Welcome to the January 2025 edition of the ARK newsletter. In this issue, we feature ARK staff, events, publications and activities, and introduce our 25th anniversary branding.

Meet the Team - Dr Gemma Carney
Our ‘meet the team’ series continues, introducing the staff who provide ARK’s insights. We start the year by introducing Dr Gemma Carney, ARK Associate and Reader in Social Policy and Ageing at QUB. Read more about Dr Carney and her research here.

Research Update - Exploring Respect in Northern Ireland
This month we published a Research Update exploring the multidimensional nature of respect in Northern Ireland. Based on 2018 and 2023 NILT data, the update considers how respect is perceived and experienced across multiple social categories.

ARK at 25
ARK turns 25 in 2025. To mark the occasion we’ve had a special logo designed. Our programme of anniversary events and publications over the course of the year will highlight ARK’s role in providing insights for Northern Ireland: past, present and future. We hope to see you at one of our events, with the full programme available here soon

International Day of Education - 24 January
The 24th of January is the International Day of Education. Education is fundamental for flourishing societies, is a human right and is one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. At ARK, we have included questions on education in YLT and KLT for many years in order to understand its role in Northern Ireland.

Conflict Textiles Update
The latest Conflict Textiles exhibition at the QUB McClay library launched on the 21st January, and is on display until the 19th March. One of the display cases contains publications and materials related to ARK’s work over the past 25 years. Present at the launch (from left to right) were Karen Winter, Daniel Muijs, Paula Devine, Beatrice Canossi, Gillian Robinson, Bronagh McCrudden, Roberta Bacic, Christine Carrothers and Lauren Dempster. More information is available here. QUB Special Collections Blog also published this short piece on the display.

ARK Policy Update
ARK’s Professor Dirk Schubotz recently gave evidence to the NI Assembly’s Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) mini-enquiry. A transcript will be available here shortly. Elsewhere, the authors of an ARK Policy Brief on antenatal screening were recently invited to meet with the Health Committee at the Northern Ireland Assembly to discuss their research on the absence of first trimester antenatal screening in Northern Ireland (see image above). A news article related to the briefing, by Dr Fiona Bloomer (School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences, Ulster University), Dr Claire Lougarre (School of Law, Ulster University) and Dr Suzie Heaney (Antenatal Results and Choices) on the impact of late antenatal screening in Northern Ireland was also published in late 2024.

About ARK
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, which is divided into five main areas:

• Surveys
• Projects
• Resources
• Publications
• Events