Interested in all things defence? Take a peek inside our
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 May newsletter we are talking about Veterans and Families. 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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Welcome to this edition of the Defence Research Network newsletter, dedicated to the theme of "Veterans and Families." We extend our thanks to committee member Lucy Robinson for leading this theme and coordinating the contributions.
This issue features a series of researcher spotlights focusing on the experiences of service children and young people as well as veteran transitions and cultures. Ranging from researcher bio's to books, reports and research snapshots, the contributions share accompanying articles, publications and contact details should you wish to explore further.
Alongside these spotlights, we present a collection of podcasts that offer in-depth discussions and perspectives on the experiences of military families.
We encourage you to explore the collated events and opportunities section, which details prospective conferences and webinars that will be of interest to our community. These events are excellent opportunities for further learning and networking.
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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Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health (JMVFH) publishes special edition on families
Edited by Lucy Robinson
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The JMVFH special edition on families of military members, Veterans, and public safety personnel is now available online!
Articles in this special edition highlight emerging research, innovative approaches, challenges, trends, and future directions in the field of military family health research. This edition serves to improve understanding about the unique needs of military families and examine implications for policy, practice, and services in the military and Veteran community.
This edition includes contributions from several of our committee members - past and present - Dr Daniel Leightley, Dr Shannon Hill and Lucy Robinson!
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Research Spotlights
Edited by Lucy Robinson
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We are delighted to be able to put the spotlight on some ECRs and some more experienced researchers working in the field of veterans and families! Below, we share with you some recent publications and updates from these individuals, currently on different stages of their research projects.
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First up, we have Kathryn Reeves who has shared her recent blog post - “It was sad. It was shitty”: How Children in Military Families Experience Military Culture.
Kathryn Reeves (She/Her) is a researcher in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is currently completing her Master of Arts degree in Family Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University, where she focuses on the experiences of children in military families. Her research work has broadly explored the impacts of moral injury on Veterans, the impacts of military service related moral injuries on children in military families, militarized culture in the family, and the resiliency of children in military families. As a child of a Veteran herself, Kathryn’s research is inspired by the strength of families on the home front and the desire to amplify their voices to enact meaningful changes to military culture and lifestyle.
Kathryn’s thesis research will explore the intergenerational impacts of military service related Moral Injury, and is supported by Research Nova Scotia (Scotia Scholars Master’s Award), The Royal Canadian Legion/Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health (Royal Canadian Legion Masters Scholarship) and Mount Saint Vincent University (Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Scholarship).
For more information about Kathryn’s research, she can be contacted at Kathryn.Reeves@msvu.ca
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Next up, we have a 'research in progress' update from Kirsty Davis.
Kirsty is a Doctor of Education (EdD) candidate focusing on teachers’ understanding of Service children. Her background was initially in primary school education, including Senior Leadership and Lead Practitioner roles; one of which was on a Strategic School Improvement Fund project, funded by the Department for Education, looking at using a metacognitive approach to accelerate progress in maths with Service children. Kirsty then moved into training teachers as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Winchester, before combining her professional and personal experiences, as a military spouse and a mother of three, and embarking on her EdD.
Currently in the pilot phase of her EdD, she has used semi-structured interviews to gather information regarding teachers’ current knowledge, confidence and understanding in supporting Service children in a primary school setting. In addition, Kirsty has created a survey to find out whether qualified teachers had any input in their teacher training regarding supporting Service children. The findings will be analysed to identify key themes which will then be used to inform her thesis, where she currently plans to enhance teacher training to better inform trainee teachers’ knowledge on Service children.
She can be contacted on k.davies.22@unimail.winchester.ac.uk. If you are a qualified teacher and would like to take part in her survey, you can do so here.
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Lucy Robinson shares her recent work- 'Military life, mobility, and me: A collection of composite images by British service children' - published in an special edition - The strength beside the uniform - of the Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health.
