Beth Cross, with an MSc in African Studies and PhD in Sociology of Education from the University of Edinburgh, has been researching the interface between formal and informal learning contexts for the last fifteen years and is particularly interested in dialogic methods of exploring learner identities, strategies and trajectories.  Her interests include deliberative democracy, and service user voice and participation in health, social services and education. She has taught in the areas of community education, social policy and children’s services in England and Scotland and worked with a number of creative interdisciplinary projects that involve visual and dramatic arts in order to expand the modalities for deliberation and participation.