A new Impact Centre aiming to improve understanding and evidence-based support for children from Armed Forces families has received £249,437 in funding from the Forces in Mind Trust.
The grant will fund the launch of the SCiP Alliance Impact Centre, a new initiative from the University of Winchester in partnership with King’s College London. The centre will run for two years, operating until July 2027, and will focus on transforming how Service children are supported across the UK.
Service children can benefit from being part of a military family, but may also face unique challenges – including mobility, parental deployment, and disrupted education. While awareness is growing, the SCiP Alliance Impact Centre will provide a dedicated national resource to train professionals, improve policy and practice, and help funders and researchers understand what works best.
Dr Liam Satchell, Director of the SCiP Alliance Impact Centre, said: “Service children are key to the Armed Forces community and deserve consistent, evidence-driven support across the four nations of the UK. The practitioners, policy makers, and families who support Service children all want to know what works best and how we might know this. The Impact Centre will provide definitive resources for the support of Service children and ensure collaboration throughout the sector. I am delighted to be directing this centre that will help build change for Service children.”
Phil Dent, Director of the SCiP Alliance and Co-Chair of the new centre, added: “The launch of the SCiP Alliance Impact Centre marks a significant milestone in our long-standing commitment to help professionals take evidence-led action with and for Service children. The SCiP Alliance community has come a long way in both building the evidence base and translating it into meaningful change. The SCiP Alliance Impact Centre will greatly enhance our capacity and expertise in this, increasing the community’s engagement with evidence, our ability to mobilise it through targeted action, and the impact it has on Service children’s lives.”
The centre will be co-produced with Service children and their families to ensure its tools and outputs are accessible and effective. It will also collaborate with other major initiatives, including the Centre for Evidence for the Armed Forces Community and King’s Centre for Military Health Research.
Professor Nicola Fear, Co-Chair of the SCiP Alliance Impact Centre and Professor of Epidemiology at King’s College London, said: “Ensuring that the needs of the children of Service personnel identified via the ever-growing evidence base requires a strategic approach to enable the research to have a positive impact on Service families. The establishment of the SCiP Alliance Impact Centre will support the transition of evidence into impact.”
Michelle Alston, Chief Executive of Forces in Mind Trust, added: “Many Service children thrive as part of the Armed Forces community, but they can also face unique challenges. We are delighted to award funding that can help transform the evaluation and policy landscape for Service children as a vital part of the Armed Forces community. Supporting them is essential to good transition out of the Armed Forces for the whole Service family and Service personnel.”
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