics, international trade and economic development. Rebecca has also taught a range of courses, including: Doctorate in Business Administration – survey based statistical research; economics of international trade; and fundamentals of quantitative economics.
Rebekah is a student on the OU Law degree course, who happens to be a carer. She has three children, her eldest child, Jack has complex disabilities and requires a high level of care, he is also hilarious! Rebekah studies part time, fitting her learning in around a busy family and caring for Jack.
Rebekah believes passionately in carer’s rights, and believes the systems around families should support carers to pursue their own interests, endeavours and career outside of their caring role.
To relax, Rebekah loves to read with a cup of tea or catch up with friends, especially the ones who ‘get it’ and understand what it’s like to be carer, whilst working towards a personal goal, her degree.
Regine Hampel is Professor of Open and Distance Language Learning here at the Open University and currently Associate Dean (Research & Scholarship) with overall responsibility for the research activity in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS).
Regine’s research focuses on the use of technology in the context of language learning and teaching. She publishes regularly, disseminates her work at national and international conferences, and has been invited to speak at various events. From 2011 to 2013 she was Assistant Editor for System: An International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Rehana Awan is a Staff Tutor for Open and Access and Doctoral Researcher at the OU. She supports ALs and students on YXM130 Making your Learning Count and Y031 Arts and Humanities. She’s worked at the OU for thirteen years and has been an AL on Access Y032 People, work and society since joining the OU and she also tutors on DD102 Introducing the Social Sciences.
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Dr Renu Bhandari (Ph.D., FHEA, CPsychol) is a staff tutor in the Centre for Access, Open and Cross-curricular Innovation (AoCCI), associate lecturer, and consultant with the Open University for the last 18 years. Her primary role sits in the Centre for Access, Open and Cross-curricular Innovation (AOCCI) and faculty of WELS (Wellbeing, Education, and language Studies). She teaches a range of modules from Access to post graduate modules highlighting issues about child development, childhood studies, early years developing practice, play and creativity in children and psychology. In her role Renu has been a consistent user and developer of online teaching techniques and tools. Renu is a monitor and mentor to new staff and has been playing a key role in monitoring and managing staff along with her teaching responsibilities at the Open University. Besides, the Open University, Renu has experience of working in University of Portsmouth and in University of Reading.
Rhian is a third year PhD student in the Planetary Science group and her research is on Martian dust storms. She’s running computer simulations of the atmosphere of Mars, investigating the processes by which dust is lifted from the surface of the planet, and when and where dust storms occur. She will be analysing data returned by the ESA ExoMars Schiaparelli lander and comparing that data with the results of his simulations. In her spare time Rhian is a rock climber, cinema junkie, real ale fan, and has just started learning German.
Rhiannon Edwards is a Lecturer and Staff Tutor in Psychology & Counselling. More recently, Rhiannon has been focusing on producing a new postgraduate qualification, MSc Psychology (Conversion).
Welsh Language Communications manager, who joined the OU 10 weeks ago! Rhodri likes football, cooking, reading and occasionally fishing.
Rhodri is Programme Manager to online rooms in Learning, Teaching and Innovation at The Open University.
He has been involved in educational technology at the OU for over 15 years, covering collaboration, mobile and Cloud-based software for use in teaching and learning activities.
Richard is an organisational researcher with a particular interest in the links between entrepreneurial activity, innovation and environmental sustainability. He has designed and led several modules in this area, both at The Open University and at other institutions, and is the co-author of a textbook, ‘Exploring Entrepreneurship’. Richard is particularly interested in the way organisations grow over time and has looked at this in a variety of contexts, including small artisanal food producers (cheese makers!), boat builders, musical instrument makers and social enterprises.
Before starting out on an academic career, Richard worked for the former Inner London Education Authority, the National Audit Office, a specialist marketing research consultancy and a diversified multinational company. He has been at The Open University since July 2009 and is a member of the Department for Public Leadership and Social Enterprise.
Dr Richard Brown is Head of School for Arts and Humanities in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He has taught on a number of English modules and was chair of AA100 The arts past and present. Richard is a published poet and was book reviews editor for The Spenser Review. He recently took part in the BBC production My Life in Books and, in 2010, received an OU teaching award in recognition of his outstanding commitment to the teaching of the Arts and Humanities.
Richard joined The Open University in 1999 and is currently Interim Head of the Department of Politics & International Studies (POLIS). Richard has worked on a number of OU modules, is currently the chair of DD211 Understanding Politics: Ideas and institutions in the Modern World, and editor of and contributor to the well-established undergraduate British politics textbook, Developments in British Politics (Palgrave Macmillan 2002, 2003, 2006, 2011 and 2016). He researches in the field of comparative politics and specialises in British politics.
Richard Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Literature at The Open University. He chaired the production of A111 Discovering the arts and humanities and continues to chair the module in presentation. He is also the Level 1 Lead for the School. Richard’s main area of research is eighteenth-century literature; he is interested in what we can learn about the Enlightenment - and about writing -when we set aside modern ideas about disciplines and knowledge. An interest in creative approaches to critical writing has led to some very fruitful discussions with his dog about literary terms (which you can find in his blog, antiphysis).
