The OU is the largest academic institution in the UK with over 170 thousand students. Currently, KMi comprises of 5 full Professors, 5 Senior Research Fellows, 4 Research Fellows, 21 Researchers, 16 PhD research students, 5 Administrators, 3 Developers, and 19 project officers and support staff.
OU runs several programs to support ESRs to do research, to write theses, to give presentations, to write proposals, to engage with the public, and even to obtain counselling. ESRs enrolled in the OU can take any OU module or course entirely free. They will also have full access to all library content and facilities, to the worldwide educational Eduroam wifi network, and to the KMi computer cluster of 160 2.4GHz CPUs, 2.5TB of RAM, and 240TB of harddisk storage. Each ESR will be allocated a private desk, with a desktop and laptop, and all necessary software. They will also enjoy an automated backup facility. ESRs are also represented at the KMi board to ensure that their opinions and concerns are heard directly at the highest management level.