{jcomments off}The Irish Cancer Society, in association with Men Against Cancer, are hosting a national prostate cancer seminar on Saturday 6th November 2010 in the Alexander Hotel, Dublin, from 9.00am - 4.00pm.  This seminar will cover many aspects of prostate cancer, and will offer advice, support and information to men, and give them a forum to talk to other men and prostate cancer survivors about their concerns.  To book your free place / for further information, visit: www.cancer.ie/prostate or contact Eleanor at Tel: 00353 1 2310518.

{jcomments off}You are invited to a full-day workshop (10.00am - 3.30pm) which will explore the issues affecting men in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties.  This workshop will take place on Wednesday 3rd November 2010, in the Bee Park Resource Centre, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim.  This workshop is for people who are active (either on an individual level or as part of a group) in the area of men’s issues and/or work with men’s groups.  There is no fee for participation in this workshop, and lunch and refreshments will be provided.  As numbers are restricted to 40 participants, a maximum of two people from any organisation can register.  For more information / to book a place, contact Aideen McGloin at Tel: 00353 71 9650690 or Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}Hosted by the Community Development and Health Network in partnership with the Public Health Agency, this conference (Wednesday 27th October 2010 in the Hilton Hotel Belfast) will encourage debate between statutory services and third sector groups on effective ways of working together to address inequalities in Northern Ireland.  The conference will: explain the Marmot Review from a community development perspective; discuss how the objectives of Marmot can be implemented in Northern Ireland; use workshops to showcase examples of how Marmot’s policy objectives can be implemented in practice; highlight the role of the community and voluntary sector in promoting best practice when addressing health inequalities.  This conference will mark the beginning of “Focus on Health Inequalities” - a five week programme of events to demonstrate action being taken to address health inequalities and the wider determinants of health and wellbeing across Northern Ireland.  Click here for a Portable Document Format file with more details of the conference.

{jcomments off}The Sexual Health Team in Belfast Health and Social Care Trust invites you to a one day course on “Sexual Health Training for Youth and Community Workers”.  This will take place on Tuesday 7th December 2010 and Wednesday 8th December 2010 in the Millennium Community Outreach Centre, Springfield Road, Belfast.  Each course will cover: Risk Taking Behaviour; Sexual Health and Young People; Sexual Health Skills; Signposting for Young People.  To book a place on either of these days, contact: Joanna Gregg or Joe Harris at Tel: 02890 900051 or Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}ARK aims to support policy development and debate in Northern Ireland by providing information and critical analysis.  Over the last two years, the Policy Unit within ARK has built upon its close connections with the voluntary sector, and has initiated links with policy makers within the Northern Ireland Assembly and Government departments.  It has worked to develop a facility for a more critical appraisal of policy which is based on knowledge and evidence, and to encourage public engagement with social policy.  In 2009, ‘Figuring it out: Looking behind social statistics in Northern Ireland’ (by Ann Marie Gray and Goretti Horgan) included statistics and lay-friendly commentary on key social policy areas, such as transport, health and social care, and education.  Since then, three policy roundtable events have been held, and a Policy Brief series has been initiated.  This series aims to explore key policy issues facing Northern Ireland, and draws on published research evidence and the discussions at the associated policy roundtables.  For more information, visit the Policy, Research and Resources section of the ARK website at: www.ark.ac.uk/intro/policy.html

{jcomments off}You are invited to attend a public lecture titled: “Behind and Beyond Bars: Young Offenders, Sexual Health, and Fathering Programmes”.  This will take place on Thursday 14th October 2010, from 4.00pm - 6.00pm, in the Old Staff Common Room, Lanyon Building, Queen’s University Belfast (QUB).  This event will include a Reception following the talk.  The speaker will be Dr Katie Buston, who is the Senior Investigator Scientist in the Sexual Health and Families Programme, Medical Research Council, Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow.  The respondent will be Mr Gary Alcock, Governor of Hydebank Young Offenders Centre and Prison, Northern Ireland.  This event is organised by the QUB Special Interest Group in the Reproductive and Sexual Health of Children and Young People, and is sponsored by the QUB Research Forum for the Child.  For further Information, contact Maria Lohan at Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}Data from the 2010 Kids' Life and Times (KLT) online survey of Primary 7 school children are now available in the form of summary tables broken down by gender.  The full dataset is also available to download.  Over 5,000 children from across Northern Ireland took part in the 2010 survey, and the topics included bullying, attitudes towards the new transfer system, and sport.  Some key findings from the survey included: 23% of boys had been physically bullied at school and 34% had been bullied in other ways; 81% of boys had been mostly happy in their P7 year, while 6% had been mostly unhappy (the main reasons why they were unhappy were too much work, not liking the teacher, and getting into trouble); 14% of boys felt a lot of pressure when preparing for the Transfer Tests, and 35% said they were most worried while waiting for the results; 44% of boys thought there was not enough sport or PE in their school.  Full results and further information are available on the KLT website at www.ark.ac.uk/klt

{jcomments off}“It’s a Man’s World - or is it?” (PDF File) is a study into the life expectancy and state of men’s health in the Southern area of Northern Ireland.  It explores: the top causes of death for men; the districts and electoral wards with the highest number of deaths; and why an inequality exists between men and women.