Professor Vincent Connelly

Professor Vince Connelly is Professor of Psychology at the Oxford Brookes University Defence and Security Centre and Director of Teaching and Learning for the Psychology programmes at Oxford Brookes. His particular areas of research expertise include Reserve Forces, Military Families and Veterans.

Vince is best known for his work on the Reserve Forces. His research on integrating Reservists and Regulars within the “Whole Force” approach has been especially influential with the British Army and his success in this area led to a “world leading” impact rating from the 2022 UK Research Excellence Framework. A founder member of the UK Future Reserves Research Programme in 2014 he has contributed to, and led, numerous projects examining the Reserve Forces experience. This includes understanding recruitment and retention issues, the need for family support, improving productivity and how to design and deploy Reserve Forces for warfighting. He has authored many peer-reviewed papers and articles on these topics and his 2023 co-edited book, Contemporary Military Reserves: Between the Civilian and Military Worlds, presents a comparative study of international military reserves.

Vince is a Fellow of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, the academic member of the UK Reserve Forces External Scrutiny Team, a council member of the Royal Signals Institution, a trustee of the Berkshire Yeomanry Museum and a member of the Forces in Mind Trust Research Centre Stakeholder Advisory Panel, among others. Vince has also published many research studies in the field of educational psychology examining the development of literacy skills.

Vince has 40 years’ experience of part time volunteer service with the Armed Forces. He is currently a senior Army Reservist.