ARK's programme of events include seminars, workshops and policy fora. These facilitate dissemination and critical debate on key social and policy issues. Our events attract a wide audience, including general public, policy makers, practitioners, journalists, students and academics.
The Welfare State is perhaps the biggest social policy success of the post-war generation.
The ARK Ageing Programme is pleased to invite Dr. Eve Worth (University of Exeter), author of The Welfare State Generation: Women, Agency and Class in Britain since 1945 to present evidence of the impact of the welfare state on the progress of women as individual agents and important workers in public sector jobs. Her work sheds light on many of the challenges facing today’s generation of students – debt, precarity and the absence of strong ties to reliable institutions of the state.
In this event, we will discuss whether the welfare state is worth saving, and what role each generation can play in maintaining social cohesion in a time of insecurity and hyper-individualisation.
The seminar will be held on Wednesday 24 April 2024, from 10.15 to 12.00, in the Linen Hall Library, 7 Donegall Square N, Belfast BT1 5GB. Refreshments will be available from 9.30.
Places are free, but must be booked in advance using the link below.
One in 5 adults in Northern Ireland have a probable mental illness. In addition, our history of conflict here may have contributed to more complex mental health difficulties. Thus, accessing timely and appropriate mental health supports is vital. In this seminar, Professor Siobhan O’Neill and Dr Nicole Bond (Office of the Mental Health Champion), will highlight findings from the 2023 Northern Ireland Life and Times survey, exploring public experiences of accessing mental health supports.
The event will take place on Tuesday 14 May 2024, 10.30 to 12.00, in the Boardroom, Clifton House, 2 North Queen Street, Belfast BT15 1ES. Refreshments will be available from 10am.
Places are free, but must be registered in advance at https://tinyurl.com/NILT23launch
This event marks the launch of the findings of the 2023 Northern Ireland Life and Times survey (www.ark.ac.uk/nilt)
This two-day symposium on participatory research methods features key note presentations by Timo Ackermann (Professor of Social Work at the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences in Berlin) and Emily J. Ozer (clinical and community psychologist and Professor at the UC-Berkeley School of Public Health). The event will be held in the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen's University Belfast on 30-31 May 2024.
Places are free, but must be booked in advance. For full information and registration details, please click on the link below.
In the 25 years since devolution passed to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, key differences have emerged in the way that the UK’s four systems are grappling with how to meet the growing need for care within the context of stretched budgets and a shrinking workforce.
In this talk, Professor Catherine Needham (University of Birmingham, School of Social Policy) will present findings from a new book Social Care in the UK’s Four Nations - Between Two Paradigms to explore differences between jurisdictions, and what impact the differences are having. Drawing on extensive interviews with national and local policy makers across the UK, the research raises vital questions about the role of ‘standardisation’ and ‘differentiation’ as approaches to solving the social care crisis.
The event will take place on Wednesday 31 January 2024, 3pm to 4.30pm, in The Lab (6th Floor) Mac Theatre,10 Exchange Street West, Belfast, BT1 2NJ. Refreshments will be served from 2.30.
The event is free, but places must be booked in advance. Please register using the link below.
This year we are celebrating 20 years of Young Life and Times. The first survey in today's format took place in 2003. Then, it largely focused on community relations, although it also included some questions on young people's education experiences. Since then, YLT has covered a wide range of questions concerning young people's lives and it has become one of the main tools to inform policy making on and for young people in Northern Ireland.
We have booked Malone House in Belfast for 29th November to celebrate the study's anniversary. We are delighted to welcome Chris Quinn, our new Commissioner for Children and Young People, as a speaker alongside some of our most well-known experts and prolific researchers who we have worked with over the last 20 years. They will consider what young people's lives in Northern Ireland are like 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement and will reflect on the positive contributions young people make to life in Northern Ireland.
And, yes, there will be cake--Register here
We are pleased to announce that the much-awaited Joint 2023 YLT (Young Life and Times Survey) and KLT (Kids' Life and Times Survey) Survey Results Launch will take place on the 5th of September. The event is scheduled to occur from 16:00 to 17:30 and will be held at the prestigious Canada Room/Council Chambers located at Queen's University Belfast.
We are eagerly looking forward to a remarkable gathering, where the survey outcomes will be revealed, shining a spotlight on the valuable insights gained. Anticipating an enlightening and productive session, we aim to celebrate the collective efforts and contributions of all those involved.
The Northern Ireland Life and Times (NILT) survey has been recording public attitudes to social and political issues since 1998. In its first year, the survey asked participants to identify their priorities for the newly-formed Northern Ireland Assembly. In this seminar, Katy Hayward and Ben Rosher (Queen’s University Belfast) will use 25 years of data to assess how much progress has been made on these priorities and to identify key points of continuity and change in political attitudes, identities and expectations since then.
The event will take place on Thursday 1 June, from 2.30-4.00 pm, in the Senate Room, Queen’s University Belfast.
Registration and refreshments will be available from 2pm.
