Research Community

The King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) is the leading civilian UK centre of excellence for military health research providing much-needed evidence on the health and well-being of Serving and ex-Serving personnel and their families. KCMHR’s research relates to conflict and health, occupational psychiatry, personnel issues and social policy. Their research is conducted in four key areas, Serving personnel, ex-Serving personnel, military families (including those of ex-Serving personnel) and interventions.

Kirsty Davies is a second year Doctorate of Education (EdD) student at the University of Winchester with a background in Primary Teaching and Teacher Training. Her husband serves in the British Army and she is currently based in Germany. At the moment, Kirsty is working on her pilot study; due to personal experiences, as a spouse of a serving soldier and mother of three Service children, as well as her professional roles, Kirsty’s research focuses on teachers’ knowledge, understanding and confidence in supporting the needs of Service children in a primary school setting.

Lucy Robinson conducted her PhD at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, funded by an ESRC Grand Union DTP studentship. Her DPhil research aimed to engage in a meaningful and creative way with Service children to explore how military life has shaped their experiences of education and sense of self. Before embarking on her DPhil at Oxford, Lucy completed her PGCE and MEd in Primary Education at the University of Cambridge. In addition to her DPhil work and role as Twitter Manager for the Defence Research Network, Lucy is a Trustee for the Armed Forces Education Trust (AFET).

Philip Dent is the Director of the Service Children's Progression (SCiP) Alliance and has worked for two decades in education, as a teacher and leader of whole-school programmes for disadvantaged groups. He led a regional further and higher education partnership and as a Chief Executive of The Progression Trust, he conducted research, development and training on whole-person approaches to progression for children, young people and adults in the UK and Australia. Additionally, he was an adviser to the Office for Fair Access on national research policy and strategy. Philip also co-founded the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers, now an independent charity. He has a Masters in Research and is particularly interested in intrinsic personal factors impacting on progression through the life-course.

Professor Paul Farrand is Professor of Evidence Based Psychological Practice and Research, and Director of the Low-Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (LICBT) portfolio within Clinical Education, Development and Research (CEDAR), Psychology University of Exeter. He holds several Expert Advisor positions and at an international level acts as a Scientific Advisor regarding worldwide developments in Low-Intensity CBT. He is an internationally renowned expert in LICBT (CBT self-help) and has substantial expertise CBT self-help interventions, especially in a written and mobile phone app format and adapting the interventions for specific groups, such as Armed Forces Veterans, Muslims, Informal Carers and several physical health populations. Paul is currently working on an OVA-funded research project adapting an AI-driven mobile phone app (Iona) to ensure acceptability and effectiveness for ex-servicewomen. 

As a social scientist within Robert Gordon University, Professor Zoe Morrison worked to further the application of business and management studies to policy driven change programmes. Her work aimed to inform leadership and human resource management theory through understanding individual experiences of change, including changing expectations of work, careers and employment, and adoption and implementation of technological innovation. Her interpretivist research agenda was curiosity inspired and theoretically driven, drawing on the sociology of work and organisations, and military and family sociologies. Zoe worked in three areas: health, defence and carbon emissions mitigation, often referred to as decarbonisation. Zoe has now moved role to be the Lead Specialist in Culture and Experience at NHS Grampian.