The data were analysed in the ‘Political attitudes in Northern Ireland 25 years after the Agreement’ report by SSESW colleagues Katy Hayward and Ben Rosher, a NINE PhD student. 

An almost identical proportion (45%) of the three main communal blocs feel the Agreement remains the best basis for governing NI although it needs some small changes. However, 27% of unionists believe it is no longer/has never been a good basis for governing NI (compared to 13% of those saying they are ‘neither unionist nor nationalist’ and 8% of nationalists).

Younger people are the least confident about the 1998 Agreement, with 30% of under-35s answering ‘don’t know’ when asked their opinion on it.

As well as questions on political identity, constitutional futures and Brexit, the survey also tested for levels of trust in political actors involved in governing NI. See key findings or the full report.

Katy Hayward said: “It is a sign of the Agreement's success that the large majority think it remains the best basis for governing Northern Ireland. However, NILT also shows that there are consequences to a lack of fully-functioning institutions. Declining confidence in devolution, growing anticipation of Irish unification, and high levels of distrust in political actors reflect some of the post-Brexit flux experienced in Northern Ireland.”

NILT is coordinated by SSESW colleagues Paula Devine and Martina McKnight. It is a key resource within ARK, a joint initiative between Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University. Full NILT results were published on 1 June 2023.

This interest began early and was shaped by my own experiences, observations and reflections. Growing up in an area affected by different types of violence I was struck, even as a teenager, as to how people often accept things. Over time, this curiosity led to me to volunteer and then to work professionally in the community sector, specialising in practices with young men, violence prevention and youth justice. Over fourteen years, I led a number of programmes across several regional non-governmental organizations. That combined experience convinced me that we had much to learn about the needs and experiences of some of the most vulnerable young people, and the pathways that lead them into the justice system. In my own practice, I became frustrated with the lack of reliable evidence feeding into intervention development and also the lack of evidence emerging out of the practice. This led me back into academia as a Fellow in 2016. I strongly believe that alongside our non-academic colleagues we can make a real difference in real people’s lives through policy and practice relevant research.

My research has informed: the work of the Tackling Paramilitarism, Criminality and Organised Crime Programme; the implementation of targeted youth provision by the Education Authority for Northern Ireland (EANI); cross-departmental work around Child Criminal Exploitation; and specialist youth support hubs for victims of violence. It is also contributing to how funders such as Children in Need engage with young people as part of their violence reduction commissioning.

I am currently leading a portfolio of projects including an action research programme funded by the Department of Justice, a proof of concept study funded by Children in Need and a North/South programme in the area of youth crime with our partners at the University of Limerick. I am also in the process of scaling up a co-produced violence prevention model for young men funded by EANI.

The study was carried out with 44 young people across the region. At the launch, Head of the School of SSESW Daniel Muijs outlined how timely research can contribute a positive social impact.  

The research found that young people were exposed to a range of harms in the home, in schools and in their communities, leaving some more vulnerable to criminal exploitation. 

Other findings include: 

• Paramilitarism was intimately connected to child criminal exploitation.
• A number of young people had been actively groomed to engage in criminality over a prolonged period of time.
• Others were engaged in a more agile way, exploited for a particular purpose and for a specific period of time. 

Colm Walsh commented: “This is an important but sobering study documenting the perceptions and experiences of child criminal exploitation. Their voices illustrate the ways that some children and young people are being failed by a range of statutory agencies and how these missed opportunities to protect provide others with opportunities to exploit for their own criminal gain.” 

Adele Brown (DOJ) said: “It shows how, a generation on from the peace agreements, young people in Northern Ireland are still being exploited and manipulated by paramilitaries and criminals.”  

The event was closed by Richard Pengelly (DOJ) who confirmed that the study findings will directly affect how CCE is defined and how services will now respond.  

Joanne is a globally recognised expert in education in divided societies, inequalities in education and inter-group relations. She is Director of our Centre for Shared Education. Joanne has led more than 20 research projects on these themes for funders such as UNICEF, the British Council, Nuffield, Atlantic Philanthropies and the Economic and Social Research Council. She has contributed her expertise to development of shared education in international settings including Israel and states in south east Europe.  

Joanne is joined in leading this important international input to UNESCO discussions by SSESW colleague  James Nelson (Education) who specialises in teacher education and the interface between religion and education. James will represent the SSESW team during the intergovernmental negotiations in Paris on 30 May-2 June. 

The revision of the Recommendation aims to revive and update the global consensus around the role of education in shaping a more just, sustainable, healthy and peaceful future for all learners. 

Working with nine autistic young people (aged 11-18) across Northern Ireland, the research team used Photovoice, requiring only a basic knowledge of photography using mobile phones, which the young people used to document their lives through pictures over a six-week period during lockdown.

Key findings include:

• Participants worried about what was going to happen and how long the pandemic would last. They reported feeling ‘low’, ‘depressed’ and ‘isolated’ during lockdown.
• They consistently referred to the stress and pressure of home-schooling and that having to engage with new educational platforms across multiple subjects could be overwhelming at times.
• Young people in the study drew on existing hobbies or developed new hobbies as a coping strategy during lockdown. This provided distraction, routine and calmness, particularly in light of the removal of the key support networks they usually relied on.
• Time spent outdoors in nature became an important way of managing stress during lockdown.
• However, they felt that schools did not always acknowledge the importance of being outdoors and overloaded their days with schoolwork, leaving little time for minding their mental health. 
• The autistic young people in the study shared a common goal to illuminate the challenges they faced during this time so that should a future crisis or emergency occur, these challenges, as triggered by government responses, could be taken into consideration.

The report is at ‘Children's lives and rights under lockdown: A Northern Irish perspective by autistic young people'.

The group will also assist with funding applications that more authentically reflect the core issues affecting the lives of disabled young people and extend the use of creative and participatory disability research methods.  

The DRN Co-production group met in person for the first time in January in The Cube at the new Queen’s University Students’ Union building. The meeting was co-facilitated by disability activist Joanne Sansome and School of SSESW academics Berni Kelly and Bronagh Byrne. The eight disabled young people who attended the meeting were Oran, Sean, Ross, Erin, Jeffrey, Leah, Kellie and Caitlin. They brought a range of different perspectives and explored challenges relating to social exclusion, education, transition to adulthood and transport.  

Group members are excited to get involved in research at Queen’s and agreed co-production meant that: “Disabled people are partners in research who use their experience to inform research that can make a difference to the lives of disabled people.” 

The group explored how they might get involved in co-producing disability research at Queen’s University. Ideas generated on the day included: sharing ideas on hot topics; sharing experiences on a chosen theme; participating in research training; advising on research design; becoming a researcher; developing accessible research outputs; and co-delivering research presentations.   

The DRN Co-production Group will meet again soon to take these ideas to the next stage. New members would be very welcome so, if you would like to get involved, please email Professor Berni Kelly at b.r.kelly@qub.ac.uk. 

As a result, inequality contributes to new cultural expressions and political activism, often beyond the boundaries of nation-states. 

Our Sociology team is very excited to launch this brand new Master’s programme at Queen’s University in September 2024. It has a global perspective, drawing on the research expertise of award-winning staff, whose research addresses inequalities through a broad range of approaches and different regions of the world.

Students will approach inequalities through a wide range of topics such as emotions, work and organisations, social conflict and divisions, extremism, religion, social movements, radical politics, disability, gender, race, migration and citizenship. Through cross-national comparative perspectives, students will explore the global dimensions of inequality as well as interconnections between the local and the global. 

Through a vibrant intellectual environment, the academic team delivering the MSc Sociology and Global Inequality will strive to empower students to develop practical and intellectual capacities that are relevant to a wide range of professional contexts. Our Sociology colleagues look forward to welcoming the first cohort of students to this new postgraduate course! 

Further information is available on the Queen's University Course Finder from mid-September 2023.

DARN produced the final report Overview of Drug and Alcohol and Service Provision for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), to be released in July 2023. It outlines the strategic context of substance use in Northern Ireland with a focus on the new substance use strategy, ‘Preventing Harm, Empowering Recovery 2021-2031’. The report gave an overview of current drug and alcohol trends, including drug and alcohol deaths, treatment populations, current delivery of service provision and commissioning of services. In addition, DARN colleagues presented research findings to the NIHRC committee, the Department of Health and the Public Health Agency, outlining views on current service provision from key stakeholders, managers and those who use substances and highlighted any existing gaps in current alcohol and drugs provision.

DARN was involved in a report on drug use and young people for the UK Home Office. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) agreed in 2019 to begin a self-commissioned workstream investigating young people’s drug use.

Anne Campbell contributed to the international webinar Drug Policy in the UK: A Matter of Crime or Health | International Society of Substance Use Professionals (issup.net), attended online by 378 professionals from 73 countries.

Anne Campbell and Orfhlaith Campbell presented at the Northern Ireland Drug & Alcohol Alliance conference in Belfast in March on the legalization of Cannabis and Medical Cannabis.

The CCR team, Michelle Templeton (Project Lead), Laura Lundy, Bronagh Byrne, Katrina Lloyd and PhD students Evie Heard and Lucy Holland, applied the Centre’s internationally renowned child's rights-based participation model (the Lundy Model developed by CCR Co-Director Laura Lundy) to create a ‘child-friendly’ survey for Ukrainian children. It included questions about children’s rights during the war in Ukraine and how these have been impacted, including their right to health care, standard of living, education, play, safety and to have their views taken seriously.  

The project team reached out to organisations working with Ukrainian children and families, currently living in Ukraine or in another country, to encourage Ukrainian children aged between 8 and 17 years to participate in the anonymous survey by late March.  

Governments in Ukraine and host countries are required to ensure that children’s views are taken into account and communicated quickly to those who are making important decisions about the children (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 12). The results of the survey will not only increase understanding of children’s lived experiences of their rights during the current war, but also what works and what does not, from their perspective, in terms of their education, feelings of safety, social lives and health. The survey outcomes will also highlight the ways in which children demonstrate agency, resilience and creativity when under these new and difficult circumstances, which may inform decisions taken that affect their lives now and in the future.