This seminar marks the launch of the findings of the 2022 Northern Ireland Life and Times survey Please register using the link below.
1 June also marks the launch of an ARK/Conflict Textiles exhibition in the McClay Library, Queen's University. The arpilleras reveal, via textile language, key issues on identity and society in Northern Ireland.
This afternoon event involves presentations and discussion reflecting on the Housewife of the Year and taking a critical and creative look at the evolving role of women in the domestic sphere on the island of Ireland.
This mix of formal talks and informal discussions will include artist Rachel Fallon and a conversation with the Housewife of the Year 1972 winner Jane Kelly, culminating in a poetry reading on the topic of ‘home’, presented by creative writing students at the Seamus Heaney Centre.
The event will take place on Friday 26 May, 1-7pm in Queen's University Belfast, and is a collaboration between the School of Arts, English and Languages, the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work and the Seamus Heaney Centre at QUB. The symposium is the second in a series of Critical Domesticities events led by Shonagh Hill and Trish McTighe at QUB School of Arts, English and Languages. This year they are joined by gerontologist Gemma Carney (ARK Ageing Programme).
Despite the introduction of the Welfare Reform Mitigation package in 2016, the cost-of-living crisis continues to affect low-income households.
Poverty in Northern Ireland: Where are we now? will assess progress made to reduce poverty rates 25 years after the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement. The event will focus on social and economic inequalities, exploring potential solutions with a panel of policy and research experts.
The event will take place on 26 April 2023, from 2:30 pm to 4 pm at Ulster University's Belfast Campus Room BD-03-002.
ARK is pleased to dedicate this event to Professor Eileen Evason, who previously worked within the Ulster University Social Policy team for almost 30 years and was a lifelong campaigner for equality and women’s rights. She also worked extensively with the ARK team on projects focusing on poverty and pensions.
Further information, including registration details are available via the link below.
Gender budgeting continues to gain popularity as an effective tool for creating change across the world, with almost half of all OECD countries having implemented measures to ensure resource allocation or revenue raising contributes to gender equality. Whilst there is significant support in Northern Ireland for the concept of gender budgeting, progress on the development of concrete actions remains slow.
This event will launch the third in a series of working papers on gender budgeting, produced by researchers at Ulster University led by Professors Joan Ballantine and Ann-Marie Gray. Dr Michelle Rouse (Ulster University) will discuss if there is a need for systemic change in how gender equality is understood and integrated into the policy development process, followed by responses from a panel of expert practitioners in the voluntary and public sector.
The event will take place on Friday 10 March, from 9.30-12 noon, in Ulster University, Belfast Campus. Further information, including registration details are available via the link below.
Framing Ageing is an international clinical, cultural and social dialogue which facilitates methodological exchange between geriatricians, gerontologists, humanities researchers, social scientists, and practitioners, who can benefit from transdisciplinary collaboration.
This network is holding its first Early Career Research symposium on 14 December 2022 at Queen's University Belfast (QUB). Hosted by the ARK Ageing Programme, and the Science and Culture Research Group at QUB, this free event will provide early career researchers who are working across disciplines to research human ageing to present their work, receive feedback from senior scholars, and join an international network.
View the programme for symposium.
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED
In his new book ‘Generations: Does when you’re born shape who you are?’ Bobby Duffy (King's College London) illustrates the strength of the three effects (period effect, cohort effect and lifecycle effect) in understanding social change. This webinar will focus on the significance of these three effects in understanding changing generational perspectives about polity (identity movements) and development (globalisation, economic liberalisation), and the role of class in it.
The event will be chaired by Murchana Kaushik (Postgraduate Researcher at Queen’s University Belfast and Tezpur University, India) who is currently undertaking fieldwork on political generations in India. Professor Duffy will present his work, which will be followed by a response from Ms. Kaushik on the significance of his work for the Indian context.
The webinar will take place on Zoom on Wednesday 14 September 2020, from 10-11am (UK time), 2.30-3.30pm (IST).
This is the second in the ARK Ageing Programme's 'Next Generation Thinking in Research on Ageing’ series.
This webinar marks the public release of results from the 2022 Young Life and Times (YLT) survey. YLT is an annual survey which records the attitudes of young people aged 16 living in Northern Ireland to key issues affecting their lives.
In this event, a panel of speakers will highlight key findings from the most recent survey, which included questions on good relations, education, politics, and gender-based violence.
The event will be held at 4pm on Wednesday 31 August 2022 via zoom. To register, please click on the link below.
This webinar marks the public release of results from the 2022 Young Life and Times (YLT) survey. YLT is an annual survey which records the attitudes of young people aged 16 living in Northern Ireland to key issues affecting their lives.
In this event, a panel of speakers will highlight key findings from the most recent survey, which included questions on good relations, education, attitudes to politics and gender-based violence.
The event will be held at 4pm on Wednesday 31 August 2022 via Zoom. Please register using the link below.
