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Monthly Members' Newsletter
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For new friends, welcome! We are an interdisciplinary network of Masters, PhD and Early Career Researchers focused on defence, security and military topics concerning policy, strategy, history, culture and society. We hope you find our network interesting, exciting, informative, and supportive.
For old friends, thanks for your continued involvement. It is always worth remembering that we would be nothing without you! For our April newsletter we are talking about the Military Body and Mind. We have lots to share with you so we hope you enjoy the read.
Scroll down to get up to date with the news, opinions, events and opportunities from our members...
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A reminder that if you have been forwarded our newsletter and are not already subscribed, you can sign up here.
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Hello and welcome back to our latest DRN newsletter edition on "The Military Body and Mind". We are excited to share contributions showcasing some of the remarkable work being conducted by our network members and related organisations.
In the researcher spotlight section we are thrilled to introduce y two of our network members, Oliver Sullivan and Pete Ladlow both based at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) Stanford Hall. The accompanying feature offers some more insight of what the DMRC do as part of the Academic Department of Military Rehabilitation (ADMR), advancing rehabilitation medicine and technologies.
The feature from the Museum of Military Medicine provides historical perspective tracing the development of military medicine in peacetime and conflict from the 1640s to present day. It also has a great podcast series which we'd highly recommend!
Our final two features both offer institutional and personal reflections on the military body and mind. Nicky Murdoch MBE describes her work with the Armed Forces Public Patient Voice Group, their objectives and intersection with academic research. We also share an anonymous Reflection from the Post-Operational Stress Management programme for British Army Counter-IED and Search teams returning from Op Herrick in Afgahanistan.
Our events and opportunities section is packed with exciting projects for you to get involved with and include all the relevant information and contact details of the organisers.
Thank you to all for your valuable contributions. As always, we value your inputs and insights, essential to the success of our network. Please do not hesitate to send us any ideas or submissions for our upcoming themes.
Thank you for reading and we hope you enjoy another fascinating newsletter edition!
Stay cool,
Tegan Watt Harrison
Newsletter Editor
Defence Research Network
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DRN events 2024 - we want to hear from you
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Dear DRN Community,
In the past couple of years, we have organised dozens of events - various workshops, seminars, networking events, and many others. Now, we would like to hear from you, and see what kind of events you would like us to organise for you this year.
Please fill out this form to let us know your thoughts or email us at defenceresearchnetwork@gmail.com.
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Researcher Spotlights
Edited by Tegan Harrison
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We are delighted to be able to share with you some excellent researcher spotlights on this month's newsletter theme 'the military body and mind'. As always it is a pleasure to read about the diverse and interesting work being done in this field. We hope you enjoy the contributions as much as we did!. Do get in touch if this is something you would like to be a part of or if you want to connect with any of the researchers listed.
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Oliver Sullivan
Some of my initial work has been published, including a review of the impact, management and future research avenues for OA in the UK Military (doi: 10.1136/military-2023-002390 ), and two reviews to understand which blood tests or scans might be helpful for OA identification (doi: 10.1016/j.ocarto.2023.100385 and 10.1016/j.ocarto.2023.100412). I have examined 8 blood tests which are linked to cartilage changes, inflammation and metabolism, and looked at their associations to knee osteoarthritis, knee pain and function already, and this work has been submitted and is under review. While I wait for the dreaded red peer reviewer pen, I am performing analysis of the predictive value of these biomarkers for the development or progression of OA. If you are interested in hearing more, please get in touch (oliver_o’sullivan@nhs.net) or follow the journey on Twitter/X (@ollieosul).
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Pete Ladlow
Biography:
Dr Pete Ladlow is a member of the Academic Department of Military Rehabilitation (ADMR) at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) Stanford Hall. Pete completed his PhD in 2020 investigating the impact of rehabilitation following combat-related lower-limb amputation on cardiometabolic health and physical function in UK military personnel. Pete’s research direction is now aligned towards musculoskeletal injuries and advancing the scientific basis of rehabilitation medicine to maximise the number of personnel fit for operations.
Within his role as the exercise physiology lead for UK Defence Rehabilitation, he is particularly interested in biological basis of exercise-based rehabilitation strategies following traumatic and degenerative lower-limb injuries. This includes leading a large multi-centre RCT investigating the therapeutic effects of blood flow restriction training on anterior knee pain (the ADAPT study) and determining normative reference values of muscle strength from over 2000 Army personnel (the STRONG study). The latter will directly inform end-stage rehabilitation best practice guidelines and British Army MSKI reduction strategies.
Link to social media:
Twitter handle: @LadlowPete
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Features
Edited by Tegan Harrison
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Academic Department of Military Rehabilitation
The Academic Department of Military Rehabilitation (ADMR), based onsite at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) Stanford Hall, provides a central focus for clinical research activity across the UK Defence Rehabilitation community, with a mission statement, ‘To advance the scientific basis of rehabilitation medicine in order to maximise the number of UK military personnel fit for operations’. ADMR is furnished with state-of-the-art technology, including a 30-metre biomechanics suite with 32 3D-motion capture cameras and 15 integrated force plates, a 360-degree computer-assisted rehabilitation environment (CAREN), and a range of physiological and strength-testing capabilities(1).
