Serving with Equity: Women’s Voices in the Uniformed Public Services
31 March/1 April 2026
Please note that tickets are no longer on sale for the conference, as it is taking place next week.
The Centre for Military Women’s Research and the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Uniformed Public Services (CEEUPS) are holding a joint conference in spring 2026, themed around women’s experiences in the military and uniformed public services.
The conference will take place over two days, with two parallel programmes on the first day: one with a military theme (with a keynote by Dr Maya Eichler), and one focusing on uniformed public services (with a keynote by Dr Camilla De Camargo), ending with a drinks reception. The second day comprises a keynote by Dany Cotton, followed by a choice of five panel discussions on a variety of themes, concluding with a review and plenary.
The keynote speakers on the first day are:
For CMWR: Dr Maya Eichler is an associate professor of Political Studies, chair of the Department of Women’s Studies, and director of the Centre for Social Innovation and Community Engagement in Military Affairs (SICEMA) at Mount Saint Vincent University (Halifax, Canada). Her research focuses on women veterans, gender and the armed forces, military sexual violence, military-to-civilian transitions, transforming military cultures, defence policy, and community stories of war and peace. Maya is a former co-director of the DND-MINDS funded collaborative network, Transforming Military Cultures (TMC). She co-chairs the Women Veterans Research and Engagement Network (WREN), and currently co-leads participatory action research through the Invisible No More (INM) Project which seeks to advance the meaningful implementation of the recommendations of the 2024 parliamentary report on the experiences of Canadian women veterans.
For CEEUPS: Dr Camilla De Camargo is a Lecturer in Criminology at Lancaster University and on the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship for the Open University. She is a qualitative researcher focused on police wellbeing, identity and embodiment, and her work explores the intersections of uniform, organisational culture and health within policing. Camilla has led and contributed to projects including the National Uniform and Equipment Survey examining wellbeing and occupational stressors, with particular attention to how uniforms shape officers’ experiences of authority, identity and vulnerability. Drawing on qualitative methods, her research provides in-depth insights into the lived experience of frontline officers.
On the second day, the keynote speaker is Dany Cotton, the former London Fire Commissioner: Dany joined London Fire Brigade in 1988 aged 18, one of 30 women firefighters out of a workforce of 9000. She became the first female London Fire Commissioner in 2017, leading the Brigade during major incidents including the unprecedented fire at Grenfell Tower and the terrorist incidents at London Bridge and Finsbury Park during her first six months in the role. She retired from LFB at the end of 2019.
The five panel discussions on the second day cover all uniformed public services with the following themes: sexual harm, mobilising research, women’s health and wellbeing, pregnancy, and organisational change.
Conference information
Location and directions
The conference is taking place at ARU Cambridge, East Road, Cambridge CB1 1PT.
Timings
Registration will open at 9am on Tuesday 31 March, with the conference starting promptly at 9.30am. The day will draw to a close at 5pm, concluding with a late afternoon drinks reception and the opportunity to network with fellow delegates. On Wednesday 1 April the programme will begin at 9.30am. There is a choice of five panel discussions on this day, and you will be asked to choose your first, second and third preferences when you book your ticket; we will try to ensure that everyone gets their highest preference where possible. The conference will conclude at 4pm.