Richard Marsden is a staff tutor and lecturer in history and is currently director of teaching for the School of Arts and Humanities and deputy chair for the A113 Revolutions course. He worked at several traditional universities between 2005 and 2016 but is happy to be at The Open University, as adult learners are definitely his favourite students. As a historian, he looks at the ways in which ideas about the past helped to shape national identities in Britain from the eighteenth century to the present. He is interested in enabling distance-learning students to work together, rather than in isolation, while at the same time giving them greater choice about what and how they study.
Richard Murtagh is a criminal barrister, having been recruited by the Crown Prosecution Service, and will start his ‘pupilage’ in November. He is a ‘Birmingham lad’ from a working-class background. He was diagnosed with bone cancer at age 6, which disrupted his early education. He worked for a haulage firm after leaving school, which he saw as a good job, but he wanted more. He then became a self-employed musician, which boosted his confidence and self-belief.
Richard Treves is a Senior Technology Enhanced Learning Designer working with module teams to make the OU student experience as good as it can possibly be. His background is in Earth Science (including digging wells in Africa and studying a Hawaiian volcano), has 20 years of using innovative technology to assist university students, and has been an OU student, AL and Staff Tutor.
Rob has been Director of the OU in Wales for just under ten years. During his time at the helm the OU has moved from third place for provision of part-time opportunities to become the clear leader among Welsh universities. Rob is responsible for liaison with the Welsh Government and the funding council in Wales, as well as – of course – ensuring that OU students in Wales receive tuition and support of the highest standard. Rob was appointed by the Minister for Education in the Welsh Government to the Diamond Review of higher education fees and funding. This review made recommendations for major change in the funding system, including the introduction of means-tested maintenance grants for those studying part-time.
Rob is one of our main presenters at Student Hub Live. He is also a tutor and writer on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate Business School courses.
In 1995 he started with The Open University as a student doing a one-year Professional Certificate in Management. Nearly 30 years on and 3 master’s degrees later, Rob is here today.
I am Senior Lecturer in Combinatorics and Director of Research for the School of Mathematics and Statistics. I teach on M303 Further Pure Mathematics, MT365 Graphs, Networks and Design, M823 Analytic Number Theory I and (as an Associate Lecturer) on M840 Dissertation in Mathematics. One of the highlights of my year is teaching on the M500 Revision Weekend, where I get to meet students from all walks of life.
My research interests are in Combinatorics (which is a fancy name for “counting”) and Graph theory (which is the study of networks formed by nodes and connecting links). Outside work, I have two young children, and enjoy choral singing and cycling (not usually at the same time).
After a successful senior managerial role in Road Transport, Robert decided to make a career change, at the age of 45. He went back to college/university to become a secondary school teacher, moved into being a college lecturer, eventually progressed to an Associate Lecturer with the Open University. Robert joined the OU in 2006 and studied and gained an MBA while working with the OU. This was a great learning curve providing valuable experience and empathy with students of the distance learning environment. Robert has now been teaching with the OU for over 17 years, tutoring on level 1, level 2 and level 3 modules.
Also a presenter on Hospital Radio involving visiting patients to collect music requests, and presenting their choices, live, on air. Producer of a weekly radio show, broadcast on numerous community stations. Active Executive member of hospital radio, holding the position of Treasurer for 5 years.
Robert is passionate about innovative approaches to social inclusion and access to learning, speaking at conferences across the EU, including the International Corrections and Prisons Association conference (2017).
Since 2003 he has delivered a range of training is prisons across the UK and EU and is interested in how social enterprise can provide innovative solutions to access learning and support resettlement.
Robert’s writings are mostly about nineteenth- and twentieth-century music, and especially about the relationship between music and literature. He has organised a ‘Literature and Music’ research group for many years with Dr Delia da Sousa Correa of the English Department.
Robert has taught for The Open University for twenty-five years, and for many years was one of the Course Directors of the Music Summer School held in Durham. He has written bits of all the modules offered in Music since 1998, and is currently on the writing team of A234 Understanding Music to be launched in October 2020.
Robert lives in Oxford with his family. Like one of his musical heroes, Robert Schumann, he is a keen chess player. He is proud to be currently ranked around the 3,500th best player in the country, and also writes ‘The Chess and Music Blog’ (https://chessandmusic.wordpress.com/).
Rob manages both the entrepreneurship competition and the OU accelerate programme. He is passionate about seeing students’ business ideas develop and also about enhancing the OU student experience through extracurricular activities. He loves photography and sharing the pictures he takes – some of his photos have been worked into the competition site! His favourite thing about the OU is the OpenLearn platform and it has been really exciting for him to run the competition via OpenLearn Create. He would encourage any student with even just a hint of a business idea to get involved in the competition. So much can be learnt from the resources available, and anyone who makes it to the later stages gets to come to campus to learn from their peers too!
