A Little Unsteadily into Light
August 2022

In this anthology of fourteen new short stories, commissioned and edited by Jan Carson and Jane Lugea, some of the best contemporary writers powerfully and poignantly explore the depths and breadth of the real dementia experience, traversing age, ethnicity, class and gender, sex and consent. Importantly, these pieces of short fiction disrupt the perceived notions of what dementia is and, in their diversity, honesty and authenticity, begin to normalise an illness that affects so many, and break down the stigma endured by those living with it every day.  The book is one of a series of outputs from the Dementia in the Minds of Characters and Readers project..

The book is published by New Island Press, and the contributing authors are Suad Aldarra, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Jan Carson, Elaine Feeney, Oona Frawley, Sinead Gleeson, Anna Jean Hughes, Caleb Klaces, Naomi Kruger, Henrietta McKervey, Paul McVeigh, Mary Morrissy, Nuala O'Connor, and Chris Wright.

Recording Social Attitudes and Informing Social Policy in Northern Ireland: Key Findings from 20 Years of ARK’s Life and Times Surveys
November 2018

 ....a  new book highlights the contribution of ARK's three social attitudes surveys to research and social policy in Northern Ireland.  Founded in 1998, the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey has recorded the attitudes of adults in Northern Ireland.  In 2003, Young Life and Times started monitoring the opinions of 16 year olds, and in 2008 Kids' Life and Times focused on the lives of 10-11 year olds.  Drawing upon data from the three surveys, this book is a compilation of published analysis by the ARK team in collaboration with academic and practitioner experts.  The chapters feature key issues covered in the three surveys, including good relations, abortion, sport and physical activity, ageing and ageism, racial prejudice, children's rights and views, and social care.

• Download the book here

‘Figuring it Out: Looking behind social statistics in Northern Ireland’
by Ann Marie Gray, Goretti Horgan and Amanda Leighton (2015)

...reveals what social statistics can tell us about social policy in Northern Ireland. The book, produced with the assistance of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, is the outcome of an ARK project which aims to inform and promote debate on social policy issues. The statistics are accompanied by a lay friendly commentary on transport, the environment, health and social care, education, employment and culture, arts and sport which highlights significant trends and identifies priority issues for social policy.

• Download the book here

Not so different. Teenage attitudes across a decade of change in Northern Ireland 

 ....a  new edited book based on data from the Young Life and Times Survey was published on 28 February 2014. 'Not so different. Teenage attitudes across a decade of change in Northern Ireland' was edited by Dirk Schubotz and Paula Devine and published by Russell House Publishing. The chapters cover a wide range of issues affecting 16 year olds, including community relations, rights and democratic participation, mental health, loneliness, play and leisure, sexual grooming and sexual exploitation, and the positive contributions that 16 year olds make to society. 

An earlier edited book based on data from the Young Life and Times Survey was published by Russell House Publishing in 2008. 'Young people in post-conflict Northern Ireland The past cannot be changed, but the future can be developed' was edited by Dirk Schubotz and Paula Devine.

‘Figuring it Out: Looking behind social statistics in Northern Ireland’ by Ann Marie Gray and Goretti Horgan 

....reveals what social statistics can tell us about social policy in Northern Ireland. The book, produced with the assistance of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, is the outcome of an ARK project which aims to inform and promote debate on social policy issues. The statistics are accompanied by a lay friendly commentary on transport, the environment, health and social care, education, employment and culture, arts and sport which highlights significant trends and identifies priority issues for social policy.

• Download the book here or by chapters below: 
  • ARK
  • Foreword
  • Contents
  • Demography
  • Transport
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Social care
  • Employment
  • Education
  • Arts and Sports

Two edited books have been published based on data from the Northern Ireland Life and Times survey.

• Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland: The Eighth Report
• Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland: The Ninth Report

However, these books are a continuation of the Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland series, which has become an acknowledged source of information on contemporary values in Northern Ireland. The initial seven volumes drew on data from the Northern Ireland Social Attitudes survey series, which ran from 1989 to 1996: 

• Stringer, P. and Robinson, G. (eds), (1991) Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland, 1990-91 edition (Belfast: Blackstaff Press) 
• Stringer, P. and Robinson, G. (eds) (1992) Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland, The Second Report, 1991--92 (Belfast: Blackstaff Press) 
• Stringer, P. and Robinson, G. (eds) (1993) Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland: The third report, 1992-1993 (Belfast: Blackstaff Press) 
• Breen, R., Devine, P. and Robinson, G. (eds) (1995) Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland: The fourth report, 1994--1995 (Belfast: Appletree Press)
• Breen, R., Devine, P. and Dowds, L. (eds) (1996) Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland: The fifth report, 1995--1996 (Belfast: Appletree Press)
• Dowds, L., Devine, P. and Breen.R. (eds) (1997) Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland: The sixth report, 1996--1887 (Belfast: Appletree Press) 
• Robinson, G., Heenan, D., Gray, A. M. and Thompson, K (eds) (1998) Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland: the 7th report (Aldershot: Ashgate)