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Who We Are

The Open Societal Challenges Programme at The Open University (OU) is a research initiative that aims to tackle some of the most important challenges of our time through impact-driven research. The Programme's aim is to apply the research excellence of OU academics to some of the most pressing societal challenges facing people across the UK and worldwide to transform lives. The Programme’s focus on the themes of Tackling Inequalities, Living Well, and Sustainability aligns with our mission to be open to people, places, methods, and ideas.

You can learn more about the Programme and our current Research Challenges by visiting Open Societal Challenges.

Challenge Us!

We are running a competition open to OU students, UK Charities and Milton Keynes businesses to find the most exciting research ideas tackling real-world problems.


If you are interested in taking part, please read through our Competition Rules (links to page). Please do feel free to reach out to societal-challenges@open.ac.uk if you have any questions.

The competition will open on the 1st March 2024 and close on the 15th May 2024. You will be able to enter by visiting this webpage.