Tara Zammit is a PhD Candidate in the Department of War Studies. She has been awarded the SSHRC-CRSH Department of National Defence MINDS Initiative Doctoral Award to undertake her research which is situated within the fields of ontological security, feminist security studies, and war studies. She has spoken across the UK and internationally about her research, including at NATO Headquarters in Brussels and the 2024 ISA Annual Conference in San Francisco.

Tara is a member of the Leadership Team for Women in Defence UK, a RUSI NextGen Ambassador, a Postgraduate Representative for the BISA War Studies Working Group, and a volunteer with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Until August 2022, she was the Communications Officer for UK in a Changing Europe, an ESRC-funded initiative based in the Policy Institute at King’s College London.

She holds an MPhil in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Cambridge (2019), and a BA (Hons) in Peace, Conflict and Justice and Near and Middle Eastern Civilisations from the University of Toronto (2018). In addition, Tara has extensive experience in podcast production and editing, communications and media strategy development, copywriting, and digital marketing. She also plays for KCLWRFC. 

You can follow Tara on Bluesky: @tarazammit.bsky.social

Research Interests

• Ontological security (and insecurity)
• Gender and conflict
• Representations of military service
• National and institutional identity construction
• Military psychology

Thesis

Examining service experiences and integration in the British Armed Forces through an ontological security lens

Tara's research connects diverse literatures on ontological security, feminist security studies, and war studies to explore the challenges around the implementation of diversity and inclusion policies in the British Armed Forces. She is developing a framework for better understanding the interconnectedness of these subjects through the use of an ontological security lens and an analysis of diverse service experiences with the aim of influencing policy to better support women and LGBTQ+ individuals pursuing careers in defence and security.

Publications (chronological)

• Zammit, T., 2024. Joint review: Forgotten warriors: a history of women on the front line; The women behind the few: the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and British intelligence during the Second World War, International Affairs, 100, 1, pp. 427–429, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiad322.
• Zammit, T., 2023. Review: Good Soldiers Don’t Rape: The Stories We Tell about Military Sexual Violence, The RUSI Journal, 168, 5, pp. 90-91, https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2023.2273066.
• Zammit, T., 2023. Facilitating change: recruitment, retention, integration and inclusion in the armed forces. Canadian Global Affairs Institute. Available at: https://www.cgai.ca/facilitating_change_recruitment_retention_integration_and_inclusion_in_the_armed_forces. (Accessed 2 October 2023).
• Zammit, T., 2023. Presenting at #BISA2023: Interdisciplinary research in security studies. British International Studies Association. 20 July. Available at: https://www.bisa.ac.uk/articles/presenting-bisa2023-interdisciplinary-research-security-studies (Accessed 20 July 2023).
• Zammit, T., 2023. The LGBT Veterans Independent Review: context, history, and a long-awaited apology. UK in a Changing Europe. 19 July. Available at: https://ukandeu.ac.uk/the-lgbt-veterans-independent-review/ (Accessed 19 July 2023).
• Zammit, T., 2023. Looking at service through a different lens: Ontological security, integration, and the British Armed Forces. SDU Center for War Studies. 5 June. Available at:https://www.sdu.dk/en/forskning/forskningsenheder/samf/cws/cws+activities/gender-peace security/tara-zammit (Accessed 5 June 2023).
• Defence Deconstructed, 2023. CAF Reconstitution and Culture Change: Allied Perspectives. 15 May. Podcast. Available at: https://soundcloud.com/user-609485369/defence-decons-tructed-caf-reconstitution-and-culture-change-allied-perspectives. (Accessed 8 June 2023).
• Zammit, T., 2022. Review: The ones we let down: toxic leadership culture and gender integration in the Canadian forces. International Affairs 98, 6, pp. 2199-2201, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiac240. 

Supervisors

Dr Amanda Chisholm and Dr Andrea Ellner