Around that time, some elderly relatives were diagnosed with cancer and stayed with us during their radiotherapy treatment. When a close friend, who was a young mum, died from cancer I had so many questions about the illness, and I wanted to know more about how to support individuals living with a life-limiting condition and their families. I subsequently gained a reputation within my extended family of being comfortable around people receiving end-of-life care and felt very privileged to help them reflect on their lives, put their affairs in order and say goodbye.

This experience led me to working as a Social Worker in the community with adults and in Marie Curie hospice, specialising in palliative and end-of-life care and bereavement. When seconded to a research post within Marie Curie, I conducted studies around end-of-life care decision-making, bereavement needs assessment, quality of life, complementary therapy and clinical drug trials.

Since joining Queen’s University, I have been actively involved in teaching social work students about palliative care and bereavement and enabling them to develop the relevant interpersonal skills to feel comfortable with death, dying and bereavement, regardless of the cause. I have been involved in several knowledge exchange projects, which included working visits to Bolivia, Kenya and Australia. Currently, I am chairing the Northern Ireland Association of Palliative Care Social Work Forum, the European Association of Palliative Care Social Work Task Force, and the World Hospice and Palliative Care Social Work research network, which have education, research, policy and practice components. I am involved in projects currently exploring palliative care in prisons, and deaths in prison custody, which I hope will inform policy and practice.

Last year, I worked alongside colleagues across Ireland, the UK and Europe to develop our part-time, online Postgraduate Diploma in Palliative Care for social workers, which is now open for applications via Queen’s University.

The course consists of six modules, taught online over two years in a part-time format. It has been designed to an international standard and is suitable for social workers employed across a range of settings in adult services. The curriculum content and assessments are aligned with the Northern Ireland Social Care Council Professionals in Practice requirements, the Health Service Executive Palliative Care Competence Framework (Social Work) and the European Association of Palliative Care core competencies for palliative care social work in Europe.

Course lecturers and facilitators are experts from a range of backgrounds including palliative care, social work, ethics, cognitive behaviour therapy, systemic family practice and leadership. The Programme Director, Professor Audrey Roulston, has over 25 years’ experience of palliative care and bereavement needs assessment through practice, leadership, research and teaching.

A unique aspect of this programme is that lectures, workshops, and tutorials will be delivered online. Assessment will promote opportunities for critical reflection on practice, regardless of participants’ levels of experience and expertise. The online delivery and part-time format are designed to enable social workers across different countries, service user groups and settings to attend this training.

For further information, including admissions criteria and how to apply, please see Palliative Care on Course Finder. The closing date for applications was Friday 16 June 2023 at 4pm.

As a means of engagement, we offered leadership development training for approximately 100 counsellors and school leaders, focussing on the role leaders play in promoting change and improvement in schools. As the Director of the MSc Educational Leadership Programme at the School of SSESW, I adapted existing course materials and developed a bespoke workshop which I delivered in the three cities over three days. Each event culminated in high tea together and an award ceremony where attendees received a certificate of participation from Queen’s University Belfast.

I was privileged to talk with many counsellors and school leaders at each workshop and it was clear that professional development and leadership training are priorities for them. They also talked about the value of developing a professional network between schools and how the workshop event helped to develop a leadership network within and across the cities.   

For me, the trip was a wonderfully affirming professional experience and provided opportunities to develop new international connections to school leaders in India. I was struck by the effort and dedication of the International Team at Queen’s led by Lynsey Noble and in particular, the team working in India led by Karan Menon and Neeta Tyagi.       

Dr Gavin Duffy

Speakers covered a range of relevant topics. A representative from the Northern Ireland Social Care Council talked about the Assessed Year in Employment (AYE) for graduates in their first year working as social workers. Anne Campbell (SSESW) gave an overview of our post-qualifying training. Carmel McManus outlined the University’s Careers Service and social work recruitment in the voluntary sector. Lee Wilson talked about recruitment and interviews in the Health and Social Care Trusts. 

Students grabbed a slice of pizza as they walked around information stands and met employers representing the statutory and voluntary sectors. Students welcomed the opportunity to ask employers questions and gain a better understanding of social work employment. The event was a fantastic success, with students gaining knowledge on how to apply successfully for a post in social work, undertake their AYE and take advantage of post-qualifying learning.

Mental health advocate Niamh Brownlee, author of Struggling to Breathe, visited our Social Work undergraduate students on the Research, Policy and Practice module. In a moving session, she outlined her own experiences with mental illness, which ultimately led to her being hospitalised. Niamh spoke about her interactions with social workers and the key things our social work trainees should look out for when someone is unwell.

Niamh read the students excerpts from Struggling to Breathe, about her experiences of being detained in hospital, and gave a powerful message about the importance of evidence-based treatments in her recovery. She also visited our Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) postgraduate programme where she described her own positive experiences of CBT treatment over the years.

In 2021, Queen’s University Belfast became one of the first such centres in the UK when it was awarded silver recognition by The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) under its ACE-CSE programme by demonstrating first-rate cyber security education and promoting cyber skills across the University. Key to the Centre’s work is enhancing students’ cyber security skills. For this reason, ACE-CSE developed new online training in cyber security awareness training which is freely accessible to Queen’s students via the University’s student learning environment. Participants have found it very interesting and insightful. 

The ACE-CSE programme was developed by NCSC and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to develop an influential and growing community of cyber security educators, to shape and support cyber security education and to engage with industry, government, educators and students. Queen’s University has made significant investment in staff, infrastructure, studentships and scholarships to support education and research in cyber security.  

The Queen’s University ACE-CSE gives students opportunities to learn good cyber security practices that will benefit them in their student, work and social lives. Northern Ireland has an ambitious target of growing the number of cyber security professionals in the region to 5,000 by 2030, while the UK Government seeks to promote cyber security. The work of ACE-CSE will enhance the cyber security knowledge of all Queen’s students and support the University’s efforts in continuing to build a strong pipeline of highly skilled graduates. 

On 14 March, we were delighted to welcome the Australian National Children’s Commissioner and the Icelandic Children’s Commissioner, along with her staff, for a discussion with Centre members on work to progress children's rights and youth justice in Australia, Iceland and Northern Ireland. The event was attended by colleagues from Include Youth and the Children’s Law Centre as well as Koulla Yiasouma, the former Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People.

The Centre is hosting Marta Basile who is a visiting doctoral student in Political Sciences at the University of Catania, Italy. Her PhD involves a comparative and qualitative study on the ‘Best Interests of the Child’ in Italy and Northern Ireland with a particular focus on the sentencing of young people in the youth justice system.

On 29 March, Laura Lundy was a keynote speaker at a ‘Leading Lundy’ event in Manchester. The Lundy Network is a coalition of statutory and voluntary organisations who use the Lundy model of child participation, based on the key concepts of Space, Voice, Audience and Influence, which has been adopted globally by organisations, agencies and governments to inform their understanding of children’s participation. The network is led by the Anna Freud Centre, The National Youth Agency, Youth Focus North West, the Royal College of Paediatricians and Barnardo’s UK. The sold out Manchester event included attendees from many city and county councils, UNICEF UK and the National Lottery Fund.

Participants (parents, children, young people) spoke of the fragility of their living situation, regardless of accommodation type. They reported spending a number of years in temporary accommodation and described the negative impact of constant insecurity. Many spoke of inadequacies, including cramped, cold and uninhabitable conditions as well as living in unsafe areas and under threat of eviction. For many, the right “to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity” (UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1991) was breached.  

The impact of homelessness and housing insecurity was far greater than a lack of stable housing, also impacting on children’s ability to enjoy rights related to family life, access to and experiences of education, physical and mental health, play and leisure opportunities, ability to maintain friendships and social networks and being able to practice their faith. 

Based on research findings, NICCY developed recommendations related to housing provision, child rights impact assessments and adequate standards of temporary accommodation. In response to the report, the Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), for the first time,  called for the widening of NIHE’s statutory obligations towards prevention of homelessness:  

 “The report shines a light on the experiences of children and families in our communities and reinforces the importance of focusing on the prevention of homelessness to avoid reliance on temporary accommodation and solutions”.  

The students’ academic achievement alongside managing their busy professional roles was warmly acknowledged by guest speakers Peter Toogood (Deputy Secretary, Social Care Policy at the Department of Health) and Kevin Bailey (Regional Lead for Drugs and Alcohol at the Public Health Agency). The certificate and diploma parchments were then presented to students by Peter Toogood.

Invited students came from programmes in Mental Health and Mental Capacity Law, Substance Use and Substance Use Disorders, Systemic Practice and Family Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Practice and Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy. After the ceremony, they had opportunities to catch up with fellow students and staff over a light lunch.

If you work in Health and Social Care and are interested in professional development in any of these areas, please check out the SSESW website for more information on the pathways available.

Devon Ramey was interviewed on Behavior Analysis in Practice – The Podcast (BAPcast), where she discussed her article ‘Defining and Measuring Indices of Happiness and Unhappiness in Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder’. The podcast highlights the work of selected authors to help narrow the research-practice gap.

An innovative new approach to journal publications was pioneered by Karola Dillenburger with Professor Mickey Keenan (Ulster University). The paper entitled ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’, in BF Skinner Foundation’s Operants, shows two QR codes access multimedia presentations. See also The Scientific Image in Behaviour Analysis.

Karola’s global reputation in relation to professional recognition of behaviour analysts led to the invitation by Germany’s Agency for Quality Assurance through Accreditation of Study Programmes (AQAS) as international expert for accrediting the MScABA and Autism Assessment and Interventions at the Universidad Autónoma de Chile in Santiago de Chile, South America. 

Karola is leading a group of representatives from 22 countries to support professional recognition of behaviour analysts. In the UK, the Professional Standards Authority’s approval of the UK Society for Behaviour Analysis register means that the profession now is accredited nationally. This enhances service user protection and ensures that they receive high quality ethical interventions. 

