Research Community

The Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) Research Centre is an independent centre funded by Forces in Mind Trust and run by a consortium of RAND Europe and King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) at King’s College London. The centre provides an accessible and authoritative evidence base exploring the transition from military to civilian life, to inform policy and practice affecting ex-Service personnel and their families in the UK. It also functions as a community hub for the UK Armed Forces research community, connecting researchers, policy makers, and service providers, to support the forging of joined up working and collaboration, and build pathways to impact. This is achieved through various outputs, including but not limited to, a accessible online research repository, informative themed research and policy summaries and primary research exploring key themes impacting the UK ex-Service community. 

The International Centre for Moral Injury (ICMI) is an academic research centre formed to study and understand the causes and impacts of moral injury and dedicated to opening pathways to recovery.

It supports and promotes the development and dissemination of innovative research, pastoral resources and training methods around moral injury, helping to generate new partnerships and collaborations across the world in the furtherance of individual, institutional and societal well-being.

Jemma Lakmaker is a PhD student at Manchester Metropolitan University exploring the experiences of ex-servicemen who became deaf in the First World War and how they were treated upon their return to society. Jemma aims to uncover the experiences of deaf ex-servicemen as a group whose voice is missing from the historical narrative. She is interested in the perceptions of deafness and how this continues to impact the deaf community today. Jemma is proficient in British Sign Language. Jemma is also a trustee for a charity working to ensure disabled people and people from disadvantaged backgrounds are given an equal voice in society and a platform on which to be heard.

Jess is a PhD student at Swansea University. Her PhD focuses on understanding the lived experience of Service personnel, Veterans, and affected others coping with harm from gambling. The research aims to explore how external factors to the military may be linked to the veteran gambling population, to help identify how individuals may be at risk before they join the military but also during and after their service due to these external factors. More specifically it aims to understand what influence the family has on gambling behaviours. 

Kate Salem is a Senior Researcher at the Westminster Centre for Research in Veterans. She has experience conducting mixed-methods research and has led on multiple research projects related to health and well-being in the Armed Forces Community. Kate is also the wife of an Army veteran and is completing her PhD which explores the impact of Veterans' mental health experiences upon their partners, with the aim of highlighting the needs of the military partner population.

Katie is a third-year Trainee Clinical Psychologist at Coventry University/University of Warwick. She currently works clinically in the NHS alongside completing her thesis. Her thesis aims to explore the experiences of problematic eating and exercise behaviours in United Kingdom (UK) male veterans. These behaviours may include but are not restricted to, fasting (not for religious or cultural reasons), binge-eating/over-eating, laxative use, purging and excessive exercise.