Reserves Day and Armed Forces Day 2025
LJMU is marking both Reserves Day (Wednesday 25 June) and Armed Forces Day (Saturday 28 June) as part of its continued pledge to support the Armed Forces community under the Armed Forces Covenant.
Reserves Day recognises the diverse Reserve Forces community for their outstanding contribution to the country and the transferable skills that reservists can bring to civilian employment, such as in higher education.
At LJMU, there are staff and students who are members of the Reserve Forces. Under its Military Veterans and Reservist Policy reservists are supported to carry out their duties alongside their work and there is also enhanced support for partners while their partners are away on deployment.
Armed Forces Day is a chance to show support for the people who make up the Armed Forces community, from current serving personnel to service families, veterans and cadets.
Both days are part of Armed Forces Week. Throughout the week the LJMU website and on-campus digital screens will signpost people to find out about the ways the university is coming together to better support the Armed Forces community.
LJMU’s most recent activity in support of the Armed Forces Covenant
- Working with the veterans’ charity Help for Heroes to host events as part of their community sport series, including a female-only event for International Women’s Day 2025
- Engaging in ways to better support children with parents in the Armed Forces to access higher education
- Welcoming local cadet groups onto campus to utilise specialist maritime simulation facilities to enhance their learning
- Exploring research opportunities by hosting the first Armed Forces Veterans’ Community Symposium
- Supporting a large Army unit to learn about their physical health and wellbeing through an immersive visit to meet experts and students in our world-renowned School of Sport and Exercise Sciences
Armed Forces Week offers an important moment every year to recognise the contributions of our Armed Forces community.
I'm proud that here at LJMU we continue to drive forwards our research projects, collaborative partnerships and growth of our support offer to ensure that our staff, current and prospective students, as well as members of the public, can benefit from our knowledge and expertise and undergo transformational experiences through work, study, or collaboration with LJMU.
LJMU’s Armed Forces Champion, Dr Gus Ryrie
LJMU’s support for the Armed Forces community
LJMU signed the Armed Forces Covenant in 2021. Since then, it has appointed its first Armed Forces Champion and formed a cross-university Armed Forces Steering Group, which brings together colleagues across all factions of the university to drive forwards everything from research to HR policy development, all with the aim of better supporting students and staff from the Armed Forces community and creating positive change for the community across the UK.
In August 2024, LJMU was awarded gold status under the Ministry of Defence Employer Recognition Scheme in acknowledgement of the work being undertaken in support of the Armed Forces Covenant and was recently shortlisted for the Covenant Awards 2025 in the Most Outstanding Public Sector category.
Find out more about LJMU’s pledge to the Armed Forces community.
