FiMT Research Centre Conference 2025

Speakers

• 

  Professor Janet M Lord CBE

  University of Birmingham

  Professor Janet Lord CBE is emeritus Professor of Immune Cell Biology and was founding director of the Institute for Inflammation and Ageing at Birmingham University. Her primary research focus is in the effect of ageing upon immune function and how this limits the ability of older adults to resolve inflammation and predisposes them to chronic inflammatory disease such as Rheumatoid arthritis. She also researches the link between chronic systemic inflammation and physical frailty, notably sarcopenia, in old age and chronic disease. Professor Lord has a particular interest in the role played by stress (physical and psychological) and the altered HPA axis in modulating immunity and frailty in old age and following an injury such as hip fracture. More recently she has begun to research the inflammatory response to major trauma and how this varies with age and influences patient outcomes. 
• 

  Sue Liburd MBE DL

  Sage Blue

  Sue is a multi-award-winning businesswoman and senior executive advisor. A British Army veteran, she served for seven years in a variety of appointments. Currently, Sue is Deputy Chair of the NHS England Armed Forces Public Patient Voice Advisory Group, notably contributing to initiatives on gender, race and ethnicity. She is a non-executive director for NHS Humber Health Partnership Group and Board lead for the Armed Forces Covenant. Sue is a member of the Government’s Veteran’s Advisory Board, and an Army Race Champion on the Army’s Strategic Race Advisory Board. Her academic research focuses on constructively disrupting workplace cultures, exploring diversity management paradoxes, and developing frameworks for organisational change. Sue is emerging as an insightful voice on inclusive leadership across both public and private sectors.
• 

  Catherine Galley

  RAND Europe

  Catherine is a data scientist at RAND Europe whose work primarily focuses on applying statistical modelling to data on the Armed Forces community. Her ongoing work includes forecasting the size and demographics of the Armed Forces community out to 2040 and estimating the cost and prevalence of poor transitions from the Armed Forces. Catherine primarily focuses on a Bayesian statistical approach, incorporating expert knowledge and uncertainty to provide evidence in areas with missing and incomplete data. She is also the deputy lead for RAND Europe’s Defence Workforce and Armed Forces Community portfolio. 
• 

  Dr Karishma Jivraj

  FiMT Research Centre

  Dr Karishma Jivraj is a chartered psychologist who has worked in the field of mental heath research since 2012 across various academic institutions, the National Institute for Health Research and the NHS. Her doctoral work demonstrated ways to improve service delivery in community mental health services and recent projects she has led have drawn on positive psychology approaches to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of clinical and non-clinical populations. She is currently conducting research to explore the psychosocial benefits of Military Service and impact on post-Service life.
• 

  Dr Marie-Louise Sharp

  King's College London and University of Birmingham

  Dr Marie-Louise Sharp is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR). She has led work on the SUSTAIN study funded by FiMT examining ex-servicewomen’s experiences of military to civilian transition and on Phase 4 of the KCMHR Health and Wellbeing Cohort study funded by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs. Marie-Louise is also Senior Behavioural Research Fellow (UKRI Policy Fellow) at the University of Birmingham seconded into the Cabinet Office. Marie-Louise is a mixed methods researcher and has expertise in psychological medicine and social epidemiology with an interest in high-risk occupations such as the Armed Forces and Emergency Responders.
• 

  Dr Rajeev Ramchand

  RAND

  Dr Rajeev Ramchand is codirector of the RAND Epstein Family Veterans Policy Research Institute. He studies the prevalence, prevention, and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders with a primary focus on suicide prevention and caregiving. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles, reports, book chapters, and commentary. He serves on many national committees and in 2022 was a member of the Department of Defense Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee. He holds a Ph.D. in psychiatric epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a B.A. in economics from the University of Chicago.
• 

  Dr Gill McGill

  Northumbria University

  Over the last 10 years, Gill has established expertise in military studies, known for her research on social isolation, loneliness, bereavement, vulnerability, diversity, and peer-informed research. She specialises in translational and transformative methodologies, producing impactful, evidence-based work. As Principal Investigator on the LGBT+ veterans research project Lost and Found, Gill has gained national and international recognition for highlighting the harmful effects of the military 'gay ban' policy and advocating for this community. Her work with the military bereaved community has contributed to a body of published journal articles and appointment as an academic expert.
• 

