Sustaining Future Reserves 2020: Assessing Organizational Commitment in the Reserves
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: Strategy and Security Institute
Abstract
This project will consider factors that shape and influence the commitment of volunteer reservists to serving in the British Army Volunteer Reserves and what issues might motivate them to continuing serving or restrict them from doing so. It pays particular attention to the influence of family life and the pressures of civilian employment on the decisions that reservists make about their commitment to serving and intentions to remain in the Reserves, because the Army is becoming increasingly reliant on reservists at a time when changes to employment patterns and family life may also be placing greater pressure on reservists.
Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, more than 27,000 reservists have been used in military operations. Though the Army has relied more and more on volunteer reserves, their numbers have declined sharply over the last two decades. This is significant, because planned reforms of size and structure of the British Army mean that the Army has been tasked with significantly increasing the size of the Reserves to make up for personnel and capability shortfalls, resulting from current and future defence cuts. Although some politicians have suggested that recruiting and retaining more reservists is about fostering greater understanding of and support for the military in wider society, the everyday economic and social challenges that reservists face in balancing their military service with civilian jobs and family life need to be considered in more depth. There have not been any prior major British studies analysing these issues specifically among reservists.
The Army's increased reliance on reservists has also come at a time when families may be under increased financial pressure due to recession, inflation and social spending cuts. Though this may motivate some people to join the Reserves to earn additional money, reserve service has to be balanced with other roles. One of these is roles within the family itself. Many families, either with or without children, rely on two incomes which can make childcare, other family care commitments and housework harder to balance with commitments outside of the home. Another is civilian employment which the majority of reservists are engaged in, where there has been a growth of evening and weekend working and the rise of a long-hours working culture. These family and employment issues are likely to influence the ability of reservists to commit to the Army and to carry on serving in the Reserves. In order to ascertain what reservists think about balancing competing role commitments and demands and how this might affect their reserve service, this project focuses on their perceptions and experiences and those of their families.
By observing reservists during Reserve training exercises and by interviewing them and members of their families, we will provide in-depth insights into how reservists and their families perceive and experience the potential challenges of reserve service for family life and civilian employment. We will also be able to examine how and why reservists think that their commitment to the Army may be influenced by their competing roles and pressures. The research is likely to have important implications for the Army's plans to restructure, because it will identify key issues that affect the reservist's commitment to the Army. It will also be valuable to reservists themselves and their families because it will help them to consider how they and other reservists cope with competing demands on their time. Finally, the research will offer insights into wider social change in relation to defence, families and employment that will raise important questions about the nature of modern British society.
Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, more than 27,000 reservists have been used in military operations. Though the Army has relied more and more on volunteer reserves, their numbers have declined sharply over the last two decades. This is significant, because planned reforms of size and structure of the British Army mean that the Army has been tasked with significantly increasing the size of the Reserves to make up for personnel and capability shortfalls, resulting from current and future defence cuts. Although some politicians have suggested that recruiting and retaining more reservists is about fostering greater understanding of and support for the military in wider society, the everyday economic and social challenges that reservists face in balancing their military service with civilian jobs and family life need to be considered in more depth. There have not been any prior major British studies analysing these issues specifically among reservists.
The Army's increased reliance on reservists has also come at a time when families may be under increased financial pressure due to recession, inflation and social spending cuts. Though this may motivate some people to join the Reserves to earn additional money, reserve service has to be balanced with other roles. One of these is roles within the family itself. Many families, either with or without children, rely on two incomes which can make childcare, other family care commitments and housework harder to balance with commitments outside of the home. Another is civilian employment which the majority of reservists are engaged in, where there has been a growth of evening and weekend working and the rise of a long-hours working culture. These family and employment issues are likely to influence the ability of reservists to commit to the Army and to carry on serving in the Reserves. In order to ascertain what reservists think about balancing competing role commitments and demands and how this might affect their reserve service, this project focuses on their perceptions and experiences and those of their families.