An online event on 26 May will explore will present newly released findings from the 2021 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey in relation to the constitutional future of Northern Ireland. Held in conjunction with UK in a Changing Europe, speakers include Katy Hayward, Ben Rosher and Paula Devine. In addition, Professor John Curtice will explore how attitudes in Northern Ireland compare to the rest of the UK after Brexit.
The event will take place online, between 5 and 6pm on Thursday 26 May. Full details are below.
Rising prices and the cost of living crisis have had a strong impact on all our lives over the past year, but especially for those already struggling to make ends meet. In this timely seminar, Goretti Horgan, Ann Marie Gray, Sabrina Bunyan and Mark Simpson (Ulster University) will use data from the 2021 Northern Ireland Life and Times survey to explore public attitudes to poverty, income inequality and social security.
The event will take place on Thursday 26 May from 11.30-12.45, in room BD-01-014, Ulster University, York Street, Belfast.
This event marks the launch of the findings of the 2021 Northern Ireland Life and Times survey (www.ark.ac.uk/nilt)
Stigma surrounding mental illness and suicide are important public health issues because of the association with discrimination and help seeking; and the responses that people receive when in crisis. In this seminar to mark Mental Health Awareness Week, Professor Siobhan O’Neill, NI’s Mental Health Champion, will explore new data on attitudes to mental illness and suicide prevention from the 2021 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey. The data also includes information on sources of support, and views on Government priorities for mental health. The presentation of survey findings will be followed by a discussion.
This seminar will take place on Thursday 12 May at 10.30-noon, in Room BD-01-006, Ulster University, York Street, Belfast, BT15 1ED
The event is organised jointly by ARK and the Mental Health Champion. Full results from the 2021 Northern Ireland Life and Times survey will be available on 26 May at www.ark.ac.uk/nilt
This webinar will be presented by Professor Katie Featherstone (University of West London). It is based her ethnographic research on hospital care of people living with dementia, and will introduce us to the topic of the rules that dominate these institutions, the way these rules are constructed and enforced, and their consequences for patients.
The event will be chaired by Ángel Leira Pernas, PhD student on the ARK Ageing programme. Professor Featherstone will present her work, which will be followed by a response from Mr. Pernas.
This is the first event in the Next Generation Thinking in Research on Ageing series, and will take place at 11am on Wednesday 11 May via Zoom.
The final webinar in association with the CAIN Research Associate Programme in 2021 has been rescheduled to take place on 19 January 2021 at 2pm. Dr Éamon Phoenix will reflect on how partition and the birth of Northern Ireland have been marked and commemorated. Please register using the link below.
(This event was previously scheduled for 1 December 2021).
This webinar will provide a background to the origins, development and mission of the Conflict Textiles physical collection and online archive. It will be presented by the Conflict Textiles team led by Roberta Bacic, a Chilean Human Rights advocate and researcher. Since 2007, Roberta has been the curator of the International Conflict Textiles collection and has curated over 120 international exhibitions of arpilleras and associated events in museums, universities, art galleries, embassies and community spaces worldwide.
This online event will be held at 2pm on 6 October 2021. Please use the link below for further details and registration.
The event is being held as part of the CAIN Associate Programme.
Please join us for two days of incredible performances, insightful presentations and important conversations as we explore questions raised by the Dementia in the Minds of characters and Readers project. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the project investigates how the language of contemporary fiction represents the minds of characters with dementia.
This festival/conference hybrid on 15-16 September 2021 will bring together a unique mix of academics, writers, organisations, carers and people living with dementia to discuss how we write about dementia with honesty, imagination and integrity. The event is free, and all sessions will be available online, with plenty of opportunity for everyone to get involved with the conversation.
The past 20 months has been an extraordinary time in relation to the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have already observed some immediate and short-term consequences, some which will last much longer, and others we may not even know about yet. Therefore, it is an extremely important time to plan research both short- and long-term to explore the range of domains of life which the pandemic has affected.
The Northern Ireland Longitudinal study (NILS) is a wide-ranging administrative database of people living in Northern Ireland. This interactive workshop will provide an overview of the readily available data, the topic areas which can be rapidly explored and discuss feasibility of linkage with health data. The event will be of interest to researchers. However, we would also like to invite those with a policy interest, as we are keen to ensure any research arising from the NILS achieves maximum impact and is disseminated to the appropriate departments and organisations.
The workshop is a collaboration between ARK and the NILS Research Support Unit, and will take place via Zoom at 11.30am on Tuesday 14th September 2021.
This webinar marks the public release of results from the 2020/1 Young Life and Times (YLT) survey. YLT is an annual survey which records the attitudes of young people aged 16 living in Northern Ireland to key issues affecting their lives.
In this event, a panel of speakers will highlight key findings from the most recent survey, which included questions on mental health, coercive control, good relations, community safety, shared education, and politics.
The event will be held at 4pm on Tuesday 31 August 2021, via zoom. Please register using the link below.
This event focuses on policy and practice relating to social care in prisons on the island of Ireland. In the first presentation 'Ageing in Prisons in Northern Ireland: A policy update of social care provision for older adults in prison in Northern Ireland', Sarah Lawrence will discuss findings from her PhD research in Queen's University Belfast, which focused on ageing in prisons.
