Meet the Expert: Dr Emma Murray
Welcome to 'Meet the Expert', our news series that brings you informative interviews with Armed Forces researchers, policy makers, and service providers. Read on to learn about current work, aspirations for progress and future work, and insights into expert perspectives on key issues impacting ex-Service personnel and their families.
In this issue, we interviewed Dr Emma Murray, Associate Professor in Criminal and Social Justice at the Centre of Excellence for Equities in Uniformed Public Services (CEEUPS) at Anglia Ruskin University, and Criminologist in Residence at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT), Liverpool. Previously, Emma worked as a Reader in Military Veteran Studies in the School of Justice Studies at Liverpool John Moores University.
1. Please tell us about your background and how you came to be involved in work relating to the Armed Forces community?
My academic background is in criminology, and I have spent my career working with Veterans in the justice system through narrative and creative methods, which explore their whole life course. Although the vast majority of those leaving the military do not encounter the justice sector, my work has focused on those who do, and what follows is inspired by what I have learned from them. Before discussing that, a little about my own life course, if I may, because I think it helps to understand how I approach my work. I was born in Ireland during the early 1980s with an Irish father and English mother. Alongside my mixed heritage, my maternal grandfather's Service in the RAF is of further importance - fostering an early awareness in me of how identities can be complex, layered, and sometimes in tension with one another. This background equipped me with a nuanced understanding of identity navigation and how people might come to reconcile seemingly opposing elements of their life histories and social identities. This insight has been especially valuable when working with Veterans in the justice system who often describe the challenging process of renegotiating their Service identity during and after their sentence.
My research began in 2008 while pursuing my degree in Criminal Justice. My undergraduate dissertation, supervised by Dr. Matthew Millings, explored the connections between criminological frameworks and the lived experiences of the Armed Forces community. This work was particularly influenced by my close relationship with someone who had been deployed to Afghanistan that same year. Dr. Millings provided invaluable encouragement to pursue this research direction at a time when criminology had contributed relatively little to this area compared to other disciplines. This early work coincided with the National Association of Probation Officers' report, which highlighted the prevalence of Veterans in the justice system. There were more questions than answers at that time, and attempts to quantify the scale of the problem weren’t without challenge. This is still the case. What was clear, however, was that we needed to better understand the needs of this group, no matter how big or small that group may be.
In 2016, I was awarded a PhD from Keele University, which examined the lived experiences of British military Veterans who had encountered the justice system post-deployment to Iraq and/or Afghanistan. Here, I proposed 'Veteranality', as a concept to explain how Veterans navigate conflicting systems and identities when encountering the justice system, and how these journeys profoundly impacted how they were perceived and treated by various institutions and how they understood themselves.
My subsequent efforts have remained focused on narrative and creative inquiry with Veterans across the justice sector, as well as with the dynamic ecosystem of professionals who support them.
2. What research projects are you currently working on, and how do they fit into the bigger picture of understanding and supporting the Armed Forces community?
Having joined the UKRI-funded CEEUPS at Anglia Ruskin University last October, I now serve as an Associate Professor in Criminal and Social Justice. In this role, I'm the academic lead for two projects that contribute to our broader understanding of the Armed Forces community and the systems that support them.
The first is funded by the Forces in Mind Trust and builds directly on our 'Journeys to Harmful Behaviour' research published in 2022. Working with colleagues Helen Schofield, CEO of the Probation Institute, and Breda Leyne, from Cogito Developments , this knowledge mobilisation project seeks to implement some of the recommendations from that study. The Cobseo Justice Cluster has been very important to the success of this work so far, supporting us to establish a community of expertise to work closely with us and share learning across sectors with a focus on collaborative problem-solving to develop practical solutions and ways forward. The project essentially connects prevention with intervention - addressing both the underlying cultural factors that contribute to harmful behaviours while improving support systems for those already in the justice system. It is about creating change at multiple levels to better serve this unique population.
