Members of Lifelong Learning Institute

The Lifelong Learning Institute

The Institute

The Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Leeds is a centre of excellence for research and postgraduate study about lifelong learning. It seeks to enhance lifelong learning for individuals, organisations and communities in the UK and overseas.

The Institute brings together expertise on lifelong learning from different academic disciplines, from policy makers and from practitioners. It promotes partnerships between researchers and others, whilst retaining the independence to engage in analysis and constructive critique of policies and practice. A lively programme of seminars and other events provides a forum for research in lifelong learning, together with the Institute's own research projects.

Latest news

Professor Miriam Zukas has won a 2008 National Teaching Fellowship  Earlier this year, she was awarded a University Teaching Fellowship as well.

The LIfelong Learning Institute will join the Scientific Panel for the Sixth Researching Work and Learning Conference, to be held at Roskilde University, Denmark, from 28 June-1 July,  2009.

Professor Phil Hodkinson gave a valedictory lecture 'What works' doesn't work! Researching lifelong learning in the culture of audit on 23 June, 2008 at 5.00 pm.

The third Professional Lifelong Learning Conference on Professional Learning: Critical Perspectives on CPD was held on 24 June, 2008. Keynote speakers included Professor Tara Fenwick, University of British Columbia, Canada and Professor Kirsti Lonka, Director of the Research Centre for Educational Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland. Papers are available on the conference website.

 Under Rebecca O'Rourke's leadership, an interdisciplinary team has been awarded £199,962 by JISC to design, develop and evaluate the Academic Writing Empowered by Social On-Line Mediated Environments (AWESOME) Dissertation environment (ADE). The interdisciplinary team will work in partnership with Bangor and Coventry Universities and the project runs from January 2008 until March 2009.

We hosted Dr Anita Devos from Monash University in Australia in May 2008. Professor Maki Hiratsuka from Hosei University was a visiting lecturer from April 2007-April 2088, and we are currently hosting Professor Keiko Tamura from Aichi Prefecture University, Japan. Please contact the Institute for more information about their interests. Our colleagues have been presenting seminars for the Institute in 2008 - please check the seminar list for details.

Institute benefits

Institute team members are leading experts in lifelong learning, with strengths in adult and continuing education, post-14 education, further education, higher education, learning at work, professional development, literacies, academic writing, social inequality and widening participation, multi-agency working in education and welfare, and career guidance.

Membership of the Institute is open to individuals and institutions with an interest in lifelong learning. Staff in the Institute supervise a wide range of research and taught doctorates in lifelong learning.

Taught programmes hosted by the Institute

Whilst many of our students are professionals studying part-time, we also welcome full-time students to the Institute. See MA Lifelong Learning student May Hanhong's blog on the BBC website for details about her experiences in Leeds.

Last updated by Miriam Zukas on 27th June 2008