Keeping enough in reserve: the employment of hybrid citizen-soldiers and the Future Reserves 2020 programme.

The Army Reserve, the Maritime Reserve and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force are to be significantly expanded in ways intended to develop the ability of the UK armed forces to meet the challenges of a constantly evolving security environment as we move forward into the 21st Century. This research will provide a rigorous evidence base with which to maximise the proposed transformation in ways that will enhance operational effectiveness of this newly configured force. Specifically, it addresses a number of key challenges associated with the proposed transformation of the armed forces under the Future Reserves 2020 programme, in ways that ensure not just the assimilation of reservists, but crucially, their genuine integration. In order to do so, the research will focus on the consequences of the reservist policy for the relationship between the armed forces and its host society, what it means to be both a soldier and a civilian in citizenship and identity terms, how employers both view and respond to the FR20 programme, and ultimately, the likelihood that such a transformation will succeed. In more detailed terms, the research will investigate what kinds of civilian held skills are most likely to be attractive to the armed forces and vice versa, as well as look in-depth at what it means to be a reservist. How do reservists negotiate their participation in and transitions between the armed forces and the civilian work-place? What does it mean to be deployed in an operational theatre for the experience of moving back to a qualitatively different civilian environment? How do these transitions impact on employers? How might employers be better placed to facilitate reserve service? Addressing these and closely allied questions is an integral aspect of the wider changes being proposed to the armed forces reserves and to the armed forces, and the intention of the research is to provide a robust evidence base to inform the proposed changes.

The research will use a mixed-methods approach. A large-scale quantitative survey of reservists conducted at two time-points during the project will generate longitudinal data on reservist employment experiences and attitudes. Semi-structured interviews with a sample of reservists, with follow-up interviews to generate a longitudinal dimension, will capture reservist perspectives on their positions as hybrid citizen-soldiers as the Future Reserves 2020 programme progresses, including data on civilian employment patterns. Case studies of a sample of different employer types will generate data on employer perspectives, particularly the management of reservists within the labour force. The empirical research will be contextualised within reviews and analysis of existing policy documentation and relevant literatures, including a review of analogous experiences of reservist transformations in other national contexts.

A project advisory group, including representatives from the Ministry of Defence and armed forces charged with making the changes under the Future Reserves 2020 programme, will ensure input into the project from the defence community as the research progresses, and will facilitate wider communication and use of relevant research findings. The research findings will be disseminated to a range of defence, other non-academic and relevant academic audiences and readerships using mechanisms to facilitate research impact. Outputs will include an expert workshop for senior military personnel, policy briefs summarising key research findings for policy-makers and practitioners, short journal pieces in relevant current affairs and defence policy publications, and academic journal articles in peer-reviewed military sociology, political science, employment sociology and international relations journals.



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The purpose of this research is to inform the development of policies and strategies for the integration of Reservists under the Future Reserves 2020 (FR20) programme. Specifically, the research will generate data from case studies of employers about their management of Reservist personnel within their workforces, from a survey of Reservists and interviews with Reservists about how they manage their commitments as both civilian employees and as members of the armed forces, and about their understandings and perceptions of their unique position as hybrid soldier-civilians. This data will be complemented with data from focus groups with Reservists and Regulars. At a more conceptual level, the research will explore how the FR20 programme may (or may not) indicate a step change in civil-military relations in the UK. The research will take place during a period of rapid transformational change for the British armed forces, and the intention is to bring insights from rigorous social scientific research on Reservists and employers to on-going planning and management of these transformational changes.

The direct beneficiaries of this research will be the three armed forces (particularly the British Army, given the scale of the Army Reserve and the magnitude of the changes required to achieve the FR20 programme objectives) and the Ministry of Defence. Within these organisations, those tasked with policy development, implementation and evaluation will benefit because enhanced knowledge about context, employers and personnel characteristics and attitudes, and changes in these captured through longitudinal elements to the research, will provide an evidence base to inform policy. Key beneficiaries include the those working with DG Army Reform, with CGS and within DCGS Personnel and Training. Indirect beneficiaries include the wider Ministry of Defence, as the driver of proposals for restructuring the armed forces as a part of a programme defence transformation. Immediate benefits to direct beneficiaries will be on-going engagement, by a team comprising some of the UK's most experienced researchers of the military and of civil-military relations, with pressing issues pertaining to the expansion of the Reserves. Immediate benefits will be incurred through the provision of reliable data on Reservists and employers, which will go beyond centrally-collected data held by MoD on basic Reservist demographics, and anecdotal evidence from across the armed forces on the nature of the reservist experience. Data on employer attitudes collected through case studies will enhance the defence community's understanding of the dynamics of employer management of workforce participation in the Reserves.

Data collected through this research will accord with best practice for empirical social scientific research and in accordance with institutional, ESRC, BSA and MODREC guidelines for ethical conduct in research. The benefit to research users will follow from the provision of a reliable evidence-base on Reservist and employer practices and perceptions, which will inform the development of the FR20 programme. The research team have considerable experience in collaborative research with end-users in the defence community and in the communication and dissemination of research findings to beneficiaries. Appropriate mechanisms for liaising with relevant beneficiaries will be followed to enable research users to benefit from the empirical data and conceptual insights which this research will provide.