The second study is in its initial phases and starts in May 2025. This project will explore the needs of Veterans in Custody Support Officers (VICSOs) who share military backgrounds with those they support. This project is funded by CEEUPS and represents our first Practitioner Fellowship co-led by Carrie Rogers, Head of Veterans Policy for His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. We are delighted to have Carrie join us. Working with VICSOs as co-researchers, this 12-month project will co-develop a comprehensive vision for effective Veteran support in custodial environments; map pathways to enhance VICSOs own well-being; document the experiential knowledge of VICSOs; develop a specific well-being framework for those supporting Veterans in custody; and build capacity among VICSOs as change agents.
3. What other research or policy areas relating to the Armed Forces community are you especially passionate about or feel need further attention? Please expand on this and tell us about them, as much as you can.
Listening to the life histories of justice-involved Veterans reveals compelling individual and collective narratives that illustrate the complex interplay between multiple policy areas and sectors. My work with the Probation Institute has advocated for holistic, early-intervention strategies for harm prevention. Our findings emphasise the importance of multi-agency collaboration and enhancing awareness of Veterans' complex needs throughout the justice sector. We are also keen to bolster support for Service personnel with histories of childhood adversity and to strengthen family services at crucial intervention points. Alongside our focus on working upstream, we are advocating for improved coordination between criminal justice and military organisations. We believe that this is a cross-sector endeavour and that through early intervention, violence could be prevented in the future.
4. What are your future aspirations for the impact and utilisation of your work/research?
This field of work draws strength from its collaborative spirit, bringing together diverse perspectives and cross-sector expertise. Research in this area is subject to many competing agendas, intentions, research questions, methodologies, and audiences. I recognise that, and that I am not independent of those agendas, the strengths and weaknesses of my own methodologies, or indeed my imagined and varied audiences. At the heart of my work is an ambition to situate the life stories of this group into this lively debate. I can only speak for my own aspirations for impact here, but I believe that what connects us all is a desire to create pathways that lead Veterans away from harmful outcomes and toward more positive futures for themselves and their families.
Through my work with the Probation Institute, we were able to contribute to a growing evidence base that acknowledges that adversity in childhood, limited opportunities, deprivation, separation, exclusion, and early exposure to violence beyond the immediate family often feature in justice-connected Veterans’ lives. In many respects, these life experiences are shared with many other justice-connected individuals. I accept that and recognise the value of understanding such similarities. I also accept that not all of those who join the military with these early experiences go on to cause serious harm. However, I caution that for those who do, we must be careful not to miss how having experience of the military in one’s life course shapes both self-understandings and engagement with justice services, and how services engage with them. I hope that my work makes a modest contribution to our understanding of what makes this group different and what unique opportunities exist to prevent harm. Or put another way, we must view these similar pathways with an extra layer of criticality, which is informed by an in depth understanding of multiple and carried military experiences.
Based on this work, and in cross-sector collaboration, I hope that our work will; a) have a systemic impact by supporting the development of a more integrated support pathway between military, justice and welfare systems; b) a professional practice impact by working with front-line staff to support training and confidence to support the unique needs of Veterans; c) an individual and family impact by continuing to strengthen the evidence base and push for holistic, early-support frameworks and to strengthen family services.
5. What do you think are the key challenges impacting current ex-Service personnel and their families, and how do you think research and/or policy can be best used to address them?
The issues which contribute to Veteran criminalisation are personal, relational, social, culturally entrenched, and interconnected. Yet, despite increased awareness, there are critical gaps in our understanding. While many of the challenges are rehearsed above and captured so well by the Justice Sector Summaries prepared by Dr Ed Bryan and Dr Mary Keeling, it is perhaps what we will not know that impacts current Veterans and their families the most.
