2024 FiMT Research Centre Conference

On Monday 13^th May 2024, we hosted our annual conference, bringing together researchers, clinicians, service providers and government representatives from across the UK and international Armed Forces Community.  Alongside presentations of research with a potential for real-world impact, the conference facilitated networking, sharing of expertise, and opportunities to catch up with existing colleagues, as well as make new connections.

Following the theme of ‘Research with Impact for ex-Service personnel and their families” the day opened with a warm welcome from Professor Nicola T. Fear, Co-Director of the FiMT RC. This was followed by Dr Mary Keeling, Research Manager of the FiMT RC, providing an update on the Centre's progress, achievements, and future vision. Delegates heard about key milestones in the FiMT RC’s progress such as the development of the online repository, the growth of the ongoing research and research community pages and research and policy summaries focused on ex-Service personnel and the justice system. Dr Keeling also announced the release of the first biannual research landscape bulletin, which uses data from the repository, ongoing research and research community pages to provide an overview of the current Armed Forces research landscape. The bulletin identifies research trends, gaps, and insights from a UK and international perspective.

Closing the first session, Mark Ormrod was interviewed by Professor Sir Simon Wessely, Governance Advisor for the FiMT RC. Mark talked about his journey to recovery following a serious injury from an IED whilst on deployment in Afghanistan that led to him becoming the UK's first triple amputee to survive the Afghanistan conflict. Mark made an extraordinary recovery following his injury, and during this interview thanked those who helped him, saying “The main reason why I survived was the bravery, courage and professionalism of all those around me.” He also spoke about the importance of providing appropriate support for ex-Service personnel, particularly in finding employment suited to their lifestyle and needs. Aligning with the conference's theme, he also discussed ex-Service personnel participation in research, mentioning the ADVANCE study which investigates the long term physical and psychosocial outcomes of battlefield casualties sustained in Afghanistan.

The second session of the morning was chaired by Ruth Harris, Co-Director of the FiMT RC and provided an informative look at the experiences of UK ex-Service personnel and how we can effectively use evidence to inform practice and support to ensure needs are being met.  Dr Sarah Dixon Smith, from the Centre for Blast Injury at Imperial College London, opened the session with a fascinating presentation on a retrospective cohort study of blast injury during the First World War soldiers. Outlining how pension records for this cohort have been a valuable source for understanding factors impacting today’s ex-Service personnel, such as ageing in individuals who have experienced a blast injury, chronic pain, and other co-morbidities experienced post-amputation. This demonstrated the value of historical insight and how this can progress the development of treatment and care for contemporary ex-Service personnel.

Next, delegates heard from Dr Lisa O’Malley from the University of York about the Roadmap to No Veteran Homelessness. This project involved speaking to civilian stakeholders, Serving personnel, and ex-Service personnel, about their experiences and opinions of seeking civilian housing, and of homelessness in ex-Service personnel. This identified complex risk factors for homelessness in the ex-Service personnel community. For example, those who were abruptly discharged are at higher risk of experiencing homelessness, which may be due to having less time to plan civilian accommodation due to suddenly leaving Service. From these findings, recommendations have been developed for the Office for Veterans Affairs, MOD, local authorities and the charity sector. These include a suggestion of guaranteed accommodation for those unexpectedly leaving Service and specific education about housing and financial advice, starting from basic training. Overall, this project has made crucial progress towards the development of proactive support to prevent current and future UK ex-Service personnel from experiencing homelessness.

The last speaker of the session, Professor Lisa Scullion presented findings from the Sanctions, Support and Service Leaver's project, a groundbreaking project exploring ex-Service personnels' experiences navigating the UK Benefits system. Her team has made significant progress in identifying the key challenges faced by Service leavers when attempting to access government benefits, including struggling with complex application processes, poor understanding of ex-Service personnel and their experiences from staff and difficulties in understanding their eligibility for financial support. These findings have already had a significant impact on policy and procedure, being utilised by the Department of Work and Pensions to develop specific support for the Armed Forces community in seeking access to benefits. Going forward, this work will continue to inform and shape the landscape of the UK Benefits system to improve accessibility for ex-Service personnel.

After lunch, the third session was chaired by Michelle Alston, CEO of the Forces in Mind Trust. This session focused on families of Serving and ex-Service personnel, showcasing the importance of understanding how military families are impacted by Service so that evidence can be used to inform support and policy to benefit military families during and post-Service.

