In today’s episode, Heidi speaks with Richard, a former OU student who discovered his natural talent for Law thanks to his experience with The Open University. After studying for a certificate in Higher Education with the OU, he went on to study full time at Birmingham City University and now has just one year left of his LLB. Richard talks about his love for the OU and how it helped him find direction in life. He also discusses his greatest passion, radio. Richard has just been appointed the Station Direction for Scratch Radio, his university’s student radio station. Heidi and Richard explore the role of AI in audio production and discuss the importance of building community when studying at a distance.

In this month’s episode, Heidi (who has just finished the first year of her PhD) has recorded a solo podcast for us which focuses exclusively on studying for a PhD at The Open University. If you’ve always wanted to gain your doctorate but have felt excluded because of finances, caring responsibilities or a lack of confidence, this episode will help move you towards your goal. Although the OU welcomes anyone looking to self-fund their PhD, we know for many, this isn’t possible. As such, Heidi outlines the route she took which landed her a fully-funded scholarship. As a single mum, Heidi thought she’d have to wait until retirement to study for her PhD, but she found a way to make it work. The Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership, led by the University of Oxford in collaboration with The Open University and Brunel University, offers an array of incredible opportunities for aspiring doctoral students. Heidi shares advice for building connections and highlights the importance of finding the right supervisors for you.

Concerned about feeling alone? What many people don’t realise is that the OU has a beautiful, huge campus just outside Milton Keynes (along with offices in Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh). Here, you will find a friendly community of 900 PhD students, so you definitely won’t feel isolated. Taking a leap of faith and following your passion takes courage, but the OU is on standby to help you achieve your goals. Find out more about the various options available to you by looking at the OU’s Research Degrees website and the OU job vacancies page which includes details of available scholarships (be sure to bookmark the URL and keep checking it regularly, you will be amazed at what you will find!)

If you have any questions, email studenthub@open.ac.uk and Heidi will come back to you as soon as possible. Thanks for listening.

Today, OU PhD student Heidi, was joined by Sharon, an OU student studying Arts and Humanities with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Sharon is a classically trained dancer, singer and actress, who has featured in films, TV and on the stage. Her journey with the OU began when she was awarded a prestigious Black Students’ Support Fund Scholarship in 2023 (find out more about the scholarship here).

Sharon is now in her second year of her degree and shares her experience of studying with the OU so far, her exciting plans to write an autobiography, her inspirational daughter and her aspiration to become a teacher. With 16 years of experience of working with children and young people, Sharon plans to become a Performing Arts teacher. In this conversation, she outlines ways to avoid feeling isolated as an OU student and encourages all those with a dream to pursue it.

Unfortunately, due to technical issues on the day of the recording, there is a slightly abrupt ending to today’s episode. We apologise for this but use it as a reminder that life always throws us curveballs! As students, we all know the challenges of IT glitches and connection issues, but just like with today’s episode, we do our best, press on and make the very best of it. Huge thanks to Sharon for generously sharing almost three hours of her day with us to make this episode possible and thanks to Sophie Hoyle from The Open University for making this great conversation happen.

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