Title: The use of physical activity to enhance the mental wellbeing and resilience of military veterans
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: The aim of my proposed ESRC Fellowship is to transition from a successful, 24-year, military career to a new career as an academic researcher whilst maximising the reach and significance of my work to date and establishing a sustainable pathway for future research. To achieve this, I will consolidate my research expertise on resilience and wellbeing and further strengthen my research skills. I will develop the outputs of my PhD thesis and the Veterans' Resilience Programme. I will adapt my innovative resilience and wellbeing programmes for civilian patients (e.g., at the planned National Rehabilitation Centre) and athletes with a disability, inform social policy, and develop and strengthen my networks. I will develop funding proposals to facilitate future research and impact. My Fellowship has 4 Objectives (O) to: O1. Develop a track record of publications in high-ranking journals and develop dissemination material for both, academic and wider audiences. Four peer reviewed articles based on my PhD research, the Veterans' Resilience Programme, and new research will be submitted to the: Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (Impact factor: 4.561), Journal of Personnel Psychology (1.375) and British Journal of Social Psychology (4.691). Publications and other media communications targeting wider audiences will include a research paper to inform defence and health policy regarding the mental wellbeing of veterans and elite athletes. O2. Adapt and refine my resilience and wellbeing programmes, for use in sporting and rehabilitation settings. Undertake limited research and submit additional funding proposals to upscale the Veterans' Programme across the UK and explore its commercial potential. I will adapt the 'Leading for Resilience' and 'Veterans' Resilience Programme' for use in other contexts, such as elite sport and rehabilitation. For example, I will explore opportunities to conduct further research with the Loughborough Lightning wheelchair basketball team and with the Football Association's national disability squads. I will submit funding proposals to the National Lottery (via The Forces in Mind Trust) and the ESRC (New Investigator Grant) to upscale the delivery of the resilience courses to military veterans across the UK and to civilian patients at the planned National Rehabilitation Centre, which will sustain my research beyond this Fellowship. I will also work with the enterprise team at the University to explore the commercialisation of the programmes in the public and private sectors. O3. Maximise the impact of my research by engaging with academic and non-academic audiences to disseminate research findings and build networks towards further career development. The culmination of the Fellowship will be a paper presenting the effectiveness and impact of the Veterans' Research Programme delivered to an international audience at the Association of Applied Sports Psychologists' conference in October 2023. I will also disseminate my research at 2 other conferences, where I will strengthen my academic and non-academic networks. O4. Enhance my development as a researcher utilising my collective mentoring team and undertaking further training. I will benefit from an expert joint mentoring team (Prof Chris Harwood, Dr Kristen Clements, and Kate Clift) who collectively have extensive experience and expertise in delivering impactful research, translating research into practice, and successfully bidding for research grants. Working with this team will help me to advance my development as a high-level researcher and to deliver world-class research. I will also undertake training in advanced research methods (e.g., longitudinal data and research) with the ESRC-funded National Centre for Research Methods and informing social policy with the UK Parliament. These training courses will further enhance both my research skills and develop my skills in delivering practical research outcomes that influence social policy.

Lay abstract: My PhD explored the development of social and psychological resilience of RAF personnel. The project investigated how personnel's social identities, and sense of togetherness as a team, influenced their resilience. My research comprised three separate studies. Study 1 discussed how the social groups that people belonged to influenced their resilience. 243 people from 18 bases created a social identity map depicting the social groups that they belonged to, what these groups meant to them, and how the groups related to each other. The study suggested that the more positive groups that people belonged to the higher their resilience. The study also indicated that the higher the sense of togetherness that team members felt towards their work team the higher their resilience. Study 2 explored how RAF personnel's sense of togetherness with their work team and their relationships with their line manager interplayed with their resilience, including over time. Personnel twice completed an online questionnaire, 6-months apart. With 1,053 personnel completing the first questionnaire, and 386 personnel undertaking the second questionnaire. The research also showed a link between the unity the personnel felt towards their work team and their resilience both in the present and over time. For Study 3, I developed an innovative 'Leading for Resilience' programme that was tested on 3 RAF teams (280 people in total). The programme was designed to increase the team member's feeling of togetherness as a team. Due to the national Covid lockdown, only one of the 3 teams completed all 3 workshops and a 3-month follow-up. During the workshops, the teams co-created a set of values, identified congruent behaviours, established a team vision, and set up an action plan. The research indicated that the programme enhanced the sense of togetherness that the team members felt towards their team. As such, my research provided a novel perspective on how the social groups we belong to shape our resilience, and how resilience can be developed through deepening the sense of cohesion within a team. During my PhD, I also led a consortium comprising Loughborough University, armed forces charities, local authorities, and the NHS, to successfully bid for a £70,000 grant from the Armed Forces Covenant Trust, to fund a series of resilience courses, based on my research, for military veterans. The 5-day residential courses are due to take place at Loughborough University in April 2022 and will further inform the activities of my Fellowship. During this Fellowship, I will: 1. Produce four peer-reviewed articles in high-ranking journals targeting academic audiences. 2. Create publications targeting non-academic and wider audiences. This will include compiling a research report to communicate the results of the Veterans' Programme and my other research, which has attracted interest from national and local media outlets, to inform social policy of the Ministry of Defence concerning the mental wellbeing of veterans. 3. Extend my research to other populations. This will include exploring the possibility of undertaking further limited research with the Football Association, Loughborough Lightning, and working with the National Rehabilitation Centre, currently being developed locally to Loughborough University, to develop potential social resilience interventions for civilian patients. This research will extend my sample of participants beyond the military, and will include elite athletes and NHS patients, helping to validate my research within sport and the healthcare sectors. 4. Continue my research beyond the Fellowship. This will include submitting funding proposals to the National Lottery to upscale the Veterans' Resilience Programme, including extending the programme to other regions of the UK; and to the ESRC (New Investigator Grant) to extend my research in resilience to beyond the military, to ensure that it is effective with other populations.

Research activity codes: 1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE