In 1999 I was working as a school cook in a small Welsh village and bringing up two young children. My initial contact with the Open University, requesting information on the M.A. in Literature course, was made with no expectations other than to explore possibilities that I had believed were closed to me. Yet, my tentative enquiries were met with positivity, and the following year I embarked on what was to be a pivotal stage of my personal and professional journey. My confidence grew with every module I studied and I was always aware of the excellent support and supervision available to me; offering me reassurance and guidance during times when personal barriers became difficult to overcome. I can honestly say that being awarded a distinction for the M.A. dissertation remains one of the most treasured experiences of my life. I have subsequently moved into a career as a specialist teacher, supporting children and young people who have encountered difficulties in their own young lives. I maintain the belief that everyone, no matter what their background, has a right to an inclusive, supportive learning environment. It is the ethos that I believe underpins the Open University. Of particular interest to my proposed area of study are the research opportunities afforded by the Ferguson Centre for African Asian Studies, and the History of Books and Reading Research Collaboration. The promotion of research into colonial and postcolonial literatures, with an emphasis on archival study (for example the Making Britain database), has established the importance of the Open University as a world-leader in the study of Asian literature. In addition, many research and PhD projects undertaken lead to publication and further contribute to the field of global and world literatures.

The Indian Monsoon (IM) precipitation is the main seasonal driver of water availability, supporting billions of people. The future projection of mean annual ISM rainfall is highly variable under different warming scenarios and an increase in the frequency of extreme precipitation has been suggested if global mean temperature increases 3 to C1. Our ongoing proxy and modelling work suggest multiple competing controls on IM dynamics (precipitation and wind) during the Plio-Pleistocene linked to atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) global cooling, orbital forcing factors and gateway close2. Nethertheless, the past evolution of IM remains elusive since it is grossly under-represented in Asia monsoon palaeoclimate proxy records. The project aims to produce new proxy records to both fill gaps in our knowledge and test competing forcing factors affecting IM dynamics during the early to mid-Pliocene ( 3 to 5 Ma0 capturing the prevailing warm, high atmospheric CO2 conditions and gateway closure 3 This project provides flexible opportunity to be trained and employ data/model approached to understanding past IM variability in response to Pliocene climate. Examples include application of a multi-proxy approach to reconstruct IM rainfall/runoff, seasonality of monsoon rainfall/runoff and marine productivity in response to IM wind variability on orbital timescales from the core IM region to the Bay of Bengal (BoB) or work on integrating existing data and numerical model.

Introduction "[The womb] will in a manner descend or arise vnto any sweete smell and from any thing that is noisome", (Crooke, Mikrokosmographia, 1615). Here Crooke discusses connections between the female body and smell, arguing that its increased sensitivity causes a woman's womb to wander throughout her body. Three hundred years later, adverts stated that, without douching, wives could "lose the precious air of romance" (Lysol douche ad, 1948). Now Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop promotes vaginal steaming and the trend of 'wellness' grifting is causing harm to women and their bodies for the purpose of freshness and purity. Connections between smell, vaginal health, and sexual impurity persisted across centuries of social and medical thought. I will analyse the historical use of smell in the olfactory othering of women to challenge vernacular misinformation. Previous historiography underestimated the role of sensory history in the construction of contemporary female experience. Rather than assuming a culturally specific relationship, I shall demonstrate the long-standing influence of ideas connecting smell, shame, and female impurity. Misconceptions that natural vaginal aromas are linked to poor hygiene and sexual impurity are so ingrained that women are ashamed to seek medical help, avoid smear tests, and use dangerous chemicals for feminine hygiene. By studying the olfactory othering of women, medical practitioners and women can better understand the female body, phasing out misinformation impacting women today. Research context, questions, and significance The study of smell in concert with health and disease is becoming increasingly common in history. The Foul and the Fragrant by Alain Corbin explores social connections between a person's health and the smells surrounding them in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century France. However, vaginal health is a topic into which academics are just starting to delve. With only brief mentions within a wider analysis of sensory history, the impact of social constructions of vaginal smell on women is underestimated. Corbin's work, though extensive, often fails to recognise the modern-day implications that mediaeval and early modern perceptions of smell and vaginal health have. Rather than being a culturally / temporally specific phenomenon, the connection between smell, vaginal health, and sexual impurity is present throughout history. There is currently only one example of a comparative approach - "From Gorgons to Goop" by Margaret Day Elsner - in which Elsner compares only two examples of the connection between smell and vaginal health: ancient medicine and myths, and contemporary 'women-centred' holistic groups. Both case studies demonstrate the use of misogynistic misinformation for the olfactory othering of women. Expanding on this, I will investigate mediaeval, early modern, modern, and contemporary examples, using a comparative method of analysis. By doing so, I will show that the misogynistic misconceptions surrounding vaginal health that are deeply ingrained into modern day constructs of gender and race are not culturally specific but are, in fact, part of a much wider story.