The second presentation 'Making the invisible, visible: Social care considerations for female prisoners in Ireland through mental health law, policy, and practice insights' will be given by mental health social workers, Ali Duggan and Aidan Cooney.
The webinar takes place on Tuesday 15th June at 3pm via Zoom. Please use the link below to register
Hear a panel of experts discuss the results from the latest Northern Ireland Life and Times (NILT) survey.
Professor Katy Hayward will present the NILT 2020 findings on political attitudes in Northern Ireland. This will cover views on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland, including support for the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement as well as hopes and expectations about the region’s future. Results from new questions on what people value in the UK Union will be presented, as well as an update on views about the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland’s future.
The panel will then discuss the results of the survey in light of persistent and new political dynamics in Northern Ireland, particularly post-Brexit.
This online event takes place on Thursday 10 June at 5pm, and is jointly organised by ARK and The UK in a Changing Europe. Please use the link below for full details, including how to register.
This event marks the public release of the findings from the 2020 Northern Ireland (NILT) survey (www.ark.ac.uk/nilt). The survey recorded the views of 1,292 respondents across Northern Ireland to key social policy issues.
Coercive control is a form of domestic abuse also known as emotional or psychological abuse; indirect abuse; or emotional torture. In order to address the need for evidence-based knowledge to improve public awareness and victim response to coercive control, a module of questions was included in the 2020 NILT survey.
Dr Susan Lagdon (Ulster University) and Dr Julie-Ann Jordan (Northern Health and Social Care Trust) will highlight the key findings of these questions, and discuss public understanding of coercive control within intimate relationships. An expert panel will give their comments, followed by a general discussion.
The event will take place on 10 June 2021, from 11-12.30 on Zoom. Please register using the link below.
This webinar on at 2pm on 22 April explores the links between the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet).
David Huddleston (Head of Records Management, Cataloguing and Access at PRONI) will begin with a brief introduction to PRONI, briefly looking at its legislation, history and statutory role. He will highlight some key PRONI archives relating to the Northern Ireland conflict. David will go on to discuss ‘PRONI Records on CAIN’ by exploring some of the official records from the 1960s to 1990s that have been made available to date and how they are used. Finally, some current PRONI projects and initiatives will be showcased.
The webinar will run from 2-3.30pm on Thursday 22 April 2021. Please use the link below to register.
The seminar forms part of the CAIN Associate Programme for 2021.
Has reading fiction ever made you laugh, cry, or feel something? How can words on a page create characters and represent fictional experiences to such an extent that we not only believe, but are moved by them?
A recent ‘boom’ in fiction representing dementia has inspired the Dementia in the Minds of Characters and Readers project to investigate how the language is used gives an insight into the experience of people living with dementia.
This interactive talk by Jane Lugea explores how dementia is represented in fictional language, how readers respond to it, and why.
The event takes place at 1pm on Saturday 27 March 2021, and is part of the Image: The Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics. Please register using the link below.
This event will be on interest to anyone working on children’s rights, older people or how we work across generations to produce social welfare and public goods. Professor Pickard will present her paper, which will be followed by a response from Angel Leira Pernas, PhD student on the ARK Ageing programme. The event will be chaired by Dr. Gemma Carney, Social Policy QUB and co-chair of BSG NI. The webinar is being held as part of National Intergenerational Week.
Professor Susan Pickard is based in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Liverpool. Her research interests are centred upon lay and medical conceptualisations of the ageing body, living with chronic illness, gender and its intersection with age, the interplay of lay and scientific knowledge, care-giving and the nature of biomedical knowledge. She is an associate editor of Ageing & Society and a member of the Framing Ageing Research network.
The event will take place at 2pm on Friday 12 March 2021, via Zoom. Please register using the link below.
This online event reporting on the findings of a research project funded by Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust which investigated the potential for gender budgeting to address gender inequalities in Northern Ireland. The project was undertaken by Ulster University in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Women's Budget Group and the Scottish Women's Budget Group.The webinar will also discuss linked ongoing research which is being carried out in the area of gender budgeting in Northern Ireland.
The event will be held via Zoom, on Thursday 25 February from 10.30am-noon. Please register using the link below, and the joining details will be emailed to you.
This webinar on 17 February 2021 will highlight issues faced by older women who are victims of domestic abuse, giving this very hidden population a voice. The aim of the webinar is to help inform academics, practitioners, and general members of the public key concerns in relation to older women and domestic abuse, and the barriers they face in accessing help.
It will include contributions from Dr Elizabeth Martin who will discuss findings from her PhD research, and Rebecca Zerk, who is Research Project Manager of Dewis Choice, the first dedicated service in the UK for older people who have experienced domestic abuse. Domestic Violence social work researcher and activist Prof. John Devaney from Edinburgh University, will Chair. A discussion will take place after the presentations.
The webinar will run from 10.45am-12 noon on 17 February 2021. Please use the link below to register.
The event is supported by the British Society of Gerontology.
