ARK runs 3 annual surveys recording the attitudes of the public to key social issues.

• The fieldwork for Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (a survey of adults aged 18+) has now started. This year, questions focus on key social policy issues such as good relations, minority ethnic groups, Brexit, and looking back at the past.
• The fieldwork for the Young Life and Times survey of 16 year olds, and the Kids' Life and Times survey of 10/11 year olds will start in the next few weeks.

If you are asked to participate in any of these surveys, please take part - your views are important!

Find out more  

A team, lead by ARK at Ulster University is working to author the 5th NI Peace Monitoring report. This is a project led by the Community Relations Council and funded by Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

The NI Peace Monitoring report started in 2012 as a process of annually measuring the distance travelled, either closer to, or further away from the shared goal of a peaceful and inclusive society. The Report measures Safety, Equality, Political Progress, and Cohesion and Sharing. Previous reports are available on the Community Relations Council website

Find out more  

ARK's aim is to make social and political material available to the widest audience, and this includes attending academic conferences. During the summer, the ARK team gave presentations at several events:

• The Social Policy Association conference was held in Durham, and the ARK team gave 2 papers.
• The ARK Ageing Team presented 5 papers at the British Society of Gerontology conference in Swansea.
• 7 presentations were given at the European Survey Research Association conference in Lisbon. These focused on findings from the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, Young Life and Times, and Kids' Life and Times.

 

ARK produces a range of publications, including Research Updates and fact sheets, most of which are available online. The most recent Research Update is:

• Culture matters: young people's perspectives (Research Update 118) by Grace Kelly and Martina McKnight. This Research Update is based on data from the 2016 Young Life and Times Survey, as well as focus groups.

For a full list of publications, as well as links, visit our Publications page

Find out more  

ARK is a joint initiative between Queen's University and Ulster University, and began in 2000. Our mission is to make social science knowledge on Northern Ireland easily accessible to the widest possible audience. Most of our dissemination is via our website at www.ark.ac.uk, which is divided into four main areas:

• Surveys
• Conflict, Politics and Elections
• Policy, Research and Resources
• Outreach, Dissemination and Training - including publications and events

Find out more