The CBA Webinar Series continues successfully to offer monthly talks by eminent international colleagues, such as Dr Francescs degli Espinosa and Dr Maithri Sivaraman. Recordings of talks can be accessed at CBA Resources. Webinars are announced on Facebook.

www.qub.ac.uk/cba

Considering Grace records the deeply moving stories of 120 ordinary people’s experiences of the Troubles, exploring how faith shaped their responses to violence and its aftermath. Presbyterian ministers, victims, members of the security forces, emergency responders, healthcare workers and ‘critical friends’ of the Presbyterian tradition feature in its pages. It is the first book to capture such a full range of experiences of the Troubles of people from a Protestant background. See Considering Grace for more information or to purchase.  

Considering Grace was co-written by Gladys Ganiel, Professor in the Sociology of Religion in SSESW, and Dr Jamie Yohanis, a post-doctoral researcher on the project. Jamie (pictured right) previously completed his PhD in Education at the School of SSESW. He spoke at the Dublin event on behalf of Gladys Ganiel. 

The research on which the book is based was commissioned by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Reconciliation Fund.  

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin TD welcomed the event and said: “I am very pleased that my Department is co-hosting this event with the Presbyterian Church. Churches and religious communities across the island are key partners on our shared journey of peace and reconciliation.” 

Mr Martin continued: “Considering Grace is an important contribution to our understanding of a dark period in our collective past. My Department, through the Reconciliation Fund, is proud to support the Presbyterian Church’s important work advancing understanding and reconciliation on this island, including the complex but vitally important question of how we address the legacy of the past.” 

Funded by the British Academy and led by Ian Collen, the research sought to understand the extent of the provision and uptake of languages (other than English and Welsh) in the UK FE sector. The systematic review, secondary data analysis and primary research with FE lecturers, students and other stakeholders evidence for the first time the significant lack of research on languages provision in FE over the last 20 years.

The voices of language learners and teachers in UK Further Education are rarely heard in an arena where research is almost exclusively focused on secondary and higher education. In addition, the research identified that there are a considerable number of FE colleges with no provision for languages and learning opportunities are not integrated into core programmes and vocational qualifications.

The research team presented their findings to a joint meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups for Further Education and Languages (APPG) in the Houses of Parliament in London in January. The discussants and parliamentarians at the joint APPG welcomed the report and its findings as a landmark study for language education in the UK Further Education sector, as reported in a wide range of national media channels.

With a number of recommendations made available through a policy briefing, the research team will continue to engage with stakeholders and the British Academy to take these forward. The report is at Languages Provision in UK Further Education.

https://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/CentreforLanguageEducationResearch/

Level 1 student Anna Kirkwood was nominated for her outstanding achievement in being appointed a patient representative with the Royal College of Psychiatry as a member of the Faculty for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Her role involves gathering views from service users and carers to help improve mental health services for young people. Anna said: 'My personal challenges mean this award is something 16-year-old me could only dream of. Hard work pays off. If you are struggling, remember that hope is real and better days are coming.'

Level 2 student Emma McAlister was nominated for her outstanding contribution to developing highly innovative practice. During her first social work placement, Emma took part in a successful trial of the Peer Learning Bubble Model with fellow students from Ulster University. She was invited to present on this model by the Northern Ireland Social Care Council as part of their event on digital tools in social work education. Emma said: ‘I was extremely honoured to receive the award. It has given me a great boost going into the final year of my social work degree.’

Level 3 student Ioan Racasan was nominated for his commitment to Social Work at Queen’s. He has been involved in a variety of activities including volunteering for recruitment events, being a peer mentor and working on the Social Sciences Student Journal. With others, Ioan organised the first, and very successful, Social Work student conference at Queen’s University in October 2022. Ioan commented: ‘I am grateful for this recognition of my work. Winning this award is a result of inspiration from my School of SSESW teaching staff, from whom I have learned so much.’

In December 2022, the ARK Ageing Programme and the Science and Culture Research Group at Queen’s hosted Framing Ageing’s first Early Career Researcher Symposium.

In her keynote address The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, Hannah Zeilig (University of the Arts, London) reflected that the most difficult questions require us to cross disciplinary boundaries. She described how her work on dementia has led her across many disciplines, such as music, dance and neuroscience. 

Early career researchers from as far afield as Slovakia and South Korea presented papers on a myriad of issues, including end of life decision-making, loneliness, independent living, grandparent involvement in childcare, spirituality, music, theatre and literature. Discussion on papers was facilitated by Des O’Neill, a medical gerontologist at Trinity College Dublin, as well as cultural gerontologist Gemma Carney, historian and material culture specialist Leonie Hannan and liberal arts lecturer Sophie Cooper, all from Queen’s University.

Gemma noted that working as a researcher on ageing societies can sometimes get dispiriting, including: the 30 year ‘crisis’ in social care; massive casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic; and widespread ageism in the media. However, research on ageing is a vibrant, multi-disciplinary field of enquiry, and the Frame Ageing network is a good example of this. The event provided opportunities to build connections between researchers for the future, and was especially important as the first face-to-face event in several years for many of the participants.

For more information on the conference or the network see Framing Ageing network.

It shows that although cultural trauma construction requires the use of moral binaries such as 'good vs. evil', 'pure vs. impure', and 'sacred vs. profane', the entrenchment of binaries can hinder reconciliation.

Rin Ushiyama is a cultural and political sociologist interested in contested memories of violence, including war, terrorism and colonialism. His latest research investigates historical denial in the context of contemporary Japan and East Asia. He has published in numerous journals on topics such as memory studies, social theory and sociology of religion.

SSESW academic Ulrike M Vieten is a historical and political sociologist, with a research focus on the construction and shifts of racialised group boundaries, particularly in Europe. She has published a new book (with Scott Poynting, Queensland University of Technology) entitled Normalization of the Global Far Right; Pandemic Disruption? Its underlying argument is that the boundary between extremist racist perspectives and ‘normal’ entitlement discourses of liberal majorities is blurred.

Ulrike analysed discourses on European cosmopolitanism before carrying out comparative studies on the multi-layered belonging and identities of minority EU citizens and on experiences of asylum seekers and refugees in Northern Ireland. She publishes frequently on gender and racist far right populism and regularly blogs on contemporary political debates. Ulrike takes inspiration from political activism of black and minority scholars across the globe. She is a member of the UK academic-activist group Social Scientists Against the Hostile Environment. 

Jane McCready, former UK Society for Behaviour Analysis Board Member, narrated her son’s story of accessing services based on the science of applied behaviour analysis. Now 19 years old, Johnny gained key life skills that enable him to live a better life and access fun, meaningful activities.  

Professor Patrick Friman, University of Nebraska, outlined how behaviour analysis can be used across multiple domains to achieve better quality of life, including increasing happiness in relationships. Dr Matthew Brodhead, Michigan State University, discussed using a behavioural systems analysis to promote ethical behaviour. Armando Bernal, an autistic adult and Board Certified Behaviour Analyst, described the complexities of participating in social experiences throughout his life and professional career, and how professionals can promote independence and self-advocacy in service users.  

Participants also heard from CBA students and staff on topics such as anxiety, safeguarding, socio-communicative behaviours in the context of play, combining hand gesture cues with Applied Behaviour Analysis principles to improve speech intelligibility and comparing the efficacy of an asynchronous online learning platform and telehealth (synchronous) training for ABA practitioners. 

Finally, the audience learned about behaviour analytic research with various populations, from individuals with autism to those with Alzheimer's Disease, as well as environmental issues and energy efficiency. Papers were delivered by speakers from the UK, Ireland, Italy, India, Poland and the United Arab Emirates. 

Videos of conference presentations are available on the Centre for Behaviour Analysis Resources page.  

To date, the CASE project has supported almost 400 schools in delivering shared education activities to over 140k students in primary and post-primary schools through cross-sector and cross-border partnerships. The CASE event highlighted key findings from the impact evaluation of five years of activity through ‘Sharing from the Start’ and ‘Collaboration Through Sharing in Education’ (CASE) and launched a series of case studies. 

Tony Gallagher commented: ‘It is a little staggering to think that Shared Education has become such a fundamental part of the educational landscape in Northern Ireland. From modest beginnings, with the initial pilot programme with 12 schools in 2007, we are now celebrating hundreds of Shared Education Partnerships across Northern Ireland. Everyone at Queen’s is proud of the role we have played in helping to develop this model, locally and internationally. We look forward to seeing the culture of collaboration that lies at its heart play an even deeper role in schools in future.’  

Joanne Hughes commented on taking local expertise to a wider audience: ‘The Shared Education team at Queen's has worked extensively in other conflict and transitioning societies to explore the potential for sharing and collaboration in education to promote intergroup relations and better educational outcomes for all children. Adapted versions of the Northern Ireland Shared Education model have now been piloted or are in development in places like Israel and some Balkan States, and it has been a privilege to engage with colleagues nationally and internationally to extend and apply the learning from shared education in Northern Ireland.’ 

As Honorary Italian Consul for Northern Ireland since 2016, Federica has organised a wide range of events to promote understanding between cultures. As part of our Open Learning team, she was central in designing and delivering an online intercultural module for the Queen’s University Professional Skills Certificate and the international partnership project ‘Images of Incoming: Exploring Inclusion and Exclusion with Migrant Women in Northern Ireland and Canada’.  

The School of SSESW is the Queen’s University partner for the Images of Incoming programme, which has involved partnerships with University of the Fraser Valley, British Columbia, and University of Atypical (Arts and Disability Network). Working with SSESW academic Tess Maginess, outputs to date have included a website, an exhibition, a documentary, an academic chapter in Postdigital Research, edited by Alison MacKenzie (SSESW) and colleagues, and two conference presentations. 

Federica said: “It has been my privilege to work with so many communities here in Northern Ireland to promote greater understanding of Italian culture and, indeed, to foster connections between a wide range of cultures here in Northern Ireland. Working at Queen’s has provided a great support structure for engaging with many communities and sectors in fulfillment of the University’s aim of promoting social and civic responsibility and engaging in real world issues, including the challenges facing migrant people.” 