By observing reservists during Reserve training exercises and by interviewing them and members of their families, we will provide in-depth insights into how reservists and their families perceive and experience the potential challenges of reserve service for family life and civilian employment. We will also be able to examine how and why reservists think that their commitment to the Army may be influenced by their competing roles and pressures. The research is likely to have important implications for the Army's plans to restructure, because it will identify key issues that affect the reservist's commitment to the Army. It will also be valuable to reservists themselves and their families because it will help them to consider how they and other reservists cope with competing demands on their time. Finally, the research will offer insights into wider social change in relation to defence, families and employment that will raise important questions about the nature of modern British society.
Planned Impact
This project's findings will provide a significant contribution to the policy considerations surrounding the implementation of Army 2020, benefiting the Army and the MOD, reservists, their families, and family support and welfare organisations.
The Army will benefit through a greater understanding of how reservists' organisational commitment may be optimised and will thus be able to take measures to improve historically poor reservist retention rates.
The MOD will profit through a clearer understanding of the long-term sustainability of an integrated and deployable Reserve component. An enhanced understanding of how the work/life balance for reservists may be better achieved will clearly benefit the reservists and their families through better designed, family-friendly reservist support policies. Family support and welfare organisations will benefit from gaining a clear view of the unique challenges facing reservists and their families and will be able to tailor the welfare and support activities offered to reservists.
Findings will inform not only staffing, welfare and budgetary options for the MOD and the Army, but also other government priorities, particularly in relation to future Comprehensive Spending and Strategic Defence and Security Reviews.
The Army will benefit through a greater understanding of how reservists' organisational commitment may be optimised and will thus be able to take measures to improve historically poor reservist retention rates.
The MOD will profit through a clearer understanding of the long-term sustainability of an integrated and deployable Reserve component. An enhanced understanding of how the work/life balance for reservists may be better achieved will clearly benefit the reservists and their families through better designed, family-friendly reservist support policies. Family support and welfare organisations will benefit from gaining a clear view of the unique challenges facing reservists and their families and will be able to tailor the welfare and support activities offered to reservists.
Findings will inform not only staffing, welfare and budgetary options for the MOD and the Army, but also other government priorities, particularly in relation to future Comprehensive Spending and Strategic Defence and Security Reviews.
Organisations
Publications
Basham V
(2018)
War is where the hearth is: gendered labor and the everyday reproduction of the geopolitical in the army reserves
in International Feminist Journal of Politics
Bury P
(2019)
Future Reserves 2020, the British Army and the politics of military innovation during the Cameron era
in International Affairs
Catignani S
(2021)
Introduction to the Armed Forces & Society Forum on Military Reserves in the "New Wars"
in Armed Forces & Society
Catignani S
(2021)
The gendered politics of researching military policy in the age of the 'knowledge economy'
in Review of International Studies
Catignani S
(2020)
Reproducing the military and heteropatriarchal normal: Army Reserve service as serious leisure
in Security Dialogue
Catignani S
(2020)
Reproducing the Military and Heteropatriarchal Normal: Army Reserve Service as Serious Leisure
in Security Dialogue
| Description | Background: Sustaining Future Reserves 2020: Sustaining Retention The 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review set out a vision for a future in which the Reserve would be integral in providing the Armed Forces additional capacity and specialist skills in a cost-effective way (MoD 2013). For the Army, the response has been an investment of £1.2 billion over 10 years to support the delivery of a fully manned Army Reserve (AR) and organisational reforms in key areas including training, equipment, personnel and infrastructure. These broadly entail elements of organisational change, a clear offer to Reservists, known as the 'Reservist Proposition', and engagement with, and support from, employers, labelled as the 'Employer Proposition'. To retain the significant number of Reservists that have joined the AR, it has been crucial for the Army to create the conditions in which Reservists are able to balance the multiple commitments and obligations they have towards the Army itself, their employers, and also towards their family. Being able to balance such multiple commitments is a strong factor in determining Reservists' desire to continue serving (Bourg & Segal 1999). Balancing these is not an easy task given the limited "spare" time Reservists have at their disposal and given the nature of the "greedy" time and commitment demands that they are subject to from the Army, employer and family at the same time (Coser 1974). Furthermore, the