Programme for Tuesday 31 March: Centre for Military Women’s Research stream
| From 9am | Registration (tea and coffee) |
| 9.45am – 10am | Lauren Godier: Intro and housekeeping |
| 10am-10.30am | Keynote: Maya Eichler: Research that Transforms: Turning Women Veteran Voices into Action |
| Morning session: Military women’s health | |
| 10.30am – 10.50am | Surg Lt Cdr Ruth Guest – Reuseable menstrual products in deployed maritime settings: A service evaluation |
| 10.50am – 11.10am | Linna Tam-Seto – Where service meets motherhood: A scoping review of the intersectionality of parenting and military service identities |
| 11.10am –11.30am | Elin Anita Fadum – Congenital anomalies among infants of Norwegian military mothers: A nationwide study (1969–2021) |
| 11.30am – 12 noon | Q&A |
| 12 noon –1pm | Lunch |
| Afternoon session 1: Gendered harm | |
| 1pm – 1.20pm | Rachelle Vessey – Gendered discourse and sexual harm in Canadian military discourse: Insights from the field of linguistics |
| 1.20pm – 1.40pm | Shannon Allen – “My voice was taken away from me”: Exploring potentially morally injurious events experienced by UK female veterans |
| 1.40pm – 2pm | Tamara Obradovic – Exploring the impacts of MST and implications for help-seeking: A qualitative study |
| 2pm – 2.30pm | Q&A |
| 2.30pm – 3pm | Tea and coffee |
| Afternoon session 2: Research with women veterans | |
| 3pm –3.20pm | Nancy Taber and Ash Grover – Storied experiences of Canadian women military veterans in expressive writing workshops: Counter-narratives for military culture change |
| 3.20pm– 3.40pm | Nancy Taber, Hannah West, Annie Geisow and Ashleigh Percival-Borley – ‘We are here’: Military women voicing their gendered stories |
| 3.40pm –4pm | Dr Claire Hooks – Experience of female reproductive health in and out of service among UK women veterans |
| 4pm – 4.30pm | Q&A |
| 4.30pm | Drinks reception |
Programme for Tuesday 31 March: Centre of Excellence for Equity in Uniformed Public Services stream
| From 9am | Registration (tea and coffee) |
| 9.45am – 10am | Emma Williams: Intro and housekeeping |
| 10am-10.30am | Keynote: Dr Camilla De Camargo: Boobs, Bums and Body Armour: Results from the National Police Uniform and Equipment Survey |
| Morning session: Structural change, policy and organisational transformation | |
| 10.30am – 10.50am | Joan Roa-Natividad – Feminisation as a legal and social mandate. How to reimagine our security and emergency organisations? A hands-on approach to the Catalan strategy |
| 10.50am – 11.10am | Abigail Adams – Embedding anti-racist research practice: barriers, responsibilities and possibilities for change |
| 11.10am –11.30am | Tara Zammit – Putting personnel at the centre of policymaking: an examination of integration and inclusion through UKAF service experiences |
| 11.30am –12 noon | Q&A |
| 12 noon –1pm | Lunch |
| Afternoon session 1: Lived experience, identity and psychological impact | |
| 1pm – 1.20pm | Emily Rowe – When pain doesn’t count: Imposter trauma, gender, and the hidden hierarchies of harm in uniformed service |
| 1.20pm – 1.40pm | Aarya Menon – Identifying the occupational experiences of women in male-dominated workplaces: A systematic review |
| 1.40pm – 2pm | Sarah-Jane Lennie – The intersection of police life and perinatal mental health: the parenting journey as a police family |
| 2pm – 2.30pm | Q&A |
| 2.30pm –3pm | Tea and coffee |
| Afternoon session 2: Research, representation and sector-specific practice | |
| 3pm –3.20pm | Major Marcelle Grace – Owning the narrative: Advancing equity and cultural change for women in the British Army |
| 3.20pm –3.40pm | Dr Joy C MacDermid and Dr Robin Campbell Bromhead – Building the women in Firefighting Health Research Network: Advancing women firefighter health, well-being, and international collaboration |
| 3.40pm –4pm | Chris Webber: Integrating and flourishing in a man’s world of the fire and rescue service: A scoping review |
| 4pm – 4.30pm | Q&A |
| 4.30pm | Drinks reception |
Programme for Wednesday 1 April
| 10am – 10.30am | Keynote: Dany Cotton: Leading in the Fire and Rescue Service as a woman |
| 10.30am – 10.45am | Hilary Engward: Professional advocacy: Empowering professionals to advocate for professionals |
| 10.45am – 12.30pm | Panel sessions: |
| Panel 1: Sexual harm: Charlotte Herriott (chair), Nicole Dodds, Victoria Mason, Hannah Richards, Rachel Ward | |
| Panel 2: Health and wellbeing: Claire Hooks (chair), Amy Beams, Kirsten Morris, SJ Lennie, Heather Storey | |
| Panel 3: Organisational change: Hannah West (chair), Richard Harding, Liam Noll, Helen Peace, Nancy Taber | |
| Panel 4: Mobilising research: Abigail Adams (chair), Liza Jarvis, Sarah McLachlan, Emma Williams | |
| 12.30pm – 1pm | Feedback from panel sessions |
| 1pm – 2pm | Lunch |
| 2pm – 2.30pm | Plenary: Matt Fossey |
| 2.30pm – 2.45pm | Concluding thoughts |
| 2.45pm | Finish |
Tickets
Ticket sales have now closed. Please note that all tickets are non-refundable.
If you have any questions about the conference, please contact Caroline Tapper (caroline.tapper@aru.ac.uk).