We lack comprehensive data on exactly how many Veterans are in the justice system, making it difficult to scale appropriate responses. Many Veterans may not disclose their Service history, creating an invisible population whose needs remain unaddressed. We know so little about women Veterans, Veterans from underrepresented racial groups, and the experiences of LGBTQ+ Veterans in the justice system. The relationship between military Service and subsequent harm is yet to be fully understood. We do not yet know enough about how best to support families of Veterans at this time in their lives. Evaluations of support programmes are limited and often focus on large-scale national projects, when we know that many grass-roots and small organisations are also providing support. More longitudinal studies tracking Veterans' journeys through and beyond the justice system would be very useful. Even more so if we could follow the journeys of those administratively discharged from the Military Corrective Training Centre into the community. These knowledge gaps hinder the development of effective policies and interventions that could better support Veterans in contact with the justice sector.
Efforts continue, and I am sure we all agree that there is, as ever, more to be done.
6. What do you think will be the leading challenges for the next generation of ex-Service personnel and how do you think research and/or policy can be best used to address them?
I expect that the ways in which people experience military work will change dramatically as technology advances, and perhaps it already has. Alongside physical combat roles, AI will also no doubt surface even more complex questions and tensions that our current support systems are not yet equipped to address. This evolving military landscape will mean that the next generation of Veterans will face an extra layer of distinctly different challenges than those discussed above. At the same time, it is reasonable to suggest that the justice sector will be faced with new digital and technical matters, at the same time as emerging mental health considerations, and a requirement for markedly different support and expertise. Successfully navigating these issues will require close collaboration between legal, military, healthcare, technology, and Veteran support sectors to create new approaches based on an evolving reality of what it will mean to have served. I agree with Ruth Harris’ (Co-Director FiMT Research Centre) sentiments in an earlier Meet the Expert interview on this and suggest that the challenge will be for us all.
7. Can you tell us about the methods you tend to use in your research, and why you gravitate towards these kinds of approaches?
Alongside my role in CEEUPS, I am a Criminologist in Residence at FACT Liverpool, working with the Learning Team on a long-term artistic programme with Veterans in prison, Resolution. I have learned that creative methods offer unique advantages when working with complex human experiences, particularly those involving trauma or stigma. These approaches allow individuals to externalise difficult emotions and experiences through metaphor, symbolism, and artistic expression, creating psychological distance that makes engagement safer and more accessible. Creative methods also significantly shift power dynamics. Rather than being subjects of assessment or intervention, participants become active creators and experts of their own experience. These approaches also transcend barriers of verbal expression, providing alternative vocabularies when words alone prove insufficient. Of course, when shared, creative outputs reach much wider audiences than traditional academic outputs, building empathy and understanding among wider publics. This kind of public engagement is essential for systemic change.
8. Given unlimited funding and time, what would be your dream piece of research to undertake involving the Armed Forces community?
I must admit that I feel very fortunate that through my new role in CEEUPS, and under the leadership of Professor Emma Williams, I am already part of my dream piece of research. As part of the grant, a Social Science Research Lab (SSRL) has been purpose-built. I am looking after the creative strand of work for SSRL, which will focus on placing equity and inclusion at the centre of research methods across uniformed public services for the next five years (and beyond). Military and Veteran research will be key. A year ago, I could not have imagined having an opportunity to take what we learned together through the Resolution programme at FACT back to social science in this way. This work involves moving away from tokenistic co-production and adopting intersectional and creative frameworks to challenge and expand what we do. The programme of research planned requires interdisciplinary expertise to establish robust theoretical frameworks that guide research questions and interpretation of findings. Methodological rigour is crucial, as are clear ethical standards for responsible co-production and creative projects. I am genuinely excited to be part of a team that is equally committed to this type of work, and I hope that in time we can strengthen the pathways to policy impact that this work can and should have.
Co-production represents more than methodology - it constitutes a fundamental reimagining of knowledge creation.
Many thanks to Dr Emma Murray for sharing her insights.
Catch us next month for another interesting and informative interview with an expert from the Armed Forces community.
