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Laura Rafferty

Laura Rafferty

Post-doctoral Researcher

Biography

Laura studied Psychology at Brunel University graduating with a BSc in 2007. She was awarded the Thomas Gerald Gray Charitable Trust PhD studentship for academic excellence and research potential at Brunel University 2007 before receiving her PhD from the University of Southampton in 2011 for research exploring the human factors of fratricide in the UK Armed Forces.  

Before arriving at King’s she worked as a researcher across a number of military focused projects for the Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre (HFI-DTC), a research consortium funded by the Ministry of Defence and led by BAE Systems, at Brunel University and the University of Southampton.  

Laura joined King’s in 2016 to lead a qualitative study exploring barriers to mental health help seeking in UK military veterans. She is currently working across a number of projects including evaluating a mental fitness initiative developed for the Armed Forces; developing tools to reduce barriers to seeking mental health support for military veterans; evaluating interventions to support the families of veterans with mental health disorders; and exploring the impact of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder on the development of dementia in military veterans. 

Research Interests

  • Military Psychology 
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder 
  • Major Depressive Disorder 
  • Mental Health Treatment 
  • Barriers to Mental Health Treatment 
  • Dementia 

    News

    Hearing problems associated with adverse mental health outcomes in the UK Armed Forces

    Members of the UK Armed Forces who experience hearing problems were more likely to report adverse mental health outcomes and alcohol misuse.

    KCMHR - audio problems

    Spotlight

    Investing in the mental health of military personnel, veterans and their families

    The King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) is the main source of independent high-quality data on the mental health and wellbeing of the UK Armed...

    army-veteran-family

      News

      Hearing problems associated with adverse mental health outcomes in the UK Armed Forces

      Members of the UK Armed Forces who experience hearing problems were more likely to report adverse mental health outcomes and alcohol misuse.

      KCMHR - audio problems

      Spotlight

      Investing in the mental health of military personnel, veterans and their families

      The King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) is the main source of independent high-quality data on the mental health and wellbeing of the UK Armed...

      army-veteran-family