The project is managed by our Centre for Children’s Rights and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The team celebrated the end of phase one with a certificates event at Queen’s University. One participant commented:

“I really enjoyed my time so far as an advisor. I didn’t think such opportunities were available to young people until I joined RADICAL and I gained a lot of research knowledge and experience which would help me going forward in life. The reason why I joined RADICAL was simple, to help the world understand how young people would like to be respected.”

In the current phase, the advisory groups helped design questions for the Northern Ireland Kids Life and Times (KLT) survey of 11-year-olds and the Young Life and Times (YLT) survey of 16-year-olds, as well as tasks for group interviews of children and young people and for one-to-one interviews with other young people. They are also co-developing an ethics framework for doing research with children and young people. Some members of the advisory groups have been out with Centre colleagues, collecting data from other children and young people about understandings and experiences of respect and disrespect, and will contribute to analysing the data.

An update on respect sets the context for the research. The team will publish a follow-up research update with findings on children and young people’s understandings and experiences of respect and disrespect from the YLT and KLT 2025 surveys.

As well as hearing from senior staff at both Queen's and Ulster universities, ARK Co-Directors Paula Devine (left, Queen’s University) and Ann Marie Gray (right, Ulster University) highlighted ARK’s key achievements. Ann Marie noted that they have not shied away from challenging issues or difficult conversations. Through working in partnership across academic disciplines and with civil society, ARK has ensured that academic evidence has informed policy debate and contributed to legislative change. In addition, the general public have been important collaborators with ARK’s research, and 133,606 people have completed one of ARK’s public attitudes surveys.

Paula highlighted that information is now much more accessible than when ARK began in 2000. However, in an era of disinformation and misinformation, it is more important than ever that people have access to independent and robust evidence. Denise Hayward (third left, Volunteer Now) discussed her collaboration with ARK, which focused on young people’s experiences, attitudes and motivations in relation to volunteering. Claire Archbold (second left, The Executive Office) noted the importance of ARK survey and research information in the development and monitoring of the Strategic Framework on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls. A video of the event is available online.

ARK has planned an exciting schedule of anniversary events and publications throughout 2025, from seminars and lectures to workshops and a social enterprise hackathon. For more details click here or sign up here to ARK's monthly newsletter.