A major new research program led by the University of Notre Dame Australia is set to transform how police recruits are trained, with the goal of significantly reducing injuries, improving retention and saving millions of dollars in public funds.
Associate Professor Myles Murphy, a physiotherapist and Raine Medical Research Foundation Fellow based at Notre Dame’s Institute for Health Research (IHR), has been awarded a prestigious $608,092 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Grant to lead a five-year research program focused on reducing the burden of injury among Australian police recruits.
The funding forms part of the NHMRC’s latest round of Investigator Grants, announced today, which support Australia's highest-performing health and medical researchers to undertake innovative research that improves health outcomes and informs policy and practice.
According to Associate Professor Murphy, police recruit training is physically and mentally demanding, and injury rates around the world remain too high.
His research has found one in five recruits experience an injury requiring time off work, while one in 20 drops out due to injury.
“With each recruit costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to train, injury-related dropouts represent a major loss not just financially, but for workforce capacity and the individuals affected,” Associate Professor Murphy said.
While training load is widely recognised as a key driver of injury in sport and military settings, no comprehensive data exists on the overall physical and mental loads experienced by Australian police recruits.
“This means police forces currently lack the evidence needed to design safe training programs or set appropriate physical entry standards,” he said.
The NHMRC-funded program will work closely with police forces , recruits, health professionals and consumer representatives to co-design innovative new solutions.
The research will quantify the total training load, both physical and mental, experienced by police recruits and develop evidence-based physical entrance standards aligned to those demands.
It will also test whether new standards would reduce injury risk using more than a decade of historical data and identify pathways for implementation across Australian jurisdictions.
“This research will provide police services with the evidence needed to better prepare recruits for training, reduce preventable injuries and improve long-term workforce outcomes,” Associate Professor Murphy said.
The research builds on Associate Professor Murphy’s extensive collaborations with the WA Police Force and other industry partners and sits alongside an existing $1.2 million NHMRC Partnership Project already underway.
The project aims to deliver fewer training injuries, improved recruit retention, safer and more evidence-based training practices, significant cost savings for police services and better long-term health outcomes for recruits.
“Injury prevention programs in similar settings can reduce injuries by up to 50 per cent,” he said.
“Even small improvements in police recruit retention would translate into millions of dollars saved each year.”
The project is underpinned by consumer and community involvement, with advisory groups comprising current officers, injured recruits, trainers and policymakers contributing to research design and implementation.
“This ensures our research is not only scientifically robust, but also practical, relevant and ready to be adopted,” he said.
The program has already attracted interest from police jurisdictions across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, positioning it as a potential national model for police recruit training reform.
“This is about protecting people who choose to serve the community,” he said.
“By reducing preventable injuries, we can build a stronger, healthier and more resilient police workforce for Australia.”
Media Contact: media@nd.edu.au