Starting the session, Alison Cotton from Oxford Brookes University spoke about GCSE attainment among Service children. The project's findings indicate that Service children are significantly less likely to achieve the highest GCSE grades in comparison with their peers and suggest that higher mobility in a child’s family directly correlates with lower GCSE attainment. These findings highlight a need for greater awareness across the sector and suggest a need for responsive measures such as tracking the educational attainment of Service children to help them reach their potential, and reducing movement of Service children’s family whilst they are in  Key Stages 3 and 4.

Continuing the focus on Service children, Dr Anne Chappell and Dr Ellen McHugh, from Brunel University, provided a qualitative perspective on the personal experiences of adults who self-identified as being from a military family. They found that adult Service children's experiences are considerably complex and individual, involving a range of challenges and positive factors. As an example of this complexity, Service children often experience high levels of geographic mobility and some respondents felt this negatively affected the consistency of their schooling and friendships. However, some felt that moving frequently, was a positive influence, helping them to become more resilient, confident, and open to new experiences. This research has led to the team developing advice for the MOD, schools, and parents to better support Service children in their care, as well as advice for Service children themselves, including encouragement to embrace change and be proud of themselves. They also suggested further research involving adult Service children would be beneficial as this group is a valuable source of lived experience.

Closing this session, Dr Louise Morgan gave a poignant presentation focusing on barriers to help-seeking for domestic abuse faced by civilian partners of Serving personnel. For this project, fifteen women were interviewed who had sought help from the Soldiers', Sailors' & Airmen's Families Association (SSAFA) Stepping Stone Home, a female-only home for Servicewomen, the partners of Serving or former UK Armed Forces personnel, and their children. Louise shared how her research indicates that help-seeking can be impeded by a range of factors such as difficulty in recognising abuse, coercive control from the abusive partner reducing their support system and a lack of knowledge of available support – with participants often finding help from SSAFA accidentally via a third party. These findings are an important addition towards better understanding this vulnerable group. It also raises potential directions for future research, such as exploring why partners struggle to access support via civilian services, and whether this work can be used to further understanding of perpetrators to develop effective prevention of domestic abuse.

In the final session, chaired by Professor Nicola T. Fear, Co-Director of the FiMT RC, the winners of the 2023 FiMT Research Centre awards presented their award-winning research. Unfortunately, Dr Rebecca Randles, winner of the 2023 Research Excellence Award was unable to join us. However, Professor Anthony Bull, winner of the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award, provided an impactful closing presentation. Professor Bull spoke about the importance of interdisciplinary research to achieve impact, highlighting the research undertaken at the Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London, where collaboration between medical clinicians, engineers, and historians has led to groundbreaking work. This has included the development of protective vehicle blast mats to reduce the risk of injury from improvised explosive devices. The centre’s collaborative approach produces robust and impactful research and sets a standard for interdisciplinary working within the Armed Forces research field.

The day also featured a fascinating array of poster presentations, displayed in the main atrium throughout the conference. Examples of posters on display included Dr Hannah-Marie Chidwick from the University of Bristol presenting research comparing ancient Mediterranean and twenty-first century military culture to investigate military health and wellbeing. This identified commonality in stigma around mental health issues in both military cultures alongside parallels in positive aspects such as comradeship and bonding. Dr Celina Shirazipour also presented work on the Invictus games, exploring the experiences of Invictus Games competitors and links between approaches to program delivery and participant well-being following the Games. This found components of training such as goal setting and mental preparation were linked to positive outcomes for participating athletes. Ellen O'Connor from the Royal British Legion presented on the findings from their work analysing need in the Armed Forces Community. This impactful work highlighted areas of unique need and current gaps in evidence such as a lack of understanding of Service children with Special Education needs and disabilities. We're grateful to all eleven poster presenters for contributing their high-quality and conversation-sparking presentations to the day. 

The day ended with Jim MacLeod CB CVO, the Chair of the FiMT Board, presenting the 2024 FiMT Research Centre Awards. Professor Walter Busuttil received the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Dr Cathryn Rodway received the Research Excellence Award, accepted on her behalf by Dr Jodie Westhead. To learn more about the awards, our 2024 winners and their work, you can read our recent awards article here.

The conference was a successful day and fostered new connections and networking across the Armed Forces research, service provision, healthcare, and government sectors. There was a high-energy and productive atmosphere across all sessions, and the day provided a platform for the dissemintation of research that has a profound potential impact on practice and policy affecting ex-Service personnel and their families. We also appreciate the feedback we have received from delegates, which will help build and develop the conference in years to come.

Thank you again to everyone who presented and attended, we look forward to seeing you next year on 20^th May 2025. For updates on next year’s conference, follow our Twitter and LinkedIn and visit our conference website.