Federica Ferrieri provides consular advice and guidance to some 2500 Italians in Northern Ireland. In addition to her teaching, she is an author, life coach and Restorative Justice practitioner. 

The students were invited to attend a private viewing of the film Belfast in the Queen’s Film Theatre, accompanied by Belmont academic Professor Amy Hodges Hamilton (front row, second from right). The screening was followed by a conversation and question and answer session about the impact of The Troubles conflict era in Northern Ireland and the restorative power of storytelling. The discussion was led by Citizen Educators from the WAVE Trauma Centre in Belfast, along with experts on trauma including Grainne McKenna, the Trauma Education Officer at WAVE. Joe Duffy noted the students’ appreciation of the screening and the experience shared, commenting on the “real sense of the powerful learning messages that the students and ourselves witnessed at this very special event”. 

The report, entitled Conflict, Trauma and Mental Health: How psychological services in Northern Ireland address the needs of victims and survivors, included a series of reviews and studies and was commissioned by the CVSNI, funded through the EU's Peace IV programme. 

School of SSESW academic Michael Duffy was principal investigator for the project team which produced the report. It reviewed psychological services for victims of the Troubles and offers ‘proposals on the optimal way to organise mental health services for victims and survivors in the primary, community and statutory systems’. 

Michael said: "The studies analysed outcome data relating to mental health needs of victims and survivors of the Troubles from services across health and social care trusts and the community and voluntary sector in Northern Ireland, and the border regions in the Republic of Ireland, in order to make recommendations for future service provision." 

At the launch of the report in August, key findings were outlined by Michael Duffy, with Queen’s University colleagues Anne Campbell, Tracey McConnell and Carolyn Blair, John O’Hanlon from the Belfast Health and Care Trust, and Brian Fitzmaurice from Trinity College, Dublin. See Conflict, Trauma and Mental Health for the full report and recommendations. 

The visit was facilitated by University of São Paulo hosts Professor Marcos Cesar Alvarez and Gustavo Higo, who visited Queen’s in June to join the SSESW colleagues in an earlier stage of the project exchange, and by Camilla Dias and Fernando Silla who specialise in prison research and organised crime. While in Northern Ireland, Marcos and Gustavo met with members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland who work in border areas, to learn about policing during the Northern Ireland Conflict, policing with the community and the complexities of policing a porous and largely invisible border. Marcos and Gustavo also presented a paper entitled ‘Violence, Organised Crime and the State: The Dynamics of Crime and Control in the Brazilian Border Regions’ as part of the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice Seminar Series (a QUB partnership that includes the School of Law and the School of SSESW).  

While in Brazil, Michelle and Siobhán shared preliminary research findings on ‘Crime, Conflict and Borders in Northern Ireland’ with academics and representatives from the Military Police and the Civil Police. They made site visits to battalions of the Military Police and Civil Police, learning about policing and organised crime in São Paulo and making connections for future research with academics in the Centre for the Study of Violence.

This project is funded by UFI VocTech, a scheme supporting the delivery of adult vocational skills through digital technology. In Northern Ireland the number of classroom assistants employed has been steadily increasing (IPSOS Report, 2023) and was a group recognised by UFI VocTech as crucial for innovative training.

Classroom assistants are critical for providing targeted help to pupils, supporting children with complex mental health needs, managing behaviour, promoting inclusion and providing pastoral support. CatVR was designed to offer virtual instruction, allowing trainee assistants exposure to common behaviour challenges they may encounter in a classroom, with the goal of increasing role expectancy and confidence among this staff group. 

The first module in CatVR is an immersive 360° classroom environment with several situations that could be considered inappropriate or disruptive, with the user tasked to identify those behaviours. The experience is similar to a driving-based hazard perception test and the faster the issues are identified the more ‘points’ a user gets. The second module involves engagement with a virtual pupil avatar while asking a series of questions to figure out difficulties for the pupil. This step enables a conversation to take place to suggest some solutions that may help, with ongoing feedback and problem solving responses provided.  

Further testing with other groups, including trainee teachers and qualified teachers, is planned for 2024 with the addition of new scenarios and more avatars, increasing access to a wider range of classroom issues. 

Funded by Erasmus+, ConCitizen includes teams from University College Copenhagen KP, Queen’s University Belfast (Tony Gallagher, Lesley Emerson and Gavin Duffy), Stranmillis University College (Norman Richardson), Oslo Metropolitan University, the Open University of Cyprus and the Adyan Foundation, Lebanon.

To date, colleagues have been collaborating in a number of transnational meetings and activities (including Copenhagen in April 2023 and Belfast in September 2023) to share and develop strategies for teaching controversial issues and contested narratives in History, Religious Education and Citizenship Education. This has also involved comparative curriculum mapping and research into the needs of teachers in relation to teaching these issues, which in turn informed the production of video tutorials and a series of virtual exchanges between student teachers from the participating institutions.

The event in Cyprus provided our PGCE students (pictured) Nadia McConville, Jenny Steele and Amy Patterson and Stranmillis student Lois Smyrell with the opportunity to meet and work with academic colleagues in the co-production of the project’s outputs. During the symposium, Jenny Steele and Nadia McConville were able to present findings from their own classroom-based research on young people’s views on whether teachers should be ‘neutral‘ when teaching controversial issues. 

The final output of the project, a textbook for teachers, will be launched at the concluding conference of the project in Oslo, June 2024.

In 2018 I finished my Masters in Applied Social Studies at the School of SSESW at Queen’s with the successful completion of the Specialist Practice Masters Dissertation Module. My Masters study explored ‘Resilience in Approved Social Workers in Northern Ireland’. I had an excellent postgraduate experience and got to know the SSESW academics who shared my research interests. 

Masters study at the School of SSESW developed my focus on research relevant to social work practice and I quickly realised that research was an area I wished to pursue further. I began my Doctoral study in October 2019. My PhD supervisors, Dr Lorna Montgomery and Professor Gavin Davidson, shared my interest in exploring Mental Capacity and provided great support throughout my PhD journey. It wasn’t a typical doctoral student experience as I commenced my studies at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and, therefore, much of the early stage of my PhD was completed online. However, since then I have had the opportunity to attend and present my work at conferences both locally and internationally.  

I passed my PhD viva in August this year with a thesis on ‘Decision-making processes in Learning Disability services: in whose best interests?’ The next step is to share my doctoral study findings with individuals for whom they are relevant and with stakeholders and other associated groups, in order to implement the identified recommendations. 

I’m delighted to have taken up the role of Lecturer in Social Work in the School of SSESW at Queen’s University recently. I aim to develop my teaching in social work practice and undertake further research, including co-producing research with individuals who have a learning disability and expanding my existing work around issues in Mental Capacity. 

• Centre for Shared Education, which is committed to promoting sharing in education as a mechanism for delivering economic, social and educational benefits to children, schools and society, particularly in post conflict societies.
• Centre for Language Education Research, which conducts research in language and education to make a difference across local, national and international contexts. 
• Centre for Inclusion, Transformation and Equality, which addresses core themes of: disability; gender and LGBTQ+; equality in education; and ethnicity, race and decoloniality.
• Centre for Technological Innovations, Mental Health and Education, which develops technology-based, interdisciplinary research in mental health and professional education and training.
• Centre for Child, Youth and Family Welfare, which provides insights into the lives of children, young people and families to achieve better welfare outcomes and improve wellbeing.
• Centre for Justice Studies, which provides a focus for criminological research.
• Centre for Behaviour Analysis, which focuses on the discovery of natural laws of behaviour, the study of how behaviour is shaped by environmental contingencies and how changes affect behaviour. 
• Methods@SSESW, which is a pilot centre bringing together those with cutting edge expertise in qualitative and quantitative methods into one space.

There is also one research network, the Drugs and Alcohol Research Network, that aims to provide a leading edge one stop venue for all researchers, policy-makers and practitioners in Northern Ireland who together aspire to make a difference in developing an informed research agenda on alcohol and drug use.

Many SSESW colleagues also contribute to the Queen’s University Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, to Queen's Communities and Place and to ARK, a social policy hub. 

You can read more about the centres on the Research section of the SSESW website.

Inequality also generates demands for gender and racial equality and LGBTQ+ rights and prompts calls for governments to deal with increasing levels of socioeconomic inequality. As such, it contributes to new forms of politics and socio-political activism, often beyond the boundaries of nation-states. 

Our MSc Sociology and Global Inequality programme equips students with the intellectual and methodological skills to engage in social inquiry at an advanced level, to understand inequality and how it is contested.  

Aligned with UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goals, the MSc offers modules that delve into crucial topics including work, gender, justice, emotions, identity, norms, power, religion, migration and citizenship, all of which are key to addressing these pressing issues. 

The MSc Sociology and Global Inequality provides ‘Education for Social Impact’ both at local and global levels. See Sociology and Global Inequality for more information on module content and how to apply for the course. Don't miss your chance to shape a more equitable world! 

Global INTRAC has over 350 members engaged in care leaving research, representing 48 countries across the world. At the event, global experts in the field of care leaving presented on current research and policy developments in their countries including representatives from: University of Johannesburg in South Africa; University of Bedfordshire in England; Ben-Gurion University in Israel; City University New York; Aalborg University in Denmark; University of Ghana; VID Specialized University in Oslo; Universidad Católica Boliviana in Bolivia and Udayan Care in India.

An interactive World Cafe engaged participants in networking and sharing of ideas on care leaving. Key themes included: extended care and aftercare arrangements across country contexts; programmes for preparing youth for leaving care; promoting the participation of care-experienced youth in research and policy; and informal social support for care leavers. The meeting also addressed underlying barriers and inequalities experienced by care leavers, often underpinned by limited resources and support services. These global challenges for care leaving policy, practice and research will be the core focus of the next Global INTRAC conference, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2025.