Wendy Mitchell’s memoir, Somebody I Used to Know was the first book of its kind written by someone living with dementia.
In this online event, Jan Carson and Jane Lugea from the Dementia in the Minds of Characters and Readers project will chat to Wendy about her experience living with and writing about dementia, alongside author Anna Wharton who helped co-author Wendy’s memoir. Anna's debut novel, The Imposter, also exlores the theme of dementia.
The event will run from 2-3pm on Wednesday 17 February 2021, and is part of the Northern Ireland Science Festival. Please register using the link below
This webinar focuses on attitudes to minorities and migrants in Northern Ireland, using data collected in the 2019 Northern Ireland Life and Times survey (www.ark.ac.uk/nilt). In particular, the data will be discussed within the context of the Black Lives Matter movement. The main presenter is Dr Lucy Michael, followed by a panel discussion.
The event will be held via Zoom, on Wednesday 27 January 2021, 3.30-4.45pm. Please register using the link below, and the joining details will be emailed to you.
Evidence of the wide-ranging benefits of breastfeeding to children, mothers and society is extensive. However, Northern Ireland has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding worldwide.
In this webinar, Professor Marlene Sinclair, Dr Julie McCullough, Rachel Black and Dr Paul Slater (Ulster University) will explore public attitudes to breastfeeding in Northern Ireland, using data from the 2019 Northern Ireland Life & Times and Young Life & Times surveys.
The seminar will run from 2-3pm on Wednesday 9 December 2020, via Zoom.
Please register for this event at https://tinyurl.com/y2kbrk8g
The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and ARK invite you to a special webinar to mark the 25th Anniversary of the historic visit of President Clinton to Northern Ireland in 1995.
An expert panel will include Professor Paul Arthur (Honorary Professor, UU), Dr Brendan Lynn (UU and CAIN), Ambassador (retired) Kathleen Stephens (US Consul General Belfast, 1995-98) and Ann Donnelly (NI Screen), Chaired by Peter Osborne (currently Chair of the ARK Advisory Board). They will consider the background to the visit and use archival sources, including UTV archive footage, as well as first-hand accounts to explore and reflect on the momentous visit of President Clinton to Northern Ireland and its legacy.
The event will take place on Monday 30 November 2020, from 3-4.30 pm via Zoom.
This event forms part of a wider series celebrating 20 years of ARK.
This online event provided an opportunity to hear from some of those involved in poverty activism from the grassroots to the international level. Northern Ireland has a long experience of poverty activism and community self help while maintaining a focus on the structural dimension of poverty. The event focused in particular on experiences of poverty activism, at what was achieved and how that learning can inform the response to persistent and new challenges.
The event was held on Friday 27 November 2020, from 11am-12.30 pm, via Zoom.
This event forms part of a wider series celebrating 20 years of ARK.
This virtual event marks the publication of 'Critical Questions for Ageing Societies', by Gemma Carney (ARK Ageing Programme) and Paul Nash (University of Southern California). Published by Policy Press, this textbook tackles the important social and policy issues posed by the challenges and opportunities of ageing.
This event will be held via Zoom, on Thursday 1 October at 4pm. To register, please use the link below.
For more information on the book, see https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/critical-questions-for-ageing-societies
There has been a lot of speculation about what Brexit means for the prospects of Irish unification. The NI Life & Times (NILT) Survey has proven a useful tool for tracking changes (and continuities) over time in the political attitudes and identities of people in Northern Ireland.
In 2019, NILT included new questions on the topic of Irish unification, in part to see what could potentially make a difference in changing those attitudes either for or against. In this webinar, Katy Hayward, Milena Komarova and Ben Rosher (Queen's University Belfast) present these results and consider them in light of previous NILT data and the changing context for Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit future.
The webinar will take place on Wednesday 17 June, from 11am to noon.
Due to the ongoing situation with COVID-19, this seminar has been cancelled.
However, a Research Update on this topic will be published on our website on 3 April.
Thank you for your understanding.
In this seminar, Lucy Michael will explore data from the 2018 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey on attitudes to migrant workers. Given the recent release of post-Brexit immigration plans by the UK government, it is timely to consider the level of public acceptance and recognition of the role of migrant workers in the economic and cultural life of Northern Ireland.
The seminar will take place at NICVA, Duncairn Gardens, Belfast, from 11am to 12.30, followed by a light lunch. The event is free, but places must be booked in advance by Friday 27 March.
Dr Lucy Michael is a Research and Training Consultant in the areas of integration and equality.
Please join us for the first of a series of events marking ARK's 20th anniversary.
The introduction of devolution across the UK has been far from a smooth process. In this talk, Professor John Curtice (University of Strathclyde and political commentator) will assess how the constitutional preferences and sense of national identity of people living in England, Scotland and Wales have evolved since the advent of devolution in 1999, and whether this suggests the last twenty years have witnessed a strengthening or a weakening of the foundations upon which the devolution settlement now rests.
Dr Katy Hayward (Queen's University Belfast) will explore the changing patterns of devolution and identity in Northern Ireland during this time.
