Research Community

Kirsty Davies is a second year Doctorate of Education (EdD) student at the University of Winchester with a background in Primary Teaching and Teacher Training. Her husband serves in the British Army and she is currently based in Germany. At the moment, Kirsty is working on her pilot study; due to personal experiences, as a spouse of a serving soldier and mother of three Service children, as well as her professional roles, Kirsty’s research focuses on teachers’ knowledge, understanding and confidence in supporting the needs of Service children in a primary school setting.

Philip Dent is the Director of the Service Children's Progression (SCiP) Alliance and has worked for two decades in education, as a teacher and leader of whole-school programmes for disadvantaged groups. He led a regional further and higher education partnership and as a Chief Executive of The Progression Trust, he conducted research, development and training on whole-person approaches to progression for children, young people and adults in the UK and Australia. Additionally, he was an adviser to the Office for Fair Access on national research policy and strategy. Philip also co-founded the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers, now an independent charity. He has a Masters in Research and is particularly interested in intrinsic personal factors impacting on progression through the life-course.

Professor Paul Farrand is Professor of Evidence Based Psychological Practice and Research, and Director of the Low-Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (LICBT) portfolio within Clinical Education, Development and Research (CEDAR), Psychology University of Exeter. He holds several Expert Advisor positions and at an international level acts as a Scientific Advisor regarding worldwide developments in Low-Intensity CBT. He is an internationally renowned expert in LICBT (CBT self-help) and has substantial expertise CBT self-help interventions, especially in a written and mobile phone app format and adapting the interventions for specific groups, such as Armed Forces Veterans, Muslims, Informal Carers and several physical health populations. Paul is currently working on an OVA-funded research project adapting an AI-driven mobile phone app (Iona) to ensure acceptability and effectiveness for ex-servicewomen. 

As a social scientist within Robert Gordon University, Professor Zoe Morrison worked to further the application of business and management studies to policy driven change programmes. Her work aimed to inform leadership and human resource management theory through understanding individual experiences of change, including changing expectations of work, careers and employment, and adoption and implementation of technological innovation. Her interpretivist research agenda was curiosity inspired and theoretically driven, drawing on the sociology of work and organisations, and military and family sociologies. Zoe worked in three areas: health, defence and carbon emissions mitigation, often referred to as decarbonisation. Zoe has now moved role to be the Lead Specialist in Culture and Experience at NHS Grampian. 

Rebecca Steel is the Director of the College for Military Veterans and Emergency Services based at the University of Central Lancashire, she has led the programme of transition and engagement for the armed forces community for the past three years. Rebecca is a strong advocate for education as a pathway to transition.

In addition, Rebecca is from a military family with three service children of her own. Rebecca’s research portfolio involves a number of studies and focusses on the impact of military mobility/transition on education and the future trajectories of families engaged with military service. Rebecca’s research employs participatory and mixed methodologies to explore themes around education, learning, and employment to ensure a level playing field and sense of agency for those hidden voices of the military community who are seldom heard.

Rebecca is currently leading research on identifying the needs of service young people, veterans, and spouses in Further and Higher Education.

Rebecca is a member of the Service Children’s Progression (SCiP) Alliance Management Group, chairs the North West’s SCiP Hub, a founder member of Lancashire Armed Forces Covenant Hub and is involved in several active research programmes locally, nationally and internationally

Siobhan is a fully funded PhD candidate at the Veterans and Families Institute for Military Social Research, at Anglia Ruskin University. Her research explores the experiences of military mobility for young people from British Army and RAF families, both overseas and within England, drawing on primary data that centres youth voice. Alongside her doctoral work, Siobhan works for SSAFA Community Health, supporting British Forces Overseas as a visiting Children and Young People’s Mental Health Community Nursing Practitioner and ADOS 2 Assessor. From her ongoing PhD research, she has developed a booklet sharing young people’s advice on navigating mobility, which is widely used to support families across the UK and overseas. Siobhan holds an undergraduate degree in Applied Social Science and Social Policy, a master’s degree in Psychology, and a master’s degree in Mental Health Nursing. Her personal, academic and professional work is grounded in supporting the wellbeing of the Armed Forces community.

Tara Zammit is a PhD Candidate in the Department of War Studies at King's College London. She has been awarded the SSHRC-CRSH Department of National Defence MINDS Initiative Doctoral Award to undertake her research. Tara’s research is situated within the fields of ontological security, feminist security studies, and war studies. She is developing a framework for better understanding the interconnectedness of these subjects through an ontological security lens and an analysis of diverse service experiences with the aim of influencing policy to better support women and LGBTQ+ individuals pursuing careers in defence and security.

The Service Children's Progression Alliance, hosted by the University of Winchester's Research and Innovation Department, brings together practitioners, researchers, policymakers and funders to build a stronger evidence-base, better policy, and enhanced support for Service children’s education and progression, placing their voices at the heart of activity. The SCiP Alliance Research-practice Hub Network brings together hundreds of professionals across the UK to build collaboration and it has designed, tested and rolled out collaborative delivery models including the Creative Forces and the Festival of Friends programmes which connect military professionals, families and children with civilian partners.