Lucy is a second-year DPhil student, funded by an ESRC Grand Union DTP studentship. Her DPhil research aims to engage in a meaningful and creative way with service children to explore how service life has shaped their experiences of education and sense of self. Many service children experience high levels of mobility (moving schools, homes and countries) due to their parent’s role within the services and this mobility, alongside parental deployment, are seen as the two key elements that characterise service children’s lived experiences.