2025 in Review: Reflections from the DRN Committee
DRN Committee members share reflections on the year, both professionally and personally.
2025 has been a busy and productive year for the Defence Research Network. Throughout the year, the DRN has tackled a range of themes, published numerous pieces, organised events, and engaged closely with the wider defence research community. Looking ahead, we are busy planning themes for 2026, and we remain grateful to our community and to all DRN Committee members for their continued commitment and hard work. Below are reflections on the past year from some of our Committee members.
Dr Lucy Robinson
It's been a very busy year for me professionally! Having passed my viva at the end of 2024, I started 2025 working as a Research Assistant on a project looking at pupil interactions and networks in special schools at the Department of Education, University of Oxford. Later in the year, I took on a second RA role under Dr Hannah West where I worked on a project involving participatory film-making with female veterans. For both roles, it was such a joy to work collaboratively as part of a research team. I also had the pleasure of teaching a group of PhD students a 15 week module on Advanced Qualitative Research before I started my ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at Cardiff University in October. Already, through the fellowship, I've been lucky enough to present and attend at CIMVHR Forum and undertake a short institutional visit to Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. I've also been able to attend the annual SCiP Alliance conference which is always a highlight of my professional calendar. This year, I received the Centre for Evidence for the Armed Forces Community's Early Career Researcher Award and BERA's 2025 Doctoral Thesis Award for my doctoral research - 'How does military life shape service children's identity and school experiences?'. I feel incredibly honoured to have been recognised by both these organisations in this way. Next year, I will endeavour to continue the work into understanding, supporting and promoting service children’s experiences in English state schools throughout the remainder of my fellowship. Until then, I am looking forward to a restful Christmas with my trusty hound, Hughie.
Wishing all of the DRN community a Christmas filled with love and joy.
Dr Hannah West
One of my personal and professional highlights for 2025 was testing voicework as a methodology with female veteran scholars as a pilot study. Voicework uses a combination of breath work and sung sound as well as text work. We explored Adrienne Rich's poem 'Diving into the wreck', finding many phrases that resonated with our military pasts. This experimental methodology was daunting to start with and I felt out of my comfort zone but I started to realise how empowering it was to use your voice in new ways that were uplifting and empowering. It was an incredible experience and, in times when I have needed a lift, I find myself harnessing the creative energy and strength that it brought about. Working with Nancy Taber, Annie Geisow and Ash Percival-Borley was a joy and we began to reflect on how we had used our voices when serving and as veterans. I'm looking forward to working with them all in 2026 to extend this methodology and share more outputs from this work. Thank you to Nadine George and Mary Jane Wells as facilitators. You can read more about this project and watch a short film about it here: https://www.aru.ac.uk/research/our-research-institutes-and-centres/centre-of-excellence-for-equity-in-uniformed-public-services/research-projects/the-veteran-voice
Dr Veronika Hinman
2025 has been a year like no other, marked by major changes both professionally and personally. Professionally, I have been fortunate to take part in a range of media engagements, including providing commentary for France 24. After five wonderful years at RAF Halton, I also returned to RAF College Cranwell, where my journey in professional military education began, and it has been a genuine pleasure to be back teaching officer cadets. Alongside this, I have remained actively involved in the work of the DRN throughout the year. On a personal level, 2025 was even busier: I became a British citizen, got married, and my husband and I welcomed a German Shepherd puppy, Rex. I may never have been this sleep-deprived (or quite so thoroughly chewed) but I could not be happier. Here’s to a great 2026, with Rex sending his greetings too.
