Mary Keeling
Education
Ph.D. in psychological medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London; M.Sc. in psychological research methods, Birkbeck, University of London; B.A. (Hons) in psychology with media and cultural studies, Northampton University
Overview
Mary Keeling is a research leader at the RAND Corporation. Focusing on defence and security at RAND Europe, her main role is as the research manager of the Forces in Mind Trust Research Centre. Prior to joining RAND, she worked in academia.
Using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches, her research has broadly focused on understanding the social and psychological impact of military service on military personnel, veterans, and service-connected families, to inform policy and practice. To date, this has concentrated on four key areas: military to civilian transition; romantic relationships and military families; mental health stigma and help-seeking; and the psychosocial impact of service-connected physical injuries.
Keeling completed her Ph.D. in psychological medicine at the King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR), which focused on understanding the impact of deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan on the romantic relationships of service personnel. She has since held positions as postdoctoral research fellow at KCMHR, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Southern California in the Centre for Innovation and Research in Veterans and Families Research (CIR), and as senior research fellow at the University of the West of England, Bristol, in the Centre for Appearance Research.
Research Focus
Concurrent Non-RAND Positions
Research Manager, Forces in Mind Trust Research CentreSelected Publications
Mary Keeling, Heidi Williamson, Victoria Williams, James Kiff, Sarah Evans, Dominic Murphy, Diana Harcourt, "Body image and psychosocial well-being among UK military personnel and veterans who sustained appearance-altering conflict injuries," Military Psychology, 2022
Mary Keeling and Nick Sharratt, "(Loss of) the super soldier: Combat-injuries, body image and veterans’ romantic relationships," Disability and Rehabilitation, 2022
Mary Keeling, Heidi Williamson, Victoria Williams, James Kiff, Diana Harcourt, "Body image concerns and psychological wellbeing among injured combat veterans with scars and limb loss: A review of the literature," Military Behavioural Health, 2021
Mary Keeling, Nicolas Barr, Hazel Atuel, and Carl Castro, "Symptom severity, self-efficacy and treatment-seeking for mental health among US Iraq/Afghanistan military veterans," Community Mental Health, 59, 2020
Mary Keeling, "Stories of transition: US Veterans’ narratives of transition to civilian life and the important role of identity," Journal of Military Veteran and Family Health, 4(2), 2018
Mary Keeling, Sara Ozuna, Sara Kintzle, and Carl Castro, "Veterans’ civilian employment experiences: Lessons learnt from focus groups," Journal of Career Development, 46(6), 2019
Mary Keeling, Charlotte Woodhead, and Nicola T Fear, "Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Soldiers’ Experiences of Being Married and Serving in the British Army," Marriage and Family Review, 2015
Mary Keeling, Simon Wessely, Christopher Dandeker, Norman Jones, and Nicola T Fear, "Relationship Difficulties Among U.K. Military Personnel: Impact of Sociodemographic, Military, and Deployment-Related Factors," Marriage and Family Review, 51(3), 2015