Shared Future

Professor Mike Tomlinson (QUB) For all the discussion around the needs of victims and survivors, there are few established facts on the impact of the years of violent conflict on the population of Northern Ireland. Population-wide surveys of people’s experience of the conflict are rare. Drawing on the Poverty and Social Exclusion (PSE) survey (2012), this presentation will discuss the findings from a special ‘Troubles’ module which covered a range of experiences including: the death of close friends and relatives; injury to self and others; and, the witnessing of bombings, shootings and assaults. The survey also asked questions about when

Dr Ian Shuttleworth and Professor Frank Gaffikin (QUB) It is often assumed that residential segregation in Northern Ireland always increases through time. However, early analyses of the 2011 Census showed that segregation fell between 2001 and 2011. This presentation will explore the possible population processes that have driven this change, and will discuss the impact of births, deaths, and migration on the shifting population geography of Northern Ireland. Some suggestions about the implications of these developments for the ‘shared future’ agenda are considered. Alongside this review of regional patterns of segregation, an examination of key features of demographic change in

Professor John Wolffe (OU) This presentation will examine the assumption that although the Northern Ireland community divide has been ‘sectarian’, it has not been ‘religious’. It will summarise research both on Protestant-Catholic tensions in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, and on the ways that ‘religion’ itself is understood in scholarly and popular discourse. Recent declines in churchgoing have paradoxically increased the potential for violent or confrontational actions to be accorded spurious ‘religious’ legitimacy. The consequent needs are both for creative initiatives by the churches, and for the cultivation of greater ‘religious literacy’ by the media and policy-makers, especially in relation to

Dr Aideen Hunter, Dr Jessica Bates, Dr Alan McCully and Dr Una O’Connor (Ulster) This presentation will offer insight into the potential for co-operation between small controlled and maintained schools in adjacent rural areas. It will draw on the Primary Integrating/Enriching Education (PIEE) project (2010-13), which involves developing cross-community partnerships between small rural schools in the NEELB area to enhance educational provision. The evidence was collected from two ‘case study’ partnerships. Additional to this, a survey of all participating principals and teachers was undertaken. In the third year of the project, the work was extended to look specifically at the