The four snapshots originate from my ongoing doctoral research exploring how military life shapes British service children’s identity and educational experiences. Over a series of sessions, 19 service children aged 9 to 16 years engaged with several creative activities including self-portraits and relational maps and timelines, supported by exploratory questions and group discussion. For the snapshots, I used images, spoken word, and text from the data corpus to create four compositive images that reflect British service children’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences around two military lifestyle dimensions — mobility and identity.
The goal of the snapshots is threefold. First, to act as a platform for service children’s voices to be amplified and taken seriously. Second, to act as a discussion point for readers so they can engage with the snapshots to spark conversation, draw comparisons, and — where applicable — reminisce about their own experiences of military childhood. Third, to advance current understanding of the experiences of British service children, as they continue to embody the strength beside the uniform.
Lucy is a fourth year doctoral student at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, funded by an ESRC Grand Union DTP studentship. Her doctoral research aims to engage in a meaningful and creative way with service children to explore how service life has shaped their experiences of education and sense of self. By choosing this focus, the research seeks to widen and nuance current understanding of service children’s educational experiences in addition to furthering knowledge into how service children see themselves. As a result of this, it is hoped that the research will support in developing the professional body of knowledge and understanding of this group of children in schools and help inform the Service Pupil Premium (SPP) funding choices in addition to wider school practice.
You can drop Lucy an email lucy.robinson@education.ox.ac.uk or - follow her on Twitter/X and/or LinkedIn.
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Dr Nick Caddick shares his soon-to-be published book - The Cultural Politics of Veterans’ Narratives: Beyond the Wire. In it, Nick investigates the role of veterans’ stories in our collective cultural and political life. Drawing on contemporary narrative theory, it offers a conceptual framework for studying veterans’ narratives, followed by a series of unique empirical chapters dealing with different genres of veteran storytelling, including trauma, transition, culture and identity, and the Afghanistan war memoir.
As Nick explains, "I decided to write about the “cultural politics of veterans’ narratives” as a way of furthering my longstanding interest in veterans’ stories and how they shape our ideas about war and military life. I’ve been reading, listening to, and in various ways engaging with veterans’ stories for more than a decade and over that time grown increasingly interested in what these stories are doing in our collective moral, social and political life. Writing this as a long-form argument in a book project gave me an opportunity to write about veterans’ narratives in more general terms, and hopefully to make a broader contribution to the field than my previous articles might have accomplished. Writing the book was an intellectual and practical challenge (especially in terms of workload), but I did receive outstanding support from the editorial team at Edinburgh University Press as well as the series editors Sarah Bulmer and Victoria Basham. The book is due to be released in August under the Advances in Critical Military Studies series – which I’m very glad to now be part of as it includes some excellent work on a huge variety of topics connected to war, militarism, and the people wrapped up in these social institutions."
Dr Nick Caddick is Associate Professor of Political Sociology and Deputy Director of the Veterans and Families Institute (VFI) at Anglia Ruskin University. His work focuses on narrative as an analytical and conceptual tool for studying legacies of conflict for veterans and other groups impacted by war and conflict. Nick leads the ‘Culture, Politics and Narrative’ workstream at the VFI, with a particular emphasis on narrative global politics; that is, how global politics takes place in and through narrative at the macro and micro levels of narrative and storytelling. Nick is also currently a trustee at the British International Studies Association and the current conference programme chair for 2024.
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Dr Rachael Gribble shares her reflections and summary of findings for a recent project - the UK Veterans Family study - she was involved in.
It is wonderful to see the Defence Research Network continuing to focus on families and how they experience the benefits and challenges of life within the Armed Forces community. This issue is particularly timely following the release earlier this year of the main findings from the UK Veterans Family Study. Funded by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT), the study, a collaboration between the King’s Centre for Military Health Research, King’s College London and the Research Centre for Stress Trauma and Related Conditions (STARC), Queen’s University Belfast, as well as researchers at Combat Stress, Anglia Ruskin University, Glasgow Caledonian University, and Cardiff University/Veterans’ NHS Wales, sought to address the lack of understanding about the post-Service experiences of military family members across the UK. The main aims were to:
1. investigate the health and well-being of veterans, their partners, and their adult children
across the four UK nations;
2. identify factors that support or challenge veteran family health and well-being, and;
3. examine current and future support needs, help-seeking, and barriers to care.