increased expectations of deploying Reservists in future events and of making up for personnel and capability shortfalls resulting from current and future defence cuts, mean that the Army is likely to become "greedier", that is, more demanding of Reservists' "spare time" (Army 2013). About the study This three-year study (ES/L013029/1), co-funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the UK Ministry of Defence, examined how British Army Reservists experience the multiple roles and duties that they must balance as a result of their Reserve service - family and job commitments, the support that they receive for helping them to manage this, and how these affect their desire to continue serving in the Army Reserve (AR). It entailed conducting individual semi-structured interviews with 40 Reservists, 10 Reservist partners, 12 regimental and company permanent staff members from three different (i.e., combat, combat support and combat service support) regiments, and 15 senior Reserves and Regular officers involved in implementing FR2020 policy objectives, as well as the monitoring of AR policy. Research Findings The Reservist's experience of the proposition FR2020 has promised to deliver "a much better proposition" to Reservists in terms of, among other things, better training, career management, employer support and integration of the Regular and Reserve components (MoD 2011:5). Among the various measures that have been used to support this proposition and meet the 2019 personnel targets is the creation of new full-time, yet temporary, roles to support recruitment and retention, employer engagement and welfare provision. With increasing expectations of needing units to recruit and retain larger numbers of Reservists, Regimental Operational Support Warrant Officers have been introduced across the AR regiments to support their efforts. Regimental Sub-Unit Support Officers, have also been appointed on a temporary two year, full-time Reserve service basis. These posts have the shared responsibility for recruiting, retention, welfare and employer support issues. Notwithstanding this upscale of appointments to increase (sub-)unit capacity, we came across many instances in which these and other posts have been diverted from carrying out other core tasks in order to focus almost solely on recruitment. Obsession with recruitment has diverted units' attention to bolstering retention efforts. Notwithstanding this upscale, the growing number of training commitments, education adventurous training opportunities, defence and community engagement tasks that these units have been required to deliver, has led Reserve commanders to admit that not all tasks can be achieved without negatively affecting morale. For example, Commanding Officer Pete stated: 'The thing that always strikes me we're manned lightly in terms of our permanent staff. It really does stretch people and the [Regular] military just has this way of saying, "Well, just get on with it and make it happen", and it does have its attrition at times.' Both regiments and personnel have been overwhelmed by the number of opportunities aimed at improving the Reservist proposition. As Commanding Officer Todd highlighted, this could be detrimental to developing core capabilities and, thus, operational readiness: "They're being asked to do too much, and it dilutes what we've actually got for the main things that we need to be doing". Training Past Territorial Army Continuous Attitude Survey findings have highlighted the fact that Reserve training has often been repetitive and boring and a major negative retention factor (TACAS 2012). As a result of FR2020, the Army has tackled this issue by offering more exciting, engaging (and overseas) training opportunities. One CO summed up this new emphasis on needing to provide fun training by stating that, 'We are in the entertainment business: Bangs, breathlessness and beer'. However, the reality of many interviewed Reservists is that the Mandatory Annual Training Tests (MATTs) aimed at maintaining certified Reservists, raised issues about the quality and excitement of their training experiences. Often, MATTs-related training did not live up to Reservists' expectations: 'It doesn't always live up to the excitement that you see on the Army Reserve television advertisements when there's tanks and all sorts rolling along.... Probably the reality of that, a lot of the time, is that you're in classrooms going through PowerPoint presentations on law of armed conflict or doing chest compressions and first aid stuff' (Brad, Reservist). Finally, increasing integrated collective training remains a challenge given the limited number of training days Reservists have, and the fact that many collective training exercises are programmed around Regular unit schedules, causing clashes with Reservists' work and personal/family commitments. Last-minute changes and/or cancellations to training events are highly disruptive for Reservists. They can, in turn, reduce the goodwill and support of family members and employers who agreed and/or made provisions to enable the Reservist to attend such events, but may not be able to accommodate such last-minute changes/cancellations or do so at a significant cost. The Employer Proposition FR2020's focus on employers suggests that the Army is concerned about employer attitudes towards Reserve service. The primary response to this has been corporate engagement, mainly by providing employers better information about the Reservists they employ, including their annual training commitments and notice of mobilisation. Additionally, Reserve friendly employer policies have been encouraged, via