Andrew Prevett is a practitioner-scholar and applied researcher with more than two decades of service across the Australian Army and state law enforcement. His research explores how people experience wellbeing, identity, and access to support as they navigate complex institutions and service systems, with a focus on veteran and human service contexts. He brings a social work lens to questions of institutional capability and cultural competency, and his work engages emerging ethical challenges in human services, including AI. A defining feature of his research is translation, with an emphasis on practical reform across policy, services, and institutional practice. This includes his role as a co-investigator on the Australian Research Council project 'Historical and Contemporary Dimensions of Veteran Suicide: 1914–2023'.

As a PhD candidate within the Open Door Initiative at the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Andrew’s doctoral research focuses on Australia’s veteran non-profit sector. It investigates how governance, funding competition, and systemic fragmentation shape reintegration outcomes for veterans and their families, producing evidence to strengthen coherence and accountability across the sector. 

Andrew has an established track record in applied, policy-relevant research, having contributed to a range of commissioned reports and sector analyses for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA), Veterans SA, and the Port Adelaide Football Club veterans program. These collaborative efforts support evidence-informed decision-making across government and community sectors, with a focus on veteran wellbeing, service system effectiveness, and institutional responsiveness. Currently, he is contributing to the evaluation of the South Australian Veterans Employment Network and co-leading research into identity, belonging, and service access for ageing veterans transitioning into aged care.

Research dissemination and engagement

During 2025, Andrew delivered a series of national and international presentations that advance scholarship on veteran wellbeing, higher education, and participatory research. His lead‑authored presentations include:

• Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) Conference (Perth, Australia, 2025): Adopting kind, democratic and participatory approaches that co-design learning opportunities and foster student-led learning and engagement; Guns and Philosophy: Higher Education as a Transition Pathway; In the Thick of It: A candid look at the lived experience of online PhDs with publications or creative works.
• Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR) Forum (Ottawa, Canada, 2025): Before the Crisis Comes the Consultation: GPs as Gateways to Veteran Mental Health Support; Combatting Cultural Hysteresis: Renewing Veteran Clubs for Today’s Diverse Community.
• Australian and New Zealand Social Work and Welfare Education and Research (ANZSWWER) Symposium (Sydney, Australia, 2025): Co-creating knowledge through co-operative inquiry: Using participatory writing to promote inclusion and solidarity within research, education and practice.
• 2nd National Open Door Symposium (Adelaide, Australia, 2025): The RSL’s Echo Chamber: Tradition, Exclusion, and the Decline of Veteran Engagement.

His 2025 public scholarship includes:

• The Conversation (2025): ‘One of the older men catcalled me’: new research reveals the RSL’s woman problem.

Program design and institutional capability

Commissioned by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Andrew designed and implemented a multi-campus Veteran Cultural Competency Program. This initiative was specifically engineered to strengthen institutional capability and improve organisational responsiveness to veteran learners in higher education.

Sector leadership and convening

Andrew founded the National Open Door Symposium and organised and chaired the inaugural symposium in 2024 and the second annual symposium in 2025. The symposium has established a national platform that elevates emerging veteran-focused scholarship, particularly from HDR candidates and early career researchers, and connects their work with critical practice and policy conversations across the veteran policy and service landscape.

• Psychological contract theory applied to Australian Defence Force voluntary separations
• The negotiation of power and ideology within Australian and English health and social care systems
• A comparative review of educational policy and service frameworks for military families

Across government, community, and higher education contexts, Andrew combines frontline operational experience with applied research and project leadership to support evidence-informed reform.