Overall, we found that most veteran families appeared to have good psychological health and well-being after military Service. While caution is needed given low numbers, a small number of veterans, their partners, and their adult children may need additional support with symptoms of post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and alcohol misuse. Veterans in Northern Ireland and Wales may also be at risk of poorer health and well-being.
A summary of the key findings can be found here, with the full report available here. Work is ongoing and we look forward to sharing the findings as they develop.
Rachael Gribble is a Lecturer in War & Psychiatry at King’s College London. A mixed methods researcher with a background in public health, the focus of her work is on understanding how occupation influences the well-being of families, especially that of partners of UK military personnel and veterans. @rjgribble @kcmhr
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Dr Amy Johnson has recently co-produced a publication to help military families talk through “Moral Injuries”.
Dad’s Moral Injury Cloud: Lara’s Story is a research informed picture book, published by Children’s Family Resilience Programs, a University of New England-led initiative creating free early childhood and school-aged resources for children from military, veteran, first responder and remote worker families.
The book represents moral injury as a cloud, and provides a springboard for a child impacted by a parent’s moral injury to discuss their experiences. A moral injury is defined as an extreme life experience that violates an individual’s deeply-held beliefs or moral values, leaving feelings of shame, guilt or blame. The book fills a gap for children who don’t understand the impact of a moral injury on their parents. The resource acknowledge that the entire family is impacted after an injury or trauma, and the resources have a particular focus on helping build understanding, strength and coping skills in children and their support networks.
An accompanying interactive module for parents includes videos explaining moral injury and experiences with it, information on behavioural impacts, and where to go to find support in the UK, Canada and Australia.
The final, free, online version of ‘Dad’s Moral Injury Cloud: Lara’s Story’ and parent module can be found on the Children and Family Resilience Programs website. They’ve been developed with a grant from the Foundation of Graduates in Early Childhood Studies and in-kind funding from the Manna Institute.
As with all the resources developed by the Children and Family Resilience Programs team, the book and module have been developed in collaboration with many researchers, support workers, clinicians and those with lived experience. The book and module are currently available for feedback, including in a formal trial with the Kings College Centre for Military Health Research with families in the UK.
Dr Amy Johnson is a military families sociologist, researcher and lecturer at Central Queensland University. Her research focus is military-connected communities including veterans, families and children. Her research seeks to understand and navigate the impacts of service on the Defence community. Amy has lived experience of military service as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy (Reserve) and the partner of an ADF veteran. She regularly provides advice about military family support to government advisory bodies and military command teams.
A passionate educator, Amy is the discipline lead for Public Relations and Journalism in the School of Education and the Arts as well as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her work has been published in a range of scholarly journals and she is a regular public commentator.
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Abigail Wood, and her colleagues Dr Leanne Gray and Professor Matt Fossey at Veterans and Families Institute for Military Social Research recently published ‘Navigating modern communication: Royal Air Force service children and partners' experiences of communication’.
This research project explored how RAF families used internet-based communication methods to stay connected during periods of separation. Researchers interviewed 17 RAF young people aged between 11-21 and 9 partners of RAF service personnel with children aged under 21 in a mix of 1-on-1 interviews and focus groups. Vignettes were employed with young person focus groups and interviews to prompt discussion around their experiences of communication.
For many families social media and internet-based methods were their main and preferred form of communication; highlighting the importance of understanding how these modern methods may differ from traditional phone calls, letters, and emails. Families described several benefits including how internet-based methods made it easier to communicate due to their immediacy, which allowed parents to be more flexible with timings and communicate on the go, and the serving parent to remain more involved in day-to-day decision-making and parenting. The unique benefits of video calls were commonly discussed with families sharing how video calls felt more real and natural. Both partners and young people commented on the benefits of being able to do things on video calls while communicating, for young people this focused on being able to show new and exciting things like an award or new top, and partners spoke to the ability to multitask and a sense of involving the serving parent in the normalcy of the day-to-day at home like being able to ‘potter about’ whilst on calls.
