Research Community

Dr Ellen McHugh is Senior Lecturer in Education in the Department of Education, Brunel University London. Ellen’s research interests focus on education and student experience; higher education and widening participation; transnationalism and belonging.

Dr Elliott Atkinson is a neuromuscular physiologist whose interests primarily lie in the underpinning neural mechanisms of human motor function. His focus is to investigate how the human neural system adapts to resistance training and pathophysiological conditions, and the influence of sex and hormonal status. He aims to combine these focuses to understand better the neural mechanisms and impact of hormonal status in both healthy and clinical groups, and how resistance training might be better tailored to provide improved quality of life outcomes. 

Dr Emma Murray is an Associate Professor in Military Veteran Studies. Emma leads the Reimagining the Veteran research cluster in the School of Justice Studies at Liverpool John Moores University's Center for Crime, Criminalization and Social Exclusion. She is particularly interested in the lived experiences of Veterans who have been convicted of serious violence or sexual offences. Her research is committed to engaged scholarship that informs justice sector policy and serves as a catalyst for change for the benefit of the Armed Forces as a whole. Emma's work promotes narrative, visual and creative qualitative methodologies that are trauma-informed and inclusive to challenge biases. Emma has acted as a research partner for Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (2014-ongoing),  The Howard League for Penal Reform (2015-ongoing), The Royal British Legion (2017-2018), and The Probation Institute (2018-ongoing). 

Dr Emma Senior is an Assistant Professor in Nursing and Specialist Community Public Health Nursing, alongside being a Veteran spouse. As a member of the Northern Hub for Veterans & Military Families' Research, Dr Emma Senior completed her PhD exploring the experiences of military spouses who have lived alongside their UK serving partner with a mental health issue. Her military focused research interests seek to explore the qualitative experiences of military spouses/relationships, mental health, and well-being to inform mechanisms for support and CPD opportunities within health and social care. 

Dr Faye Acton is Research Fellow and the lead for military connected children and young people in the Veterans and Families Institute for Military and Social Research (VFI) at Anglia Ruskin University. As a qualitative researcher her work is focused on developing practice-based evidence with the voices and lived experiences of children and young people at the core of her work. She is particularly interested in developing the concept of identity and understanding military connected children and young people’s lives more comprehensively, including school and educational experiences. Faye has both academic and professional experience of working with both children and young people and professionals to inform and enhance policy and practice.

Faye joined Anglia Ruskin University in 2016 as a researcher following a professional practice-based career in health and education. Faye worked as a Health Improvement Practitioner in the NHS with primary and secondary schools to develop, deliver and evaluate health and wellbeing interventions and programmes of support for children and young people. She subsequently qualified as a primary school teacher, where she worked as a classroom teacher, PSHE lead, and gained the national award for Special Educational Needs Coordination to work as an Inclusion Manager.

Dr Gemma Carr is a Researcher at the Westminster Centre for Research in Veterans at the University of Chester. She previously led on the 'Exploring the Employment Experiences of Serving Partners' project. Gemma has extensive experience in qualitative and quantitative methodologies. She is also the wife of a serving soldier and also has a son who is serving.