Psychology and Counselling Research Centre

Open Psychology Research Centre

The Open Psychology Research Centre is the research centre of the School of Psychology & Counselling at The Open University. The Centre represents a progressive approach to psychological research, theory and practice that is tightly connected with other social sciences and humanities disciplines. It champions creative, critical and credible psychological research that makes a difference to real social issues, that informs practice, and that inspires a positive vision for living together fairly, equitably and imaginatively. Our engaged research also feeds into scholarship for teaching at the OU.

When we are open to new possibilities, we find them. Be open and sceptical of everything.
Todd Kashdan

Often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
Helen Keller

Accents in the Courtroom
21st August 2025
A recording of the talk is now available online. In this Open Psychology Research Centre lecture, Professor Lara Frumkin gave a talk addressing the role accents play in how we perceive and make decisions about people.
Face off: Insights into first impressions in real, computer-generate and AI faces
20th August 2025
A recording of the talk is now available online. In this Open Psychology Research Centre Lecture, Louise Newbigging focused on the psychology of first impressions, particularly how they are formed through facial perception.
The Psychology of our Relationship with Fictional Villains
14th April 2025
Professor Zoe Walkington discussed how readers form relationships with fictional villains and the real-world impact of these connections. She also introduced a free OpenLearn resource on the topic, co-authored with Professor Graham Pike and Siobhan Campbell.