The event is free, but tickets must be booked in advance. Refreshments will be available from 2.30pm.
Supported by Queen’s Policy Engagement through the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account.
This seminar will focus on the work of Dementias Platform UK (DPUK) which was set up to discover new ways to understand, diagnose, and treat dementia. DPUK brings together the information of over 3 million people from 47 long-term studies of health. Sarah Bauermeister will highlight the opportunities of the DPUK Data Portal for researchers and introduce a selection of projects.
The seminar will take place on Wednesday 9 October, from 2.15 to 3.30, in the Senate Room, Lanyon Building, Queen's University Belfast. Tea/coffee will be available at 2pm.
The event is free, but places must be booked in advance by emailing e.gray@qub.ac.uk by Friday 4 October.
ARK is pleased to announce an event on Tuesday 25 June to mark the release of data from the 2018 Young Life and Times and Kids’ Life and Times surveys. Young Life and Times records the attitudes of 16 year olds to key issues affecting their lives. Kids' Life and Times focuses on the lives of 10-11 year olds.
The event will be held on 25 June in Youth Action (14 College Square N, Belfast BT1 6AS), from 10.30 to 12.45, followed by lunch.
The event is free, but places need to be booked in advance - please email Eileen e.gray@qub.ac.uk
This event marks the launch of the release of the results of the 2018 Northern Ireland Life and Times survey.
Gail Neill (Ulster University) and Siobhán McAlister (Queen's University Belfast) will present new findings on public attitudes towards transgender people in Northern Ireland, using data from the 2018 Life and Times survey. They will explore levels of self-reported prejudice and attitudes towards contemporary public debates in this area. The session will provide space to discuss the meaning of the findings and explore how, if going forward, such surveys might capture more nuanced attitudes, particularly relating to the visibility of trans people in public life.
The event will take place on Friday 14 June, from 10.30-noon, at the MAC, 10 Exchange Street West, Belfast BT1 2NJ. Refreshments will be available at 10am.
This event is free of charge, but places need to be booked by Friday 6 June, by emailing e.gray@qub.ac.uk
One hundred years ago you could have expected to live for about 50 years. Today, those of us living in Western Europe are likely to reach 80 years of age and our children could live well past 100 years. The 30 year extension of life expectancy in recent decades has many implications for social policy.
This seminar presents results of an ongoing collaboration between a critical gerontologist (Gemma Carney, ARK) and a social and cultural historian (Leonie Hannan, School of History, Anthroplogy, Philosophy and Politics, Queen's University Belfast), both of whom work on gender. It is based on The Lively Project (a cross-disciplinary exchange developed through research, engagement and teaching), and offers reflections on the importance of seeing current debates in deeper historical and cultural context.
The event will take place on Thursday 30 May, from 11.45am to 2pm, in the Brian Friel Theatre, Queen's University Belfast. The seminar is open to anyone with an interest in these themes, and registration is not required.
Ann Marie Gray, ARK Co-director and Professor of Social Policy at Ulster University, presents her Inaugural Professorial Lecture.
Across the UK, social care systems have been described as being in crisis with growing demand, increasing levels of unmet need, concerns about quality and standards and decline in public faith. Much of the blame for this has been directed at resent austerity. However, the problems with the social care system are deeper, rooted in its history and evolution and lack of public visibility. While the NHS is one of our most valued institutions, social care has had little public salience. This lecture looks at the challenges facing the social care service and at potential policy solutions.
The lecture will be held on Wednesday 27 March 2019, at Ulster University Jordanstown campus, from 6pm - 8pm. Full details on how to register are available on the Ulster University website.
This one-day event will present key findings of an ESRC-funded study which explores public attitudes in Northern Ireland to abortion. This project also compares the experiences of women here who take abortion pills obtained via the internet with those of women in Scotland who take the same pills via the NHS.
In the morning session, speakers will report on research findings. In the afternoon session, a panel of policy makers will respond to the research findings.
The event will be held on Friday 8th March at Belfast Campus of Ulster University, York Street from 10 am to 3pm. Tea/coffee will be available at 9.30.
The event is free. Places are limited, and must be booked in advance via Eventbrite.
Volunteer Now are delighted to have worked with the Young Life and Times Survey in order to explore the attitudes, views and experiences of young 16 years olds in relation to their volunteering experiences (or not). Their views enhance the picture of volunteering within Northern Ireland and this seminar will explore the research, bring it into context with other research and enable participants to formulate a strategy as to how we can encourage and embrace young people into the world of volunteering.
This event will take place on Wednesday 5 December 2018, at Malone House, Barnett's Demsene, Belfast. Registration and Tea/Coffee/Scones is at at 9.45am, and the seminar will run from 10am until 12 noon. (Please note that the date has been changed for this event).
For 20 years, ARK has been recording public attitudes to key social issues in Northern Ireland, via our three annual surveys. These data provide authoritative, independent and statistically-robust evidence which is freely accessible to everyone. At this event, we will celebrate the wealth of data provided by the surveys. We will also launch a publication which outlines public attitudes over time to key social issues, and highlights the major contribution that the surveys have provided to policy making in Northern Ireland.
