With your support, we can improve the lives of veterans and their families who are affected by the wide-ranging impacts of military service.
Our Veterans & Families Institute for Military Social Research (VFI), established just six years ago, is already building an international reputation.
Here, our experts are carrying out important research across a range of areas, from social policy and education to psychiatry and criminal justice.
We’re involved in NATO research on military to civilian transition and sexual violence, we’re represented on a number of important national expert groups and we’re a centre for international academic collaboration.
Military service can have a serious and long-term impact on the lives of veterans and their loved ones, including psychological effects that manifest themselves in the form of conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The research, policy development and consultation work we carry out can help provide a lifeline so that veterans and their families can build a brighter future.
Much more research and action are needed to help better understand and support veterans and their families. But we can’t do this without your help.
Army veteran Rich was an active person and a keen climber, but after suffering an injury which resulted in him losing the lower part of his left leg, he suffered from severe depression. He says:
"Before the injury, I would say life was exciting. We never knew what was going to come around the corner.
"[The injury had] a much bigger impact on our lives than I would have ever imagined it could be. The pain was so bad, the depression was so bad. It’s the small things that we take for granted every day that have been the biggest battle for me so far."
Rich has had to re-learn simple activities like walking the dog, cooking and driving and says it’s evident that the partners and carers of veterans like himself are the unsung heroes.
"[My partner is] a 29-year-old woman who was having to push her husband around in a wheelchair, and I maintain that I’m only here now because of her."
Much more needs to be done to support people like Rich with the complex challenges they face, so that they can live the life they deserve.
With your help, we can expand our world-leading research and help more people like Rich find their independence again.