initiatives such as the Employer Recognition Scheme, which through a tiered (bronze, silver and gold) award structure publicly acknowledges companies that adopt Reservist-friendly policies. Yet, many Reservists still have been reluctant to disclose their Reserve service to their employers for fear of jeopardising their career prospects. Also, whilst greater efforts have been carried out to engage employers through official correspondence, such correspondence often gets lost within senior management and centralised human resource offices. In reality, these corporate provisions have not necessarily been honoured in everyday managerial practice, as Commanding Officer Peter, has stated: 'The employer may well say, "Yeah, I'm more than happy to have Reservists", but the problem always comes further down in the food chain. It's the line manager who is under pressure to deliver a service when he's got a Reservist saying, "Can I have this time off to go and do this?"' Given that civilian employment is crucial to most Reservists in that "it pays the bills", employer support should indeed be garnered. Yet, the focus on employers, though important, has been slightly exaggerated having been heavily influenced by the Afghanistan and Iraq mobilisation experiences during the Global War on Terror. Indeed, because Reserve duties are primarily carried out during a Reservist's 'spare time' (late evenings, weekends and during annual leave), that is, during the Reservist's personal/family time, then family support is a key variable in sustaining Reservist retention. The Missing Variable: Family Support "The wider corporate covenant helps a bit with families, but we've got to think more about Reservist families"- Julian Brazier 25 June 2015. Whilst the "greedy" nature of the family may negatively affect Reservists' desire to serve (ResCas 2013), prior studies have shown that "the more the military services adapt to family needs, the more committed will be both service members and their families" to the military (Segal 1986: 34). FR2020 acknowledges that families "make a vital contribution through supporting the Reservist as he or she takes time to train or to deploy" (MoD 2013: 7) and our data also suggests that family support is a highly significant factor in enabling Reservists to serve. Among the Reservists interviewed there was broad consensus that the support of family is key in being able to undertake Reserve service. Interviews showed that support for Reserve service from family members takes both material (e.g. childcare, housekeeping, diary planning, kit washing) and moral (e.g. understanding it as a passion, providing emotional support) forms. Whilst the 2017 ResCAS has shown that family support for Reservists is high, we found that maintaining family support for Reserve service often involves Reservists engaging in acts of 'horse-trading' or financial or moral 'bribery' such as using the Army's financial incentives of their service to benefit the family. This is often the case with the annual bounty as Reservist Tanya explains: 'I use it to my advantage because what I've always done with the extra money that we get, it always goes into a separate account and it's the holiday fund'. However, the promised benefits to families of the annual bounty and other "perks" were often offset against concerns over the lack of time spent together as a family. Family members also pointed to the ways in which AR service often infringed upon and impacted negatively family life due to the contact that often occurred outside of the man-training (sic) days that the Reservist took up to fulfil AR commitments. In our interviews, discontent with the disruptive impact that Reserve service had on family life was clear. The potential for it to manifest as open opposition towards the Reservist's reserve commitments became apparent during our fieldwork. Thus, family support among Reservist personnel, should not be taken for granted by the Army. There was a clear sense in our interviews that whilst a lot of work has and is being done to keep employers on-side, little effort has been directed towards Reservists' families, particularly outside of deployment. This is especially the case in terms of welfare support. Several Reservists shared the belief that, 'We've got Welfare Officers, but nothing gets generated out of the Welfare Office. If it was on Ops, yeah, brilliant but they don't do it for the rest of the Battalion' (Alex, Reservist). It is clear from our data that Units and Army Welfare personnel are keen to support Reservists and their families, but that they are still trying to make sense of what welfare provision can be offered to either of them outside deployment. Recommendations • The Army's expectations of what Reservists can commit to, given the considerable increase in opportunities and activity that have arisen as a result of FR2020 reforms, and what the AR units can deliver need to be grounded in the reality that Reservists can only serve during their limited "spare time". Army policies and service delivery should be less Regular-centric, i.e. more flexible and less demanding, in order to achieve better Regular-Reserve integration and to avoid alienating Reservists. • The scheduling, quality, and quantity of training on offer still need to be fine-tuned. The scheduling of training has to be more flexible and mindful of Reservists' time and commitment restraints. Training has to keep Reservists engaged, if not entertained, in order to maintain high retention. In particular, the frequency and/or necessity of running certain MATTs serials should be reviewed in order to avoid unnecessary repetition. In light of the fact that Reservists/Reserve units will have a six-month warning prior to deployment, gives them plenty of time to achieve MATTs certification. • Employer engagement should not be geared only towards securing corporate level buy-in. Rather, it should be "cascaded" and directed towards lower-level line managers, who enable or hinder Reservists' ability to satisfy their reserve obligations. • Family support is crucial for allowing Reservists to sacrifice their "spare" time to serve. Such support should not be taken for granted. To maintain such support, greater acknowledgement of family support, beyond the odd tokenistic regimental "family day", and the provision of greater welfare support for families, beyond deployment, should become key priorities. |
| Exploitation Route | See above regarding Ministry of Defence stakeholders' ultimate decision to not use research findings due to the "sensitivities" associated with our findings and ultimately outputs. |
| Sectors | Security and Diplomacy |
| URL | http://www.future-reserves-research.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Despite the fact that the survey results of UK armed forces personnel highlight every year how among trained regular personnel that have put in their notice, the impact of Service life on family and personal life remains the top reason for leaving the armed forces, the issue of impact of reserve service on family was not being explored in the annual Tri-Services Reserves Continuous Attitude Survey. During the Ministry of Defence research ethics approval process I highlighted this lacunae and issued a short report to the Army Scientific Advisory Committe which is reponsible together with the other services' scientific advisory committees in drawing up the survey questions. I wrote a report that family support issues should not be ignored particularly due to the fact that reserve service is usually carried out during the reservist's "spare time", that during time usually spent pursuing personal endeavours or spending time with family. Following deliberations with the other services, the ASAC confirmed that from the 2015 Tri-Service Reserves Continuous Attitude Survey onward, the three questions I suggested be included in the survey would be incorporated into the annual survey, thus, helping MOD make informed decisions and policy based also by taking into account family support/family issues. The three questions requiring Likert-scale responses were inserted as a result of my report: How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following? My family supports my Reserve service How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following? My family values my Reserve service How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following? My family would prefer that I was not a Reservist |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Security and Diplomacy |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | Insertion of questionnaire items in British Army's 2014 Reserves Continuous Attitude Survey |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Description | Academic paper presentation at the Annual Eastern Sociological Society Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presented draft paper titled, "Playing at Soldier: Volunteerism and Serious Leisure in the British Army Reserves" and networked with several academics who research on military sociological issues. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.essnet.org/annual-meeting/overview/ |
| Description | Academic paper presentation at the Biennial Conference of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society Canada |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Paper presentation on co-written paper titled, "Negotiating gender divisions of labour within Army Reservist families and how these influence the balancing of work, family, and Reserve duty commitments" at a specialist academic conference. The panel consisted of four presenters and there were about 10 members in the audience. I received feedback on my working paper and made several connections with Canadian and other foreign academics working on military sociological issues. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.iusafs.org/partners/IUSCanada2016.asp |
| Description | All-Party Parliamentary Group for Reserve Forces and Cadets Presentation, Portcullis House Westminster |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Following on the success of our stakeholder symposium held at the Royal United Service Institute on 26 May 2016, one of the symposium attendees, Hon. Madeleine Moon, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Reserve Forces and Cadets, invited us to present the same interim results to members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Reserve Forces and Cadets; this meeting took place on 5 July 2016. Among the attendees were several members of Parliament, including the Minister for Reserves, Rt Hon. Julian Brazier, as well as the Assistant Chief of Defence Staff - Reserves and Cadets, Major General Ranald Munro. Several attendees provided positive feedback on our presentation findings. Minister Brazier corroborated one of our key findings - that training scheduling is still very difficult for Reservists - and admitted that ministerial correspondence had been sent to the MOD seeking explanations on why this was still the case. Members stated that were also interested in getting any future report on our findings, which we have not yet been issued. Hon. Madeleine Moon also stated that she would be open to inviting us to present again at the APPG should we have further findings to present in future. List of attendees: Madeleine Moon MP - Chair Lord West Lord Freeman Lord De Mauley Jim Fitzpatrick MP James Gray MP Julian Brazier MP - Minister Reserves. Adam Fico - Parliamentary Office of James Gray MP Amy Swash - Parliamentary Office of James Gray MP Matthew Ward - Parliamentary Office of Madeleine Moon MP Richard Steadman - Parliamentary Office of Kevin Jones MP Major General Munro - RF&C MOD Brigadier van der Lande - RF&C MOD Niall Ahern - Employer Engagement Greater London RFCA Mark Demery - Greater London RFCA Kloe Fowler- Defence Relationship Management (DRM) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.glrfca.org/uploads/media_documents/160705gl-sec-mintues-APPG_1480928462.pdf |
