It provides a government research function delivering a research programme anchored on the NI Programme for Government (PfG). The ARU team continuously engage with departmental policy leads to identify novel data linkage opportunities to take forward timely and policy-relevant research.
Published research
| Date | Project | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 2024 | Assessing equality pay gaps in Northern Ireland - gender | Inequality and social inclusion |
| Feb 2024 | Assessing equality pay gaps in Northern Ireland - disability | Inequality and social inclusion |
| Jan 2023 | Disability and employment | Inequality and social inclusion |
| Nov 2022 | Covid-19 mortality (Mar 2020 - Nov 2021) and equality | Health and wellbeing |
| Jul 2022 | Irish language - exploration of characteristics of those with Irish language skills and change in Irish language knowledge over time | Inequality and social inclusion |
| Jul 2022 | Ulster scots language - exploration of characteristics of those with Ulster scots language knowledge | Inequality and social inclusion |
| Dec 2021 | Covid-19 mortality (Mar - Sep 2020) and equality | Health and wellbeing |
| Sep 2021 | Mental health status of population in employment | Health and wellbeing |
| Mar 2021 | Alcohol specific deaths | Health and wellbeing |
| Mar 2020 | Drug related deaths | Health and wellbeing |
Upcoming research
| Date | Project | Theme | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Summer 2024 |
Mortality risk for ex-prisoners |
Crime and justice |
This proof-of-concept research is being done in collaboration with NISRA DoJ colleagues. It builds on a bespoke, novel data linkage between DoJ ex-prisoner data and General Registrar Office deaths data to to explore deaths of ex-prisoners with a particular focus on the period immediately following release. |
|
Autumn/Winter 2024 |
Preventable deaths - exploration of deaths associated with drugs, alcohol and/or suicide |
Health and wellbeing |
This research seeks to explore the profile of deaths by suicide, drugs and/or alcohol; and, examine individual and household characteristic associations with these deaths with a particular focus on assessing occupations that may be at highest risk from suicide, drug and alcohol mortality. |
|
From Spring 2025 |
Employment and health outcomes for people with early onset compared to adult-acquired disabilities |
Inequality and social inclusion |
This research examines disability at three specific points in time (2001, 2011 and 2021). The study focuses on differences in employment and health outcomes with early onset (< 20 years) disabilities and those whith adult-acquired (>= 20 years) disabilities. Additionally, the research examines health and employment outcomes for family member of people who experience disability either early in life (< 20 years) or later in adulthood (20 years+). |
| Spring 2025 | Socioeconomic, health and housing outcomes for people from a minority ethnic background | Ethnicity | With the minority ethnic population in Northern Ireland continuing to increase acccording to Census 2021, it is important to improve understanding of the social and economic circumstances of these groups. This research investigates outcomes for people from a minority ethnic background in key areas, including health, housing and the labour market. |
|
TBC |
School size and educational outcomes |
Children and young people |
This research seeks to identify key post-primary educational outcomes and explore if/how they are impacted by school size. |