Peacekeeper to PhD, debunking ‘average soldier’ to advocate for female veterans

By Mary Bolling

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the military is usually associated with combat exposure, but new research shows broader causes must be understood to drive better support, especially for female veterans. 

Major Liz Daly has just earned her PhD from CQUniversity, and her confronting personal experience supports her findings.

During her final year writing the thesis, Major Daly was diagnosed with PTSD, after leading an international team as an unarmed United Nations peacekeeper, in Israel-occupied Golan Heights and Syria when Israel-Palestine war broke out in 2023. 

For the following 24 days, the group was locked into their Observation Post by Israeli forces, facing uncertainty and fear amidst missiles, food shortages and even a wildfire. 

Major Daly’s actions to protect her team earned her a 2024 Women in Defence Award for leadership, and the experience focused her research on mental health support in the military, beyond stereotypes of the “average soldier”.

“My PTSD diagnosis reinforced what my research had already uncovered: females often feel unseen in systems designed for men,” Dr Daly explained. 

“Because PTSD frameworks for Australian Defence Force (ADF) veterans have focused on combat exposure, they overlook gender-specific experiences such as military sexual trauma, moral injury, and cumulative psychological load from non-combat roles. 

“My research showed that current systems of care in the ADF and Department of Veterans Affairs use male-centred assumptions that do not adequately consider the lived experiences, help-seeking behaviours or care preferences of females.”

Compassionate care, not 'she'll be right'

Dr Daly’s research compared policy and mental health approaches across Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and developed a gender-responsive mental healthcare model tailored to female veterans.

“Ultimately, my research shows that resilience alone should not be the Defence strategy for managing PTSD – as my thesis title says, ‘She’ll be right… but let’s make sure’.

“My model prioritises early identification, peer connection, collaborative care and a more compassionate, trust-based system. 

“It’s not enough to tell women to be resilient, we need to build structures that are worthy of their resilience, and gives voice to the female veterans whose trauma is often unspoken, overlooked, or misunderstood.”

Dr Daly completed the PhD outside of work hours and without any ADF funding to ensure impartiality.

At the same time, she worked across three postings and a deployment, first Albury-Wodonga, then Canberra, Israel and now back in Albury-Wodonga.

Support to celebration

Graduating at CQUniversity Rockhampton on Thursday 4 December, Dr Daly was cheered on by supervisor and CQUniversity lecturer Associate Professor Amy Johnson, and her best friends Warrant Officer Class Two Lisa Hines, who is also studying a Bachelor of Nursing with CQUniversity, and former serving medic Ellen Greig.

Her 15-year-old cattle dog, an unofficial support dog during her career, was also present in the crowd in the form of a cut-out. 

“Not all support dogs wear jackets – mine wears a smile and kept me company for many a late night writing my research!” Dr Daly laughed.

Dr Daly is now using her research to inform a DVA-funded project with Phoenix Australia’s Steering Committee, Strength in Transition: Exploring the Health and Wellbeing Experiences and Needs of Women Veterans in Australia. 

Major Daly continues to serve as a member of the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps, based in Wodonga. 

Explore pathways for PhDs and other research at CQUniversity’s Research Higher Degree website.