The five-day Queen’s programme of engagement across both locations involved delivering a series of inspiring sessions and activities in high schools where students had opportunities to get involved in interactive workshops involving computer engineering, programming and learning how to extract DNA from fruit, and to learn more about Queen’s University. 

One of the highlights of the visit was the 'Leadership for Change' workshops led by Dr Gavin Duffy, Programme Director of our MSc Educational Leadership programme. Tailored for school principals, vice-principals and careers guidance counsellors, the workshops in Jeddah and Dubai gave attendees insights to enhance their leadership skills and tools to drive positive change in educational settings. Participants received a certificate of participation from Queen’s University, fostering professional development and networking opportunities with Queen's experts. 

Commenting on the trip, Gavin said: “Providing the workshops for school leaders and counsellors was an amazing opportunity to work with so many educational practitioners and learn about the educational contexts in Jeddah and Dubai. In these sessions, participants examined the pivotal role that school leadership plays in promoting school improvement and managing change effectively.”  

By comparing the diffusion of Kabbalah with the dissemination of Hindu religions, I developed an analysis of western societies’ fascination for the religion of Others, in a book called From Yoga to Kabbalah: Religious Exoticism and the Logics of Bricolage (2014), for which I won the International Society for the Sociology of Religion book award in 2017.  

But exoticism and eclecticism also exist in conservative Christianity. I am currently drawing on a four-year ethnography to write on a local ‘messianic’ congregation and the ways in which it combines elements of Evangelical Protestantism and Judaism.  I am also particularly interested in what we call ‘epistemology’ – in other words, how can we produce scientific knowledge without it being distorted by our personal identity, experience and trajectory? My latest book, Religion and Conflict in Northern Ireland: What Does Religion Do? (2022) is the first critical and comprehensive review of the ways in which the social sciences interpreted religion’s significance in Northern Ireland. Through this regional case, the book outlines a critical agenda for the social study of religion. 

I teach introductory sociology and the sociology of religion to undergraduate students, and teach research design to postgraduates. Since I started working at Queen’s, I’ve held numerous leadership roles. I’m the representative for academic staff on the University's Senate. I’ve played a central role in designing an Irish language residential scheme to enhance students’ learning experience, for which I received Queen’s ‘Leading by Example’ Award last year. Finally, my latest project is coming to fruition! With the support of the Sociology team, I developed a new MSc Sociology and Global Inequality, available from September 2024. This exciting programme focuses on the most important issues across the world today and I am really looking forward welcoming its first students! 

The event was organised by SSESW colleague Professor Gavin Davidson (back row, right) with Dr Colin Harper (Honorary Lecturer, SSESW), Professor Roy McClelland (Emeritus Professor, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences) and representatives from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. It was hosted by our Centre on Inclusion, Transformation and Equality.

Presentations and discussion focused on the current legal framework for decision-making by children, recent case law (specifically Re D (A Child) {2019} UKSC 42) and options for changes to law, policy and practice.  

The symposium was chaired by Dr Claire McKenna (Belfast Health and Social Care Trust) and included presentations from Lady Brenda Hale, (former President of the Supreme Court), Professor Roy McClelland and Dr Frances Doherty (Belfast Trust) on legal and practice complexities at the interface of mental health and mental capacity issues. Dr Colin Harper, Dr Phil Anderson and Gavin Davidson led an exploration of options relating to children’s capacity and right to make decisions, including: retain the current combination of statute law but develop new guidance; codify case law to clarify circumstances where children under 16 can accept and refuse interventions; amend the Children (NI) Order 1995 to provide a more comprehensive framework for decision making; extend the Mental Capacity Act (NI) 2016 to apply to everyone; or develop a new law specifically for those under 16.

A panel discussion on next steps acknowledged the complexities involved but reinforced the need for this important area of law, policy and practice to be further examined to ensure we have the most effective framework to protect and promote the decision-making rights of children.

Mel Engman, Aisling O’Boyle, Yecid Ortega and Sultan Turkan conducted a systematic literature review of immersion education in international contexts and conducted primary research with IME sector stakeholders in Northern Ireland. Report: Fair? Shared? Supported? Examining expectations and realities for Irish-medium practitioners.

Ibrar Bhatt gave the closing plenary at the British Association of Applied Linguistics annual conference and delved into the complex background to the term ‘postdigital’. In Postdigital Possibilities in Applied Linguistics, Ibrar argued that the relationship between the digital world and human life is deeply interwoven and this offers new avenues for inquiry in applied linguistics. One primary takeaway was the importance of a ‘broadly defined’ research scope for applied linguistics, through a postdigital framing. 

Minchen Liu won the BERA Award for Best Presentation Prize for the 'Special Interest Group: Post-Compulsory and Lifelong Learning' at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference in September. Min’s presentation covered findings from the British Academy-funded research project ‘Languages Provision in UK Further Education’, conducted by Ian Collen, Leanne Henderson, Minchen Liu, Aisling O’Boyle and Jennifer Roberts. 

Yecid Ortega’s new publication Processes influencing English language policy and teaching practice discusses influences on language policy-making decisions in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL). Published in the journal Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, Yecid’s paper prioritises an understanding of participants’ experiences and exposes the inequalities they faced in a marginalized context. 

The Queen’s University report was led by SSESW colleagues Siobhán McAlister, Dirk Schubotz and Michelle Templeton, and Gail Neill from Ulster University. The findings were based on responses from 268 girls and young women across Northern Ireland and include:  

• The persistent nature of ‘everyday violence’ with almost all experiencing catcalling and street harassment from age 10-11. 
• Girls receiving frequent unsolicited messages and sexual images from a young age. They considered this a normal part of their online life. 
• The top three barriers to girls reporting violence were: worried they might not be believed; worried it might make the situation worse; and not feeling it was serious enough to report.
• Learning about violence against girls and young women was identified by the participants as an important step in prevention. This should happen at a young age for boys and girls, in families, schools and youth provision. 

Siobhán McAlister (front row, right) said: “Participants reported little formal learning about violence in school. This, alongside powerful social messages of blame and responsibility, impacts girls’ ability to recognise violence and their willingness to disclose personal experiences. Girls learn that they need to ‘keep themselves safe’, thus removing responsibility for violence from boys and men. They emphasised the need to support boys and young men in recognising the impact of their attitudes and behaviours, and to disrupt negative attitudes towards women at a broader societal level.” 

Read the report on violence against women and young girls on the Executive Office website.

The student organisers of Holding onto Kindness in Social Work said: “The conference was an inspiring day using creativity, reflection and discussion to explore the power of kindness in social work. It was a great way for Social Work students at Queen's University to further develop their knowledge and skills in this important aspect of their future career as social workers.” 

The event was supported by the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work (SSESW) and the British Association of Social Workers Northern Ireland (BASW NI). It included keynote addresses by Professor Leah Dominelli from Stirling University, Professor Gillian Ruch from the University of Sussex and Siobhan Maclean, social work practice teacher and acclaimed author, alongside a diverse range of speakers across social work practice and academia, students and mental health campaigners, all of them leaders in kindness.

The conference provided all SSESW student attendees with a reflective and creative space to hold in-depth conversations on the importance of kindness. This was explored further through the use of literature and a poem written especially for the day to help make connections with kindness, empathy and critical reflection, drawing on current societal issues pertinent to social work, such as poverty, welfare reform and mental health stigma. There were also opportunities to call at information stands and to network with visiting organisations and employers, all arranged by the student organisers, including Northern Ireland Social Care Council, Probation Board for Northern Ireland, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and Youth Justice Agency.  

For the most part, internationally, behaviour analysts have adhered to the standards set by the USA-based Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB). However, BACB certification has not been recognized officially in jurisdictions outside of North America. The realization of this situation has led the CBA team to take a number of significant actions. Since 2009, CBA colleagues have been involved in working towards achieving professional recognition for behaviour analysts in the UK. This was finally achieved in 2023 by the Professional Standards Authority approving the professional register of the UK-Society of Behaviour Analysis (UK-SBA).

Internationally, the CBA team played a leading role in achieving professional recognition of behaviour analysts in the Czech Republic and the United Arab Emirates.

In Europe, the CBA team has partnered in the EU-funded EuroBA project with nine universities and autism charities to develop common standards and competences for behaviour analysts to facilitate national recognition of and mobility for behaviour analysts outside USA/Canada. In 2020, CBA Director Karola Dillenburger set up the Professional Advisory Group (PAG), a collaboration of 22 countries that aims to ensure that European and allied countries have full access to the Intellectual Outputs that were developed in the EuroBA project to support countries in gaining national professional recognition for behaviour analysts. PAG members represent their national behaviour analysis organization. Membership is open to all countries and includes one representative per country.

 Read more about the work of the Centre for Behaviour Analysis. 

It continues with the analysis of practices involved in the post-intervention phase, looking at the ways in which states have been established as modes of governance (Kosovo), how punitive atmospheres have animated soldiers’ violence in the conduct of war (Iraq), and how interventions can expand moral control and a system of devolved surveillance in conjunction with both border control and the engagement of the International Criminal Court (Libya). These practices underscore how punitive intents and the rhetoric of punishment were useful in legitimating the expansion of liberal governance.

Paul McCafferty (Social Work) was presented with a Queen’s University Teaching Award, in the ‘Rising Star’ category, at the most recent graduation ceremony. Paul received the award for his work in redesigning his modules to provide a learning experience that prepares his students effectively for social work practice.  

His teaching in Social Work incorporates a range of inclusive teaching approaches, authentic assessment and work-based learning opportunities to engage his students and provide an active learning experience that meets the needs of a diverse student body. Paul said: “Delivering teaching and assessment that meets employers’ and students’ needs is a passion of mine, so I’m delighted to receive this award.”  

A presentation by Research Fellow Min-Chen Liu about our Languages Provision in UK Further Education research project was awarded the 'BERA Conference 2023 – Special Interest Group (SIG) Best Presentation' prize in Post-Compulsory and Lifelong Learning. The award emphasises the project's outstanding quality and its meaningful contribution to the realm of post-compulsory and lifelong learning, particularly in the context of language provision in the UK's Further Education sector. 

