Two thirds of young people aged 18-34 worried about the future of health and wellbeing in Northern Ireland

The Open University has surveyed 4,300 young adults from across all four nations of the UK to find out what societal challenges concern them most. Those surveyed consider sustainability and the environment (64%), inequality of opportunity (58%) and health and wellbeing (56%) as the societal challenges that concern them most across the UK.

In Northern Ireland, 67% of young people who were surveyed consider health and wellbeing as the top societal challenge that we face, followed by 59% considering sustainability and the environment and 56% inequality in opportunity.

Other Northern Ireland findings included:

• The biggest concerns for the future are; cost of living (73% - more than any other nation), followed by climate change (62%) then mental health crisis (49%).
• 70% of people surveyed disagree that the cost of living will be less steep within the next five years
• Looking ahead to issues over the next five years, the majority (71%) of people surveyed disagree that the society will become more socially just ,60% (more than any other nation) do not think healthcare will become more accessible, and 73% do not believe that social media will become less toxic
• But positively, they believe the digital divide will reduce 51% and we will bounce back from Covid (51%)
• The three top skills that 18–34-year-olds would like to develop in is 1. Healthcare & social care, 2. Sustainability and environment and 3. Leadership.
• According to the research, the next big scientific discoveries that people in Northern Ireland want to prioritise are environment and health focussed. They include the development of lab grown food to ease the environmental impact of farming, self-dissolving plastic, and a universal cure for cancer

According to the YouGov research, the top skills that 18-34 year olds would like to develop is Healthcare and social care.

Evelyn Mooney Lecturer in Nursing /Professional Lead Nursing in Northern Ireland for The Open University said;

“The pandemic has informed this age group of the wealth of job opportunities within health and social care and opens up many more career opportunities in roles that they may not have been previously aware of. We have an opportunity to promote our courses to young people and employers in both sectors as students can study while they work to obtain a professional qualification in Nursing and Social work .”

David, a nursing graduate from Belfast said;

“The pandemic has put nursing in the spotlight, I’ve been contacted by people who have seen the work of nurses in the media and it has inspired them to apply to become nurses themselves, this is something to be proud of as a profession.”

The findings mirror the focus of the OU’s new research strategy [T1] [LP2] ‘Learn and Live’ which include pursuing research on living well, sustainability, and inequality.

The results out today, will be used to directly inform the focus of the OU’s world-class research for the next five years. This heralds a completely different way of doing research by The Open University, which has already consulted extensively with its staff and students, before opening up a priority list to the public to effectively ‘crowdsource’ the future focus of its work on research and innovation.

Kevin Shakesheff, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Research at The Open University said:  

 “As a university, openness is core to our social mission, and it is fundamental to the way we do research. This year, we’ve taken a different approach - to ask young people what issues they care about most so that we can focus our future research on those topics that will have most impact on improving their lives.

“We want young people to know that if they have a dream, we can help them to fulfil it, through world-class research, teaching and skills – the future really is open”.

The OU is the only university in the UK that is open access to all, with no minimum entry requirements and since its creation, has helped over 2.2 million people achieve their dreams. According to the latest Research Excellence Framework results (2022) - 82% of OU research was assessed as having a significant impact on society. 

The OU also announced today that it will open its annual Research Excellence Awards in the Autumn to include a People’s Choice award. This will give the public a chance to select a research project that will go on to be funded by The Open University. The research topics will be made available for a public vote this Summer. 

The research is released alongside the launch of a new multichannel brand campaign and advertising campaign directed by Malik Vitthal and production house, the Corner Shop which is airing on TV, radio, and digital channels from today.

‘The Future is Open’ campaign encourages young people across all four nations of the UK to achieve their ambitions by opening their futures to new possibilities through studying or training for qualifications with the OU.