Research Community

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.

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.

Laura Grover is a Postdoctoral Research Associate who recently completed a mixed-methods PhD as part of the ADVANCE study at King’s College London. Her doctoral research focused on social support within the ADVANCE cohort - a prospective study examining the long-term psychosocial outcomes of military personnel who sustained combat injuries during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Her work explored differences in social support between injured and uninjured personnel and investigated how social support is associated with mental health and wellbeing. In her current role, Laura contributes to several projects on veteran health, with a particular emphasis on physical health and cognitive decline. She is committed to advancing research that improves understanding of veterans’ long-term health needs and informs evidence-based support.”

Linda Slapakova is a Senior Analyst at RAND where she leads work on the Defence workforce and Armed Forces Community. Her work cuts across personnel policy (particularly understanding future personnel policy challenges, incentivisation, career and talent management) and understanding the experiences and support needs of Veterans and military families. In the latter category, her recent projects have focused on understanding the financial stability of military families, the lived experience of military-to-civilian transition among Veteran cohorts with protected or minority characteristics, and implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant. She is a primarily qualitative researcher and her research interests mainly sit within the field of military sociology and applied policy research.