On Tuesday 14 May 2024, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal attended the 2024 Veterans' Mental Conference, organised by the King's Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) at King's College London and held at Bush House.
Her Royal Highness was met by Professor Wendy Thomson CBE, Vice-Chancellor, University of London, Professor Shitij Kapur, Vice-Chancellor of King's College London; Professor Sir Simon Wessely, Chair of KCMHR; and Professor Nicola Fear and Professor Dominic Murphy, Co-directors of KCMHR.
Her Royal Highness heard from Dr Marie-Louise Sharp, a Senior Research Fellow, who spoke on employing epidemiological data to gain insights about comorbidity and complex health needs before addressing 250 delegates working in the field of military mental health research, policy makers, veterans and their families. During The Princess Royal's speech, she touched on the importance of the continued work in this area, and the impact potential it has on veterans and their loved ones.
It has been a great honour to welcome The Princess Royal to King's and to our conference. We were delighted that HRH continues to have such a deep interest and passion on key issues in mental health among the armed forces community.
Professor Sir Simon Wessely, Chair - King's Centre for Military Health Research
Organised by King's Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) and sponsored by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT), this year's conference explored a variety of topics around military mental health, with speakers from a range of universities, government bodies and people with lived experience.
The conference also welcomed the Right Honourable Johnny Mercer MP, Minister for Veterans' Affairs who shared an update on the latest from the Office for Veteran's Affairs.
The King's Centre for Military Health Research is the leading civilian UK centre of excellence for military health research. Independent of the Ministry of Defence and chain of command, the Centre's research has provided much-needed evidence on the health and well-being of serving and ex-serving personnel and their families. The Centre started life as 'The Gulf War Illness Unit' in the mid-1990s before formally being launched as KCMHR in 2003.
We are delighted to have held this event again at King's and it is wonderful to be able to connect with colleagues, old and new. Those attending come from a range of disciplines and sectors providing representation from the local, national and international community. It was fantastic to hear about the recent advances in research, policy and practice and exploring how we can all work together to enhance the health and wellbeing support provided to the Armed Forces community.
Professor Nicola Fear - King's Centre for Military Health Research and Co-Chair of the Veterans' Mental Health Conference
KCMHR's research relates to conflict and health, occupational psychiatry, personnel issues and social policy. Research is conducted in four main areas to understand the needs of, serving personnel, ex-serving personnel, military families (including those of ex-serving personnel) and then developing novel interventions to address these needs. KCMHR works closely with the Academic Department of Military Mental Health (ADMMH) which is funded by the MoD and collaborates directly with King's with both academic and military personnel.
This year's conference was spread across four themes, each examining a different area of research relevant to veterans and their families. These included looking at why integrated healthcare matters, highlighting the latest health and wellbeing research in the field of military mental health, exploring examples of health and wellbeing disorders that need an integrated approach and concluding the day by bringing these topics together, with closing remarks given by Professor Dominic Murphy.
On Monday 13 May, Bush House also hosted the Forces in Mind Trust Research Centre Conference.