However, the internet-based communication method should not be viewed as a fix-all to previous challenges related to military family communication. Families still shared difficulties they faced finding time to communicate, and challenges related to their variable access to a stable internet connection. Families also spoke about the emotional challenges associated with these new forms of communication, such as feeling pressurised by the expectation of regular communication, dilemmas around choosing how much to share about difficult situations at home, and heightened concerns for the safety of their serving loved one when communication was unexpectedly unavailable.
Abigail Wood is a Research Fellow at the Veteran and Families Institute for Military Social Research. Her research focuses on both service families' experiences of military life, and women's experiences in the Armed forces and subsequent post-service experiences and needs.
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Siobhan Cambridge has recently begun her PhD focusing on the experience of ‘military mobility’ for adolescents from British Army families. Find out more about her background and research plans below:
Siobhan is a first year fully funded PhD student at The Veterans and Families Institute for Military Social Research, at Anglia Ruskin University. Siobhan’s research aims to understand the experience of ‘military mobility’ for adolescents from British Army families.
Siobhan’s dad served in the British Army for 21 years, so as a child from an Armed Forces family, she has a personal passion for this topic area. Siobhan’s partner is also a captain in the Army, who has served for 9 years.
Siobhan has recently moved back to the UK after being based in British Forces Cyprus for 2.5 years, where she worked as a Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHs) Nurse, for SSAFA Community Health. She plans on continuing to support this community alongside her current research project. She has recently volunteered to support children and adolescents from Naval connected families to Lourdes, for a week over Easter 2024, with the HCPT Portsmouth 186 group.
She has 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 research background has always been focused on the Armed Forces or Veterans community, with the aim to promote awareness of experiences, challenges and to recommend support. She has a publication which explored The Transition Experiences of British Military Veterans.
If you are interested and would like to follow Siobhan’s journey, please follow her on LinkedIn.
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Lisa Jane Barrington has recently co-published a journal article, Alcohol-related harm and the armed forces community: developing a culturally competent, compassionate approach to care (rcni.com).
Lisa Jane Barrington is an NHS Clinical Nurse Specialist in alcohol care, associate lecturer and early career researcher, currently completing an NIHR-funded pre-doctoral fellowship, inspired by her clinical work supporting military veterans. Building upon her previous research, which explored self-compassion in the context of alcohol dependence, Lisa's current research focuses upon women veterans’ experiences of identity and alcohol, using her knowledge of fashion and textiles to creatively explore and understand women's experiences, with a view to improve alcohol care services and pathways.
You can contact Lisa at lisa.barrington@mft.nhs.uk or via X @lisajbarrington
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Anna Henrick is a PhD student at Liverpool Hope University, conducting research on females’ who served in the British military. Her project study focuses on how participating in competitive sports has influenced their sense of self and identity after sustaining physical or psychological injuries during their service. This research aims to give voice to this under-researched population and seeks to understand the unique journey of women after they exit the military.
With the objective to uncover the impact of sports on female veterans, participation in the study involves a confidential one-on-one interview to discuss female veterans experiences during these pivotal life stages. Additionally, participants will create a social identity map, a visual representation of the various social groups they belong to.
If you are interested in participating in this study, you can contact Anna at hendria@hope.ac.uk.
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Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) Research Centre Conference 2024
Edited by Lucy Robinson
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This month saw the FiMT Research Centre Conference being held in London. This year's theme was 'Research with impact for ex-Service personnel and their families’. Below, Alison Cotton, final year PhD student and one of the speakers, shares her reflections on the day.