Min said: “Being awarded a SIG Best Presentation prize for the BERA Conference input is a tremendous honour, both personally and professionally. It underscores the significance and potential of our research in post-compulsory and lifelong learning, especially within the UK's FE sector. This national recognition motivates me to continue improving educational practices and opportunities.” 

DoseCare is one of twelve projects awarded a share of £5 million of government funding to reduce rates of fatal drug overdoses across the UK. It is a collaboration between Queen’s University Belfast, Manchester Metropolitan University, Extern and the Salvation Army. 

By focusing on two distinct user groups (people who are leaving prison and people who are homeless) with varying levels of risk awareness, the research team will develop tailored solutions that significantly improve patient outcomes and enhance overall care delivery. The wearable device will utilise respiratory rate and O2 levels among members of the user groups to detect the onset of an opioid overdose and will contact drug workers and the emergency services. It will use machine learning to predict the optimum conditions for responses, which need to be accurate and timely.

In addition to the DoseCare initiative, DARN is leading on producing a special edition of Frontiers in Public Health, entitled Alcohol-related brain Injury – psycho social, medical and multidisciplinary approaches.

Furthermore, the Drug and Alcohol Network has been chosen to lead on ITSPOON, an international network of addiction professionals and researchers who are researching technological innovation to address drug-related deaths.

Dr Naseema Shaik, Head of Education at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa visited Queen’s University in September and spoke at the CCR symposium in September (above) about her work on early childhood.

In September, Siobhán McAlister was invited to take part in a Department of Justice-Queen’s University Belfast Policy Workshop and Strategic Engagement event to share research findings and discuss rights implications of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) in Northern Ireland. Drawing on her research, she discussed various forms of CCE and how this is associated with conflict legacy.

Bronagh Byrne was interviewed for UTV’s View from Stormont on the challenges facing children identified as having special educational needs in light of the lack of sufficient educational placements, funding cuts and resourcing restrictions.

Alan McKinstry, PhD student, published an article in The Conversation outlining how children experiencing criminal exploitation in Northern Ireland require better legal protections. Alan’s PhD is examining child criminal exploitation in the context of modern slavery victimhood in Tower Hamlets, London, and Belfast.

In October, the Centre hosted Nigel Cantwell, internationally renowned consultant on child protection. Nigel shared his reflections on the applications of the ‘best interests’ principle. The event included a Poster Showcase highlighting work by our postgraduate students.

On 22 November Siobhán McAlister will present research on girls' and young women's experiences of violence at YouthAction Northern Ireland's Critical Research Hub. This forum brings together practitioners and researchers to share research findings and consider the implications for youth work and related practice. To attend, please contact ryan@youthaction.org.

www.qub.ac.uk/ccr

Contributors at the event shared expertise in ‘turbulent religions’ including the study of how religious actors, institutions and discourses can disrupt societies and politics, by contributing to violence or peacefully challenging injustices and inequalities.

Research by the Queen’s and Notre Dame colleagues analyses the significance and impact of religions in polarizing contexts, including the roles of religion in violence, peacebuilding and imagining alternative futures on the island of Ireland, Palestine/Israel and the United States. 

Panel discussions explored the themes of: religion in relation to violence, polarisation, identity, environmentalism and sustainability; Zionism, pilgrimage and tourism; and religions – pasts and futures. 

Participating in the workshop discussions were School of SSESW academics Veronique Altglas, Gladys Ganiel and Cathal McManus, along with academics from the wider Queen’s University and Notre Dame. 

During their visit to Queen’s University, the Notre Dame delegation also visited the Corrymeela Community in Ballycastle, one of Ireland’s leading faith-based peace and reconciliation organisations supporting people from different backgrounds to live well together. The visit featured a guided tour about Corrymeela’s history and activities during the Troubles, and briefings on Corrymeela’s current work on anti-sectarianism and public theology. 

The international event was co-ordinated by Professor Gladys Ganiel, through the Queen’s University Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, and by Professor Atalia Omer, University of Notre Dame. An edited book or special edition journal will be produced based on the discussions at the workshop and scholars will pursue further collaboration on the research themes. 

Karola Dillenburger and Canadian colleague Genevieve Roy-Wsiak presented an address at the BestOfABA Congress, in Cagnes sur Mer, France entitled ‘What is ABA and how can I apply it? Developing impactful yet accessible technology for autism interventions’. They presented outcome data of surveys related to the SimpleStepsAutism training package.  

Karola Dillenburger, with Ulster University colleague Professor Mickey Keenan, published Autism and Behavior Analysis: From Dissonance to Dialogue, a paper on the debate about Applied Behaviour Analysis. It suggests a way forward based on what are basically complementary views on the goals enshrined in rights-based practice.  

Katerina Dounavi presented her research as a poster at the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction 20th Biennial Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece. Her poster was entitled ‘Participative autism research: reaching social validity through the participatory research index’.  

Katerina Dounavi and Meral Koldas presented at the School of SSESW Annual Conference a paper entitled ‘Parental wishes, needs and preferences around autism early life screening’. In their presentation they discussed parental attitudes around very early life detection of autism, with an emphasis on detection through genetic testing.

Mr Kurti visited a shared education partnership at Nettlefield and St Matthew’s primary schools in Belfast, talking with school children, teachers and principals about their experiences and the advantages of being in a shared education partnership. 

Professor Joanne Hughes, CSE Director, said:

"Queen’s Centre for Shared Education has a long history of working with Kosovo colleagues to support their development of an adapted shared education model. We were delighted to meet Prime Minister Albin Kurti and his team, to showcase the shared education journey in Northern Ireland. We were especially pleased that our meeting took place at the Nettlefield/St Matthew’s site, so they could see the partnership that has developed between schools in one of the most divided interfaces in Belfast."

Dr Edona Maloku, former Deputy Minister of Education in Kosovo and a Fellow at CSE, funded by the Social Change Initiative, remarked:

“I was very proud to have the Prime Minister of Kosovo and our Kosovo team visit Northern Ireland to see the work being done here in peace-building. I am particularly vested in strengthening the partnerships between our two contexts so that a model of Shared Education is locally tailored and piloted in Kosovo. It is an initiative we have been working on for a while now with our Northern Ireland collaborators, so getting the Kosovo government team to talk to the stakeholders and see the partnering schools in practice was a big milestone in this direction. There is much to learn and exchange between our two countries."

They were able to visits 23 organisations across the two cities and the key learning included: positive approaches to mental health data and outcomes; the extension of children and young people’s mental health services to age 25; the centrality of lived experience in all aspects of services including the workforce; the importance of trauma-informed care; holistic and culturally appropriate approaches to mental health; and the integration of research, and researchers, in services. The learning from the trip is being used in a number of ways including to inform the approach to data and outcomes being developed as part of the Northern Ireland Mental Health Strategy.

The trip brought opportunities to further develop relationships with key policy makers, researchers and practitioners in Australia and New Zealand and to enable ongoing knowledge exchange and collaboration. Three of the people visited by Gavin, Claire and Iain will be coming to Queen’s University this summer. Professor Darryl Maybery from Monash University was appointed as a Visiting Scholar with us in the School of SSESW and joined us in June. Two researchers from LaTrobe University in Melbourne, Tessa Zirnsak and Bianca Mandeville, joined SSESW in July.   

Nine students from across our BA programme (Social Policy, Criminology and Sociology) won scholarships to study abroad and spent three weeks in June at Belmont University, Nashville. They lived and studied on the Belmont campus, exploring the history of Nashville and the social and economic challenges that persist in the city.

Two undergraduates will spend a year abroad at Boston College and University of North Carolina, Wilmington. One of them was also successful in her application for a Clinton Scholarship, a fund established to give students opportunities to study in the USA and to develop their skills, networks and experience as global citizens. She will spend the final year of her Queen’s University Belfast degree in Criminology and Sociology studying at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.

Two Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) students did a four week teaching practice in secondary schools in Spain in May as part of their PGCE. The students were successful in getting £1000 each from the AHSS Faculty’s JetSet award.

In June, seventeen PGCE students from the English and Modern Languages pathways went to Germany for a language, literature and culture trip. They visited schools in Berlin and Munich, giving them opportunities to reflect on their experiences of education in Northern Ireland and the curriculum they have been teaching during their placements. They took part in literature trails in Germany and examine the influence of place and space on literature.

Life in Belfast is quite exciting. The people are extraordinarily friendly and helpful. Within a short period of time, Northern Ireland became one of my favourite places to live. You can find world renowned, beautiful tourist destinations like the Giant's Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Dunluce Castle and the Dark Hedges. All are made to feel welcome to come and try the delicious food and drinks of Belfast.

I am actively engaged with numerous activities at Queen's besides my study. In 2021-22, I was elected as Faculty Representative of the QUB Students' Union. My contribution to establishing the Inter-Cultural Exchange Community in Queen's was a milestone of my tenure. This academic year, I am working as a Student Skills Assistant in the School of SSESW, giving me opportunities to extend my support to undergraduate students in Social Work. The main objective is to provide them with a smooth academic journey by solving their difficulties in structuring their assignments, referencing, avoiding plagiarism and preparing for the exams.

Furthermore, my involvement in the Centre for Inclusion, Transformation and Equality as a Postgraduate Research Student coordinator, and engagement in many more on-campus activities, are giving me an excellent experience of academic life in the School of SSESW and Queen’s University as a whole.

The issue has been brought into focus by data which show that approximately one in five people in Northern Ireland have a potential mental health problem.

The conference brought together policy makers, academics and professionals from statutory, voluntary and community sector organisations to focus on prevention and to consider the impact of their work on public mental health.

Keynote speakers included Lee Knifton, Director of Devolved Nations at the Mental Health Foundation, and Dr David McDaid, London School of Economics and Political Sciences, who works on mental health and public health in the UK, Europe and globally.

