Hugh Milroy OBE is Chief Executive of Veterans Aid (VA), the UK’s leading frontline charity for veterans in crisis, a role he has held since 2005. He has worked on issues of veteran homelessness since 1995, completing an MA on the impact of military service on families and a PhD on street‑homeless veterans, the latter lodged in the Library of Parliament, Canada.

Under his leadership, VA has become the UK’s de facto “A&E unit” for veterans, pioneering a prevention‑focused Welfare to Wellbeing© model that has significantly reduced recidivism and influenced policy internationally. His expertise is sought globally, and he has advised organisations and governments in Australia, the USA, Russia, Argentina, Canada, Israel, Belgium, Taiwan, and Denmark. In 2011, he was awarded the OBE for services to veterans.

Hugh is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry (since 2013) and an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of East Anglia (UEA) from 2016, where he also received a Doctor of Civil Law (honoris causa). He co‑authored Stolen trauma with Professor Edgar Jones in 2016 and contributed to the international academic volume Pathways of Human Development (2009).

He has held numerous advisory roles, including:

Advisor, Office of the Veterans Ombudsman, Canada (2011–2019)

Director, Forces in Mind Trust (2012–2013)

Expert witness, UK Parliament (Stolen Valour)

Military advisor, Howard League for Penal Reform

A former Royal Air Force officer, Hugh served 17 years, culminating as the RAF’s senior welfare and community specialist, including deployment to the Gulf War (1991). His community‑wellbeing initiatives remain in use across the RAF and Royal Navy.

International recognition includes the National Defense Service Medal of Taiwan (2020). He became Vice President of the World Veterans Federation (2022), Head of Wellbeing (2023), Honorary Professor of Social Work at UEA (2023), and Professor of Social Work at Flinders University, Australia (2024).

Research Interests

• Veteran wellbeing

Expertise and Public Engagement 

Professor Hugh Milroy OBE works globally on veteran matters.

• 2017-2026: Various online articles published in the online parliamentary magazine Politics Home
• 2016: Appeared as expert witness before the House of Commons Defence Select Committee.