The ARK team will be taking a break over the next two weeks, and returning on 3rd January. In the meantime, we hope that you all have a very happy and peaceful Christmas season.  

In December 2017, CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) was awarded funding from the Reconciliation Fund of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to carry out a project entitled 'Documenting the Impact of the Troubles on the Republic of Ireland'.

The CAIN Web site already contains a range of information and source documents that relate to the Republic of Ireland. However, this project will expand those materials and also make the information easier to find from a central location on the site. The project will also catalogue relevant information on other web sites and catalogue the most important collections of physical materials held on the topic. Work on the project will be undertaken in 2018.  

Hull's year as 2017 UK City of Culture is drawing to a close, and it was recently announced that Coventry will host that role in 2021. However, despite much public interest and media attention, it is sometimes unclear exactly what 'culture' means.

In 2016, ARK explored what culture means to young people aged 16 years, by including questions in the Young Life and Times (YLT) Survey. In addition, the YLT team carried out five focus groups across Northern Ireland.

Culture Matters: Young People's Perspectives is a Research Update by Martina McKnight and Grace Kelly which outlines key findings from this research, and focuses on young people's cultural attitudes and behaviour. One key finding is that how young people interpret culture, and what they believe constitutes cultural activity, is hugely complex and multi-layered.

Find out more  

Our 3 annual surveys record public attitudes to key social issues.

• The fieldwork for Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (a survey of adults aged 18+) is now finishing. This year, questions focus on key social policy issues such as good relations, minority ethnic groups, Brexit, and looking back at the past.
• The fieldwork for the Young Life and Times survey of 16 year olds, and the Kids' Life and Times survey of 10/11 year olds has started.

If you, or a family member, are asked to participate in any of these surveys, please take part - your views are important! As always, the results of these surveys will be made publicly available by summer 2018.  

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

Find out more