GO8306: TCR: Serving and Ex-Serving Australian Defence Force Members Mental Health and Wellbeing 2026

In response to the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, the Australian Government has committed $10 million through the NHMRC to support high-quality research into the health and wellbeing of serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force (ADF) members.

This TCR aims to generate high-quality evidence and develop practical, implementable actions to improve mental and physical health and promote wellbeing among serving and ex-serving ADF members, with consideration given to the impact on their support networks, including family, dependants and carers.

The objectives of this TCR are to facilitate research that: • Focuses on translation and implementation, with actions and methods that can be adopted by mainstream community health services. • Targets prevention and early intervention strategies that improve long-term health outcomes and builds the evidence base for scalable and implementable programs and/or strategies that aim to improve holistic and functional outcomes throughout the patient journey. • Promotes collaborative and multidisciplinary research approaches that recognise the complex and intersecting physical and mental health needs of serving and ex-serving ADF members, and ways to improve these through prevention and early intervention.

The expected outcomes of this TCR are to: • Support the development and implementation of programs, policies and activities that prevent suicidality, suicidal distress and acute mental health crises among serving and ex-serving ADF members, while optimising treatment, and improving equitable access to care services. • Address the intersection of complex mental and physical health conditions and the needs of serving and ex-serving ADF members through collaborative and multidisciplinary approaches to care.

Applications will only be accepted from NHMRC Administering Institutions.

Applicants must align proposals with existing government frameworks (e.g.

National Suicide Prevention Strategy and the Australian Government's National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan) and address one or more specified focus areas (complex intersection of mental and physical health in military/ex-military populations; vulnerability and risk factors including social determinants; co-designed, culturally safe and scalable models of care; disproportionally affected and underrepresented groups).

The Chief Investigator A (CIA) at time of acceptance and for the duration of a grant must be an Australian or New Zealand citizen, or a permanent resident of Australia, or have an appropriate work visa in place, and must be based in Australia for at least 80% of the funding period.

The maximum number of Chief Investigators (CIs) on an application is 10.

PhD students may be named as CIs where critical to the research.

There is no restriction on who may be named as an Associate Investigator (AI) but a maximum of 10 AIs may be named.

Applicants can only apply as CIA on one application to this TCR; an applicant may be listed in the CI team on no more than 2 applications.

Applications must include well-established consumer and community involvement and a clear plan for knowledge translation and policy impact.

Minimum data fields must be entered in Sapphire by the minimum data deadline.

All certification (CIA, other CIs/AIs, and Administering Institution RAO) must be completed prior to submission in Sapphire.