The data and tables of results from ARK's three Life and Times surveys will be available on our website in June. These important surveys record the attitudes of people of all ages across Northern Ireland to key social issues affecting their lives:

• Results from the 2019 Young Life and Times survey of 16 year olds will be available from 3 June. Topics include good relations, wellbeing, politics, and breastfeeding.
• Findings from the 2019 Kids' Life and Times survey of 10-11 year olds will also be available from 3 June. The survey included questions on bullying, climate change, and school facilities.
• Data from the 2019 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey will be available on 17 June, exploring adults' views on politics, good relations, breastfeeding, and much more.


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Every year we hold a seminar to mark the public release of the findings of the Northern Ireland Life and Times (NILT) survey. Obviously this year is different, and so we're holding a webinar instead.

On 17 June, Katy Hayward, Milena Komarova and Ben Rosher (Queen's University Belfast) will present the results of new questions on attitudes to Irish unification. They will consider these findings in light of previous NILT data and the changing context for Northern Ireland's post-Brexit future.

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Changes in national and religious identity of 16 year olds over time (Research Update 132) uses data from the Young Life and Times survey. Written by Charlotte Bradley, this Update considers the topic of identity amongst young people in Northern Ireland, and whether the way that young people perceive their identity status is changing over time. A video of Charlotte discussing the findings is also available.

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The ARK Feature series comparises short articles on a wide variety of topics relating to politics and social policy. The latest Feature is Social Security and Covid-19: An inadequate response to crisis (ARK Feature 14). Written by Ciara Fitzpatrick (Ulster University), this Feature explores the government's social security response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Ciara has also produced a short video outlining the key messages of this Feature. An audio recording of the Feature is also available on our website.

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In each of our newsletters throughout this year, we will highlight previous research or events that ARK has carried out since 2000, in order to mark our 20th anniversary.

In 2010, the Policy Brief Social Care in Northern Ireland focused on issues and policy developments within adult social care in Northern Ireland. Ann Marie Gray and Goretti Horgan highlighted that debate on this topic was overdue, and that this needed to focus on structural and technical issues, as well as funding and values.

Ten years later, the devastating impact of COVID-19 within care homes, and on social care more widely, indicates that there is still a critical need for this debate to take place.

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The ARK site is an invaluable and essential resource for students looking for social and political information on Northern Ireland. In particular, the ARK in Schools section provides Northern Ireland-specific educational materials for schools and organisations working with young people aged 14 years or over, and for young people themselves.

The most recent tutorial focuses on Personal Wellbeing, and explores factors that affect personal wellbeing and helpes identify causes and consequences of adverse personal care.

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CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet) contains a huge array of information on the conflict in Northern Ireland, including textual material, statistics and photographs. In addition, CAIN hosts a series of maps which were produced as part of the Visualising the Conflict project. These focus on deaths related to the conflict, and physical memorials in public spaces.

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Gemma Carney and Paula Devine (ARK Ageing Programme) are partners in an exciting new project Dementia in the minds of characters and readers, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Working with Jane Lugea (Lecturer in English Language, Queen's University Belfast) and Jan Carson (fiction writer and programmer of older people's arts projects), the project will explore the representation of dementia in contemporary fiction, and how the minds of characters with the condition are constructed in language. Extracts from the fiction will be used in a series of Reading Groups. The readers' responses will establish the potential of dementia fiction to facilitate awareness and empathy.

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ARK is Northern Ireland's social policy hub. Established in 2000 by researchers at Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University, its primary goal is to increase the accessibility and use of academic data and research. Most of our dissemination is via our website at www.ark.ac.uk, which is divided into five main areas:

• Surveys
• Projects
• Resources
• Publications
• Events

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