In January, I submitted an abstract about some of my PhD research to FiMT to be considered for presenting at their conference at Kings College London. About four weeks later, I found out that my submission had been successful and would be one of three presentations around military families in the third session of the day.
My study is about the GCSE attainment of children from military families in England and the impact that mobility has on that attainment. For this study, the population sample consists of young people from the National Pupil Database (NPD) who took GCSE exams (or equivalents) in the summers of 2018 and 2019.
The NPD is an education dataset and is owned and managed by the Department for Education. It contains extensive information at both the individual level and school level about all pupils who attend state schools in England. Access to the NPD is through the Secure Research Service (SRS), which is part of the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Due to the potential sensitivity of analysing data from the NPD, all outputs are required to be submitted to the SRS for clearance before they can be shared outside of the research team. This meant that I had to be really organised with my PowerPoint presentation and related speech because I had to allow about four weeks before the conference for it all to be cleared by the SRS.
The day of the conference came round quickly and as my presentation slot drew nearer (the first slot after lunch at 14:10) I grew increasingly nervous. However, chatting with the other presenters in my session as we waited, enabled us to support each other and they shared that they were feeling nervous too.
I found that once I started presenting, I soon got into the swing of it. It really helped that I was presenting findings from my own research that I knew inside out. It also helped that the computer screen from which I was reading my notes was positioned so that I could only see people sat on the right-hand side of the very large auditorium! After I had finished presenting, I felt such relief and a real sense of achievement that I had completed my presentation successfully with no major dramas.
After the next two presentations had finished, the other presenters and I sat on a panel for a Q & A session. This was a first for me and a bit daunting, but the audience were very kind. Again, I felt very supported from the other presenters.
What I wasn’t expecting, was the large number of people who approached me to talk about my presentation and research afterwards, both on the day and the following day at the Kings Centre for Mental Health Research conference. I spoke to so many people and I am amazed and delighted that my research has sparked such interest and conversation. It made all the preparation and nervousness worth it!
The next part of my research is to interview school staff to gain an understanding of their knowledge and experiences around children from Service families and SEND. If you know of any teachers who might be interested in taking part or if you wish to find out more about my research, then please contact me on: 19176796@brookes.ac.uk
Alison is a final year PhD student at Oxford Brookes University and her research is around the educational attainment and Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) in the families of UK Armed Forces Personnel. Alison grew up in an RAF family in Lincolnshire before completing a teaching degree. She has always been interested in why some children find learning more difficult than their peers and so completed an MEd in Learning Difficulties and a PGDip in Dyslexia and Literacy. For over half of her 23-year teaching career, Alison worked with children with SEND, including Autism, Developmental Language Disorder, ADHD and Dyslexia. Alison is a qualified Specialist Teacher who holds AMBDA and an APC. She is also a member of PATOSS.
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The Map Of Need Aggregation Research Study – the MONARCH Study
Edited by Lucy Robinson
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The Map Of Need Aggregation Research Study – the MONARCH Study
The military community is a distinct population with some unique health needs requiring tailored policies and interventions. The development of evidence-based health and social care services for military Veterans is imperative and can only be achieved with a comprehensive understanding of how different services across the UK are currently used. The long-term aim of MONARCH is to reduce the instances of health and social care crisis in the Veteran’s community by informing early identification and intervention strategies. This work, led by Professor Matt Kiernan and his team at Northumbria University, will transform data utilisation to support Veterans.
The MONARCH study's strategy involves aggregating extensive data on Veterans and their families from the various data sources that currently exist to create a comprehensive dataset providing a dynamic overview of services being used and hence a window into Veterans’ needs. This aggregated dataset will enable the identification of characteristics associated with specific service users, forming the foundation for proactive health and social care interventions for those who do not currently seek services. This approach sits central to the NHS approach of ‘make every contact count’ and ‘get it right first time’.
