About TRU

The TRU is a network of multidisciplinary international experts who investigate ways to optimise the physical and cognitive capabilities, and safety of tactical personnel – whether military, law enforcement, firefighters, or first responder organisations.

 

Comprised of academic researchers and personnel who have served in tactical professions, the TRU provides the critical transfer of scientific evidence to pragmatic application across tactical, operational, and strategic management levels. Using a bespoke 'Trident Approach' the TRU engage with academics, industry and end-users to ensure research has real world outcomes.

 

The TRU is nested within Bond University’s Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine, which received the highest possible ranking of ‘well above world standard’, and ‘at world standard’ for human movement and sports science, from the Australian Research Council (ARC) in its Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA).

 

 

The overarching aim of the group is to improve the fitness, health, wellbeing and occupational performance of those who serve and ensure new research findings are shared across the different tactical populations.

Spacing

Grey Section

The Tactical Research Unit (TRU) at Bond University works towards the protection and performance of individuals on the front line who protect our community and country.

Services

The TRU provides services to government, industry, academic and private institutions. These include research projects, consultancy reports and educational and training packages.

Since 2015, the TRU team has conducted research across multiple tactical agencies covering initial training through to specialist selection and rehabilitation.

Consultancy projects have included the development of evidence-based, tactically viable, reports to inform multiple agencies and the generation of injury management, assessments, and conditioning optimization frameworks.

Education and training services use the latest research evidence and practical experience to provide workshops, courses or longer programs to tactical personnel as well as their support staff, such as physiotherapists, physical training instructors, and strength and conditioning coaches.

Spacing

Latest news

Back in the Field
Mar 07, 2024
Back in the Field
Mar 07, 2024

The TRU team recently returned from spending a week with the NSW Police Force conducting a series of studies into stress and performance.

The TRU team recently returned from spending a week with the NSW Police Force conducting a series of studies into…

Back in the Field

Posted: Mar 07, 2024

The TRU team recently returned from spending a week with the NSW Police Force conducting a series of studies into stress and performance. Police personnel underwent various scenarios based on previous incidents with the most complex involving driving ‘under lights’ at speeds of up to 176 km/h while talking calmly and relaying information to despatch before jumping out of the vehicle and sprinting on foot wearing 10kg of load after an offender and dealing with subsequent complexities that arise during an arrest. Tactical skills performance, physical fitness, and biomarkers of stress were collected and will be triangulated to inform relationships between stress and performance.

Reflecting on 2023
Dec 03, 2023
Reflecting on 2023
Dec 03, 2023

2023 has been another exciting and full year with the TRU being involved in research and special projects.

2023 has been another exciting and full year with the TRU being involved in research…

Reflecting on 2023

Posted: Dec 03, 2023

2023 has been another exciting and full year with the TRU being involved in research and special projects. Please enjoy reading about some of the highlights from this year.

Dr Rob Orr presented the TRU’s work on fitness and police use of force. The invited 90-minute session was presented to the Australian and New Zealand law enforcement and military police Operational Safety and Training managers at the Australian Institute of Police Management.  From this session the TRU have been requested by the OST chair to assist agencies in capturing the physicality of OST training and injury profiles to assist in the development of fitness standards.

Dr Elisa Canetti and Dr Rob Orr from the TRU were honoured to work with Dr Victoria Brazil and Dr Eve Purdy during their delivery of their TACTical (Teamwork And Collaborative Training) Squad Training program to emergency department staff from the Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital. The first of four day sessions, the intent of the program is to improve teamwork in mission critical teams.

Dr Ben Schram, the TRU lead on injury profiling, was invited by ESSA to conduct a PD webinar for their members based on the findings from his Defence Health Foundation grant. With a focus on female soldiers, Dr Schram discussed injury rates, confounding factors, and risk factors for female soldiers and how they differ from males in some areas, but are similar in others. Implications for the Australian Defence Force and wider sports were highlighted with a focus of translation of research to practice.

Dr Rob Orr travelled back to Singapore to run the TRU’s Tactical Conditioning Optimisation Program (TACOPS) course. The 3-day course was presented to approximately 30 Singapore Army Physical Training Master and Senior Fitness Leaders, and Physiotherapists. The course finished with a 60 minute physical conditioning session following which Dr Orr was presented with a Master Fitness Leader (MFL) badge for his work with the Soldier Fitness Centre over the last 8 years. The MFL qualification is the Singapore Army equivalent to Dr Orr’s Australian Army qualification as an Advanced Course qualified, Physical Training Instructor. 

