Professor Rob Orr joined the Australian Army in 1989 as an infantry soldier before transferring to the Australian Defence Force Physical Training Instructor (PTI) stream. Serving for 10 years in this stream, Rob designed, developed, instructed and audited physical training programs and physical education and rehabilitation courses for military personnel and fellow PTIs from both Australian and foreign defence forces. Rob subsequently transferred to the physiotherapy stream where his role included the clinical rehabilitation of defence members and project management of physical conditioning optimisation reviews. Serving as a Human Performance Officer at the Royal Military College and Special Operations HQ before joining the team at Bond University in 2012, Rob continues to serve in the Army Reserve.

Professor Orr is the Director of the Tactical Research Unit, a faculty research centre at Bond University with international collaborations designed to provide research, consultancy and education services to tactical professions around the globe. Rob’s fields of research, consultancy, and education provision spans physical conditioning, reconditioning, rehabilitation and injury prevention for military, law enforcement and protective services across their occupational lifespan (initial trainee to specialist). Generally focusing on the tactical population, Rob is actively involved in research with the Australian and foreign defence forces, an extensive list of law enforcement departments (both national and international), and firefighters / first responders. 

Professor Orr served as the editor for the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) TSAC Technical Report (2015-2020) and on the organising committee for the 4^th and 5^th International Congress on Soldiers’ Physical Performance and on the scientific committees for the occupational branch of the Australian Physiotherapy Association and 2019 and 2021 World Physical Therapy Organisation conferences. Dr Orr was Chair of the organising committee for the 4^th  Physical Employment Standards (PES) Conference held at Bond University, Australia, in 2023 and still serves on the PES committee.

In 2022, Professor Orr was the NSCA TSAC Professional of the year award winner, a Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award winner, and an Australian Award for University Teaching winner.

Potential students interested in, or who are currently working with, tactical populations (military, police and firefighters) may find some of the projects on offer to their liking.

Projects include the training and rehabilitation of recruits and serving personnel, optimising selection processes for specialist streams, improving rehabilitation of injured members for return to work and investigating the impact of load carriage on occupational task performances (like mobility and lethality).