Inside out: Examining the integration of women and LGBTQ+ personnel in the UK Armed Forces through an ontological security lens

This doctoral project explores how women and LGBTQ+ personnel in the UK Armed Forces conceptualise their experiences of integration and belonging. Temporally, it focuses on the post-2000 period and key policy changes, particularly the lifting of the LGBT Ban in the UK in 2000 and the opening of Ground Close Combat roles to women in 2018, to assess the implementation of these policies and how they impact(ed) upon personnels' sense of belonging and feelings of where they 'fit' in the military.

The aim of this project is to address a gap in understanding regarding how diverse personnel navigate their time in the UK Armed Forces. It explores how their service impacts their sense of self and belonging as individuals, but also how they navigate a broader military 'self' which the project argues is made visible through the use of a dual Ontological Security and Feminist Security Studies lens.

This project is primarily qualitative in method and centres on semi-structured interviews which the researcher conducted and then assessed through thematic analysis. In addition, policy document analysis was employed to assess relevant policies, their origins, and implementation. In terms of theory, the research analysis is grounded in a critical synthesis of literatures from (primarily) Ontological Security Studies and Feminist Security Studies.