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Copyright@ Australian Catholic University 1998-2025 | ABN 15 050 192 660 CRICOS registered provider: 00004G | PRV12008
Copyright@ Australian Catholic University 1998-2025 | ABN 15 050 192 660 CRICOS registered provider: 00004G | PRV12008
There’s an old adage, popular among academics, that doing a PhD is a bit like eating an elephant. As with any large or difficult task, one should ingest the animal slowly – one bite at a time.
This mammoth undertaking is far easier if you love the taste of elephant, says criminologist and historian Richard Evans. And he would know.
Having successfully devoured his first PhD two decades ago, Dr Evans returned for seconds after he was laid off from a university lecturing position amid a wave of pandemic-related cutbacks.
“Being made redundant was a bitter pill to swallow, I won’t lie,” says Dr Evans, whose previous research has focused on policing, crime, disasters, and miscarriages of justice.
“I took a short sabbatical to think about what I’d like to do with the time that remains to me, and I found myself drawn to my long-held interest in what I see as conservative yet honourable professions, like policing and military service.”
When the opportunity arose to join ACU to conduct a doctorate on the needs of Victorian veterans, he had worked up an appetite for another helping of the proverbial elephant.
“The thing that I would say about PhDs is that you should only do one if you love the taste of elephant; otherwise, don’t go there,” he says.
“That doesn’t mean you’ll love every bite – you can manage the parts you don’t love with a positive mindset. But you must care deeply about your area of study, and you must really want to make an impact.”
Thankfully, Dr Evans is deeply interested in veterans’ welfare, and enjoys nothing more than listening to people’s stories.
His PhD research, which is supported by RSL Victoria in collaboration with ACU, will examine the needs of ex-serving military personnel, and the role of ex-service organisations in meeting those needs.
Veterans’ wellbeing has been in the spotlight in recent years, due in part to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. In response to the final report, the Prime Minister declared “we need to do better” to support vulnerable veterans, who often struggle with life after service.
The cascade of changes that come in the critical time when a person is making the transition from soldier to civilian can have serious and lasting consequences. Many veterans lose their sense of belonging and purpose, ultimately finding themselves homeless, incarcerated or suicidal.
But despite repeated inquiries and reports into veteran’s wellbeing over several decades, little progress has been made to secure meaningful and enduring reforms.
Dr Evans hopes his outsider’s perspective will glean valuable insights for the veteran sector, which faces a monumental task in supporting former members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
Though he has never served himself, many of those close to him have.
“I’ve had relatives who have served and a great many friends and acquaintances who have passed through,” he says.
“A lot of them have very troubling stories of how they were treated and the challenges they faced when adjusting to civilian life.”
Despite increased public discussion of the issue, there’s still a scarcity of research exploring the needs of veterans and their families.
“That’s one of the reasons why this research is so important,” says Dr Evans, whose PhD began in mid-2023 and is due to be completed in late 2026. “This is a population that is dramatically under-researched.”
He notes that the 2021 national census was the first-ever to ask questions relating to people’s service in the ADF. Previous estimates on the number of veterans in the Australian community turned out to be off by hundreds of thousands.
Since Dr Evans launched his project, almost 1,400 participants have taken part in a detailed survey designed to clarify the challenges faced by Victoria’s veterans.
The resulting data will be complemented by about 50 in-person interviews, revealing the nuanced aspects of the veteran experience. Some 500 veterans expressed an interest in being interviewed for the project – an indication, perhaps, that many feel their voices aren’t being heard.
“One thing that has surprised me is that veterans are very keen to talk,” says Dr Evans, who before entering academia worked as a journalist for News Corp and the Law Institute of Victoria.
“Many of them have had difficult and painful experiences, and we had anticipated it might be difficult to persuade people to share their stories. To the contrary, I’ve found that veterans feel that if they have had a difficult experience themselves, they want to help others avoid that same difficult experience.”
In the past, veterans in need of support would turn to traditional ex-service organisations like the Returned and Services League (RSL), which has a long represented the interests of serving and non-serving military personnel.
The RSL still plays this role through its branches across the country, offering a range of free advocacy and support services; however, many veterans are unaware of these activities.
“What’s become clear through my research is that most younger veterans do not see ex-service organisations as a potential source of support,” Dr Evans says. “These veterans feel disconnected from the organisations that are meant to represent them, associating them with alcohol consumption, lawn bowls and gaming machines – things that aren’t appealing or relevant to them.”
One of the project’s main aims is to inform changes in policy and approach, helping ex-service organisations – and the broader veteran sector – to improve their support of those who have served.
Dr Evans also hopes that his research, and the conversations that spring from it, will shed new light on a longstanding problem.
“As an outsider, I might be able to see things differently and shift the paradigm a bit, so that we don't just continue what we’ve previously been doing.”
As he chews his way through his second PhD – both the parts he loves and the parts he doesn’t – Dr Evans remains mindful of this end goal.
His advice to other would-be doctoral candidates who are considering swallowing their own elephant? Take it one bite a time.
“Not that I've ever really eaten an elephant, but you know, you’ve just got to cut it up into small pieces, the way a butcher pulls apart a carcass of a cow,” he says.
“Break it down and learn to enjoy the process, and when you get through some little bit of it, give yourself a pat on the back. No PhD changes the world, but if you can do a little bit of good in an important area, you can consider that a worthy contribution and a good result.”
Keen to make a worthy contribution through a research degree at ACU? Explore the options.
Learn more about Dr Evans’ research at the website, Victorian Veterans’ Needs.
Copyright@ Australian Catholic University 1998-2025 | ABN 15 050 192 660 CRICOS registered provider: 00004G | PRV12008
