Research Community

Alison Cotton is a final year PhD student at Oxford Brookes University.  Her research is around the educational attainment and Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) of children from UK Armed Forces families. Alison has used the National Pupil Database (NPD) for England to compare the GCSE outcomes and SEND rates and types between Service children and non-Service children. Alison was also a research assistant on the Supporting All to Thrive (SATT) project which investigated the educational opportunities, experiences and outcomes of children with additional needs from UK Armed Forces families. Alison has extensive experience of working with learners who have SEND. She is a qualified Specialist Teacher who holds Associate Membership of the British Dyslexia Association (AMBDA) and an Assessment Practising Certificate (APC).  Being from a military family herself, Alison hopes to use her knowledge and research to improve outcomes for Armed Forces families.

Anna Bell contributes specialist expertise to the College for Military Veterans and Emergency Services (CMVES) as a Lecturer in Adult Nursing with a strong background in this field of research, widening participation and Armed Forces community advocacy. Drawing on her lived experience as a former RAF Senior Non-Commissioned Officer and military spouse. She brings nuanced insight into military family life, resilience, and transition, helping shape evidence-informed recommendations for policy and practice.

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 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. 

Combat Stress has an established record of conducting high-quality robust research to ensure the delivery of the best possible services to the Veteran community. Their work is focused on furthering understanding of how best to help Veterans with mental health difficulties and currently has three main areas of focus: Evaluating Combat Stress treatment programmes, population research (Understanding the needs of help-seeking Veterans) and exploring new ways to support help-seeking Veterans.

Debra Barton is the Early Years Specialist Lead for the Ministry of Defence (MOD), based in Upavon in Wiltshire. As an Early Childhood professional with over 25 years’ experience, Debra aims to bridge the knowledge gap between the needs of young Service children, and early childhood education and childcare (ECEC). Debra provides leadership and subject matter expertise on all ECEC matters, relating to Service children aged from birth to 5 years old, wherever they are in the world. 

Debra is also a self-funded, part-time Ph.D student at the University of Worcester, and is researching the impact of Military deployment on the parenting of young Service Children, focusing on the Royal Navy/Marines in England.

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 Anne Chappell has been in the Brunel University Department of Education since 2004, and since joining Anne has undertaken the role of programme leader on both undergraduate and PGCE courses leading to Qualified Teacher Status, Department Director of Teaching and Learning and Deputy Head of Department. Anne’s PhD critically explored teachers’ professional learning and her research interests are in auto/biography, education, policy, and the experiences of children, young people and professionals, including those from military families.

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’.