ARK Associate Scheme

ARK’s Associate Scheme was launched in 2025, and invites experts from academic, policy or practitioner backgrounds to share their insights and experience. It offers Associates opportunities to work/learn from the ARK team and disseminate their work widely, both locally and internationally. Importantly, the ARK team benefits from Associates’ knowledge and expertise, and potential for collaboration.

Associates will take on the role for 12 months. During this time, they will undertake the following:

  • organise an event (e.g. a seminar or policy roundtable)
  • give a guest lecture to social policy students at Queen's University Belfast or Ulster University
  • write at least one ARK Research Update or Policy Brief (approximately 2,500 words) focusing on their area of research, study, or expertise.

Photograph of Andy HamiltonWe are delighted that our first Associate is Dr Andy Hamilton (University of Ulster). Andy is a research associate with the Taking Boys Seriously (TBS) project, which is a longitudinal action research initiative spanning over 18 years.