Dr Jessica Katherine Miller

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate
  • Principal Investigator
Dr Jessica Katherine Miller

Contact

Connect

About

Dr Jess Miller is Principal Investigator of the award-winning Trauma Resilience in UK Policing project, bringing 20 years of research experience, including work in critical incident support and preventing violent extremism. Jess translates the latest neuropsychology into the reality of operational police trauma resilience training and surveys police wellbeing across the UK. Her work now extends to the military, RNLI and Ambulance Services as well as several charities which cultivate resilience through nature, including BlueLightBees, Surfwell and Veterans Outdoors. 

After a gentle introduction to criminology as an undergraduate, Jess went on to become Director of Studies at the University of Cambridge for the Faculty of Social and Political Science at Lucy Cavendish College in 2003. She tutored undergraduate psychology for a further 3 years. In 2004, Jess left academia for more ‘hands-on’ work in civil protection and joined the management team of Cambridgeshire Police’s Critical Incident Personal Support Team. This included training volunteers to support victims and their families through mass and critical incidents. 

After working in Preventing Violent Extremism in 2008, Jess relocated her research and designed a 150-participant neuropsychological study to investigate the role of DNA in trauma processing. The research has featured in The Lancet 2023, been published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2014, Police Professional November 2016, the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory and the Journal of Clinical Medicine in 2017 and secondary analysis has been published in the Oxford Journal Policing in 2022 and 2025. 

Jess is delighted to be a Research Associate and Principal Investigator at the University of Cambridge and to contribute to the ongoing work in policing with the Institute of Criminology. Her work since 2017 includes: 

  • Working as a Research Associate and then as Director of Research at the charity Police Care UK, formerly the Police Dependants’ Trust. The charity funded collaborative research to develop the UK’s largest police wellbeing survey, which was the first to quantify the prevalence of PTSD and CPTSD in UK Police. This research was covered by the BBC, made international news and featured in several documentaries. 
  • Through Police Care UK, disseminating bespoke training to over 15,000 operational police across the UK in Trauma Impact Processing Techniques (TIPT). This offered bespoke modular courses for high-risk roles such as, Counter Terrorism and atypical digital and auditory trauma exposure, including Child Sexual Exploitation and Call Handling. Since then, her work has been integrated into basic training for The Metropolitan Police following her contribution to The Casey Review in 2022 and a further 12 forces have engaged Jess in trauma management with TITEN (Neuroscience Informed Trauma Exposure Training). 
  • Funded by Police Care UK and in association with the Police Federation of England and Wales, producing trauma new trauma exposure management tools, such as the UK’s first Police Traumatic Events Checklist. These now form an integral part of the National Wellbeing Service’s trauma support model in 2025.

Jess also advises nationally on trauma resilience having recently presented at the Home Affairs Select Committee (2024) as well as the Westminster All Party Parliamentary Working Group for Mindfulness in Defence & Policing), the Police Federation of England & Wales (PFEW) and the College of Policing. The project won the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Impact and Engagement in 2019 and is a REF2021 Case Study. 

In 2021, Jess joined The Royal Foundation to work on developing new trauma support for emergency responders across the UK and continues in 2026 to support the project through their Emergency Responders Leadership Board and Tactical Working Groups. Her first book, The Policing Mind: Trauma Resilience for a New Era, was published by Bristol University Policy Press in March 2022 and a follow-up edition is being written in 2026. Jess is also co-author of a new book, Mindful Soldier, published January 2026 and her chapter on the policing brain features in the new Wellbeing in Policing book due out in February 2026.  She is due to be the keynote speaker for the UK Psychological Trauma Society Annual Conference in 2026.

 

Awards

  • Trauma Resilience in UK Policing project (2016) sponsorship of £60 000 and an estimated £40 000 (2020-2026) from external funders including Police Care UK, The Wates Family Enterprise Trust and the Royal British Legion. The project won the Vice Chancellor Early Career Award for Research Impact and Engagement 2019 and is a REF2021 Case Study. Her work is also being prepped to feature again in the 2027REF for The Department of Sociology.
  • National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) award of portfolio study status for “PTSD, DNA & Spatial Processing” (2012) attracting £150,000 investment for Dorset HealthCare University Foundation Trust.