Aidan Dawson, Chief Executive at the Public Health Agency, which coordinated the conference, said:

"Improving the mental health of the people of Northern Ireland is a complex but very important issue, which is why we are keen to drive forward insightful and effective conversations around how this can best be achieved. By getting to the root causes of poor mental health, and taking collaborative steps to help address these issues at source, we can take significant steps forward in improving wellbeing in our communities. This conference brings together experts, policy makers and those on the frontline to challenge and debate how we can continually evolve what we do to drive down the prevalence of poor mental health here."

The Queen’s team is led by led by Maria Lohan in the School of Nursing & Midwifery (Professor of Social Science and Health, and UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality) and, in addition to School of SSESW colleagues, includes staff from the Schools of Nursing & Midwifery, Law, and History, Anthropology, Philosophy & Politics.  

A number of SSESW doctoral students undertake research in the ANSER Network’s areas of interest around Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. These include third year PhD student Pinar Celik, whose study is focused on developing sex education tools to raise awareness on sexual abuse among primary school-aged children with special educational needs and disabilities, and first year PhD student Megan Turner who was awarded a collaborative PhD study scholarship. Megan is undertaking a Northern Ireland-wide study with Common Youth, Northern Ireland’s sexual health charity for young people, to explore sexual attitudes and sexual competencies with young people. 

The ANSER Network will focus on a range of academic activities and engagements, aiming to develop interventions and educational tools with a practical use and tangible impact in society, to improve people’s sexual health, access to good quality sexual health services, relationship and sexuality education and to raise awareness of, and prevent, sexual and gender-based violence. 

After completing a PhD in Politics at University College Dublin in 2005, I worked for nine years at the Belfast campus of Trinity College Dublin before moving to Queen’s University in 2015. I was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 2022 in recognition of my achievements in research. 

I am lead researcher on a multi-nation project on religion in societies emerging from Covid-19, comparing the island of Ireland, Canada, Germany and Poland. It focuses on: religious discourses around health, illness and science; relationships between religions and the state; and religious adaptations to the digital world. So far, we are finding that religions in these contexts were very supportive of government restrictions, with limited complaints about violations of religious freedom during the pandemic. In addition, after initial enthusiasm, religious groups have been more cautious about practising religion online.  

I co-edited, with Queen’s historian Andrew Holmes, the Oxford Handbook of Religion in Modern Ireland, published in 2024. It has 32 chapters on a range of topics and time periods from 1800 to the present day. It engages with key debates on identity, secularization, everyday religion and gender. 

My books on Northern Ireland include Considering Grace: Presbyterians and the Troubles, co-authored with Jamie Yohanis, which records the deeply moving stories of 120 ordinary people’s experiences of the Troubles, exploring how faith shaped their responses to violence and its aftermath. I also wrote Unity Pilgrim: The Life of Fr Gerry Reynolds CSsR, a popular biography of a priest based in Belfast’s Clonard Monastery during the Troubles. Fr Gerry played a key role during the peace process through his involvement in secret talks with paramilitaries and through his pioneering ecumenical projects.  

I am a competitive runner and ran the marathon for Northern Ireland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. I also ran for Ireland in the 2018 and 2016 European championships and won the 2022 Belfast Marathon.  

Northern Ireland has the highest economic inactivity rate across all UK regions at just under 26%. Unemployment rates are the lowest of any UK region, making it difficult for employers to fill vacancies. However, there are many people who are ‘hidden unemployed’, who would like to work but face barriers in doing so. This includes women, individuals with disabilities and people aged over 50.  

The three-year Local Policy Innovation Partnership is funded by UK Research and Innovation. The project will facilitate further research into crucial areas including future skills needs, lifelong learning, labour market inclusion for vulnerable groups and regional balance. A key product will be a Labour Market Observatory, an online, freely available resource filling labour market data gaps in Northern Ireland and improving knowledge and intelligence about the region’s current and future skills needs. 

Paula Devine commented: “The project is an exciting and important opportunity to bring a wide range of organisations together to help ensure the inclusion of everyone in the labour market.”   

Follow EPIC Futures NI on X/Twitter @EPICFuturesNI. 

In January, ARK hosted a lecture by Professor Catherine Needham (University of Birmingham) on Social Care in the Four Nations of the UK. Professor Needham discussed how crises in social care are portrayed differently across the four nations of the UK. A video of the event is available on the ARK website.

In March, ARK hosted Nirmali Goswami and Riniki Dutta from Tezpur University. Working with Gemma Carney, Nirmali and Riniki participated in a range of seminars and workshops. The visit was funded by a Department for the Economy Overseas Development Aid grant – Changing Generations of India: developing collaborative indigenous research methods to understand young lives in India. Nirmali and Gemma have been working as co-supervisors of Murchana Kaushik’s PhD which explores intergenerational transmission of political values in Assam.

Erin Early, Paula Devine, Dirk Schubotz and Minchen Liu met with the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee which visited Queen’s University in March as part of its inquiry into integrated education. The ARK researchers published a report in 2023 exploring methods to assess demand for integrated education.

The project seeks to address this gap by working directly with CYP to understand and theorise respect and disrespect in their everyday lives and to use this to inform policy and practice. The work is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. Led by SSESW academic Siobhan McAlister (Criminology), it is a collaboration between Queen’s University Belfast, Ulster University and the University of Strathclyde.

Researchers are recruiting two advisory groups of children and young people to develop their own theories of respect and disrespect, which will guide the study, as well as to make decisions about what will be researched and how the research will be conducted, and to understand and communicate the findings. A variety of methods (questions in large annual population surveys of 11- and 16-year-olds, ‘dialogue hubs’ and narrative interviews) will be used to enable children and young people to develop a theory of respect, and to capture their views, attitudes and lived experience of respect/disrespect/lack of respect. The findings are expected to inform local government policy and professional practice with a view to generating improved relationships among CYP and their peers and the adults in their lives. For more information contact s.mcalister@qub.ac.uk

Lorna Montgomery and Danielle McIlroy, both Social Work academics in the School of SSESW, and Charlene McShane from Queen’s University Centre for Public Health worked with their Ugandan counterparts, led by Dr Cyprian Misinde, Makerere University, Kampala and Professor Rose Clarke Nanyonga, Clarke International University, Kampala.

As part of this collaborative partnership the team had previously explored the needs of the estimated 6 million family carers in Uganda, concluding that family-based care, in its present configuration, is unable to deliver good quality, sustainable, integrated care. The economic burden on carers has led to increased poverty, negatively impacting on the wider family, and in particular on women and children. Lack of attention and investment in family caregiving is undermining actions to achieve inclusive and sustainable development.

Previous studies conducted by the team also highlighted the need to develop resources to educate and support family carers. Interventions supporting carers in low-income contexts were found to be feasible, affordable and acceptable.

The workshops in March were funded by the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy. Key stakeholders met to further develop the family carers’ resources and to agree a framework for a ‘Uganda Caregiver’s Toolkit’, and processes through which the toolkit could be developed and integrated. The team also met with the Ugandan Ministry of Health to discuss and action the co-production of a family caregiver’s policy.

As part of the next stage for this collaboration, the team is seeking funding to further develop and test the resource.

Published in December 2023, the Sixth Peace Monitoring Report covers the period October 2018 to May 2023, and gathers and examines data on a wide range of topics. For some of these, such as political developments, the activities of paramilitary groups, policing and community relations, the link to peace is obvious. However, a sustainable peace requires tackling socio-economic inequalities as well as building a strong and productive economy and trust in political and other institutions. These issues are, therefore, also included in the report. 

As in previous reports in the series, the report is based on four themes: political progress - how (or if) the political institutions set up under the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement are working; the sense of safety - covering safety in different contexts including the home; equality – including structural, economic and social equality, as well as progress on social policy; and cohesion and sharing – examining sharing and separation in education, housing and public space.  

As we might expect, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is obvious throughout the report, as is the influence of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, especially given its 25th anniversary. 

The team was led by Ann Marie Gray (Ulster University), and also included Jennifer Hamilton, Grainne Kelly, Brendan Lynn and Richard Johnson (Ulster University) and Richard Martin (London School of Economics). The project is run by the Community Relations Council. It was financially supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. 

The Peace Monitoring Report is available on the ARK website.

From 2015-2017 I was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Criminal Justice Centre and Centre for Operational Policing Research at the University of Warwick, before taking up successive post-doctoral roles in the School of Law and Mitchell Institute at Queen’s University Belfast. I took up my current role as lecturer in Criminology in the School of SSESW in September 2021. 

My primary research interests are in the area of transitional justice, with my published work covering post-conflict police reform, truth recovery, memorialisation and debates around victimhood. More recently, I’ve developed an interest in narrative criminology/victimology and the use of memoirs in understanding lived experience of conflict, harm and victimisation. This has been useful in getting students on our Exploring Harm & Victimisation and Criminological Theory modules that I currently convene and teach on to think critically about structures of exclusion, the voices that we don’t hear from in mainstream discourse and different conceptualisations of harm and victimhood. 

I have also been lucky enough to see my research make some real-world impact in the lives of those impacted by victimisation and harm. For example, my work with colleagues in Queen's University School of Law on compensation for conflict-related bereavement has proven useful to the Commission for Victims & Survivors for Northern Ireland, while other aspects of this research have been drawn on by international NGOs like REDRESS and the International Centre for Transitional Justice. 

The research was commissioned by the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland (SBNI), with funding from the cross-Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime. The SBNI has been supporting organisations to become trauma informed since 2018 and commissioned the research to gauge progress. The research also identified potential benefits for staff and organisations, including increased job satisfaction and reduced staff sickness and turnover, leading to cost savings in the longer-term.  

The resulting report, ‘We are on a Journey: Implementing Trauma Informed Approaches in Northern Ireland’, recommends governmental commitment through a trauma informed strategy for Northern Ireland. The authors recommend establishing a regional Trauma Informed Approach resource centre or hub and a trauma-related training framework promoting best practice consistency across services and settings.  

Bernie McNally, Safeguarding Board, said:

"Early adversity and trauma can negatively impact on individuals and communities. We all deserve to live in a society that prioritises trauma responsive environments, policies, systems and services, that can benefit local people and communities."

