What were the aims of the research?
The Military Afterlives project aimed to understand how British veterans and their families have experienced the transition out of the military and back into civilian life. It used a narrative methodology which means that we were able to hear the stories of veterans and their families, told in their own words.
Most of the existing research on veteran transition focusses on measuring outcomes such as employment figures, or rates of alcoholism or PTSD. What was missing was an understanding of the ways veterans and their families experience transition and make sense of it in their own lives.
Who did the research?
The research was carried out by a team based at the University of Exeter. Sarah Bulmer led the project, working alongside three other researchers who are themselves veterans. David Jackson, Caroline Micklewright and Richard Davis enriched the project with their military experience and their academic training. Edward Jones, an undergraduate student at Exeter, worked as our Research Assistant. You can read more about us here.
This research would not have been possible without our participants who volunteered to share their stories with us – thank you to all of them.
The research was funded by postgraduate fellowship grants from Volkswagen Foundation. This website was funded by a Research England Policy Support Fund and supported by the International Institute for Cultural Enquiry at the University of Exeter.
