Faculty:Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care
School:Education and Social Care
Location: Chelmsford
Areas of Expertise: Social Work and Social Policy
Alex Cooper is a former military officer and consultant with a background in project and programme management, resilience and veterans’ affairs.
Alex served for 23 years in the regular Army in a variety of leadership and management roles, including operational service in the Balkans, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan. He continues to serve in his spare time in the Army Reserve.
During Alex's regular service he earned a MA in Military Studies, with his dissertation exploring the validity of the Military Covenant.
On leaving the Army, Alex worked for the Prime Minister's Special Representative for Veterans' Transition, Lord Ashcroft, as the lead researcher and co-writer of the Veterans’ Transition Review. This Government-sponsored report focused on the provision of transition and post-service support for military personnel and families.
Alex has worked as a consultant too, providing subject-matter expertise to a variety of clients in the resettlement/transition and emergency planning, security and resilience sectors. He has also managed a significant resilience contract in the UK nuclear industry.
In addition, Alex is a member of Serve On, a volunteer resilience organisation with a considerable veteran membership. He writes a regular advice column for transitioning military personnel in Equipped, an online resettlement magazine.
The use of accessible technology, particularly social media, to ease the learning and knowledge transfer burden for military personnel conducting personal development in service and during/after transition.
MA in Defence Studies, Cranfield University
Lead researcher Veterans’ Transition Review (pub 02/14)
SME consultant on the Ministry of Defence Career Transition Partnership tender
Keynote speaker, Public Policy Exchange – Fulfilling our Commitment to the Armed Services Community (23.9.15)
Informal interviews and discussions with a variety of media/war correspondents.