Research Community

Liza worked for NHS England as the lead on the Armed Forces Community social prescribing demonstrator. Being from both a military family and living in Plymouth she is looking forward to continuing her work being the Project Lead for the Female Veterans Transformation Programme.

Dr Pamela Almeida-Meza is a Research Associate at the King’s Centre for Military Health Research. She is an epidemiologist whose work investigates how social, occupational, and life-course factors shape mental and physical health across populations. Her research spans ageing, dementia, caregiving, and occupational health, with a focus on health inequalities.

Pamela’s current work focuses on the physical and mental health of UK Armed Forces veterans using primary care data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), contributing to a growing evidence base on the healthcare needs of UK veterans.

The primary focus of Professor Chérie Armour's research programme is on mental health in those who have experienced stress, adversity, and trauma. She focuses on a range of psychological disorders including, but not limited to, PTSD, Depression, Anxiety and Dissociation. Chérie is also focused on exploring the concept of post adversity psychological resilience. She works across child, adolescent, and adult populations and focuses on a range of trauma types including childhood maltreatment, interpersonal, sexual, and domestic violence, and occupational related traumas (experienced by healthcare workers, emergency services and Armed Forces). In addition, Chérie looks at the impact of secondary trauma in families.

Professor Dominic Muprhy is a Clinical Psychologist and Head of Research at Combat Stress. Dominic gained his first degree, an MA in psychology from Glasgow University in 2003.  He then joined King’s College London as part of the team that established the King's Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR). Dominic is President of the UK Psychological Trauma Society (UKPTS) and Executive Board member of the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS). He is also part of the Five Eyes Veterans Mental Health Consortium and works on NATO research task groups. Dominic has specialised clinically and academically within the field of PTSD and military mental health.

Edgar Jones is an authority on the psychological effects of modern war and conflict. He has studied both conventional armed forces and terrorism, exploring how individuals cope during periods of intense stress and the impact of traumatic experiences on their wellbeing. In addition, he has researched moral injury, an enduring belief of being wronged or having been compelled to act in ways that feel wrong, in servicemen and women. He has recently completed a study of Gurkha and Fijian veterans to explore the impact of discrimination on mental health in the UK armed forces. Edgar Jones has also published on risk factors for radicalisation and support of political violence. He has written extensively on shell shock, post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic multi-symptom illness suffered as a result of military service. The author of a number of reports for government and military or mental health charities, his work seeks to shape policy and practice.

Edgar Jones originally studied history, researching a doctorate at Nuffield College, Oxford. He subsequently joined the department of psychiatry at Guy's Hospital where he completed a doctorate in clinical psychopathology and trained as a psychodynamic psychotherapist. Having previously taught at University College London and been a senior research fellow at the LSE, Edgar Jones joined the Institute of Psychiatry in January 1998. He was awarded the Gideon de Laune Gold Medal by the Faculty of the History and Philosophy of Medicine, Society of Apothecaries in 2007, and received a President’s Medal for a significant contribution to improving the lives of people with mental illness from the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2015.

Professor Gerri Matthews-Smith is a Professor within the Edinburgh Napier Business School and is the founder and Director of the Centre for Military Research, Education and Public Engagement, also at Edinburgh Napier university. Gerri is also the lead for the new Scottish Armed Forces Evidence and Research (SAFE&R) Hub and the University Research Lead for Military Research. Gerri’s research work rests within three key disciplines: human and organisational development, management, and wellbeing.