One of the limitations about data currently available is that looking at data in silos, such as data for each individual charity, is that it fails to reveal the broader picture of the military charity sector and other services Veterans might use. Additionally, the risk of double counting and over-representing service usage is significant if systems do not identify individuals who use multiple services. While analysis of a single charity's data might be useful for that charity, it is not helpful for the Office for Veterans' Affairs (OVA), Ministry of Defence (MOD), NHS, Local Government, and the wider charity sector, all of whom need to understand how the entire population uses services. A reliable, comprehensive resource is necessary to inform policy, resource allocation, and service development.
The MONARCH project will collect personal information. For this reason, data security is provided by robust data management procedures, in accordance with the Data Protection Act (2018) and the GDPR (2018). Personal information will be deleted when the unique anonymous identifier is generated by adopting a Secure Hashing Algorithm (SHA). SHA is a method of applying a unique anonymous identifier to individual data and then removing identifying data for good. This SHA function ensures both data integrity and authentication. A hash function considers a set of input variables and generates a ‘fingerprint’ to uniquely identify a specific record. For the MONARCH study, three variables—military service number, date of birth, and gender—are used to generate the SHA unique ID. If these three variables remain unchanged, the SHA will always generate the same 64-digit ID. This process allows the full anonymisation of datasets and the aggregation of individual service usage data across multiple datasets anonymously. This approach ensures the integrity and confidentiality of data while providing a comprehensive view of service usage patterns among Veterans.
For more information please contact: Professor Matt Kiernan matt.kiernan@northumbria.ac.uk or Meri Mayhew (Charity Stakeholder Relationship Manager) meri@mericonsulting.co.uk
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Month of the Military Child #MotMC
Edited by Lucy Robinson
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April is the 'month of the military child' and after another successful year, we hear from Katie Salari, CEO of the charity Never Such Innocence, which held a poetry and art competition as part of the celebrations:
April 2024 marks the third annual Month of the Military Child celebrations in the UK. It is a time to recognise the important role that military children play in the greater Armed Forces family. As part of their Voices of Armed Forces Children Programme, charity Never Such Innocence held a poetry and art competition, open to both service and civilian children, 6-18. This year’s poetry and art competition asked children and young people to respond to the theme Life as a Dandelion. Entries explored why this flower is the symbol of the service child and representative of their unique qualities. Schools and individuals across Great Britain, as well as service children living abroad (Cyprus, Belgium, Brunei, Falkland Islands and Naples), submitted some brilliant pieces.
The judges had a difficult time picking the winners! Andrew Malcolm, Senior Education Officer from the Ministry of Defence shared, 'Each year I'm always incredibly impressed with the quality of the work and the amazing talents of the children. Judging this competition is always a highlight of the Month of the Military Child for me.’ A total of 15 winners were picked from the tri-services and included 3 civilian winners, all of whom are being invited to London for a special award ceremony at the Main Building of the Ministry of Defence.
All of the winning work can be viewed at the following link: https://indd.adobe.com/view/1b39ea30-0747-431b-a088-7e79d4a95283.
Below is one of the winning pieces, titled 'Forever Twirling', created by two sisters, Elodie and Imogen, aged between 9-11 from an RAF family.
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The Female Veterans’ Transformation Programme wants to work with you.
Edited by Hannah West
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We need your help to co-produce a toolkit for use by service providers in the commercial, statutory and charitable sectors, helping transform service provision for female veterans - the 250,000 strong group whose specific needs are not being addressed by current service provision. The toolkit could be a digital resource, awareness-raising resources, or an interactive app.
The 3-year, UK-wide and tri-service programme is funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust and NHS England, in partnership with the Cobseo Female Veterans Cluster and the Women’s Royal Army Corps Association.
“The programme aims to build a legacy where
female veterans feel confident to access the right support, at the right time, and in the right way for them,”
Colonel (Retd) Alison Brown OBE, Chair of the Cobseo Female Veterans’ Cluster Group.
- Are you a female veteran? If you have ever served, whether for one day or 22+ years, we would love to hear from you, even if you have never accessed support services
- Are you a service provider, employer or charity that work with female veterans?
