"Lifelong learning" is the latest educational mantra. Yet little is understood about the ways in which learning and living are interconnected. To find out more about the complexities of learning in the life course, Professor Gert Biesta, of the University of Exeter, is leading a team of researchers from four universities in the first large-scale longitudinal study of the learning biographies of adults. The team has begun the study of the learning biographies of 150 adults, tracking them over a 30-month period with a view to deepening one's understanding of the role and significance of learning in individuals' lives. As with other TLRP projects, the aim is to boost outcomes for learners and the team will implement and evaluate strategies for "sustained positive impact upon learning opportunities, dispositions and practices and upon the empowerment of adults." The research will focus on the significance and impact of life course transitions upon learning, identity and agency. Because researchers will be looking at learning in relation to the lifespan, one of the project's main concerns will be with the notion of identity, with the impact of learning has on one's sense of self. One of the team's main aims will be to "make visible" dimensions of learning which are not currently visible in much of the policy and rhetoric of ministers.