Share your ideas to help the Department of Veterans’ Affairs shape their five-year Research Strategy, which will guide future research – central to this new approach is a stronger focus on lived experience insights and practical service delivery.
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) is developing a five‑year Research Strategy that will guide the research it commissions from 2026 onwards. At its core, this strategy is about one thing – building better evidence to improve the health and wellbeing of veterans and their families.
As part of this process, DVA is seeking direct input from health professionals, including podiatrists, about what research questions truly matter on the ground. For podiatrists who work with veterans or their families, this is a genuine opportunity to influence the direction of national research, policy, and service design in a way that reflects real clinical experience.
Research commissioned by DVA is used to better understand veterans’ health needs, identify emerging issues, and evaluate whether current supports are delivering meaningful outcomes.
The new five‑year Research Strategy will sit alongside DVA’s broader research and evaluation reforms, including the establishment of the Veteran and Family Learning and Innovation Network of Knowledge, known as VF‑LINK. This model is designed to strengthen collaboration between researchers, health professionals, veterans, and families, while improving how research findings are translated into practice and policy.
Central to this new approach is a stronger focus on lived experience and real‑world service delivery. That is where the perspectives of podiatrists become critical.
As podiatrists, you know that you play a key role in supporting veterans’ mobility, chronic disease management, pain, injury rehabilitation, and quality of life across all stages of life. You see first‑hand how complex physical health issues intersect with broader psychosocial factors, ageing, service‑related injuries, and access to care. Yet these nuances are not always captured in traditional research agendas.
DVA is explicitly seeking input from health providers to help identify and confirm research priorities that reflect:
This is an opportunity for podiatrists to highlight where evidence is missing, outdated, or not translating well into practice, and where research could make a tangible difference to clinical care and outcomes.
DVA has consistently stated that strong policy starts with strong evidence. Research commissioned through DVA feeds directly into policy development, program design, and service improvements, rather than sitting in isolation.
Input from health professionals helps validate which research questions are most pressing and ensures that future studies address issues clinicians and patients actually encounter, rather than theoretical gaps alone.
The five‑year Research Strategy is expected to span a wide range of research domains, reinforcing DVA’s commitment to advancing knowledge across both physical and mental health, wellbeing, compensation systems, and service delivery.
While DVA already has broad priority areas, including clinical outcomes, wellbeing, occupational exposures, and suicide prevention, the survey is designed to refine and validate these priorities based on current experience.
For podiatrists, this could include research questions relating to:
This is not about pitching individual research projects, but about shaping the direction of evidence gathering over the next five years.
Health professionals are invited to share their views through an online survey being run by Phoenix Australia on behalf of DVA.
The survey is open until 18 May 2026 and can be accessed here:
https://redcap.link/DVAResearchStrategy
The survey is structured to capture perspectives on research needs and priorities across the veteran community and is an important mechanism for ensuring clinician insight informs national strategy.
If you would like to explore more about DVA’s research and evaluation activities, including current projects, completed studies, and the VF‑LINK model, you can visit DVA’s Research and Development pages.
For further information, DVA can also be contacted directly at research@dva.gov.au.
© Copyright 2021 The Australian Podiatry Association