Please head over to our website (fvtp.org.uk/get-involved) and complete the relevant questionnaire to help us find out: 'What does 'good' look like for female veterans services?'.
You are the experts on service provision for female veterans and we can't do this without your voices.
📝 If you are a female veteran and also work providing services to female veterans, employ female veterans or work in a charity working with veterans then please complete both questionnaires.
📝 If you are part of an organisation that does not identify as veteran-facing but nonetheless may have female veterans as employees or clients please complete our questionnaire also as we would love to hear from you too.
We know that you have probably been asked for your opinions and views A LOT and may feel like there is ‘no point’ or ‘no-one ever listens’, so we agave committed to produce a ‘you said…..we did’ response to the co-production which will eventually be available on our website for you to see and to check we listened.
We are holding a series of workshops across the UK (many more to follow), the first of which start next week in Birmingham. Please sign up to come and contribute to the conversation. You can find out more and register at the links below:
Plymouth (6 June): https://eventbrite.co.uk/e/910059882607
Birmingham (6 June): https://eventbrite.co.uk/e/907452072577
Birmingham (7 June): https://eventbrite.co.uk/e/909880907287
Yeovil (17 June): https://eventbrite.co.uk/e/910058137387
If you have a recent focus group report about the experiences of female veterans then please send it our way. If you are running focus groups or having an informal gathering of female veterans for a coffee and you might be able to incorporate our questions, check out our facilitator’s pack (fvtp.org.uk/get-involved) providing guidance on how you could do this.
Your opinion matters so any information you can provide will go a long way to helping other female veterans in the future.
Thank you.
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Suicide Bereavement UK's 'At Your Side' guides for those bereaved by suicide in the Armed Forces
Edited by Lucy Robinson
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Suicide Bereavement UK have developed a series of evidence-based guides for those bereaved by suicide in the armed forces community. Three ‘At Your Side’ guides have been written by the bereaved, for the bereaved. Each guide supports a different group of the armed forces community: veterans and families; with a further guide for those serving due to be launched later this year.
The guides were commissioned by NHS England and co-produced with individuals bereaved by suicide, as well as experts in military mental health, suicide prevention and bereavement.
The guides are based on the experiences and needs of those who took part in the Armed Forces Suicide Bereavement Study; all have been bereaved by suicide, having lost a friend, colleague, spouse, partner, adult child, parent or sibling during or after military service.
A launch event for the guides was hosted at the Speakers Room, Westminster (pictured below), bringing together people from various sectors, those bereaved by suicide in the Armed Forces community and those who helped develop the guides.
Please CLICK HERE to download the FREE guides.
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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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What we have been listening to
Edited by Lucy Robinson
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SQUAD is a podcast for military teenagers. It’s the first podcast of its kind to hand the microphone over to military children aged 13-18 and ask them to share their own views and experiences of military life.
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QVS Insights is a series of short podcasts delivered by Forces Children Scotland, thanks to funding from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust. They have been co-produced with pupils from Queen Victoria School – a boarding school for children and young people from armed forces and veteran families.
The podcast’s aim to help young people who are about to join the school and their parents – to provide information to make the move to QVS a little easier. The podcasts also aim to help civilian peers from state school to better understand how life at a boarding school is different from their day-to-day experiences.
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The Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research has launched a new limited series podcast, Beyond the Battlefield. Providing exclusive access to cutting-edge insights on the intersection of science and service, Beyond the Battlefield is committed to bridging the gap between military, Veteran and family health research and real-world impact. Each week, join host Dr. Nicholas Held as he meets with leading researchers and people with lived experience to discuss contemporary issues affecting this population.
Available now on all major listening platforms!
➡️ YouTube
➡️ Spotify
➡️ Apple Podcasts
➡️ JMVFH
There are 6 total episodes in this series of Beyond the Battlefield. New episodes are released every Monday at 5am EST.
