ARK runs three attitudes surveys each year, which ask the public about issues that affect their lives:

• Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, which involves 1200 adults across Northern Ireland
• Young Life and Times Survey, which focuses on the views of 16 year olds
• Kids' Life and Times, which asks the opinions of 10-11 year olds

We are currently collecting data for all three of these surveys, so if you, your relatives or friends are asked to take part, please do!

As usual, the results of these three surveys will be made publicly available on the ARK website by summer 2015.

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The annual Kids' Life and Times (KLT) and Young Life and Times (YLT) surveys provide a key record of the views of children and young people on policy issues that affect them. Funding for the surveys has come from a variety of sources including academic, statutory and voluntary sectors.

If you are interested in funding or commissioning questions in the 2015 survey of 16 year olds (Young Life and Times) and the 2015 survey of 10/11 year olds (Kids' Life and Times), please look at the full details on the ARK website, and don't hesitate to get in touch.

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Age Encounters is a network of researchers, academics and practitioners with an interest in age in Northern Ireland. The most recent event on 25 November focused on socially-isolated older men in Belfast, and speakers included Lorna Montgomery and Janet Carter Anand (Queen's University, Belfast), John Cooper (Rejuvenate, Belfast) and Dave Bolton (Queen's University, Belfast). All the presentations from the event are now available online.

Age Encounters is an activity of the ARK Ageing Programme, which supports engagement between the age and academic sectors in Northern Ireland. We welcome any suggestions or comments that you might have about our work. So please get in touch if you would like us to meet you or your organisation, have a query relating to research, or have a suggestion for an event.

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This Knowledge Exchange project was a joint activity between ARK and Brook Northern Ireland (Brook NI). Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, this project draws on data from the 2010 and 2011 Young Life and Times (YLT) survey of 16-year olds which explored the sexual risks faced by young people and their sexual experiences.

The main objective of this project was to facilitate sexual capacity and confidence building among young people in Northern Ireland who are at the start of their sexual careers. This work included collecting a booster sample for the YLT surveys, participatory group work sessions with young people, and the development of an educational resource and young people-led publicity campaign about sexual safety. The project was undertaken in a participatory manner, with 12 peer educators being trained to help with the group discussions and the design of the education resource and campaign.

The full range of activities and outputs, including the final report, are now available on the YLT website.

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The Accounts of the Conflict Archive is now online. This digital archive has been created for the long-term preservation of personal accounts of the conflict related to Northern Ireland. The project is funded from the European Union's PEACE lll programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.

The personal accounts of individuals who have been affected by the Northern Ireland conflict in various ways have been collected by individuals and groups across the region over the past few decades. Accounts of the Conflict aims to work in partnership with those who manage individual story-telling collections, and individual story-tellers, by offering the opportunity to deposit a digital copy of relevant stories.

The Archive was launched on 17 November 2014 by Dr James Nesbitt, Chancellor of Ulster University. The first phase of the project will complete in December 2014. Accounts / stories are being added to the archive and there is on-going technical development of the site. Feedback is always welcome. Accounts of the Conflict is a sister site to Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN).

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ARK is a joint initiative between Queen's University and the University of Ulster, 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

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