Tara Zammit is a PhD Candidate in the Department of War Studies. She has been awarded the SSHRC-CRSH Department of National Defence MINDS Initiative Doctoral Award to undertake her research. Her work is interdisciplinary and situated within the fields of ontological security, feminist security studies, and war studies. She has spoken across the UK and internationally about her research, including at NATO Headquarters in Brussels and the 2025 ISA Annual Conference in Chicago.

Tara is a member of the Leadership Team for Women in Defence UK, a RUSI NextGen Ambassador, and a Postgraduate Representative for the BISA War Studies Working Group.

She holds an MPhil in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Cambridge (2019), and a BA (Honours) in Peace, Conflict and Justice and Near and Middle Eastern Civilisations from the University of Toronto (2018). In addition, Tara has extensive experience in podcast production and editing, communications and media strategy development, copywriting, and digital marketing. She also played for KCLWRFC.

You can follow Tara on Bluesky: @tarazammit.bsky.social

Research Interests

• Ontological security (and insecurity)
• Military sociology
• Gender and conflict
• LGBTQ+ service experiences
• Military integration practices

Thesis

Inside out: examining the integration of women and LGBTQ+ personnel in the UK Armed Forces through an ontological security lens

Tara's research explores the service experiences of women and LGBTQ+ members of the British Armed Forces post-2000 and the intersections between ontological securitisation, integration and belonging, and defence policy. Her work involves developing a theoretical framework for better analysing the interconnectedness of these subjects with the aim of influencing policy to better support women and LGBTQ+ individuals pursuing careers in defence and security.

 

Publications (chronological)

• Zammit, T., 2025. The Strategic Defence Review: innovation without the people? Defence-in-Depth. 10 July. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/the-strategic-defence-review-innovation-without-the-people (Accessed 10 July 2025).
• Zammit, T., 2024. #NattyServes? Why national service should make us take British defence more seriously. UK in a Changing Europe. 7 June. https://ukandeu.ac.uk/nattyserves-why-national-service-should-make-us-take-british-defence-more-seriously/ (Accessed 7 June 2024).
• Zammit, T., 2024. Joint review: Forgotten warriors: a history of women on the front line; The women behind the few: the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and British intelligence during the Second World War, International Affairs, 100, 1, pp. 427–429, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiad322.
• Zammit, T., 2023. Review: Good Soldiers Don’t Rape: The Stories We Tell about Military Sexual Violence, The RUSI Journal, 168, 5, pp. 90-91, https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2023.2273066.
• Zammit, T., 2023. Facilitating change: recruitment, retention, integration and inclusion in the armed forces. Canadian Global Affairs Institute. Available at: https://www.cgai.ca/facilitating_change_recruitment_retention_integration_and_inclusion_in_the_armed_forces. (Accessed 2 October 2023).
• Zammit, T., 2023. The LGBT Veterans Independent Review: context, history, and a long-awaited apology. UK in a Changing Europe. 19 July. Available at: https://ukandeu.ac.uk/the-lgbt-veterans-independent-review/ (Accessed 19 July 2023).
• Zammit, T., 2023. Looking at service through a different lens: Ontological security, integration, and the British Armed Forces. SDU Center for War Studies. 5 June. Available at:https://www.sdu.dk/en/forskning/forskningsenheder/samf/cws/cws+activities/gender-peace security/tara-zammit (Accessed 5 June 2023).

Supervisors

Dr Amanda Chisholm and Dr Andrea Ellner