Intentionally inclusive: Seeking diverse perspectives to strengthen military family research

Beyond the Battlefield

How does the inclusion of underrepresented groups benefit military health research? How has the shift in basing patterns impacted reservist family culture? What ongoing consequences of sanctioned discrimination remain to be researched? In this episode of Beyond the Battlefield, host Dr. Nicholas Held meets with Dr. Dr. Vince Connelly and Ashley Ibbotson (MA) to discuss the state of research on reservist and 2SLGBTQIA+ military families, the unique differences in reservist family identities, and the lingering impact of the LGBT Purge in Canada.

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Ashley (Ash) Ibbotson (MA), is a research coordinator with the Trauma and Recovery Research Unit in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurociences at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. Her research work has primarily focused on the experiences of 2SLGBTQIA+ military members and Veterans, and the impacts of military sexual trauma on Canadian military Veterans.

Dr. Vince Connelly is Professor of Psychology and leads the psychology team at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK. His research work currently focuses on the organisational psychology of the Armed Forces. He has also published previously many international works in the field of education and psychology. Professor Connelly’s work on the Armed Forces has an emphasis on the differing personnel components of the Total Defense Force (Whole Force) and how they work together. The research impact of his work on Reserve Forces Integration between 2013 and 2020 was rated as “World Leading” by the UK Government Research Excellence Framework (REF) in 2022. He has also investigated the civilian perception of veterans and has explored the crossover of veteran and reservist identity after compulsory service in Israel. His latest book “Contemporary Military Reserves: Between the Civilian and Military Worlds”, jointly edited with Eyal Ben-Ari, was published in 2023. Vince is a long serving British Army Reservist.

Check out Ashley Ibbotson et al.’s research article in JMVFH special edition 10.2, “The strength beside the uniform: Families of military members, Veterans, and public safety personnel”: https://bit.ly/3V2iPUX

Also featured in this special edition: Dr. Vince Connelly et al.’s research article, “Reservist families and their understanding of military welfare support as a (non)military family”: https://bit.ly/3UU7t52

Music Attribution: “Sonora” from Marianas by Quincas Moreira. Music Licensed under a Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Beyond the Battlefield is produced by the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research.