What is your role within ARK?
I was lucky enough to join ARK when I was offered the opportunity to complete a PhD that was funded, in part, by the Atlantic Philanthropies. My PhD was part of the ARK Ageing Programme, and I explored the lived experiences of older women who had been victims of domestic abuse. Once I completed my PhD, I became a Lecturer in Social Policy at Queen’s University Belfast, when I rejoined ARK as an Associate. My current role provides the opportunity to introduce ARK to students, and to encourage them to use the great resources to enhance their work.
What do you most enjoy about your role in ARK?
I enjoy working with students, widening their knowledge and understanding of what policy is, the importance of policy development, and how they can contribute to policy change themselves. I teach undergraduate social work students, who often have little understanding of the relevance of policy development on their future roles. Using ARK resources such as the surveys helps students gain a much better understanding of how policy is made, and the impact various policies have on our daily lives. Last year, Dr Alexandra Chapman (ARK Policy Director) and I introduced the ARK prize. This was for final year undergraduate students from Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University, who used ARK resources in their dissertation. It was exciting to see the standard of work produced by our students, and to be able to award the prize for the first time.
As Lecturer in Social Policy, what is the focus of your research?
The focus of my research is the impact of domestic abuse on older women. Until relatively recently, the majority of research into domestic abuse has been on younger women, those of childbearing and child rearing age, and this has resulted in a lack of understanding of the unique issues older women face. My research aims to give these women a voice, and my hope is that the more conversations my research initiates, the more this hidden population will be understood.
Find out more about Dr Martin’s work: https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/elizabeth-martin
