Senior Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship

Weekly Working Hours:  37

Fixed Term Contract: End Date: 3 years from start date

Change your career, change lives

The Open University is the UK’s largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education. Find out more about us and our mission by watching this short video (you will be taken to YouTube by clicking this link).

About the Role

The Faculty of Business and Law is one of the four faculties of The Open University. It brings together two Schools – The Open University Business School and The Open University Law School - and has a strong reputation as a high-quality and innovative provider of management and legal education. Our courses and qualifications are studied by a wide range of people from all backgrounds – we are proud to promote opportunity and social justice by making higher education open to those unable to attend a more traditional campus-based university.  

Student satisfaction is a high priority, and we are determined to deliver the best outcomes for everyone studying with us. Our students return some of the highest satisfaction scores in the National Student Survey – they have ever since the NSS began. 

The Open University Business School is seeking to appoint a Senior Lecturer in the area of social entrepreneurship to add to our vibrant team of academics teaching and researching in the areas of entrepreneurship, sustainable and social enterprise. The successful candidate will participate in and lead a range of teaching activities and will have a strong research track record with the motivation to maintain a continuing research contribution. Applications will be welcome from a candidate with both teaching and research experience and interests aligned broadly with the research interests of those within the Department of Public Leadership and Social Enterprise. Researchers in the department have specific expertise in the field of social enterprise/innovation and sustainable enterprise. We welcome applicants with expertise that can complement and expand these areas.

You will be expected to contribute to the development of teaching materials for undergraduate, postgraduate, as well as micro-credentials and continuing education related to entrepreneurship as well as interdisciplinary modules on a range of qualification as required.

You will have relevant research expertise, ideally with international experience within the field of entrepreneurship and a strong track record of bidding for funding. You will contribute to a growing group of research active academics and build on our record of academic excellence through publications, PhD supervision and research grants.

You will be a skilled communicator and able to engage effectively with policymakers and practitioner communities to increase the public impact of your research.

As part of The Open University we have a distinctive practice-based and largely online pedagogy that places the student at the heart of learning. Our learning materials utilise a wide range of media and we therefore are seeking to appoint a candidate with outstanding team-working skills, creativity and initiative in addition to excellent specialist subject knowledge.

Key Responsibilities

• Contribute to the creation of online teaching modules (undergraduate, postgraduate taught, executive education and micro-credentials) together with other colleagues.
• Contribute to the presentation of teaching modules (undergraduate, postgraduate taught, postgraduate research, executive education and micro-credentials) together with other colleagues, including setting and overseeing of assessment.
• Tutor at face-to-face residential schools or their online equivalents, or other forms of direct student contact, for at least ten days per year.
• Undertake research and publications relevant to Faculty and University research, scholarship and enterprise strategies.
• Supervision of PhD students.
• Contribute to income diversification to support research and teaching.
• Participate in external engagement events and promotion opportunities to enhance the Business School’s profile.
• Contribute to monitoring of the quality of tuition, assessment and online student support.
• Play a full part in the academic life of the Business School, which is located on The Open University’s Walton Hall campus in Milton Keynes.

About You

The criteria required for this role are:

Essential Criteria: 

• A PhD or Professional Doctorate in a relevant academic discipline.
• An established research record evidenced by publications suitable in highly rated REF-able journals.
• Evidence of a pipeline of relevant research outputs.
• Experience of teaching at an HEI either face to face or online, with an interest in online teaching and virtual learning environments.
• Evidence of innovative approaches to pedagogy including an effective contribution leading to the enhancement of the quality of tuition, assessment and student support.
• A grasp of current national and international developments in Higher Education.
• The ability to become part of, and develop, academic networks and capable of leading a team.
• Experience of research supervision at PhD level and bidding successfully for research funding.
• Experience of external engagement activities.
• Understanding of the principles and practice of educational design and course development.
• The ability to work to tight deadlines.
• A commitment to, and understanding of, equal opportunities and the need to support students from a wide range of backgrounds.
• The ability to travel throughout the UK and internationally.
• A willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends.

Desirable Criteria: 

• Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and/ or Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education and/ or academic membership of the CIPD.
• Experience of academic module design and development.
• Experience in online distance teaching
• Experience of working with practitioners in the entrepreneurship or social enterprise ecosystem.
• International teaching experience.
• Experience of using ICT and VLEs in teaching and learning.

Support with your application

If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on 01908 541111 or email careers@open.ac.uk quoting the advert reference number.

What's in it for you?

At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).

Flexible working

We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.

Working Location: It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes office it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d expect this to be one day per week, but this could be more often if business needs dictate. There will also be the requirement to travel as part of the role.

Next steps in the Recruitment process

Interviews for this post are likely to be in the week commencing 19th January 2026.

Early closing date notification

We may close this job advert earlier than the published closing date where a satisfactory number of applications are received. We would therefore encourage early applications.

How to apply

To apply for this role please submit the following document(s):

• CV
• A personal statement of up to 1000 words. You should set out in your statement why you are interested in the role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the essential criteria for this role as detailed in the job description.

You can view your progress and application communications when you are logged into our recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive associated email updates.

The Open University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion which is reflected in our mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas. We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive environment so that all in our OU community can reach their potential. We recognise that different people bring different perspectives, ideas, knowledge, and culture, and that this difference brings great strength.  We strive to recruit, retain and develop the careers of a diverse pool of students and staff, and particularly encourage applications from all underrepresented groups. We also aspire to make The Open University a supportive workplace for all through our policies, services and staff networks.