Stakeholder engagement is essential, especially given the span of different trades and professions involved, so a Rehabilitation practitioner-based research priority-setting programme was performed in 2020, with ADMR leading or supporting many studies resulting from this(2). This programme is flexible, able to support urgent research demand, such as the prospective observational study of those with severe or prolonged COVID-19(3). All studies are designed and run with the individual participants of central importance in the research programme, focusing on clinical impact and functional improvement and ensuring the best possible evidence-based care is provided to those undergoing rehabilitation in the UK Armed Forces.
Given the extremely high levels of sports injuries in the military (often referred to as musculoskeletal injuries, MSKI), most research programmes are centred on this. These MSKI programmes are targeted at three elements of ‘Treat, Prevent, Detect’, with the recognition that more needs to be done in the early stages of an injury to prevent long-term problems(4). However, this is not the only focus, with long-term outcomes following trauma, especially that sustained in conflict. The prospective, longitudinal ArmeD SerVices TrAuma RehabilitatioN OutComE (ADVANCE) study is hosted at ADMR, in collaboration with Imperial College London and King’s College London, and is following up nearly 1200 individuals, half of whom sustained a significant traumatic injury during the Afghanistan conflict. The study is planned to run for 20 years, with 6 follow up visits (the first two are completed, and midway through the third), with a focus on long-term medical and psychological outcomes of combat. More details on the study, and its early findings and associated studies, can be found on the website (https://www.advancestudydmrc.org.uk).
Finally, ADMR offers clinical support for clinicians working at DMRC Stanford Hall and across Defence Rehabilitation, including individual assessment enabling bespoke clinical decision-making for those with biomechanical (walking) restrictions and mild traumatic brain injury. Staff members in ADMR also provide scientific support, training, and advice to a range of clinical, national, and policy-making groups, as well as links to a range of academic institutions across the UK. If you are interested in finding out more, reach out to the Clinical Research Manager, Dr Russ Coppack,
1. O'Sullivan O, Ladlow P, Coppack R, Bennett A. The BMJ Military Health Military Rehabilitation special issue. BMJ Military Health. 2022;168(4):253-5.
2. Coppack RJ, Ladlow P, Bennett AN. Developing UK Defence Rehabilitation research priorities: a 2020 clinical practitioner engagement exercise. BMJ Military Health. 2022;168(4):256.
3. O’Sullivan O, Holdsworth DA, Ladlow P, Barker-Davies RM, Chamley R, et al. Cardiopulmonary, Functional, Cognitive and Mental Health Outcomes Post-COVID-19, Across the Range of Severity of Acute Illness, in a Physically Active, Working-Age Population. Sports Medicine - Open. 2023;9(1):7.
4. Coppack RJ, Ladlow P, Cassidy RP, Egginton N, Barker-Davies R, et al. Academic Department of Military Rehabilitation (ADMR): avoiding the pitfalls of ‘the Walker Dip’. BMJ Military Health. 2023:e002469.
 Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Stanford Hall
Biomechanical performance lab
Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN)
MILO: Military Hip Rehabilitation Outcome, BEFIT: Biomechanical Assocations and Efficacy of Injectable Therapy, ADAPT: Adaptation to therapeutic resistance training, STRONG: Strength profiling of Army Personnel, DBAS: Defence Biomechanical Assessment Service, Bio-Mil-OA: Biomarkers and Joint Pain in Military Osteoarthritis, AI: Artifical Intelligence.
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THE MUSEUM OF MILITARY MEDICINE
The Museum of Military Medicine is the Army-endorsed and supported focus for the heritage of the four sovereign corps of the Army Medical Services (AMS), and it has extensive artefact collections and archives relating to the history of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), Royal Army Veterinary Corps (RAVC), Royal Army Dental Corps (RADC), and the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps, and their antecedents. Established in 1952 at Church Crookham, the museum has been based at Keogh Barracks since the early 1960s when first the RAMC Training Depot and later the tri-service Defence Medical Services Training Centre were sited there. The museum exists to engender an ‘esprit de corps’ amongst Corps members and foster a sense of regimental traditions, and to promote the contribution of the military to medicine and healthcare more broadly.
The museum displays are arranged chronologically and trace the history of military medicine from the civil wars of the 1640s until the present day and highlight the contribution the military has made to advances in medicine in both peacetime and conflict. In particular, the role of casualty evacuation, surgical intervention, and rehabilitation are featured, as well as wider contributions to healthcare and prevention, in both humans and animals. The displays also focus on the regimental side of Army life in the four AMS corps.
Every year temporary exhibitions are staged in the main gallery, and in recent years these have included the medical history of World War One, the centenary of the RADC, the role of the sanitary sections, and a celebration of the RAMC on its 125th Anniversary. Later this year will be displays exploring the medical contribution to D-Day and a celebration of the QARANC on its 75th anniversary.
