John Field is Professor of Lifelong Learning at the University of Stirling. Previously he was a Professor and Chair of Department at the University of Warwick. He is an established researcher in sociological approaches to the life course and learning. He served on RAE panels in 2001 and 2008, was seconded to the Government Office for Science's Foresight project on Wellbeing and Mental Capital in 2008-2009, and has served two periods as Stirling's Pro-Vice-Chancellor for research. His books include: Social Capital, Routledge 2003; 2nd edn 2008, Italian edn 2004. Lifelong Learning and the New Educational Order, Trentham, 2000; 2nd edn 2006, Japanese edn 2005. Social Capital and Lifelong Learning, Policy Press, 2005 Improving Learning through the Life Course (with G Biesta, P Hodkinson, F Macleod and I Goodson), Routledge, due to appear March 2011 Researching Transitions in Lifelong Learning (edited with J Gallacher and R Ingram), Routledge, 2009 Mental Capital and Wellbeing (edited with C Cooper, U Goswami, R Jenkins and B Sahakhian), Wiley-Blackwell, 2010 Sage Handbook on Aging, Work and Society (edited with R Burke and C Cooper), Sage, due to appear November 2011 He has published over seventy papers in refereed journals as well as a large number of chapters and published conference papers. Heather Lynch is the research and development manager of the 'Centre for Community Practice' - A knowledge exchange initiative developed by Strathclyde University Schools of Architecture and Sociology and Govanhill Baths Community Trust.

In this role she is responsible for research development and a programme of community based learning. She was previously a Research Fellow in the Stirling Institute of Education. She has published in refereed and practitioner journals in lifelong learning, creativity and social inclusion. Her publications include: Govanhill: A map of assets, Oxfam, 2010 The Art of Collaboration, VDM Verlag, 2009 Lifelong Learning, Policy and Desire, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 2008 Target Practice; Youth and social inclusion, International Journal of Arts and Education, 2007 Irene Malcolm is Lecturer in Education in the School of Education, Social Work and Community Education at the University of Dundee where she teaches Educational and Social Research on the Masters in Applied Professional Studies and also on the doctoral programmes. She was previously Lecturer in Lifelong Learning at the University of Stirling. Her publications include: Gendered choices: learning, work, identities in lifelong learning (edited with S Jackson and K Thomas), Springer, 2011 VET identities in knowledge work: gender and learning in a globalising industry, in Falk, I., Catts, R. & Wallace, R.

(Eds) Situated, Self-directed Knowing and Learning in VET, Springer, 2011 Identity and occupation in the new economy: learning in emotional labour and emotion work, in Walters, S. (ed) Learning/Work: Turning Work and Lifelong Learning Inside Out, Human Sciences Research Council Publishers (with J. Field), 2009 Talking about my generation: the role of historical time and generational time over the life course, in Osborne, M., Houston, M. and Toman, N. (eds) The Pedagogy of Lifelong Learning: Understanding effective teaching and learning, Routledge (with J Field). 2007.