Open University

The Department of Life Sciences at the Open University is a diverse one and includes academics interested in several aspects of Ecology and Wildlife Conservation. The department is based at Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, but it has a Cambridge presence at Cintra House, 12 Hills Road. The OU offers a range of courses relating to conservation, from short courses at Level 1 (e.g. S182 Studying Mammals) through to Level 3 courses on Ecosystems (S396) and Oceanography (S330). Postgraduate research is conducted in many areas of conservation, but particularly ecohydrology and molecular ecology. We have long standing collaborations with other CCF institutions, particularly CEH. Our research laboratories are based at Walton Hall, from where we lead many national and international research programmes, having long-standing involvement in a European consortium studying the ecological impacts of atmospheric nitrogen deposition and other groups involved in rainforest conservation in Guyana and fynbos ecology in the Cape. The department currently hosts the Biodiversity Observatory and the Evolution MegaLab (http://www.evolutionmegalab.org/)