Microplastic (plastics<5 mm) pollution has been detected every major natural ecosystem and built environment across the world, this includes remote regions such as the Pyrenees, the Arctic and the Mariana trench. Whilst plastic pollution in the world's oceans has received a tremendous amount of publicity and attention, the sources, sinks and impacts of airborne microplastics, particularly those from urban or industrial areas, has only recently been considered (figure 1). In particular, understanding how plastic may act as vector for pathogenic organisms, aid anti-microbial gene transference and transfer toxic trace elements and humans, are areas where further work is needed. For example, it was recently shown that airborne microplastics can act as SARS-CoV-2 vectors. This studentship can be tailored to the interests, background and skills set of the successful applicant. It is envisaged however that the project would undertake the detection and characterisation of airborne microplastics in different environments to determine major contributors to plastic load in the atmosphere. This is particular interest in exploring the contribution of different waste management practices to airborne plastic load and further the project.

On the first of February twenty areas ago, the re-entry of NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia into the Earth's atmosphere killed all the seven astronauts who were on board. One among the seven astronauts was Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian American Woman Aerospace Engineer to go into the Space. Today in her absence, her legacy is alive in the form of inspiration among many young girls in India to make a career in STEM. While reading her biography "The Edge of Time" by Jean-Pierre Harrison to cope with the emptiness of the new school, I developed my interest in Planetary Science at a very early age. Therefore, to learn more about the formation of the Earth and the Solar system, I decided to pursue my higher education in the field of Geology from the University of Delhi, India. During my academic years, subjects such as Mineralogy, Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, Geomorphology, and Geophysics helped me gain a better understanding of the Earth and the dynamic forces responsible for its formation. As I gradually progressed into the course, my research work majorly revolved around the petrological investigations of the hard rocks. A summer internship on mineralogical studies of Migmatites from Garhwal Himalayan region gave me first hands-on experience of sample preparation for petrographic and mineral chemical studies. While I studied the samples collected from the Garhwal Himalayas, I was fascinated to notice the heterogeneous nature of the rock, both microscopically and in hand samples. The skills I gained during this internship were later helpful in accomplishing my masters' research work on petrographic, mineral chemical, and geochemical characterization of Gabbros from the Naga Hills Ophiolite Belt of India. Based on my petrographical observations, I classified the samples into Massive and Cumulate Gabbros. I used the bulk rock data obtained from XRF analysis for the compositional categorisation of the mineral present in the samples. Further, programmes like COREL DRAW and Geochemical took kit were employed to plot the major oxides, trace element and REE data obtained from ICP-MS analysis for geochemical characterisation of the samples in various bivariant plots. Besides these, I have participated in four field trips across the northern India where I demonstrated my understanding about various geological structures, observed different lithologies, understood the importance of scale while collecting samples and learnt the utilisation of Brunton compass and topographic maps in geological mapping