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To keep pace with the increasing demand for new and improved barley varieties, commercial interest in novel breeding techniques which improve efficiency is high. With a growing population and a range of evolving demands placed on crop production by a more variable climate, breeders need new methods to breed barley faster, more accurately and where possible with fewer resources. Genomic selection (GS) is a breeding tool that uses genome-wide marker information to make selections/predictions in a breeding program. GS uses both genotypic data and phenotypic data to assign breeding values (BVs) for a specific trait to cultivars or breeding lines for use in crossing or selection. Progeny can then be selected and taken forward in a breeding program based on genotype alone, saving the cost, time and effort of phenotypic selection. This project aims to test a multi-environment (MET) GS model to breed elite 2-row spring barley for high straw saccharification (digestibility to yield simple sugars). Aligning with future climate policy, an increase in biofuel production will be useful as we reduce our reliance on fossil-based fuels. Second generation biofuels (produced from non-food sources) are promising for meeting sustainability targets as they need not result in land/resource competition with food crops. In comparison with first generation biofuels (produced from food sources), second generation biofuels should have much less impact on food security and food prices. Second generation biofuels currently have a higher production cost associated with them in comparison to first generation biofuels. To date there has not been a focus on breeding barley to develop varieties with high straw saccharification yield which would increase the amount of biofuel produced, reducing costs. The main objective of this thesis was to test a previously developed MET GS model to assess the potential of using GS to breed barley more efficiently for improved straw saccharification. In addition to saccharification, other agronomically important traits were also assessed to test the GS model predictions. Alongside the GS model, other methods to breed barley more rapidly were implemented.

This thesis is based upon a study involving 20 work-based learners undertaking social work degrees at two UK universities, one local face-to-face university and one national distance learning university. The aim of this thesis is to offer insights into the experience of work-based learners as they journey from unqualified to qualified practitioner. The thesis is underpinned by a structural symbolic interactionist approach to human behaviour, in particular the work of Stryker on identity theory, where the importance attached to identity and role in ‘identity change processes’ (2008:21) is central to understanding the meanings attributed by work-based learners to their journeys into and through higher education. In order to understand the meanings attributed by work based learners to their experience, narrative inquiry is used as the overarching methodological orientation; narratives of work-based learners’ journeys into and through higher education were collected via focus groups (3) and semi structured interviews (35) and analysed using Braun and Clark’s method of thematic analysis (2006). The data in this thesis highlight how identity impacts upon the educational journey of work-based learners making visible the challenges and opportunities that higher education presents to this group of students. The data also reveal how multiplicity of identity for work-based learners contributes to the complexity of both becoming and being a student. The dual concepts of salience and transition are applied to provide ways of understanding ‘identity change processes’ that occur as work-based learners accommodate multiple roles and corresponding identities within educational, occupational and domestic domains. In the rapidly changing landscape of social work education and a resurgence of work-based learning, this thesis provides an exploration of work-based learning provision within universities based on student experience. The implications of the findings from this study are considered for a range of stakeholders in social work education.