Ron Elder is a senior lecturer, working in the School of Law. He is the Head of Student Experience so doesn’t teach, but he manages eight Student Experience Managers and through them, all 250 of the Law School lecturers. Ron joined the OU in January 2017 and is passionate about public service, and relishes his role championing student issues. Having previously studied with the OU, Ron is very much aware of what it feels like to be a student and he really enjoys being part of our drive to increase student recruitment, help to support students so that more decide to stick with or continue their studies, and being at graduation ceremonies to celebrate student successes.
Ros is a professionally qualified careers advisor and has over 30 years’ experience of working in careers guidance, counselling and coaching in universities, schools and the community with some quite diverse groups.
Before joining the OU five years ago, she delivered careers guidance to college students on Access, A-level and vocational courses and embedding careers and employability into the curriculum.
She is passionate about helping people make sound career decisions, develop their employability and move forward in their career thinking.
Rosalind Crone is Senior Lecturer in History, currently Head of History and chair of A883 MA History part 1. She is a historian of 19th century Britain and has published on Victorian popular culture, policing entertainments, literacy and schooling, and the history of prison education. In her spare time, Rosalind goes hunting for old lock-ups - wooden, brick or stone structures in villages and towns formerly used for the temporary confinement of local thieves and other riff raff (for more info and videos see: https://www.prisonhistory.org/local-lock-up/)
Trained as a Political Scientist and Sociologist, Rosaria has developed her research career on a variety of issues including Public Health research on the impact of movement, dance, physical activity on one’s health and wellbeing, and initiatives directed to increase mobility and activity amongst older adults. She is Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences (FASS), STEM and in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Languages (WELS) at the Open University. She is also a Visiting Researcher in WELS, Specialist trainer (Dementias, Mental health) and Qualitative Researcher.
Outside the OU, she is a public speaker and a dance/movement facilitator for people, from limited mobility issues to elite sport and dance professionals, and in different settings from care homes to festivals.
Rose Capdevila joined The Open University in 2009 and is a senior lecturer and Director of Research in the School of Psychology. Rose co-chairs DE200 Investigating Psychology 2, the innovative Level 2 core psychology module. Her research and publications focus on the construction of political and gender identities and the applications and implications of methodologies. Most recently she has been conducting research on social media, in particular on selfies and the curation of identity and gender both on and offline. Rose co-edits the journal Feminism & Psychology and is co-editor of the book Handbook of International Feminisms: Perspectives on Psychology, Women, Culture, and Rights.
Rosie has worked in academic libraries since 2001, taking a particular interest in information literacy, digital capabilities, and games and learning. Her previous experience includes project managing the development and implementation of the award winning Alan Gilbert Learning Commons at the University of Manchester Library, as well as holding specialist information literacy roles at Manchester Metropolitan University.
She is particularly involved in the UK academic libraries’ Information Literacy community and is currently co-chair for the Librarians’ Information Literacy Annual Conference (LILAC). She is also an active member of the Association for Learning Technology’s Playful Learning Special Interest Group, and has been involved in numerous games-based learning projects.
Rosie joined the Open University (OU) as a Student Experience Manager (SEM) in the Faculty of Business and Law (FBL) in February 2021. Rosie's background is in law and business and she studied law as a mature student and then qualified as solicitor so she understands very well the challenges of motherhood, study and very little money!
After qualifying, Rosie moved quite quickly to a commercial organisation and became non-practicing. For the past 18 years Rosie has worked in higher education, teaching and eventually leading a large team delivering UG programmes across Law, Economics and Accounting & Finance. Rosie's current role as a SEM is working with law tutors to support students.
Rosina Márquez Reiter is Professor of Pragmatics and Interactional Discourse Analysis at the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics, The Open University, UK. Her research interests sit at the interface of pragmatics and sociolinguistics and primarily focuses on (inter)action. She is author of Linguistic Politeness in Britain and Uruguay (Benjamins, 2000), Spanish Pragmatics (Palgrave, 2005 with M.E. Placencia) and Mediated Business Interactions. Intercultural Communication between Speakers of Spanish (EUP, 2011). She is also editor of Current Trends in the Pragmatics of Spanish (Benjamins, 2004, with M.E Placencia), A Sociolinguistics of Diaspora (Routledge, 2015 with L. Martín-Rojo), The Pragmatics of Sensitive Activities in Institutional Discourse (Benjamins, 2018, with M.B. Hansen) and Language Practices and Processes among Latin Americans in Europe (Routledge, in progress with A.
Ruth Cammies is the University Archivist based in Library Services. Ruth manages the archive service and the OU Digital Archive (OUDA). She has worked at the OU as the Archivist for just over 14 years, and before that was a student at UCL studying for a Masters in Archives and Records Management. Ruth enjoys working with the video and audio archives of the University and making them more accessible to students and other researchers.
In her spare time Ruth enjoys embroidery and quilting, photography and researching family history.
I work in the Widening Access and Success Services team at The Open University, where I lead the Students in Secure Environments team, supporting students in prison who are doing a degree with the OU. We work hard to deliver materials in appropriate formats and to offer additional study skills support for students who are new to university level study. All of my work has a strong student focus and I am particularly interested in how we support students who have not previously engaged well in education.