The museum also serves as a centre for research into the history of military medicine. The museum archives onsite consist of more than 30,000 unique items, while further portions of the museum’s archives are currently held by the Wellcome Library in London. The collection features the personal papers of a number of key individuals in the history of the corps, in addition to original papers relating to the regimental organisation of the AMS corps, as well as medical and clinical papers.
More recently the museum has moved into the digital space and is developing a series of online resources for audiences and researchers. A series of podcasts on the past, present, and future of the field hospital in the British Army was recently released, and work is currently being undertaken to begin the process of digitising and publishing items from the museum’s archives to make them more accessible. The aim is to have a fully searchable catalogue of the museum’s archives online and to digitise the entirety of the collections, to transform the public appreciation of medicine as practised by the military and enhance the longer-term value of the archives.
For further information: museumofmilitarymedicine.org.uk
Podcasts: Field Hospitals: Their History and Future (buzzsprout.com)
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Nicky Murdoch MBE,
Independent Chair,
Armed Forces Patient and Public Voice Group.
What is the Armed Forces Public Patient Voice Group? It is a group of people who serve and have served in the armed forces and who have ”lived experience” of being a patient or family/carer and who help to advise NHS England’s Armed forces Healthcare Commissioning team about the specific issues that impact the community where healthcare is concerned. The NHS have a legal requirement to consult and engage with both the patient and public when designing and developing services and our group helps provide a voice in the engagement process. We are critical friends, advisors, advocates and communicators to the NHS and to our communities. The group is made up of the serving, the reserves and veterans from all 3 services, members of the commonwealth and Gurkha and Fijian communities, women who serve and have served and with a variety of injuries and illnesses. WE also include family members and children and young people from the armed forces. It is the “lived experience that makes them credible.
What is your role as Independent Chair? The Chair works very closely with the NHS England Armed Forces Team and is integral to that team. I act as the first point of contact for advising on patient issues related to recruitment of members, training and development and ensuring we have people with the right lived experience for the work streams in the NHSE Armed work programme. This will include mental ill health such as complex PTSD, physical challenges including amputees, female veterans, LGBTQIA+ members, members of the ethnic minority communities including commonwealth personnel and families. I represent the group on wider meetings with the Departments of Health and Social Care, the Office of Veteran’s Affairs and the Ministry Of Defence. It is a coordinating role, a leadership role, a representative role and a real privilege to be part of an equal partnership with NHS England’s Armed Forces team and the Clinicians involved in treatment of our community.
What was your path to where you are now? I served in the Army for over 30 years first in the Women’s Royal Army Corps and then the Adjutant General’s Corps (Staff and Personal Support) Branch. I served in a wide variety of roles at regimental duty and on the staff including MOD, specialist intelligence and finally in military music! A diverse experience. However I was diagnosed with cancer and spent 2 years in treatment in the NHS system with physical and mental health challenges. After this time I was seconded to a youth education charity where I was tasked with designing, developing and delivering a recovery programme for wounded, injured and sick service personnel who had been away from work for extended periods of time. It was a rewarding job and after 2 years in this post I decided to leave the army and was selected to be the CEO of the t John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service. I did this for 7 years and it gave me insight into the NHS in a more comprehensive way so I was appointed to the Chair role in 2017.
What have been the biggest steps forward in terms of veterans healthcare in recent years? The creation of a single armed forces healthcare commissioning team in NHS England in 2017 has allowed a real focus on the healthcare needs of the armed forces community. The AF PPV Group has evolved and developed alongside the team and we have been to identify gaps in the services together. The partnership and the preparedness of the team to listen to its patient voice partners has meant that new services have been commissioned absolutely taking into account the lived experience and needs of the community. We have been able to identify gaps in provision and the NHS has been able to commission the specialised services, pilot new ones and research areas where there is no data available. The biggest step forward has been for me a systematic approach to looking at specialist need and involving patients, families and carers in the commissioning process from the outset.
How does your work intersect with academic research? Our work involves identifying gaps in provision and we have been able to influence the team by highlighting areas where there is no data but there is need. 5 years ago there was no research on women who serve or have served in the armed forces in the context of healthcare, nothing on LGBTQIA+ personnel from the armed forces and nothing at all on ethnic minority groups and all those intersections. Much research had been done for the population who had been physically injured in Iraq and Afghanistan but much less on mental health issues. Our group has influenced the commissioning of research in all these areas which has lead to increased visibility and understanding and additional resource from the NHS and the OVA and the AFCFT to address the issues that the research has highlighted. PPV partners have all been involved in the research activity such as consultations, surveys an focus groups as well as evaluating services.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in veterans healthcare provision right now? There has been huge progress made in the last 5 years for the armed forces community. Op Courage – The veterans mental health and well-being service and Op Restore - The veterans physical health and well-being service, Op Nova – the service for veterans in the Justice System and Op Community – for families of those in the armed forces community. There have also been accreditation schemes to increase awareness of the armed forces with the GPs practices and in hospitals, mental health trusts and ambulance trusts through the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance. This is all great work however the challenge is the assurance that these services and schemes are actually delivering the health improvement in quality terms for patients.