 

Dr Rob Orr was invited to present his research at the National Defence University in Finland. Following his talk to over 100 Finnish and Swedish senior staff and officer candidates, Rob was invited by the senior leadership to go mountain biking in the snow, participate in a traditional Finnish sauna, was hosted at the officer’s mess for dinner.

After hearing Dr Orr on the military MOPs & MOEs podcast, 2LT Kirsten Franka reached out to the TRU asking for assistance in preparing for the gruelling BAATAN  Memorial Death March; a 26 mile march through the through the high desert terrain of the White Sands Missile Range conducted in honour of heroic US service members who defended the Philippine Islands during World War II. Dr Orr helped redesign 2LTs Franka’s training program building on the evidence based research on military load carriage he had been conducting and refining at the TRU. Completing in the ‘Heavy Division’ (pack must weight a minimum of 35 pounds), 2LT Franka had the goal of finishing the gruelling event. Not only did SGT Franka finish the event ‘feeling great’ but she came 2nd in her age group and 5th overall in the Women’s Heavy Division; an outstanding feat and proof that evidence based training works.
The podcast can be found here.

Dr Rob Orr was invited to run a series of professional development sessions on physiotherapy treatment for tactical populations for the American Association of Sports Physical Therapists. Three one hour sessions were conducted on Tuesday evenings (US Time). These same sessions were presented to the New Zealand Occupational Health Physiotherapy Group late this year

The Tactical Research Unit from Bond University have just returned from spending time in Hobart with the Wilderness Paramedics from Ambulance Tasmania. The collaborative research will investigate and analyse key job tasks and fitness requirements of this specialist group of paramedics who often have to work in austere conditions and climates. Phase 1 of the research starts with their selection processes and will see the TRU team make multiple trips to collect data on Ambulance Paramedics undergoing their selection process for Wilderness Paramedics.

Check out the new-style feature story on the Tactical Research Unit - The research serving the people who serve for our communities.

Collaborating with the Tactical Research Unit, a group of six Doctor of Physiotherapy First Year students recently volunteered to provide support to the annual Police Rugby League Tri-series event. The event, held here on the Gold Coast, saw police officers from across Australia compete in a pseudo State of Origin competition with teams from Queensland, New South Wales, and a collaborative Other States. Having just completed their practical examinations in massage, the students provided recovery massages to 32 police team members in a two-hour block.

 

 

Dr Rob Orr was recently summoned to provide evidence as a professional witness at the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Watch now

Rob was joined by Professor Rodney Pope (a Bond Adjunct) and Dr Stephen Rudzki, AM. His evidence was around his lived experience in Defence as well as research on injuries, injury management and the role of physical training and injury surveillance. You can watch the video here.

TRU HDR Students

HDR student Nathan Andrews presented his underpinning work on training police in the use of force techniques at the Australian Institute of Police Management Operational Safety and Training managers conference. Nathan’s research is focussing on the differences in competency versus proficiency in police use of force skills training.

HDR student LT Joe Dulla (retired) was an invited speaker as part of a three-member team with Georgia Southern University’s Tactical Athlete Initiative at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (USA FBI) National Academy – Georgia State Chapter Conference as an SME on officer safety, wellness and health practices. Lt (rtd) Dulla’s research is investigating the safety, wellness and health requirements of LA Sheriff’s Deputy trainees.

HDR student Sandra Adiarte has been invited to speak at the Behavioural Analysis Conference in Prague. Sandra will be presenting on Laban Movement Analysis which forms part of her PhD investigating behaviour observation and threat assessment for police officers.

 

Upcoming events

There are currently no scheduled events.

Spacing

The Perfect Trinity

trinity_0.jpg

With experience in tactical service, members of the team have experienced first hand disconnects between research, industry and tactical organisations.

On this basis, wherever viable, the TRU engages with both industry and tactical organisations (end users) in order to ensure downstream recommendations have the greatest chance of effective implementations and that the outcomes are relevant to both industry and the organisations involved.

Clients and collaborative partners

Spacing

Download Prospectus

Let us help you with your next project.

 

Contact us

 

Download our prospectus

Conflict of Interest Approach