The ARK team will be taking a break over the next two weeks, and returning on 4th January. In the meantime, we hope that you all have a very happy, safe and peaceful Christmas season.  

Paula Devine and Erin Early have written two major reports focusing on male health on the island of Ireland. The reports were commissioned by the Men's Health Forum.

A comprehensive Trends Report describes changes in significant markers of men's health on the island of Ireland in the last twenty years. An infographically-driven Men's Health Report Card provides a synopsis of contemporary key men's health statistics in the Republic of Ireland.

Erin and Paula have also written an ARK Feature Why have a men's health policy? and associated QPol blog article.

We hope you can join us for a Twitter chat at 7-8pm on 13 January 2021 to reflect on the implications from the report #MHFI21

Find out more  

The COVID and Vulnerable Groups project aims to inform public debate on the impact of COVID-19 and related containment measures on older people and people with disabilities. Two new publications focus on issues within care homes:

• 'Protect the NHS' at the cost of care homes? A look behind the death rates in care homes during the first wave of the Coronavirus pandemic (ARK Feature 18), by Ann Marie Gray, Gemma Carney, Paula Devine and Bronagh Byrne
• The lessons to be learned from the pandemic are not new - we need a properly funded, regulated and state-guaranteed system of social care (View Digital, Opinion), by Ann Marie Gray, Gemma Carney and Paula Devine

Find out more  

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 December 2000, Retirement: Feeling the pinch by Eileen Evason used data from the 1999 Northern Ireland Life and Times survey. A key finding was that many older people required a substantial amount of financial support. However, relevant benefits (Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance) were not reaching everyone who may have been entitled to them.

Since then, the range of benefits has changed, although the system of obtaining them has not necessarily become clearer for many applicants.

Find out more  

ARK held two events as part of its 20th anniversary celebrations:

• On 27 November, Poverty activism in Northern Ireland provided an opportunity to hear from some of those involved in poverty activism from the grassroots to the international level. The key speakers were Bronagh Hinds (DemocraSHE), Martina McAuley (Housing Rights), Ciara Fitzpatrick (Ulster University) and Ryan Shaw (YouthAction).
• On 9 December, Marlene Sinclair, Julie McCullough, Rachel Black and Paul Slater explored Public Attitudes to Breastfeeding in Northern Ireland, using data from the 2019 Northern Ireland Life & Times survey and the 2019 Young Life & Times survey.
  
  Video recordings of both events are now available on the ARK YouTube channel.
  
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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

Find out more