If you could set the military health research agenda what would be at the top of your list? Given so much has been achieved for the whole community in recent years my focus for the future where there is little or no academic research would be to look at the impact of being a child in the military community and the impact of having a military parent(s) across the spectrum of families; serving, reserves and veterans. It really needs looking at. We have young people on the PPV group who have been living with a parent with PTSD since she was 6. It can impact continuity of care for those with health issues, learning disability, education, relationships with parents, siblings, mental health and there is nothing planned in terms of research and it needs it.
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Reflections from the Post-Operational Stress Management programme for British Army Counter-IED and Search teams returning from Op Herrick in Afgahanistan.
Please accept that due to OpSec considerations (around this Mental Health initiative occurring as a result of a relatively recent operational deployment) some detail has been omitted and the Author would prefer to remain anonymous.
Rather than deploying as a unit and returning to one base as a unit, in 2010 Counter IED teams consisted of a number of subject-matter specialists (from different units, Regiments and even Services). On arrival back in the UK teams would split up and most likely not come back together again either operationally or socially.
As a direct result of factors including operational workload and attrition, it was recognised that these teams (and the wider Counter-IED community) would benefit if they could ‘Decompress’ (or ‘Normalise’) together over a period of time in a ‘safe’ and controlled environment.
The resulting “Normalisation Break” programme was designed, trialled and outsourced to civilian providers funded by a Military Charity, but it was ‘owned’, commissioned, driven and populated through the Army system by the relevant chains of command within the Counter IED community.
The Normalisation Break was a 5-day residential programme based in a National Park in the UK, scaled for 2 Counter IED teams on each programme. The accommodation was of a high quality in a rural location which enabled a degree of exclusivity and privacy. All meals were provided for the group.
The ‘ethos’ for the programme was to provide a ‘safe space’ for the group within which they could relax and unwind together (decompress/normalise).
Each day featured scheduled half-day activity slots which ranged from ‘adventure sports’ through to more ‘creative & relaxation’ activity sessions. The activities were included because we knew they would initiate ‘banter’ and conversations. Individuals weren’t pressurised into taking part in activities, but they were encouraged to support their colleagues who did participate. It wasn’t uncommon for individuals to arrive at an activity but spend most of that session in conversation with colleagues or staff. This was designed into the process and proved very effective.
The formal ‘rationale’ for the programme was to reduce/minimise post-operational stress which manifested itself in a number of ways.
- Many programme participants admitted to supressing anger and frustration (which at some point was likely to rise back to the surface). Of critical importance to the success of the programme, the ‘safe space’ maintained for participants enabled them to have important conversations which they had avoided having while out on operations*.
* It’s well understood that the pressures and stresses of the operational environment can create a ‘fish-bowl’ which (a) enhances the nature of frustrations and conflicts and (b) is hard to physically escape from (ie, “when you’re up to your armpits in Alligators, it’s hard to remember your initial aim was to drain the swamp”). Exhibiting high degrees of both EQ and IQ it was also recognised by participants that dealing with anger, frustration and conflict while you were surrounded by loaded weapons and munitions was probably best avoided.
- Thankfully only a few participants were clearly experiencing issues which the programme was not designed or qualified to address. In most of these cases it was clear that having spent months working together ‘in Theatre’ as a team the other team members had already picked up that a colleague ‘wasn’t handling things well’ and that individual was taken ‘under their wing’.
This ‘pastoral’ dynamic is probably more common to the Armed Forces and the Uniformed Emergency Services than it is to the wider ‘corporate’ working environment.
- It was something of a ‘red flag’ to programme staff when participants told us they’d not been affected by their tour. The nature of the environment, workload and attrition (amongst other factors) would all have some effect on an individual and more commonly the most experienced participants with a number of tours under their belt buckles would be the first to appreciate the value of the programme, both for themselves and for their team mates.
The programme was scheduled as soon as possible after the Counter IED teams had returned to the UK and spent some time with their families. The aim was to capture whole teams on each programme so they could decompress together. This was the ‘Gold Standard’ and due to considerable hard work in the UK and Afghanistan it was generally maintained.
On the few occasions where it wasn’t possible to have whole teams we ran ‘composite’ groups from different teams. The process was certainly valuable for the composite groups but appeared (through the nature and depth of the conversations etc) to be more effective for the discreet teams who had very defined ‘shared experiences’ they could reflect on.
In conclusion;
The decision of the Counter IED community to create a bespoke decompression process certainly appears to have been worthwhile. The feedback from participants supports this and the programme was a flag-ship of its time rewarding the Charity which funded it with a Chief of the General Staff’s Commendation.
Decompressing discreet (whole) teams was more effective than working with composite teams.
The quality accommodation, privacy and exclusive ‘safe space’ created for participants helped speed the participants into a ‘good place’ where they could have quality conversations.
The activities provided an important framework around which we hung the opportunities for conversations etc, but to some extent the specific nature of the activities on offer was almost irrelevant.
