Supporting academics and policymakers in sharing evidence-based research and ideas on the major social, cultural and economic challenges facing society regionally, nationally and beyond. Our over-arching vision is to share the University’s independent expertise with policymakers so they can make informed decisions about the most effective and sustainable ways to tackle these challenges, now and in the future.


With the current depreciation of the pound which has led to the ongoing dispute between Unilever and Tesco, Dr Sergey Popov asks why should there be a hike in prices for UK based brands such as Marmite!

The following article first appeared on the Brookings Blog where Professor Beverley Milton-Edwards looks at the main runners and riders in next year’s election race to elect a new leader of Hamas.

The Northern Ireland Festival of Social Science will take place from 5-11 November as part of the UK-wide ESRC Festival of Social Science.

Dr Subhadip Chakrabarti looks at the networking agreements that connect internet networks and highlights the impact of de-peering on these agreements.

Following a recent article stating that foreign university academics were being banned from advising the UK government on Brexit, Professor Dagmar Schiek asks whether this would be legal while the UK is still a member of the EU.

Professor Mark Lawler addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York on precision medicine and personalised health.

The following article first appeared on the Brookings Blog in which Professor Beverley Milton-Edwards looks at the recent parliamentary elections in Jordan which heralded the return of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Brexit has opened the door for a new European defence union led by France and Germany. However, Dr Alexander Titov highlights that even between these two nations, there is very little agreement on what a European Army should be.

Article first appeared in The Conversation.

In the second part of a two-part series, John Moriarty and Andy Percy consider the influence of harm minimisation-based policies in Northern Ireland and what constitutes harmful drinking and they consider how this can be integrated into information given to young people about alcohol use.