Research Community

RAND Europe is a not-for-profit research institute whose mission is to improve policy and decision-making through objective research. It combines the impartiality and academic rigour of a university with the client-oriented delivery approach of a consultancy. RAND Europe’s Defence and Security research group conducts research on a range of subjects, including those relating to Defence workforces and the wider Armed Forces Community. Examples of recent work undertaken by the Defence and Security group in this area include research examining the impact of the Armed Forces Covenant and multiple studies examining areas of potential disadvantage (e.g., employment, financial stability and social care) faced by members of the Armed Forces Community.

Rebecca Steel is the Director of the College for Military Veterans and Emergency Services based at the University of Central Lancashire, she has led the programme of transition and engagement for the armed forces community for the past three years. Rebecca is a strong advocate for education as a pathway to transition.

In addition, Rebecca is from a military family with three service children of her own. Rebecca’s research portfolio involves a number of studies and focusses on the impact of military mobility/transition on education and the future trajectories of families engaged with military service. Rebecca’s research employs participatory and mixed methodologies to explore themes around education, learning, and employment to ensure a level playing field and sense of agency for those hidden voices of the military community who are seldom heard.

Rebecca is currently leading research on identifying the needs of service young people, veterans, and spouses in Further and Higher Education.

Rebecca is a member of the Service Children’s Progression (SCiP) Alliance Management Group, chairs the North West’s SCiP Hub, a founder member of Lancashire Armed Forces Covenant Hub and is involved in several active research programmes locally, nationally and internationally

Sarah Rabin is a PhD student within King's Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) looking at the health and well-being of UK LGBT+ Serving and ex-Serving military personnel. Before she started her PhD, she was a Research Assistant within KCMHR and held a dual role working with the NHS Check project and the Academic Department of Military Mental Health. Sarah received her Master's from King's College London in War and Psychiatry, where her dissertation focused on the final withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and its impact on UK Serving and ex-Serving military personnel. She also holds experience researching suicide prevention within US Veteran communities.

The work of the Stress, Trauma, and Related Conditions (STARC) Research Centre focuses on the psychological well-being and mental health of those who have experienced stress, adversity, and trauma. The team focus on exploring and understanding predictors, correlates, and impacts of a range of psychological disorders including, but not limited to, PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, and Dissociation and work with a range of different populations (healthcare workers, emergency services, Armed Forces, children and adolescents, as well as the general adult population). Additionally, recent efforts have focused on exploring the concept of post adversity psychological resilience.

Tamara Obradovic is a PhD student at the King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR), King’s College London. Tamara's PhD is a mixed methods study exploring the prevalence and impacts of Military Sexual Trauma in ex-Serving females in the UK, with a particular focus on the implications for mental health and help-seeking. Before joining the King’s Centre for Military Health Research, Tamara completed a masters in psychology at the University of Bristol. Her research interests include women's mental health, the mental health impacts of trauma, and occupational mental health.

Tara Zammit is a PhD Candidate in the Department of War Studies at King's College London. She has been awarded the SSHRC-CRSH Department of National Defence MINDS Initiative Doctoral Award to undertake her research. Tara’s research is situated within the fields of ontological security, feminist security studies, and war studies. She is developing a framework for better understanding the interconnectedness of these subjects through an ontological security lens and an analysis of diverse service experiences with the aim of influencing policy to better support women and LGBTQ+ individuals pursuing careers in defence and security.