Post Operational Stress manifests itself in infinite guises. Any programme of this nature cannot just be a one-size-fits-all ‘sausage machine’. There has to be adequate space and flexibility within the programme to re-fit the process to the needs of the group and individuals.
The Author here was one of the two people who designed and ran the Normalisation Breaks for the Counter-IED community. He can be contacted via Dr Barış Çelik, Co-chair, Defence Research Network.
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Armed Forces Social Prescribing
Edited by Hannah West
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We are delighted to be able to share a feature on Armed Forces Social Prescribing from Liza Jarvis, Programme Lead for the Female Veterans Transformation Programme but formerly the NHSE Co-Lead for the Armed Forces Social Prescribing Demonstrator.
Introduction to Social Prescribing - What is it and how it could benefit veterans?
Social prescribing is a key component of Universal Personalised Care. It is an approach that connects people to activities, groups, and services in their community to meet the practical, social and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing. In social prescribing, local agencies such as local charities, social care and health services refer people to a social prescribing link worker. Social prescribing link workers give people time, focusing on ‘what matters to me?’ to coproduce a simple personalised care and support plan, and support people to take control of their health and wellbeing. (NHSE)’
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Social prescribing (SP) has been made mainstream through NHSE delivery of Social Prescribing Link Workers (SPLW’s) in Primary Care Networks (PCN’s) across England. There has been a mandate to have a SP offer in every PCN and this is part of the DES Contract. The funding for these roles comes through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS). PCN’s can chose to have a number of SPLW’s and they can be generalist all age or specialist (children and young people, veterans, older people etc). Delivery of the NHS SP scheme is either within GP surgeries or can be contracted out to the VCSE sector. However, over the last few years we have seen SP grow at pace with both delivery and funding now coming directly from the charity sector and also from Local Authorities.
SP now has a robust evidence base and is being tested with various specialist groups. A 2-year demonstrator project was funded by the NHSE Armed Forces Health Team, the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, the SW NHSE Integrated Personalised Care Team, Northumbria University and Cornwall Council to test the concept of dedicated social prescribing for the Armed Forces community (veterans, and families of serving personnel and veterans including carers and children). The concept was built on the feedback and co-design undertaken with veterans and AFC professionals in 2020 which stated that ‘having someone who understands and has experience of the AFC’ was key to engaging with the right support at the right time.
The demonstrator was a collaborative approach that looks to build on existing work, both nationally and locally to avoid duplication to create better integration. The demonstrator sites were County Durham ,Cornwall, Dorset, Plymouth, Gloucestershire. Each of the demonstrator areas had a full time dedicated AFC SPLW (who has lived experience of the AFC), this role is the ‘Connector of connectors’ and provides bespoke AFC support to the existing SP workforce, wider professionals, signposting and direct 1-2-1 support for members of the AFC direct, including supporting small personal budgets where possible and appropriate
Another great example of social prescribing supporting veterans is through the Defence Garden Scheme and we are pleased to include this update from our very own Sally Coulthard about the Transformational Nature-base Prescriptions programme.
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News from our committee & community
Edited by Tegan Harrison
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Thank you for all your contributions to this edition! It is wonderful to hear from you and we do enjoy sharing your work with our members. Please enjoy reading said contributions below!
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An Evaluation To Globalized Warfare by Nazib Nur
Nazib Nur, is an independent researcher studying space based technologies and peace-conflict. By trade, Nazib is a 3d visualization and computation expert. He is interested in wargaming networks within the influence of next-gen peace and conflict areas.
Nazib has written an article for Voice of International Affairs entitled An Evaluation To Globalized Warfare.
You can contact Nazib via his Twitter (X) handle: NUR, N. (@Tuvdo_0) / X (twitter.com).
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Dr Veronika Poniscjakova continues her work with the media. She has offered commentary for France 24 and TVP World.
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What we have been listening to
Edited by Veronika Poniscjakova
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War on the Rocks
Ukraine World
Ukrainecast
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Do get in touch if you have heard a fascinating podcast or you have been involved in one, we'd love to include it in a future newsletter.
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March Twitter Hour: The Military Body and Mind
Edited by Lucy Robinson
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This month's #TwitterHour was on 'The Military Body and Mind', kindly co-hosted with Ollie O' Sullivan, from the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC), Stanford Hall. Thank you very much to all those who engaged with the four questions. Below, we share the highlights!
1. In what way does your research/practice connect to the theme of 'the military body and mind’?
- I work on the @FemaleVeteranTP for which our recent Evidence Review reviewed research relating to female veterans, of which mental and physical health are key themes. You can check out our infographic here: https://fvtp.org.uk/publications.
- My current work involve participants in the @AdvanceStudy, a 20year cohort study of 1200 @RoyalAirForce, @BritishArmy & @RoyalNavy personnel, half of whom injured in conflict, led by @ntfear, @DrA_N_Bennett & colleagues, to understand the long term medical and psychological impacts.
- There are many EXCELLENT researchers involved in this study, inc @frajewatson, @dan_is_lost, @LegsDixon & many more, who are all answering different, fascinating questions.