The event will take place on Tuesday 27 November at 4-5pm, in the Harberton Room, Malone House, Barnett Demesne, Belfast BT9 5PB.
This event is free of charge, but places need to be booked by Tuesday 20 November, by emailing e.gray@qub.ac.uk
In this seminar, Lucy Michael (Ulster University) will review data from the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey and Young Life and Times Survey on attitudes to refugees, asylum seekers and ethnic minorities. In addition, she will consider the extent to which refugees both represent a unique focus for attention within the immigrant population and also offer a proxy for other kinds of views on immigration.
The seminar will be held on Thursday 22 November, from 2.45 to 4pm, at NICVA, 1 Duncairn Gardens, Belfast BT15. 2GB. Refreshments will be available at 2.30pm.
There is no charge for this event, but places must be booked by Thursday 15 November, by emailing s.grant@ulster.ac.uk
In 2107, our Reel Life Data competition set the challenge of making a short film based on public attitudes recorded in the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey. The focus was on LGBT lives in Northern Ireland.
Please join us to celebrate the films, and explore how film can bring data to life.
This event will take place on Wednesday 5 September 2018 at 4:00 to 5:00 pm, at Queen’s University Film Studio, 21 University Square, Belfast. Refreshments will be available at 3.45 pm
Please RSVP to Eileen, e.gray@qub.ac.uk by Friday 31 August
This events marks the launch of the findings of the 2017 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey. This seminar, by Professor Chérie Armour and Dr Bethany Waterhouse-Bradley (Ulster University), reports on the first ever survey of public attitudes to Armed Forces veterans conducted in Northern Ireland.
The event will be held in Skainos Centre, Newtownards Road, Belfast, from 10am to 11.30am. Places are free, but must be registered in advance by emailing s.grant@ulster.ac.uk
This discussion session will explore the potential of intergenerational approaches to educational attainment, and in particular, the benefits for community planning. The event will also highlight the University of Strathclydes model of intergenerational mentoring.
The event is free and will be held in Londonderry Park, Newtownards, from 3-5pm. To book a place, please email e.gray@qub.ac.uk
This seminar will focus on initiatives that aim to improve educational attainment. Liam O’Hare (CESI, Queens University Belfast) will discuss his experience in designing, implementing and evaluating education attainment programmes. Alistair Wilson and Katie Hunter (University of Strathclyde) will outline the successes and challenges of intergenerational mentoring in increasing educational attainment.
The seminar will be held in the Senate Room, Queens University Belfast, at 2.30pm on Monday 4 June 2018. Places must be booked in advance by contacting e.gray@qub.ac.uk by 30 May.
As every year, we are holding a survey results launch event prior to making the most recent YLT and KLT survey results available to the public. The 2017 survey results launch takes place on 23 May 2018, 11.30-13.00 in Room G007 in 69/71 University Street, Belfast (School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queens University Belfast).
To register for this event, please contact Eileen Gray e.gray@qub.ac.uk or 028 9097 5906 by 18 May 2018.
Screening of Kind to Women to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act. Tues 24 April 12:00-14:00 in Film Studio, off University Square, Queens University Belfast. Places are free, but must be booked in advance by emailing e.gray@qub.ac.uk
This seminar will explore friendship, ageing and intergenerational relationships, and is hosted by the British Society of Gerontology (Northern Ireland)and the School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin.
The event takes place on Thursday 12 April, at 11.30am to 1pm. Places are free, but must be booked in advance by emailing e.gray@qub.ac.uk
This course will outline creative research methods and show you how to use them appropriately at every stage of the research process. The course assumes that you have a good working knowledge of conventional research methods, and builds on that knowledge by introducing arts-based methods, research using technology, mixed methods, and transformative research frameworks such as participatory and activist research. Any or all of these techniques can be used alongside more conventional research methods and are often particularly useful when addressing more complex research questions. The day will include plenty of practical advice and tips on using creative methods in research.
This course will be held in Queen's University Belfast, and is organised by the National Centre for Social Research (NCRM). For more information, including details on how to book, please visit the NCRM website.
This event centres around the screening of Golden Globe winning film All About My Mother (1999), Pedro Almodóvar’s colourful and critically acclaimed exploration of female sexuality, friendship, life and loss. The screening is a collaboration between ARK and Film Studies at Queen’s University Belfast, and will be used to stimulate a discussion of sexuality and in particular to discuss ‘what is a woman?’
This event is part of the Imagine Festival of Ideas and Politics, and will be held in Queens Film Theatre Belfast. Tickets are free, but must be booked in advance from the Imagine website.
Using data from the most recent Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, Gillian Robinson (ARK, Ulster University) and Paula Devine (ARK, Queen's University Belfast) will explore public attitudes to bonfires and flags.
