Professor Karen Evans travelled to Hanover this week to address the researchers and senior researchers of the Deutsches Zentrum für Hochschul- und Wissenschaftsforschung GmbH on the theme of ‘Researching the Differences that Lifelong Learning Can Make’. The topic of  Lifelong Learning is increasing in significance in German debates on educational development, particularly in Higher Education. LLAKES research has much to offer in providing insights into the ways in which quantitative and qualitative research approaches can illuminate questions of both theoretical and policy significance. The talk concluded with discussion of the scope for comparative research between England Germany, in the context of the very different institutional landscapes  in the two countries.