| Description | Conference attendance at paper presentation at the 14th ERGOMAS Biennial Conference in Athens, Greece - June 26-30 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I attended and presented at the European Research Group on Military and Society's biennial international academic conference in Athens, Greece 26-30 June. ERGOMAS is the largest European-based society on military sociology and its conference hosts experts from around the globe. There were over 300 attendees and about 20+ who listened and gave feedback during my presentation. At the conference I presented a working draft paper titled, "Contextualising Reserve Duty as Serious Leisure and the Pressures of the Increasing Professionalisation of the British Army Reserves", which following feedback and revision was submitted in late summer for publication with the Review of International Studies. In late December 2017, we received positive R&R feedback from the reviewers and we are re-submitting the revised paper within the next two months. At the conference I networked with several researchers from the UK and abroad who are interested in reserves as well as on veterans affairs who are interested in reading our project's work and in future potential collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://ergomas.ch/index.php/conference |
| Description | Future Reserves Research Programme Awareness Workshop, Army Headquarters, Andover, 14 June 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Future Reserves Research Programme Integrator helped set up and manage an FRRP Awareness Workshop in Andover on 14 June 2017. 25 key stakeholders involved in the Army's and other services' reserves policy and reserves service delivery respectively attended the workshop (not including the research teams from the four projects). At the workshop the four project teams presented interim findings on their respective reserve-focused research during a plenary session. Following presentations, Q&A and discussions, the stakeholders and research teams broke out into smaller discussion/working groups during which more discussions were carried out. The integrator distributed surveys to the 25 participants at the end of the workshop. The 11 completed evaluation forms were received on the day. All of those submitting a form provided their name and area of responsibility. The majority of those attending were from the Army. The majority of those who responded found the workshop useful. All of those attending stated that the research findings reflected their own experiences, to some extent. Most were not surprised by any of the findings presented. Most were able to describe at least one point from the research that would influence their future thinking, planning, strategy or practice. Finally, all of those responding said that they would tell other people about the Research Programme and its findings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Future Reserves Research Programme End of Programme Stakeholder Conference, Royal United Services Institute, London, 27 June 2018. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On Wednesday 27 June 2018 - Reserves Day - over 100 people, including Reservists and Regulars from all three Forces, gathered at the Royal United Services Institute, Whitehall, London to hear about and discuss the key findings and recommendations from the research programme. This event involved members of the Future Reserve Research Programme Programme Board members (i.e., the projects' PIs and MOD/Army stakeholders) as well as members of the Programme Advisory Board, comprising a mix of academic experts as well as retired members of the Armed Forces that have dealt with Reserve issues during or following their service or who are currently members of the Future Reserves 2020 External Scrutiny Team [e.g., Lt Gen (Retd) Robin Brims], members of the various service Families Federations, members from various reserve units across the services, as well as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Reserves and Cadets, Hon Mrs Madeleine Moon, etc. At the morning plenary event various end of project and programme presentations were made based on the end of project/programme Policy Briefs (copies can be found here: http://www.future-reserves-research.ac.uk/publications/), that written and were also distibuted to all of the event participants. Following lunch, a breakout afternoon session comprising several members working at Army and Ministry of Defence Headquarters on Reserves issues as well as the project PIs met to brainstorm on how to make use of the findings as well as create working groups that would in future work and explore how to use the findings to inform MOD and Army reserves policy. However, the Future Reserves Research Pogramme integration team and our MOD stakeholders did not manage to agree concrete future steps for further stakeholder collaboration. Thus, the opportunity to work jointly on future Reserves issues based on project/programme findings ultimately fizzled out. The remaining Impact Integration Team funding for impact-related activities was spent in printing further copies of the end-of-project policy brief for further distribution. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.future-reserves-research.ac.uk/events/ |