The seminar will take place on Wednesday 22 November from 12 noon to 1pm, in the Baskin Room, Skainos Centre, 239 Newtownards Road, Belfast, BT4 1AF. The event will be followed by a light lunch.
Places are free, but must be booked in advance by emailing Eileen Gray at e.gray@qub.ac.uk
In this seminar, Professor Jill Manthorpe (Kings College London) explored relationship-based safeguarding, which seeks to meet the needs of service users and carers. It also promotes quality of life, and aims to provide care that is both personalised and preventative.
The seminar took place on Thursday 16 November 2017, in Queen's University Belfast.
The Textile Language of Conflicts exhibition is comprised of 23 arpilleras, some never shown before, and aims to stimulate awareness, conversations, social responsibility and peace building in relation to human rights violations in war-torn and post-conflict societies
This short course is designed to give participants a practical introduction to data linkage and is aimed at researchers either intending to use data linkage themselves or to analyse linked data. Examples of the uses of data linkage, data preparation, methods for linkage (including deterministic and probabilistic approaches) and issues for the analysis of linked data are covered. The main focus of this course will be health data, although the concepts will apply to many other areas. This course includes a practical example involving data to be linked, to enable participants to put theory into practice.
This course is organised by Administrative Data Research Centre England/University of Southampton. The course will be held at Queen's University Belfast. Full details about the course, including how to register (by 29 August), are available on the website of the National Centre for Research Methods
ARK is holding its joint results launch event for the 2016 Kids Life and Times (KLT) and Young Life and Times (YLT) surveys. This is an opportunity for anyone working with or on behalf of children and young people to hear about key results before they are being made available to the public.
The event is now held on 19 June 2017 11.00-13.30, in Room G026, School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, QUB, 6 College Park, Belfast. To register for this event, please contact Eileen Gray by 14 June 2017. Email e.gray@qub.ac.uk or phone 028 9097 5906
The results of the 2016 NI Life and Times survey will be launched at a seminar on 16 June. Ann Marie Gray will discuss public attitudes to abortion, including attitudes to existing law on abortion, whether the law should be changed and in what circumstances, and views on the criminalisation of abortion.
The event will take place in NICVA, 61 Duncairn Gardens, on Friday 16 June at 11am, followed by a light lunch. This event is free of charge, but places need to be booked by Friday 9 June, by emailing d.coey@ulster.ac.uk
The seminar explored issues related to older kinship carers from different perspectives – research, personal experience, an NGO organisation, and a practitioner. In particular, highlighted the link between kinship carers and inequality, in relation to age, gender and location. The keynote speaker was Dr Anna Tarrant, University of Lincoln.
This seminar was supported by British Society of Gerontology in Northern Ireland, and Keele University.
Tues 6th June 2016, Room BA-03-019, Belfast Campus, Ulster University 12:30-14:00
ARK Ageing Programme Visiting Fellow Anna Tarrant, University of Lincoln a seminar, drawing on a number of linked qualitative longitudinal studies conducted over a ten-year period in a city in the North of England. The presentation focused on the lived experiences of men who are kinship carers.
This seminar was delivered jointly with the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences at Ulster University as part of the Pushing the Boundaries seminar series.
On the eve of the Northern Ireland Assembly Elections, ARK and INCORE invite you to a Public Seminar: Votes, People and Parties - whats next for the Assembly? by Dr Nicholas Whyte. Dr Whyte is a Visiting Professor at Ulster University, and Senior Director, Global Solutions in the Brussels office of APCO Worldwide. He runs the Northern Ireland Elections website on ARK.
The event will take place in Room MI021, Ulster University, Magee campus, Derry/Londonderry, on Wednesday 1 March 2017, at 1-2pm. Light refreshments will be served.
The event is free, but please register your attendance via email to Janet Farren or telephone (028) 7167 5500
This 1-day course will help researchers identify the most appropriate software to facilitate qualitative or mixed methods analysis for their project.
This course is organised by the National Centre for Research Methods, and will take place in Queens University, Belfast.
For more information on the course, and how to book, please see the NCRM website
Something of Who I Am uses objects to take you on the Journey of Life, as negotiated by six people living in Northern Ireland. This exhibition is part of the Lively Project, in which six participants have volunteered six objects each as offering some insight into a significant moment or memory on the ‘vapour trail of life’.
Visual artist, Gemma Hodge has produced a number of artistic works which illuminate the significance of the objects. Participants have also produced art and craft work of their own.
The launch will take place from 6-7pm on Wednesday 7 December, at the Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Rd, Belfast BT7 1NH.
Places are free, but must be registered in advance by emailing Caroline OHare
In this seminar, Dr Máire Braniff, INCORE Director, Ulster University, will draw on data from the 2015 Northern Ireland Life and Times survey. She will illustrate that far from increased synergy between the traditionally dualistic identities, Northern Ireland is characterised by continued social distancing which remains pronounced.
The seminar will take place in NICVA, Duncairn Gardens, Belfast on Tuesday 6 December, at 11am, followed by a light lunch at noon.
Attendance is free but registration is essential. To register, please email Shonagh Higgenbotham