- Incredible piece of work and I’m equally proud of my brothers contribution to this work, and grateful that thinking is being developed and progressed in such an important area.
- I look at this from a historical point of view and research ex-servicemen who lost limbs in the First and Second World Wars and the artificial limbs they were provided.
- My research connects to the theme of the military body through the concept of military culture. Organisational culture ‘lives’ because of the people and the values that make up the military body/mind.
- I’m sure @RobinSi62291554 is a fan of this work, and his work regarding @rcgp #veterans friendly accrediatation in Primary Care feels relevant. As is #OpCourage a passion of many, not least @JohnnyMercerUK
- My PhD looked at how military culture affected veterans and their carers who were living with the asbestos-related disease mesothelioma. The Psychological Effects of Mesothelioma in the UK Military Context From the Carer’s Perspective: A Qualitative Study - Virginia Sherborne, Angela Tod, Bethany Taylor, 2024 (sagepub.com)
- I am very interested also in the notion of mind and body and how it links with identity. Notable for reserves.
- Missed this completely, apologies. I am a historian looking at civil defence and emergency medicine in the Second World War, including how military medicine influenced these.
2. What fields of medicine/healthcare have seen the greatest advances in recent years and where do you think we will see the next advances coming?
- Most people don't have a favourite graph. I do, and here it is by @MilOrthoTrauma showing the increased survival during recent conflict due to @DMS_MilMed innovation, drills, equipment, inc #MERT #prehospitalcare #CAT etc etc
- The next decade will see the long term outcomes from @AdvanceStudy changing military medicine with data on #cardiovascular #mentalhealth #bonehealth already published, guiding further work and interventions.
- I’m a non clinican but the pre hospital care offered by the MERT teams in Afghan was massive, not just WRT outcomes for injured soldiers, but also the moral component of fighting power.@chinnychick would be well positioned to comment.
- I think there will be changes to personnel structures, the utilisation of existing talent and rewards to motivate retention. Talent Management 2030 in the US is a recent example.
- I’ve long been a fan of the way RAMC and AMS tap into talent across @DHSCgovuk provider organisations and @NHSE_WTE via @Army_Reserves. Not just by creating opportunities, but through a very sophisticated and flexible intelligent mobilisation/employment model.
- Synthetic Blood // Non compressible haemorrhage // our understanding of the cellular tissue response to traumatic injury!
- Specialist hospitals, casualty distribution, triage, super glue, plastic surgery, burns treatments, gender reassignment surgery, aeromedical evacuation, critical care, blood products at incident scenes. Can probably go on.
3. What have been some of the historic breakthroughs, as a result of military medicine, in how the military body and mind have been understood, in the recent or distant past?
- #Hippocrates said "He who wants to be a surgeon should go to war", and despite being sexist/other speciality-ist, many innovations have been driven by conflict,with penicillin back in the day, but most recently #trauma #prehospitalcare #rehabilitation but also #blood
- c.41,000 men losing limbs in #ww1 really made the need for a very strong prosthetic limbs industry in Britain apparent and necessary. This already existed to some extent, but the weapons and disease of the frontlines = more amputation.
- Linked to this was more experimentation with artificial limb design and the materials used in manufacture. So the interwar period saw more light metals and composite materials like certalmid being utilised, and a move away from wood.
4. Share with us some of the exciting projects/publications/books/exhibitions/documentaries about the military body and mind? Where would you recommend we look to learn more about this topic?
- As a starter, I would suggest the excellent Warrior series by Dr Emily Mayhew; 'Wounded', 'Guinea Pig Club' & 'A Heavy Reckoning' addressing key elements of WW1, WW2 & Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts. The latter in particular addresses the question of tomorrow's cost for today's survival.
- I’ll look on with interest, I would recommend anyone that hasn’t to pick up a copy of The Red and Green Life Machine, an account of battlefield medicine during the Falklands conflict. (By Rick Jolly)
- I'll second that, a most amazing book. I'm told he's the only person awarded a medal from both sides in a conflict - I can't back that up but the book is certainly well worth a read. Randomly, he was our stand-in PMO when I was at BRNC in 2000.
- Yeah, that is a good one! War Doctor by David Nott is equally harrowing in parts. Whilst not medical, Junior Officer's Reading Club by Patrick Hennessy rang true for many as an insight of military life.
- I haven't visited yet but through preparing this month's newsletter I have learnt more about the Museum of Military Medicine. Check it out here: https://museumofmilitarymedicine.org.uk
- Not entirely recent, but strangely anything to do with reconstruction surgery [Guinea Pig Club].
Thanks again to all those who contributed! #DefResChat
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What we're reading
Edited by Veronika Poniscjakova
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NATO: From Cold War to Ukraine, a History of the World’s Most Powerful Alliance
Sten Rynning
This new book was published just after NATO’s 75th anniversary, and it provides a comprehensive exploration of the alliance's evolution throughout its history, from Cold War origins to contemporary challenges. Through engaging narrative and insightful analysis, the author elucidates NATO's role as a guarantor of peace amid geopolitical shifts and confrontations, highlighting the alliance’s enduring relevance in countering Russian aggression and shaping global security. Overall, the book offers valuable perspectives on NATO's past, present, and future ambitions.