Research

Research interests

  • Politics and Inequality
  • Science and Technology

Research Groups and Affiliations

  • British Academy of Forensic Sciences (BAFS: full member)
  • British Neuroscience Association (BNA: full member)
  • Individual in the Labour Market Reading Group (University of Cambridge, Department of Sociology reading group: passive member)

 

Grants and Projects

  • In 2021, Jess joined The Royal Foundation to work on developing new trauma support for Emergency Responders across the UK.
  • Miller, J. (PI) Funding for trauma resilience research (2019- 2022). Police Care UK (formerly Police Dependants’ Trust): £397,404.
  • Miller, J. (PI) Funding for trauma resilience research (2017- 2019), University of Cambridge: £111,225.
  • Bournemouth University Vice Chancellor’s Fee Waiver (2012)
  • Santander Travel Grants (2012- 2014) £5000
  • Miller, J. (PI) Research grant for PTSD, DNA & Spatial Processing. Army of Angels (2012-2013): £14,000

Publications

Journal Articles

Film and Screen

  • In Press 2026: Sunday Times, BBC News and Australian documentary series. 
  • Two internal films have been produced about the project, one on secondary trauma research by The College of Policing in 2024 and another “An Audience with Jess Miller” by West Midlands Police and for the national RASSO Conference (Rape and Serious Sexual Offences) in 2025.

Other

  • Miller, J.K. Navigating Trauma: How PTSD Affects Spatial Processing. (2016). Police Professional. Issue 532.
  • Miller, Jessica K. (2005). Book Review: Organizational Behaviour and Work: A Critical Introduction, Work Employment Society 19: 195 2nd ed.
  • Miller, J.K. (2004): Fat Profits, Thin Ideals. Consumer Policy Review (Which)
  • Miller, J.K. (2003) The Troubled Body: Child Obesity. Memo to Select Committee Westminster Forum on Diet and Obesity. www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk/dietandhealthforum/publications.aspx
  • Miller, J.K. (2003). Older Workers and the Pension Crisis. Management Today, Professional Manager (Chartered Management Institute).

Media Articles

 

Reviews of Jess's work

AC Neil Basu QPM National Lead for Counter Terrorism Policing, 2021:  
“Counter Terrorism Policing is full of officers and staff who do not need to be motivated to stop terrorists. They get up every day to put themselves psychologically and physically in harm’s way, on behalf of the public they are sworn to protect. But, behind the badge they are human beings who experience the most terrible things and it has a profound impact that needs training care and support - precisely the kind of training, care and support you provide. I am more grateful for your help than I can possibly express in this short statement but simply I say - thank you.” 

CC Andy Rhodes, Director of National Police Wellbeing Service, 2021: 
“The research conducted by Dr Jess Miller has been hugely influential in shaping our priorities using best evidence. Awareness of PTSD has been hidden beneath a culture of denial and the research has broken the silence, enabling us to generate a national call for action to invest in the mental health of our frontline officers and staff. As a senior leader, it is quite often the case that important research and evidence presents me with greater knowledge about the problems but very little in the way of helping me to fix them. Dr Miller didn’t walk away after the research was published and because of her strong relationships with key stakeholders in policing, she has already applied her work to several thousand frontline staff.” 

About Mindful Soldier (2026): 
‘An essential and inspirational guide to surviving and thriving, whatever life throws at you’ Bear Grylls (adventurer)
‘A remarkable book - wise, painfully open, honest and very thoughtful’ Rory Stewart (author, former politician and podcast host)
'Hugely inspirational, uplifting and thought-provoking. A crucial life-guide for how to survive, adapt, thrive and overcome' Damien Lewis (author)
‘Ash and Jess are a winning combination. One tells an amazing and authentic story of men under fire, and its physical and mental antecedents and consequences. The other does the "science bit" but in an easy-to-digest format. There’s also a moving love story as a counterpoint to the bullets and bangs. A tip of the hat to both’ Professor Sir Simon Wessely FRS, (Regius Chair of Psychiatry, Kings Centre for Military Health Research)
 

Jess' research appeared on The One Show in June 2021 in relation to trauma exposure in policing on the front line.

Teaching and supervision

  • Undergraduate Psychology (Faculty of Social & Political Science, 2002-4) 
  • Qualitative methods and thesis supervision (Faculty of Social & Political Science, 2002-4) 
  • Director of Studies for Social & Political Science (Lucy Cavendish College, 2002/3) 
  • PhD Assessor for University of Portsmouth and Ku Leuven University, Belgium (2022-4)
  • Prospective tutor for The Institute of Criminology (2026)