Highlights of this edition.

RESEARCH SPECIALINTRODUCTION During the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan there have been major changes in the way we care for our battlefield casualties. Clinical Guidelines for Operations and BATLS have been updated and refined to offer best practiceand this practice is based on best evidence where available. This special edition of the journal focusses on how that evidence is generated, and how research is translated into clinical improvements. The Academic Pillar at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM) houses a number of Defence Professorial Departments and a Director of Research. Each department runs a research programme involving military partners and the wider academic community and where possible these projects are linked to Defence personnel undertaking higher degrees. One of the Defence partners is the Combat Casualty Care programme at the Defence Science and Technical Laboratories (Dstl), Porton Down. This is a multifaceted programme addressing issues ranging from resuscitation strategies to battlefield pain management; highlights from the programme are described. A key academic partner is the recently founded Centre for Blast Injury Studies (CBIS) at Imperial College, London with work strands working from cellular effects of blast injury through to whole system injury. Elements of this work will be presented. Each Professorial department was invited to participate and showcase aspects of their work in order that the wider Defence Medical Services could see the background work that occurs to generate operational clinical guidanceand hopefully encourage people to consider undertaking research themselves.