  Dr Brian Powers

  Durham University

  Brian Powers is a systematic theologian, the Bernard William Vann Fellow in Christianity and the Armed Forces at Durham University and executive director of the International Centre for Moral Injury, which is dedicated to deepening the understanding of moral injury internationally and exploring and sharing sources of recovery.  A former officer in the U.S. Air Force and veteran of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, he regularly argues for the applicability of theological and religious conceptual vocabularies in engaging situations of moral trauma resulting from wartime violence. 
• 

  Dr Sharon McDonnell

  Suicide Bereavement UK

  Dr Sharon McDonnell, is the Managing Director of Suicide Bereavement UK, Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester and a Winston Churchill Fellow. She has specialised in suicide bereavement research for over 20 years. Her work is recognised internationally. Sharon has led several ground-breaking research projects including i) the translation of research findings into PABBS evidence-based suicide bereavement training, which is first of its kind internationally; ii) the national suicide bereavement survey, which is the largest suicide bereavement survey internationally; iii) the development of ‘At Your Side’ guides for the AF community bereaved by suicide, which are first of their kind internationally.  She has received numerous awards for her work in this field. She is also an ex-army wife and personally bereaved by suicide.
• 

  Dr Cathryn Rodway

  National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) at the University of Manchester

  Dr Cathryn Rodway has worked in mental health and suicide prevention research for over fifteen years. She is Programme Manager and Research Fellow at the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH), assisting with the day-to-day management of the NCISH - a UK-wide research programme of suicide prevention in clinical services. Cathryn is the principal investigator for the national review of higher education student suicides and for a study examining the effects of patient suicide on clinicians. She has led UK-wide research projects examining suicide by former personnel of the UK Armed Forces, suicide by young people, and suicide by middle-aged men, and is the author and senior author of several scientific articles and commissioned reports.
• 

  Mary Moreland MBE

  Northumbria University

  Mary Moreland MBE, is a PhD candidate and former research assistant with the Northern Hub for Veterans Military Families Research at Northumbria University.  Her primary research focuses on bereavement, specifically relating to military families and children. Mary is a Veteran and War Widow with extensive knowledge of the bereaved community. During her tenure as a Trustee and then Chairman of the War Widows’ Association she recognised the dearth of research in the area of military bereavement. Mary is also currently serving as a member of the Victims and Survivors Forum Northern Ireland and a Trustee of the Forces Pension Society Charitable Fund.   
• 

  Dr Neil Kitchiner

  Veterans' NHS Wales

  Dr Neil Kitchiner is currently employed as the Director and Consultant Clinical Lead at the Veterans' NHS Wales service (VNHSW). VNHSW service offers outpatient mental health treatment for ex-service personnel with service related mental health problems residing in Wales.  Neil has over 40 years’ experience of working in NHS mental health services within the UK (England/Wales) and Australia. Neil was a Captain in the Army Reserve with 203 (Welsh) Field Hospital, Cardiff HQ for 5 years and deployed to Afghanistan in October 2013 until January 2014, Herrick 19 as part of the Army Field Mental Health Team. Neil also holds an Honorary title with Cardiff University as a Senior Research Fellow, in the National Centre for Mental Health (Wales).
• 

  Dr Lucy Robinson

  University of Oxford

  Lucy has recently completed her DPhil at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Her doctoral research involved working creatively with groups of Service children to explore how military life shapes their identity and school experiences. Before embarking on her DPhil, she completed her PGCE and MEd in Primary Education at the University of Cambridge. Lucy is also a Trustee for the Armed Forces Education Trust (AFET); contributing both her lived experience as a Service child and her research expertise to support the grant-giving work of the charity.
• 

