Research Community

Catherine is a Senior Research Data Scientist at RAND Europe whose work primarily focuses on applying statistical modelling to data on the Armed Forces community, such as forecasting the size and demographics of the Armed Forces community out to 2040, estimating the cost and prevalence of poor transitions from the Armed Forces and understanding the interactions of Armed Forces children with the social care system. Catherine’s research has focused on understanding and supporting the Armed Forces Community across a wide range of issues since 2022, with projects for the Ministry of Defence, Royal British Legion, RAF Benevolent Fund, Greenwich Hospital, the OVA and FiMT.

The Centre for Evidence for the Armed Forces Community is an independent centre funded by Forces in Mind Trust and run by a consortium of RAND Europe and King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) at King’s College London. The centre provides an accessible and authoritative evidence base exploring the transition from military to civilian life, to inform policy and practice affecting ex-Service personnel and their families in the UK. It also functions as a community hub for the UK Armed Forces research community, connecting researchers, policy makers, and service providers, to support the forging of joined up working and collaboration, and build pathways to impact. This is achieved through various outputs, including but not limited to, a accessible online research repository, informative themed research and policy summaries and primary research exploring key themes impacting the UK ex-Service community. 

The Centre for Injury Studies formerly known as The Centre for Blast Injury Studies (CBIS) at Imperial College London. It is an expansion of CBIS’ previous remit, with the work going beyond a focus on Serving military personnel and veterans, to also include research into the significant number of civilians who are injured during conflicts around the world. The research considers those who are injured and works closely with those who treat conflict injuries to be able to improve treatment, mitigation and rehabilitation. This includes research into personal protective equipment, surgery and devices (such as medical equipment, prosthetics and orthotics). By embedding civilian and military health professionals, scientists and engineers within the Centre, this centre continues to deliver change through new technology, equipment and policies.

The Centre for Military Women’s Research (CMWR)’s core mission is to inform and improve the well-being of women in the military and Veteran community through world-leading collaborative research and evaluation. Their work highlights women’s experiences, issues, and support needs and the centre is dedicated to fostering co-production with members of the military community and collaboration with partners and stakeholders.

The College for Military Veterans and Emergency Services (CMVES) conducts impactful research focused on improving educational access and wellbeing across the Armed Forces community. Its work includes a regional Military Spouse Project, which explores the lived experiences of military spouses and partners, identifying barriers to education, employment, and social mobility. 

Dr Alethea McHardy is a Consultant in Sport & Exercise Medicine for the Ministry of Defence. She is the Clinical Lead for the Regional Rehabilitation Unit for Scotland. 

She commenced a PhD in April 2024 on health outcomes in female military veterans in Scotland with a focus on the Musculoskeletal, Reproductive systems, breast and ovarian cancer.  

In 2025 she was awarded a Colt Foundation PhD Fellowship for 3 years which will support this key piece of work. 

She currently sits on the Scottish Government Cross Party Working Group for the UK Armed Forces and Veterans and has a passion for influencing policy decisions based on sound research. 

Dr Alison Osborne is a Senior Researcher in Psychology, with research interests in identity, well-being, EDI, digital health, Armed Forces, and mixed methodologies. Her current work is focussing on the role of digital technologies in women’s health communications. Alison’s research portfolio includes several projects with the Armed Forces Community centred on well-being, alcohol use, bereavement, family separation and limb loss. Most recently, Alison was the lead researcher for Fighting With Pride on the first UK research project exploring the experiences and impact of the UK Armed Forces ‘gay ban’ with LGBT+ Veterans.

Dr Andrew Phillips is an expert in structural biomechanics, specializing in combining musculoskeletal and finite element modelling. His research optimizes strategies for structural engineering and skeletal biomechanics, while also exploring bioinspired structures based on environmental factors. With a background in Civil Engineering and a PhD in Orthopaedic Engineering, Dr Phillips has held key positions at the Edinburgh Orthopaedic Engineering Centre and Imperial College London and coordinates the MEng Civil Engineering program. Additionally, he organizes the Parametric Engineering Course and is involved in the Centre for Blast Injury Studies.

Dr Beverly Bergman trained in medicine at the University of Birmingham. She worked as an Army doctor, initially in general practice before transferring into public health in 1996. She was appointed Senior Lecturer in Preventive Medicine at the Royal Army Medical College in 1997, and was Honorary Senior Lecturer in Public Health and Epidemiology at the University of Birmingham 2002-2009. Appointed Army Parkes Professor of Preventive Medicine in 2007, she was a member of the Army Medical Services Research Ethics Committee, the Surgeon General’s Research Strategy Group and the Army Scientific Advisory Committee. She worked in the Army’s health policy unit at the Ministry of Defence before moving to Scotland where she was seconded to the Scottish Government as Military Medical Liaison Officer. Since retiring from the Army in 2012, she has been at the Institute of Health & Wellbeing of the University of Glasgow where, after completing a PhD study on the long-term health of military veterans in Scotland in 2016, she was an Honorary Senior Research Fellow before being appointed Honorary Clinical Associate Professor in 2021. She was appointed OBE for Services to Veterans in Scotland in the New Year Honours list 2021.

Dr Chinedu Udeh-Momoh is a Translational Neuroscientist whose work focuses on developing contextual dementia prevention strategies for individuals such as female Veterans, who are at the highest risk for developing dementia, also across diverse populations. Her research adopts a translational approach to elucidate dementia prevention bio-mechanistic pathways and strategies, by integrating human clinical studies with experimental animal models. Furthermore, she leads global initiatives to address gender and racial disparities in medical research and academia. Overall, her work is at the forefront of translational neuroscience and dementia epidemiology, bringing together fundamental neuroscience discoveries to improve human health and wellbeing.

Chris is an Associate Professor in History at the University of South Wales. His recent research, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), has explored the multifaceted role of imperialism across the cycle of nuclear development in Britain, from uranium extraction in the Congo and South Africa to nuclear weapons tests in Australia and the Pacific. Chris is Principal Investigator for the Office for Veterans’ Affairs project: ‘An Oral History of British Nuclear Test Veterans’.