Research Community

Amy is a first-year PhD student based at Newcastle University. Having recently left the Royal Air Force after a varied career in the service and having directly experienced the gender culture of the UK Armed Forces, she is excited to start her PhD in Human Geography. Her research will examine how gender and the other multitude of conflicting intersectional identities of military personnel impact the social construction and speciality of the RAF. Often viewed as homogenous, Amy is focused on understanding how the RAF’s unique organisational culture and varying sub-cultures based on rank and role impact the social construction of RAF culture. Underpinning her data collection with reflexivity through her position as an RAF Veteran, Amy is excited to commence the project to support cultural understanding and effect change. 

The Traumatic Stress Research Group is an interdisciplinary team with a mission to improve the health and well-being of individuals exposed to traumatic events. The organization aims to improve understanding of traumatic stress through high-quality, externally funded research, as well as develop effective and cost-efficient interventions for individuals experiencing psychosocial difficulties after traumatic incidents. They also aim to build strong interdisciplinary global collaborations, increase research capacity in the traumatic stress field, and disseminate evidence-based knowledge. 

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.

Charlotte Williamson is a doctoral student at King’s Centre for Military Health Research, King’s College London. Her PhD seeks to explore self-harm and suicide behaviours in the UK Armed Forces using a mixed-methods design. Prior to commencing her PhD, she worked as a Research Assistant across several research projects in the field of military mental health, at both Combat Stress and the King's Centre for Military Health Research. Her research interests include self-harm and suicidality, military mental health, and using digital technology in mental health care.

Chloe Storer is a third-year PhD student at King's College London and Imperial War Museums. She was awarded AHRC CDP funding for her PhD which explores narratives of Operation Herrick told over time. She also has a distinction level MA in Public History and a first class History degree, both from Royal Holloway, University of London. Her historical interests include social and cultural history.  She specialises in the history and experience of Warfare, and is interested in exploring material culture further in the future. She is an experienced oral historian, working both on her PhD and a new project LOUD Fence which explores child sexual assault. 

CEDAR is an Applied Psychological Practice Centre of Excellence, and one of the UK's largest providers of training in evidence-based psychological practice and therapies, working in the NHS and private practice. One of the research groups (APTIA) focuses on adapting low-intensity written and mobile phone app-based CBT interventions to improve access and effectiveness for diverse groups, such as Armed Forces Veterans, Muslims, Informal Caraers and people with various physical health conditions. 

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.

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.