  Professor Lisa Scullion

  University of Salford

  Lisa Scullion is Professor of Social Policy and Lead Professor for the Social Sciences, University of Salford. Lisa joined the University of Salford in 2006, and since then has successfully delivered over 60 externally funded research projects, including funders such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the European Commission, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Home Office and FiMT. Lisa is a qualitative researcher, and her work focuses on experiences of welfare reform, particularly in relation to marginalised populations. This includes leading the ground-breaking FiMT study called Sanctions, Support & Service Leavers, which has been supporting DWP policy and practice, including supporting the enhancement of the DWP Armed Forces Champions network and the introduction of an Armed Forces marker on Universal Credit. Lisa is currently leading research to support the Department for Work and Pensions with the integration of trauma-informed approaches. Lisa also led the UK’s largest national study of experiences of the welfare system during, and in the aftermath, of Covid-19. Lisa has significant experience of engaging with policy and practice stakeholders. From December 2021 to May 2023, she undertook a part time academic secondment to the DWP In House Research Unit. She is a member of the OVA Academic Advisory Board and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
• 

  Philip Martin

  University of Salford

  Philip Martin is a Research Fellow at the Sustainable Housing and Urban Studies Unit, University of Salford. He joined the University in 2014, after careers in the public and voluntary sectors. He is an experienced qualitative researcher, having worked on numerous projects in the UK and abroad. He has undertaken research on military veterans and the welfare system for the last 8 years, being a core team member of the FiMT funded Sanctions, Support and Service Leavers project (2017-24), co-authoring multiple project outputs, and led on the production of the graphic novel ‘Carl’ story - a veteran's experience of the benefits system’, based on participant’s testimony. His current research interests centre around the implications of factors such as work, welfare, ethnicity, race and migration on ideas of social rights and citizenship, particularly for communities made vulnerable by mainstream polity. He is interested in co-production and creative methods of research engagement and policy impact and is currently working towards a PhD by Published Works.
• 

  Dr Gabriela Misca

  University of Birmingham

  Dr Misca’s research focusses on issues related to military-connected families, includingchildren. A former Fulbright scholar she researched military families in the USA and was the Research Adviser to the first independent review commissioned by the MOD into understanding the needs of UK Armed Forces families and co-authored the “Living in Our Shoes” (2020) report, which influenced the development of the UK Armed Forces Family Strategy (2022-2032). In recognition of her research into Armed Forces families and its impact, she received a Special Award for FiMpacT from the Forces in Mind Trust in 2021. Currently at the University of Birmingham, Dr Misca is the Principal Investigator of the “Living in Our Shoes Revised” project (funded by Forces in Mind Trust) reviewing the progress and setting the priorities for supporting Armed Forces going forward.
• 

  Professor Walter Busuttil

  King's College London

  Dr Walter Busuttil is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Visiting Professor at King’s College London, KCMHR. Walter was Director of Medical Services and Medical Director at Combat Stress between 2007 and 2020 where he set up cutting edge clinical services for veterans across the UK. He sits on the mental health subcommittee and the Armed Forces Clinical Reference Group for NHS England. He is Chair of the Accreditation Committee of the Quality Network for Veterans Mental Health Services of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is a founder member of the Mental Health Research International Collaborative of the Five Eyes Nations. Walter retired at the rank of Wing Commander from the Royal Air Force after serving as a medical student, general duties medical officer and consultant psychiatrist during his 16 years’ Service. He was given the Soldering On Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016 for his service to the Military Family.
• 

  Chelsea White BCOM MBA

  Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans

  Chelsea has dedicated her career to putting people first in healthcare. She has over thirteen years of experience in patient advocacy and engagement in the acute care, long-term care, and research sectors in both private and government funded not-for-profit healthcare organizations. Chelsea is currently the Director of Veteran Engagement for the Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans, a research centre which aims to improve the well-being of Canadian Armed Forces Veterans, and their families, living with chronic pain. In both professional and volunteer capacities, Chelsea is driven to support Veterans in their transition to civilian life. In August 2022, Chelsea participated in the inaugural Military Veteran Alpine Challenge (MVAC), a heli-hike and climb with Veterans in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Chelsea also volunteered at the 2025 Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler where she supported serving member and Veteran athletes on the Sports Team.