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Other podcasts to check out:
Totally Terrorism
War on the Rocks
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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May Twitter Hour: Veterans and Families
Edited by Lucy Robinson
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This month's #TwitterHour was on 'Veterans and Families'! Thank you very much to all those who engaged with the four questions. Below, we share the highlights!
1. Name one thing you would want the civilian community to know about veterans and families?
- For me, it would be that there is not one singular type of service family, and by extension, service child. Rather, service children are a heterogeneous group made up of children and young people who have a diverse range of service-related life experiences.
- similar thing for me, Service families may experience similar things, but how they experience them is different- and this needs to be reflected in support.
- I come at this from the perspective of working with/researching with female veterans and military spouses and the exact same thing applies i.e. the need to recognise the diversity of experiences and identities.
- Life is challenging for veterans and their family members. Most veterans break when they lose the structure and order and then try to adjust to life after the service.
2. What do you think will be the main areas of focus in future years when it comes to veterans and families?
- I think there will be a need to explore the ways veteran's bring military culture and identity with them and the ways they reject it.
- Agree with this. Working in veterans mental health, identity is a core theme that emerges over and over again when thinking about mental health & transition more widely.
- That's a great point. Do they see themselves as part of the institution? Is that a good/bad thing? Identities are complicated. Considering Canada and veterans - the very idea of who can/should use that label is contentious.
- It's similar here in the UK. And yes, definitely identities are complex - relationship to the institution, & degree of identification with it, add layers of complexity. Esp for those who have been harmed by the institution which they identify with, & base their identity on.
- Our Evidence Review, drawing on sector-wide research, explored the needs of female veterans identifying areas needing further research which we hope will drive future research agendas. To view the full report and infographic visit: http://fvtp.org.uk/publications.
 - Capacity building, community integration, trauma-informed care, and the usual best-in-class mental and physical wellbeing.
- Late to the game, but exploring how military culture is enacted within the home and families is going to be vital as we think about culture change and the future of the military.
3. What are the challenges of knowledge exchange between academia and the practitioner community?
- I'd say, in many instances, time. For example, PhD research is designed to be completed in 3-4 years with the 'end-point' being the submission of the thesis and/or the viva. Therefore, there's very often no dedicated time for knowledge exchange.
- Making research accessible (i.e., open access & writing style), relatable, and practical.
- Language has to be one of our biggest challenges, being able to convey our findings, aspirations, needs and ideas in ways that are understood by all involved is vital. Networks and individuals who straddle both communities can be great allies in this.
- I think creative methods are invaluable in sharing ideas in new and accessible ways that cross traditional boundaries too.
- Time, accessibility, engagement, awareness.
- I think accessibility is a great answer - before, after, and who. Gaining access to speak to military members. Having an opportunity to present findings. Ability to speak to larger groups / different ranks.
- Time and resource gaps, language barriers, power dynamics, and, if I am candid, incentives and rewards for engaging.
4. Can you recommend some resources for those researching veterans and families?
Thanks again to all those who contributed! #DefResChat
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What we're reading
Edited by Veronika Poniscjakova
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Building China into a Cyber Superpower: Desires, Drivers, and Devices
Munish Sharma
Given China’s recent decision to restructure its armed forces and its increasing ambitions when it comes to its cyber power, this new book comes at the right time. It provides a comprehensive look into China’s emerging cyberspace strategy, detailing its drivers and resource allocation. The book analyses China's domestic cyber policies, advocacy for cyber sovereignty, and its stance on cyberspace governance and security. It also explores advancements in AI, quantum sciences, and cyber warfare.
You can get a copy here.
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Normandy: the Sailors' Story: A Naval History of D-Day and the Battle for France
Nick Hewitt
With the 80th anniversary of D-Day approaching, this fascinating new book may be an appropriate read. It highlights the often-overlooked naval campaign crucial to the Allied liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe. The author uses new material to depict the intense sea battles and complex operations which enabled the Allied assault. The book recounts sailors' stories for the first time, demonstrating how their efforts were essential to the success of D-Day and the Normandy landings.
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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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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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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June: Conference Takeover
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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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