Research Community

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 Glyn Howatson is an Army Veteran and is currently a Professor in Human and Applied Physiology. His research interests predominantly lie in optimising human performance (from clinical populations to elite athletes). He focuses on understanding the stress-recovery-adaptation continuum using training and nutritional interventions to manipulate human physiology. His work has encompassed the interaction of bio-psych-social factors influencing the human condition and the sex differences affecting human performance.

Professor Matt Kiernan is the Director of The Northern Hub for Veterans and Military Families' Research at Northumbria University. Prior to this, he was the Head of Mental Health Nursing in the Royal Navy, the Specialist Nurse Advisor for Mental Health (Royal Navy) and the Defence Specialist Nurse Advisor (Mental Health). In his current role, he leads a range of research projects involving Veterans, Service personnel and their families, exploring health and social care, public health, psychology, social policy, human geography and nursing.

Professor Nicola Fear holds a Chair in Epidemiology at the Academic Department of Military Mental Health and is Director of the King's Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) at King’s College London and one of the Directors of the Centre for Evidence for the Armed Forces Community. Nicola has worked in the field of occupational health throughout her career, including within the UK Ministry of Defence as their Consultant Epidemiologist. She trained in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Oxford, from where she obtained her doctorate. Professor Fear is one of the Principal Investigators on the KCMHR military cohort study and leads several studies looking at the impact of military service on families. 

Professor Sir Simon Wessely FRS is a Psychiatrist and Epidemiologist. He started his psychiatry training at the Maudsley in 1984, and has been at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neurosciences, King’s College London, ever since. He established the King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) in 1996 and remains the Co-director alongside Professor Nicola Fear. His main areas of research have been in unexplained symptoms/syndromes, military health, epidemiology, clinical trials and how populations and people react to adversity.

Professor Karatzias, is a Professor of Mental Health at Edinburgh Napier University, UK and a Clinical & Health Psychologist at the Rivers Centre for Traumatic Stress, Edinburgh, UK. He is the Director of Research at Edinburgh Napier University. He is a former Chair of the British Psychological Society Scotland Working Party for Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse (BPSSS) and is a current member of the Committee of the British Psychological Society (BPS) Crisis, Disaster & Trauma Section and UK Psychological Trauma Society (UKPTS). He has spent his entire clinical and academic career working in the field of psychological trauma. In collaboration with national and international research partners he has developed a special interest in the effects and treatment of psychological trauma on physical and mental health; on prison populations; and on people with learning disabilities. He has published widely in these areas.