| Description | International Workshop on Military Reserves, University of Exeter, 20-21 August 2018 & Establishment of the Total Defence Force working group (European Research Group on Military & Society) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I co-chaired and hosted at the Strategy & Security Institute, University of Exeter a 2-day international workshop on military reserves involving academics as well as members of the various countries' defence ministries involved in personnel administration and research in order to present and discuss ongoing research on reserves. Workshop delegates included Israelis (4), Korean (1), US (2), Netherlands (1), UK (4), Canada (1) and Argentina (2). The outcomes of the workshop were: 1) the establishment of an international network of academic and practitioners whose research focuses on research focused on reservists, defence civilians, which has become an official working group within the European Research Group on Military and Society titled, "Total Defence Force" (See: https://ergomas.ch/index.php/working-groups/1-morale-cohesion-and-leadership-2). Thus, work on reserve issues from a comparative perspective will be ongoing and go beyond the lifetime of this project. 2) agreement on the part of delegates to: a) work on submitting a special edition on reserve forces to the journal, Armed Forces & Society, by Summer 2019 and subsequently an edited book to a prestigious academic publisher (2020); b) to set up future panels at international conferences on reserve issues. So far, several panels have been submitted to two major international conferences which will run in summer and autumn of 2019 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Paper presentation at academic conference. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented initial findings originating from the study being funded by this grant at the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces & Society in Chicago, USA (30 October-1 November 2015). The conference comprised around 250+ academics, professional practitioners and policymakers in the field of military studies and sociology. Around 20 members attended my presentation. New contacts and spin-off collaborative opportunities resulted from the attendance at this conference. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.iusafs.org/conferences/conferences.asp |
| Description | Paper presentation at the Political Studies Association 68th Annual International Conference 26 - 28 March 2018, Cardiff |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dr Victoria Basham and I presented a draft paper titled, "The Gendered Power Dynamics of Informed Consent in Researching the Female Partners of British Army Reservists "on the panel titled, Methodological Conundrums in Qualitative Research, at the PSA 68th Annual International Conference 26 - 28 March 2018, Cardiff. The draft paper explored and recounted the ethical issues experienced whilst attempting to recruit and interview potential research participants during the fieldwork we conducted as part of our ESRC-Ministry of Defence funded research project. Around 8-10 participants sat in the presentation and we got some valuable feedback and interesting questions that we are addressing in our final draft paper version. In fact, we are currently working on revising and finishing the paper in order to submit it to an International Relations or Methods journal in Spring/Summer 2019. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Paper presentation given at the 12th Pan-European Conference on International Relations, Prague, Czech Republic, 12-15 September 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dr Victoria Basham and I presented a paper titled, "The Gendered Power Dynamics of Informed Consent in Researching the Female Partners of British Army Reservists" on the panel "Researching Secrecy I: Access, (In)visibility and Technology" at the European International Studies Association annual conference. The paper explored and recounts the ethical issues experienced whilst attempting to recruit and interview potential research participants during the fieldwork we conducted as part of our ESRC-Ministry of Defence funded research project. Around 15-20 people attended the panel and we got great feedback on our draft paper. Following the conference we were invited to contribute a chapter for an edited book on research ethics and methodology, because of the positive impact our presentation had. However, the request and deadline for submission was given at too short notice to accept. However, we remain in contact with the scholars who invited us to contribute to the edited book in order to collaborate possibly in some other future project. We are currently in the process of revising our paper and are planning to submit it to an International Relations or Methods journal in Spring/Summer 2019. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Paper presentation given at the British International Studies Association 43rd Annual Conference, Bath, UK - 13-15 June 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dr Victoria Basham and I presented a draft paper titled, "The Gendered Power Dynamics of Informed Consent in Researching the Female Partners of British Army Reservists "on the panel titled, Reflections on the Methodological Challenges and Opportunities of Researching War, at the British International Studies Association 43rd Annual Conference, Bath, UK - 13-15 June 2018. The draft paper explored and recounted the ethical issues experienced whilst attempting to recruit and interview potential research participants during the fieldwork we conducted as part of our ESRC-Ministry of Defence funded research project. Around 20+ participants sat in the presentation and we got some valuable feedback and interesting questions that we are addressing in our final draft paper version. In fact, we are currently working on revising and finishing the paper in order to submit it to an International Relations or Methods journal in Spring/Summer 2019. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation at the Army Families Federation Annual Research Symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Around 120 members from the Armed Forces and military charitable organisations attended the Army Families Federation's Annual Research Symposium on 18 June 2015. At the event, I presented very early findings in a presentation titled, "Understanding support for Reserve military personnel & their families". Several participants were very interested in the findings and have asked to read future published findings relating to my grant. I also established contact with several members of the armed forces' family federations who would like to explore future collaborate research on Reservists' families. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.aff.org.uk/affresearchsymposium/index.htm |
| Description | Research Project Interim Findings Press Release following presentation at the All Parliamentary Group on Reserves Forces and Cadets, Westminster |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A press release was issued with the assistance of Kerra Maddern, Senior Press and Media Manager, Communication and Marketing Services, University of Exeter on the University of Exeter and Cardiff University websites. The link to the University of Exeter press release has been provided below. The aim was to disseminate a brief on our main interim research findings, but also garner some media interest in the topic. Unfortunately, due to the Brexit Referendum, there was an ESRC mandated media embargo. Thus, the timing of our press release (only a few weeks after the shocking Brexit vote) was not conducive to producing any major interest in the topic and further impact. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/archive/2016/july/title_527474_en.html |
| Description | Stakeholder Symposium held at the Royal United Services Institute, London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Victoria Basham (Co-I) and I presented our project's interim research findings and highlighted issues currently affecting reservists in relation to the different aspects of their family, employment and military lives. We also highlighted some of the challenges and opportunities the Army has experienced in its implementation of Future Reserves 2020 in the areas of recruitment, retention, training, welfare and employer engagement. Around sixty delegates attended, many of which were military and Ministry of Defence personnel involved in Reserves policy issues or actual reservists themselves. Several senior figures also attended, including Major General Simon Brooks-Wards, a Reservist and Deputy Field Commander Army, Brigadier Hugh Robertson, Field Army Headquarters; Brigadier Mark Van der Lande, MOD Head of Reserves Forces and Cadets, as well as Hon. Madeleine Moon, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Reserve Forces and Cadets. The intended purpose, beyond sharing interim results, was to raise awareness of the Reservist issues and challenges that Regular military personnel and MOD/political level policy-makers might not be too aware of. The presentation raised several points that were the subject of a healthy, but on occasion acrimonious debate between a few representatives of the Regular and Reserve components of the Army that were present at the symposium. Of particular significance were the interest of the Deputy Commander Field Army as well as of Hon. Madeleine Moon. Maj. Gen. Brooks-Ward invited us to Field Army HQ to interview him and discuss further our results. Hon. Moon invited us to present our findings directly to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Reserve Forces and Cadets at Portcullis House, Westminster (see All-Party Parliamentary Group for Reserve Forces and Cadets Presentation engagement activity report). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | The Biennial International Conference of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, Reston, VA, USA - 3-5 November 2017 (Pulled out due to Norovirus illness) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I was supposed to attend the and present our project's paper titled, "The Selfish Reservist and His/Her Attempts at Negotiating His/Her Time Vis-à-vis the 'Greedy Institutions' of the Family, Military, and Workplace". However, the late evening prior to departing I contracted a severe case of Norovirus. Notwithstanding the fact that I was still severely ill the morning of my expected departure, following the contraction of Norovirus one should be quarantined from publice/closed spaces. Thus, I took the painful decision of not attending the conference eventhough I was ready to present and had made all the logistical/travel arrangements to attend this conference. I was gutted, but had not real choice but cancel the trip. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.iusafs.net/2017/ |