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Information for Researchers

If you are considering conducting research which could have a potential impact on the lives of serving Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Marines (RM) families, please get in contact with the Naval Families Federation (NFF) team for an initial conversation before you start the process by completing our online form.

We want to collaborate with researchers to gather and publish evidence which clearly demonstrates how the unique aspects of Service life can impact upon the serving RN and RM community. We would be happy to discuss these with you, as that could influence how you develop your research study.  

How can the NFF help?

  • Our role is to champion RN and RM families and to advocate on their behalf.  
  • We engage with families on a regular basis – this could be face to face, online or by telephone.  
  • We collect information, evidence and feedback from serving members of the RN and RM, and their families, on the issues that impact them on a daily basis. We collate their evidence on our confidential database and then use the anonymised data to help inform policy and decision makers across central and local government and the charity sector.  
  • We represent all RN and RM families, wherever they live. However, we do not have a membership list with contact details of all RN and RM families.  
  • We also do not have lists of families who are available at short notice to take part in study focus groups. However, if you need participants for focus groups which are relevant to our community, we may be able to support you by promoting requests on our social media platforms. A note about focus groups:
    • If you looking to organise these groups, please think about the lifestyle challenges that our families are often dealing with. Many of our serving personnel can be deployed for extended periods of time with limited access to communications. They may also be working in different areas of the country and commute home to their families at weekends. This means that the non-serving spouse, partner or other family member may be solo parenting, or manging the family and home alone, so may not be available during standard office hours.  
    • We also have many dual-serving couples within the RN and RM too, so their circumstances should be taken into consideration.  
    • We can advise you about the best times and ways to engage these groups.  

Top Tips for Researchers

Current and Published Research

When we meet with Researchers, it’s always helpful if you can tell us how your project could complement both current and published research, as well as influence future policies. We appreciate how difficult it can be to source funding for academic research, so we want to ensure that there is no duplication of work. 

These are just a few of the academic websites which can provide a great overview of past, current and future research projects:  

 

Research involving serving members of the Armed Forces

If you are considering developing a research study which may involve engagement with serving members of the Armed Forces, you will need to be aware of the requirements and procedures set down by the MoD Research Ethics Committee (MODREC).  

Please be aware that gaining approval from MODREC can take several months, and is a complex process, so you will need to take this into consideration as part of your planning and design.  

More information about this can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/ministry-of-defence-research-ethics-committees  

 

Engaging with the Veteran Community

As an evidence-based organisation, our role is to highlight the unique issues that affect serving RN and RM personnel and their families. This means that we do not regularly engage with the veteran community or their families, although we will always offer appropriate advice and information if a member of a veteran family does contact us.  

If you are thinking of conducting research which will involve engaging with UK Armed Forces ex-Service personnel or their families as part of your work, you may wish to contact one of these organisations instead as they may be able to assist you: 

Veterans Data

If you want to access the current data on where veterans are located, and what their characteristics are, these are useful sources: 

Working in partnership

The Naval Families Federation strives to drive evidence-based change and welcomes the opportunity to include the Naval families perspective in relevant research studies. We work closely with colleagues in the Army Families Federation (AFF) and RAF Families Federation (RAF FF) and can help to arrange scoping meetings with these teams if the research has a tri-Service bias and meets our respective objectives.   

Contact the NFF

If you have any questions and would like to speak to the NFF about your research, please send an email to contactus@nff.org.uk and our Research Lead will get in touch.

Page created: 11 December, 2023
Page updated: 4 January, 2024

 


 

 

Proposed Research: Working with the Naval Families Federation (NFF)

Please complete this form if you would like to speak to a member of the NFF team about a proposed research study.

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