The research included an international literature review, online survey, focus groups and case studies from Fane Street Primary School, the Salvation Army Thorndale Parenting Service, Youth Justice Agency, and Belfast Trust Health Inclusion Service for homeless people.  

Suzanne Mooney said:

"Trauma informed approaches were universally perceived as having ‘no downsides’. They provide many benefits for service users and their family/network, but also for staff and service providers. These are critical issues in light of workforce recruitment and retention challenges across Northern Ireland."

The current system for handling threats to life is managed by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and it was found that the current practice of issuing warning letters often leaves victims traumatized and feeling abandoned. The report found that this process could benefit from a more consistent approach. 

The report notes that current issues around community trust in policing and the impact of ongoing paramilitary intimidation in communities have had an impact in reporting threats and accessing essential services. 

Proposed options include reforming PSNI guidance on threats to life, extending coordination protocols to 'at risk' adults, formulating minimum standards for data collection and establishing a centralised process for the threat management process. 

The report suggests that a greater focus on partnership working and a public health approach (which involves early intervention and co-operation across professional sectors), aligned with a review of guidance for those deemed ‘at risk’ and a greater focus on data analysis and accountability mechanisms, will help to improve support for victims and increase community confidence in policing. 

The report, entitled ‘Human Rights and the Management of Threats to Life’, was funded by the Executive Programme on Paramilitarism, Criminality and Organised Crime and can be accessed on the Ending the Harm website. 

The Philosophical Limitations of Educational Assessment: Implications for Academic Selection offers a brief overview of the history of academic selection in the United Kingdom, and a review of evidence relating to its consequences. The book argues that the practice of using the results of contemporary high stakes tests to make important decisions about students involves logical and moral dilemmas that a conscientious educator cannot ignore. Furthermore, it is suggested that the nature of the moral dilemmas depends on the purpose and significance of the test. In the case of high stakes tests used for academic selection purposes, the book argues that, not only can the moral wrong be highly significant, but better solutions are within reach.

The Philosophical Limitations of Educational Assessment: Implications for Academic Selection (from Palgrave Macmillan) has received positive peer reviews, including one from Professor Alex Lautensach, University of Northern British Columbia, Canada:

“The book presents a convincing argument that high-stakes academic testing measures the wrong attributes and, on the whole, does more harm than good, especially in the context of academic selection. It places the onus on educators and on wider society to come up with better alternatives. The book is well researched, concise, to the point and extremely relevant to educators, caregivers, and school system administrators everywhere.”

Conversion practices (also known as conversion therapies, reparative therapies, and cure therapies) encompass all medical, psychological, religious, cultural or any other interventions that seek to erase, repress or change a person’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Integral to these practices is the assumption or belief that LGBTQI+ identities are damaging, sinful or the result of a ‘medical dysfunction’ that can be cured.

This research was commissioned by LGBTQ+ sector organisations Cara-Friend, HEReNI, The Rainbow Project and TransgenderNI and was supported by funding from the Department for Communities to develop an understanding of conversion practices in Northern Ireland. The research study found that they were advertised publicly, or conversely, performed in a clandestine way. Participants identified a range of harm caused by participation in conversion practices, reflecting findings similar to those of cross-country studies of such practices.

The prestigious Gold Medal award is bestowed on distinguished representatives from the world of science, culture, higher education and public life in recognition of their outstanding contributions, including their commitment to the struggle for human rights and dignity. The Gold Medal was presented by the Rector of MUNI, Professor Martin Béreš during their 105th anniversary celebrations at MUNI earlier this year. 

Karola said about her Masaryk University award: "Receiving this international recognition for my work in relation to bringing the science of behaviour analysis to the community in the Czech Republic means the world to me. I have been working with my colleagues in the Czech Republic since the mother of a child with profound autism contacted me asking for help. Our team of parents, autistic adults, academics, politicians and professionals work together to enhance the lives of autistic children and adults. I feel that I received this award in the name of the whole team.”  

Professor Sir Ian Greer, President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University, commented: “I warmly congratulate Professor Dillenburger on her well-deserved recognition for her remarkable achievement in advancing autism services in the Czech Republic. Her unwavering commitment and impactful research have brought about positive change, enriching the lives of autistic individuals and their families throughout the world.”

Taking a chronological and all-island approach, the Handbook explores the complex and changing roles of religion both before and after partition. It includes fresh perspectives on long-standing historical and political debates about religion, identity and politics, including religion's contributions to division and violence. It also features contributions on how religion interacts with education, the media, law, gender and sexuality, science, literature, minority religions and memory. 

The Oxford Handbook of Religion in Modern Ireland, edited by Gladys Ganiel (School of SSESW) and Andrew R. Holmes (School of HAPP) is available from Oxford University Press.  

After qualifying as a social worker in 1995 Gavin worked for 12 years in mental health services, in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, as a Community Mental Health Team social worker, out of hours Approved Social Worker, project manager and team leader in assertive outreach and rehabilitation. His research interests are in the area of mental health, specifically: the effectiveness of mental health services; the social determinants of mental health; human rights and mental health/mental capacity legislation; and the associations between adverse childhood experiences and mental health. Gavin moved to Queen’s University in 2008.

In his inaugural lecture, Gavin focused on the importance of human rights and social justice in the areas of law, policy and practice around complex needs. He also highlighted the benefits of working with Praxis Care as a research partner in order to inform change and promote positive outcomes for service users and carers.

At the Praxis conference, a combination of international and Northern Ireland based research was presented to an engaged audience of policy makers, service providers, service users, carers and researchers. The event was supported by the School of SSESW, Praxis and the Research and Development Division of the Public Health Agency.

Students and staff heard from guest speaker Aine Morrison, Chief Social Worker in the Department of Health, and were joined by Gillian McAuley representing the Northern Ireland Social Care Council.

Most of Aine Morrison’s career has been spent in learning disability services for children and adults and she also practiced as an Approved Social Worker so she had plenty of encouraging words to mark students’ dedication to their professions by investing in improving their professional practice through completion of their School of SSESW programmes.

The School offers a suite of Postgraduate Pathways in healthcare topics.

The project Act on Early Life Autism Signs (Act-ELAS), led by Katerina Dounavi with Meral Koldas and funded through an ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, saw more than 1,000 parents and professionals take part in a range of on-site and virtual dissemination events held in Belfast, Thessaloniki (Greece), and online in English, Turkish and Greek.  

Katerina Dounavi and Meral Koldas presented a poster entitled Parental perspectives around autism early life screening and genetic testing at the Association for Behavior Analysis International 18th Annual Autism Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada. Their paper was published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 

The Centre for Behaviour Analysis webinar series welcomed Dr Paulie Gavoni, a distinguished  American behaviour analyst and best-selling author. He reported on Organizational Behaviour Management as a means of creating meaningful behaviour change, closing gaps in staff performance, improving retention and ultimately increasing learner achievement.  

World Behaviour Analysis Day (WBAD) on 20 March was established to support the spread of accurate information about the applications of behaviour analysis. To celebrate WBAD, the Centre for Behaviour Analysis hosted a webinar with Zuzanne Maštenová, who shared her expertise about countries where Applied Behaviour Analysis-based interventions are not funded. 

In February, our Honorary Professor of Practice, Koulla Yiasouma, presented on Best Interests, Children’s Rights and Youth Justice: The Impossible Dream while Dr Sarah-Jane Conrad (University of Berne) spoke on Children’s Moral Concept of Privacy. 

Mark Linden was guest speaker at Yonsei University, College of Nursing, South Korea. He spoke on Developing Interventions to Support Carers and Children with Intellectual Disabilities. 

Laura Lundy was the guest speaker at an event in March in the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge. She spoke about the Lundy Model of Child Participation which has been used by Dr Jan Ewing and Professor Anne Barlow to frame their research on Child Inclusive Mediation. 

Paul McCafferty hosted an online seminar in March as part of his European Children's Rights in Practice Special Interest Group. The presentation was entitled Residential Child Care, Rights and Identity Formation for Looked After Children. The speaker was School of SSESW colleague and Centre member Gerry Marshall.

Bronagh Byrne was keynote speaker at the Annual European Federation of Associations of Teachers of the Deaf Congress in April. She spoke on The State of Deaf Children’s Rights and Responsibilities. 

Dr Cadhla O’Sullivan, Children’s Policy Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, and Queen’s alumna presented on understanding, accessing and responding to poverty from a child standpoint. 

In May, the Centre hosted Judge Anthony Fitzgerald, a New Zealand District Court Judge with a Youth Court designation and a Family Court warrant. Judge Fitzgerald presented on children’s rights-based approaches to judicial proceedings.

Adele Brown, EPPOC, said:

"Evidence shows paramilitarism continues to affect up to 40% of adults and 45% of young people in Northern Ireland and in some areas these figures can be almost double. Preliminary research estimates this costs Northern Ireland at least £0.5bn a year. EPPOC invests in over 100 community, voluntary and public sector projects, aiming to create safer communities more resilient to paramilitarism, criminality and coercive control. It funds activities designed to break the cycle of paramilitary harm in communities. Our EA Connect Programme reduced young people’s intent to engage in violence from 43% to 3%. We understand that a sustained and collaborative approach can make a difference."

SSESW academic Colm Walsh said:

"The Troubles normalised violence in communities, making them a breeding ground for paramilitaries and criminals to operate in. We are getting to grips with the hidden harms caused by these gangs such as child criminal exploitation, abuse of women, coercive control, economic crime, extortion, and gatekeeping."

My research revealed examples of young people being groomed over a prolonged period, taking increasingly dangerous risks to undertake more serious crimes. Young people described violence, intimidation, extortion, property damage and the concealment of weapons. The study revealed significant overlap between Child Sexual Exploitation and Child Criminal Exploitation, with young people at risk of being exploited in different ways within criminal and non-criminal networks. The research also revealed that very often victims do not realise they are being manipulated and exploited."