You can get a copy here.
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Dialogue with the Dictator: Authoritarian Legitimation and Information Management in Putin's Russia
Hannah S. Chapman
Through in-depth analysis of Putin's Russia, this new book looks into how authoritarian regimes promote interactions between citizens and leaders. It shows that limited participation reinforces autocratic control while shaping public attitudes, and by manipulating communication channels, autocrats bolster their rule without promoting democracy. The book also outlines the conditions under which managed participation can reinforce or jeopardise authoritarian control.
You can get a copy here.
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Events...
Edited by Lucy Robinson
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Click on the images below, or follow the links, to find out more about these upcoming events.
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Precision by James Patton Rogers, is now available worldwide.
The book provides new insights into the history of American warfare, as well as an analysis of contemporary warfare. Tracing the desire for precision within American strategic thought back through the last century, it covers both American experience of war during the 20th century, as well as contemporary hi-tech and drone warfare.
James Patton Rogers is the Executive Director of the Cornell Brooks Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University. He has been an expert advisor to the United Nations Security Council, UK Parliament and is the NATO Country Director of the Full Spectrum Drone Warfare project supported by NATO SPS. He was also the host of the Warfare podcast by History Hit.
The DRN community can also get 30% off the book if they order directly from the publisher's website, and use the discount code WARFARE30 at checkout: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526125880/
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Opportunities...
If you would like to advertise any upcoming opportunities, please let us know via email.
Edited by Lucy Robinson
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Click on the images below, or follow the links, to find out more about these upcoming opportunities.
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Real Stories 2024 is an online gallery of images submitted by the UK Armed Forces community. Real Stories provides the opportunity to view the UK Armed Forces community's experiences through their own lens and presented in a way of their choosing. We hope this virtual art gallery will be educational, informative and will help raise awareness and understanding of what life is like for the Armed Forces community. We are inviting members of the UK Armed Forces community to submit one or more images that capture meaningful life events. When we say meaningful life events, we’re thinking: moving house, family changes (e.g. having a baby), leaving service, moving school and promotion. Meaningful can also be having a cup of tea with friends, family or loved ones. Real Stories 2024 will be exhibited at Veterans’ Mental Health Conference this year, online gallery and as a printed album.
Real Stories 2021 gives you an impression of the project we ran successfully a couple of years ago. Real Stories 2021 was well received by those who took part and contributors found it particularly moving when they saw their image printed amidst the full array of photographs.
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CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS: PREPARING THE BODY AND MIND FOR WAR - WORKSHOP 2: GENDER
How do you prepare bodies and minds for military service? How much has changed in the long history of human warfare, from the Ancient Mediterranean to today?
Following a successful first workshop in March, the collaborative AHRC-funded project Preparing the body and mind for war in the ancient and modern armed forces is hosting a second event themed around: Gender identity, 'brotherhood' and combat readiness.
Wednesday 29th May 2024, all-day workshop
10:00-17:00 at the University of Bristol
We invite academics, researchers, clinicians, healthcare professionals and wellbeing providers, as well as current or former armed forces personnel to joins us for this second impact workshop on health and wellbeing in ancient and modern warfare. How far does being ‘fighting fit’ actually prepare soldiers for war and transition back into civilian life?
Workshop 2 focuses on gender identity and combat readiness. There are close parallels to be explored between ancient and modern military cultures re: masculinist ideals, the feminine, comradeship and ‘brotherhood’.
Participation is free, but spaces are limited. Travel bursaries are available to support early career and non-academic attendees (please enquire). Contact Dr Hannah-Marie Chidwick at hc6198@bristol.ac.uk to book a place.
Potential topics for discussion:
- How far does gender identity impact feelings of combat readiness, in the ancient and modern armed forces?
- How has warfare and combat been connected to gender ideals and identities, historically?
- How do we understand gender roles in connection with warfare?
- How essential are concepts of ‘brotherhood’ in military cultures? How far can this help combatants to feel ‘prepared’?
- What are the provisions for different gender identities in the armed forces?
- What are the issues associated with the changes and diversification of gender identities in the armed forces?
Find out more about the project here: Preparing the body and mind for war, or get in touch for more information and to book a place: hc6198@bristol.ac.uk.
