The OU Law School in 2024

Blog by Hugh McFaul, Head of Law School, Open University

2024 has seen some remarkable successes in the OU Law School’s open access research and teaching. There’s space here to create a small selection box of OULS news stories as a reminder of some of the highlights of the last year. 

Professor Olga Jurasz provided two important reasons to celebrate. In addition to giving her inaugural lecture in May, she was appointed to led the University’s new Centre for Protection of Women Online, funded by a £7.7 million grant.

More information on the work of the centre is available here:

The Open University awarded £7.7m to protect women and girls online | The Open University Law School

Dr Neil Graffin led the OU’s institution’s successful application to be awarded the status of University of Sanctuary as Chair of the OU’s Sanctuary Advisory Network. The OU joins a network of other UK institutions which provide a welcome for those displaced by conflict, human rights abuse, persecution or natural disasters, including the impact of climate change.

Celebrating the success of our law students at one of The OU’s graduation ceremonies is always a highlight of the academic year and provided a platform to showcase the huge achievements of our graduates.  The Edinburgh ceremony was attended by Genuine Mwasha who is now studying for his Master of Laws (LLM) after completing his Bachelor of Laws (LLB).

Having grown up between children’s homes and the streets of Tanzania from the age of two he said that through studying, he found his calling in life – to eradicate poverty through education.  His charity, The Roof of Africa, provides education and community support to the poorest children in Tanzania which is in East Africa. 

This year also saw the graduation of Krishangi Meshram at the Manchester ceremony.

Krishangi completed her Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree with The Open University at just 18, making her the youngest OU student to gain a first-class law degree.  Now at 20 years old, Krishangi shares how studying flexibly with the OU helped her land a job at an international law firm, where she’s realising her dream of becoming a lawyer.

The OU’s long standing collaboration with the BBC provides a platform for our academics to influence the public conversation around important legal issues and a great example of form this year was the new series of the OU / BBC co-production Parole, which is still available on iPlayer.

Filmed over several months with unique access to parole board members, prisoners and some of their families, the new series takes audiences behind the scenes in the high stakes world of parole hearings where the futures of prisoners, victims, and their families hang in the balance.

All our teaching and public engagement activities in 2024 have been informed by the original research undertaken by OULS academics which includes outputs on key legal issues such as children’s rights, international law, legal history and the impact of artificial intelligence on legal education.  You can keep in touch with news of our new post graduate courses and our latest research throughout 2025 via our Website and by following @OU_Law.