STEM Faculty
The Faculty vision shifts the focus from traditional STEM disciplines to the societal perspectives of life and health, data and information, digital thinking, and sustainable environments. These themes thread through the Faculty’s research, knowledge exchange and teaching.
We aspire to be world leaders in inclusive, innovative and impactful STEM teaching and research. Our vibrant research community are active at the frontiers of knowledge in several areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Through collaboration with a wide range of partners we drive innovation, shape policy and practice, and change lives for the better throughout the UK and around the world.
Prof Nicholas Braithwaite, Executive Dean
About the Faculty
The registered student headcount in the STEM Faculty is just over 70,000, with most studying part-time. The staff base comprises some 240 campus-based academics, around 100 Staff Tutors based around the UK whose primary role is coordinating the small-group tuition delivered by 1200 Associate Lectures (the majority of whom are part-time).
There is a professional services cohort in the Faculty of around 300 staff indirectly supporting teaching and research, with a further 80 directly supporting research. The technical and laboratory estate in the Faculty includes a studios, workshops, preparation rooms, field-sites, secure storage facilities (for materials and for data) and specialist laboratories for chemistry, physics, engineering, geosciences, environmental sciences, biology, microbiology, space instrumentation, electron microscopy, structural analysis, and compositional spectroscopies. Most of the laboratory infrastructure is related to the research portfolio and even though our students are predominantly engaged in distance learning we have a few small on-campus teaching laboratories for face-to-face practical classes.
STEM Schools
The School of Computing & Communications (C&C) aims to lead and shape the digital revolution through delivering innovative and dynamic teaching, that is relevant to the workplace, and is founded on world-class research and scholarship. It is the largest School in the Faculty in terms of student numbers and breadth of curriculum. Technical, analytical and creative digital skills that meet the highest expectations of employers are at the core of their undergraduate qualifications which include foundation degrees, apprenticeships and computing degrees combined with a second subject. C&C also offers various specialist taught masters. Research activities share a common theme of effectively integrating technology into our lives, addressing the needs of individuals and societal issues from cyber security and AI to smart devices and interfaces.
The School of Engineering & Innovation (E&I) aims to make an impact on individuals, organisations and communities that have to design, develop, build and manage complex systems involving technologies of all kinds. The School therefore provides a broad range of qualifications and modules focused on design, engineering, environmental management, systems-thinking, and technology management. Practical teaching is done through a combination of on-line studio work, home experiment kits and experimental facilities such as wind tunnels, bench-top apparatus and pressure vessels that are accessed remotely over the internet in the OpenEnginering Lab (part of the OpenSTEM Labs). Research interests in E&I mirror those of the curriculum with sustainability, energy and materials headings particularly picking up on the sustainable environments theme.
The School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences (EEES) investigates and teaches about past and present environments, identifying positive actions in response to the climate emergency and associated challenges of social and environmental justice. The School aims to empower scientific citizens, better equipping them to engage with local to global environmental issues. EEES offers undergraduate modules and qualifications in Environmental Sciences, Earth Sciences, and Geography and Environmental Science. They also have a strong commitment to informal educational channels such as citizen science initiatives and BBC co-productions.
The School of Life, Health and Chemical Sciences (LHCS) conducts world-leading research and teaching across a range of disciplines from human biology, neurosciences and biomedicine, to chemistry, analytical sciences and the molecular basis of life. This wide range of interests offers the opportunity for exciting and vibrant collaborative projects in both teaching and research. LHCS offer undergraduate modules and qualifications in biology, chemistry, health sciences, biomedical sciences and natural sciences, together with an MSc in Mental Health Science. Practical work makes use of the OpenSTEM Labs’ remote-access and online resources in the OpenHealth Laboratory.
The School of Mathematics & Statistics (M&S) addresses the fundamental concepts of pure mathematics, applied mathematics and statistics, and aims to deepen understanding of how those concepts can be widely applied. There are study options all these areas and also in data science, mathematics education and theoretical physics; there is a taught masters programme that gives graduates the opportunity to extend their mathematical learning. M&S has a strong and growing research base ranging from fluid mechanics to biostatistics and from algebra to pedagogy. The Schoo’s public engagement includes academic input to the Radio 4 series More or Less.
The School of Physical Sciences (SPS) carry out world-leading research and teaching in astronomy, physics, physics education, planetary and space sciences, and space instrumentation, including the industry-sponsored Centre for Electronic Imaging. The School offers undergraduate modules and qualifications in Physics and in Astronomy & Planetary Science, as well as a taught Masters programme in Space Science. Practical teaching makes extensive use of remote access to instruments in the OpenScience Laboratory and to Tenerife-based telescopes in the OpenScience Observatories, which are part of the internet-based OpenSTEM Labs. SPS has notable research expertise in astronomy and space instrumentation (including electronic imaging) in addition to research in applied physics topics and in physics-education.
Academic Communities
The academic communities of the STEM faculty comprises six discipline-based Schools which are outlined above. In addition, there are several facilities and groupings that span the breadth of the faculty and in many cases feature interfaculty collaboration. These include:
- eSTEeM – the centre for scholarship and innovation that provides a laboratory for STEM-specific pedagogy aimed at continuous improvement of our educational resources and the staff who prepare them and present them to students.
- AstrobiologyOU – a multidisciplinary research group working collaboratively to address the scientific, governance and ethical challenges associated with the advancement of astrobiology and related space exploration missions.
- SpaceOU – a network that incorporates fundamental and applied research and engagement on topics from exoplanets to satellite propulsion systems.
- The Knowledge Media Institute is a diverse and multidisciplinary R&D association that explores, semantic technologies, artificial intelligence, educational media, social data science, scholarly data, blockchain, citizen science, collective intelligence, and smart cities.
- The multi-award winning OpenSTEM Labs challenge the traditional STEM pedagogical model of students and teachers being co-located in a lab during ‘office hours’. We connect students to instrumentation, data, and equipment for practical enquiries over the internet, where time and distance is no longer a barrier – any time, any place access. This initiative was the basis of the OU’s recent Queen’s Anniversary prize (awarded Feb 2024).
- The OpenXR studios is a new interfaculty studio for the production and presentation of virtual and extended reality experiences in support of curriculum that is difficult to visualise or to engage within the context of distance learning.
- Centre for Electronic Imaging – a research/knowledge transfer team working in partnership with a leading manufacturer of space-grade imaging sensors (Teledyne e2V) for space-based astronomy and planetary/Earth observation missions.
Across all activities the STEM Faculty turnover is around £150m.