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JOINT PHD SCHOLARSHIP: CHANGING NATURE OF GENDER AND WARFARE
LA TROBE UNIVERSITY AND SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY
Project: The Changing Nature of Gender and Warfare: Conflict-related Sexual Violence by Semi-state Armed Groups (GSS-24004)
Lead supervisor: Dr Jasmine Westendorf
Other supervisors: Dr Maria Elander (LTU), Dr Matthew Hurley (SHU), Dr Mitxy Mabel Meneses Gutierrez (SHU)
This PhD explores the changing nature of gender and warfare/militarism by investigating the use of sexual violence by semi-sate actors in contemporary military conflict, and the capacity of existing legal/policy frameworks and accountability mechanisms to address the commission and consequences of such violence. Although there are well-established scholarly literatures and policy frameworks responding to the forms and functions of sexual violence in contemporary conflict and the challenges to pursuing accountability or reparations (both legal and otherwise) for it, the emergence of semi-state military actors such as the Wagner Group presents a challenge, both conceptually and practically, to these scholarly, legal and policy efforts. Wagner Group, for instance, differs markedly from other security actors: neither a state or a non-state/private actor, it is a semi-state military group active in Syria, several countries in Africa and more recently, Ukraine, as a vehicle of Russian state interests but also operating in ways that pursue independent wealth and influence generation for members of the group. It has been found to have engaged extensively in sexual violence as both a practice and strategy of war, against opponent militaries, civilians, and – at least in Ukraine - their own recruits. Moreover, Wagner’s role in a range of contemporary conflicts has intersected with increasingly coordinated mis/disinformation campaigns by Russia and aligned actors globally, many of which rely on specific constructions of gender and sexualities and further challenge the established strategies of dealing with and resolving such conflicts, and which have challenged the established strategies of dealing with and resolving such conflicts. This PhD will make a critical contribution to understanding the scale, form and effects of semi-state armed groups' use of sexual violence, engaging in a mix of open-source data collection and field research with relevant policymakers. The exact focus of the thesis will be determined in collaboration between supervisors and successful candidate, we welcome your ideas in your project proposal. Applicants with a background in politics and international relations, gender studies, international law or cognate field are preferred.
Further information: La Trobe University – Sheffield Hallam University Global Security and Society Institute Joint PhD Scholarships, Study with us, Scholarships, Other Scholarship opportunities, La Trobe University
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Imagining Future War Exploratory Workshop – Call for Expressions of Interest
This workshop aims to bring scholars and experts together to think about how future war is presented, narrated, and imagined in the current political, cultural and security landscape. It seeks to broaden the parameters of mainstream future war discourse and problematise imaginaries of future war at different sites. Recognising the importance of future gazing in academia and in policy practice, the workshop will explore how different futures of warfare are depicted and considered, and critically interrogate practices orientated toward the future of conflict such as technological innovation. The workshop is particularly interested in more critical approaches to future war, such as those that draw in issues of race, gender, intersectionality, and the impact of war on civilian lives and/or engage in diverse methodological approaches.Questions and areas of interest include:
• How is future war represented or narrated at different sites?
• What are the implications of technological shifts, such as automation, on the concept and category of the civilian or non-combatant in conflict? On soldiers? On militaries?
• What are the effects of ongoing (actual or perceived) changes in the nature of warfare on the category of the civilian or non-combatant?
• How is the future of soldiering understood?
• How might future war be gendered and/or racialised?
• How do ideas about bodies, spatial practices and material objects relate to imaginaries of future war?
• What insights can be gained from different branches of future studies or futurology?
• How have recent events and geopolitical shifts shaped conceptions of future war at different sites?
• How do understandings of and preparations for future war differ around the world or at different sites?
• What role does culture play in narrating future war?
• How should future war be regulated?
The workshop will be held at Queen’s University Belfast on the 5th September 2024. Short expressions of interest (max 200 words) outlining relevant research area/interest or experience, should be sent to Dr Hannah Partis-Jennings, h.partis@qub.ac.uk, deadline 30th May 2024. There is some funding available, please indicate if you would need funding to attend. With thanks to the British Academy/Leverhulme for their support of this project.
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As always, keep an eye on our Twitter for new events and opportunities posted/retweeted every day!
Planning a future event?
If you are planning a defence-related event and you would like to reach an audience of like-minded researchers, we'd love to come along! Drop us an email and we can include it in our next newsletter.
If you are interested in any of our events but don't want to go alone, or simply want to expand your network, please reach out on Twitter or drop us an email and we can connect you with fellow DRN members who may be planning to attend.
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May: Veterans and Families
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We hope you've enjoyed our news, tips and recommendations so far. In case you missed our previous newsletter editions, check out our archive section here!
As usual, we will be looking to showcase some early-career researchers in research spotlights in the newsletter so don't be shy! And we welcome any suggestions for 'in conversation with' pieces with more established academics. And let us know about any relevant events, from book launches to webinars. We'll keep an eye on our Twitter account to keep you posted!
Keep an eye on @DefenceResNet for more information and check out the website for a preview of the questions for the next #DefResChat. You can also find all our previous #DefResChats on the Archive section of our website. Make sure to tag @DefenceResNet and hashtag #DefResChat to join the conversation.
See you soon and many thanks for being part of our network!
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Do you have a blog or publication you would like to promote? Don't hesitate to share it with us via email and we can add it to our newlsetter.
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Thank you so much for joining our network.
Have you recently won an award, had your paper published, launched a book or are you organising an event? We want to hear from you! We are always looking for new content for our newsletter and would love to showcase the great work of our members.
For queries, more information, or just to tell us about yourself, don't hesitate to contact us on Twitter @DefenceResNet or at defenceresearchnetwork@gmail.com
The DRN team
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