A Tactical institute founded to fill a critical gap in knowledge and support for Australia’s frontline service community.
Our Story
Founded to Fill a Critical Gap
Australia’s frontline service personnel — emergency workers, law enforcement officers and defence members — face levels of psychological and physical risk that most Australians never encounter. Yet access to high-quality, freely available education and research tailored specifically to their needs has historically been limited.
NITER was established to change that. As a registered charity, we are independent, evidence-led, and committed to making our resources accessible to every frontline worker and the organisations that support them — at no cost
Our Foundation
Our Mission
To advance the education, knowledge, skills and wellbeing of frontline service personnel through accessible, evidence-based knowledge and resources.
Our Vision
An Australia where every person who serves — regardless of rank, role or region — has access to the knowledge they need to protect themselves and those around them.
Our Values
Evidence.
Integrity.
Accessibility.
Service.
Our Directors
Dr Daniel Cooper
Daniel is a multi-disciplinary human performance and behaviour specialist who focuses on improving individual and team performance in high-pressure, high consequence environments. Daniel provides a unique perspective that sits at the intersection of real-world experience, academic research, and high-performance development. Daniel spent over 18yrs serving within the Australian Special Air Service Regiment operating and leading special operations missions across the complex range of special missions’ profiles. During his time in the SAS, Daniel was integral in co-founding the special operations human performance program.
Academically Daniel holds multiple master’s degrees in human performance, cognitive science and currently completing a masters in neuroscience. Daniel completed PhD research investigating decision making and performance in high pressure situations and contemporaneous methodologies for optimising the transfer of training. Post service Daniel worked in high-performance coaching in professional sports before working within the Queensland Police Service as a frontline skills trainer and on the development and delivery of the inaugural Post Graduate strategic command program for the senior executive. Daniel is also active in testing the limits of human potential with multiple personal pursuits in extreme endurance events across several of the world’s most demanding environments.
Dr Shane Irving
Shane Irving is a distinguished operational leader, researcher, and consultant with more than 30 years of experience across specialist tactical law enforcement, counter-terrorism, military operations, and human performance domains in tactical populations and elite sport. A former member of two Australian Police Tactical Groups and the Australian Defence Force, Shane has commanded high-risk counter-terrorism and international deployments, developed national human performance frameworks, and led complex interagency programs that have shaped readiness across the Australian and New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee (ANZCTC).
As a Managing Director of Optimal Performance Solutions, Shane provided specialist consultancy services integrating research, technology, and training to enhance readiness and resilience within government, defence, and emergency response sectors. He also serves as Research Fellow and PhD Candidate with Bond University’s Tactical Research Unit (TRU), recently submitting his Doctoral thesis, whereby his research focuses on developing occupationally relevant physical assessment and conditioning frameworks for specialist police and military populations.
Nathan Andrews
possesses multi-domain, multi-jurisdictional, tactical operations experience that compliments his academic focus on skill acquisition to help individuals and organisations achieve the optimal learning outcome, especially in time compressed training environments.
Our Governance
NITER is a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), operating as a public company limited by guarantee. We are committed to transparency, accountability, and responsible stewardship of the funds entrusted to us.
ACNC Registered Charity | ABN: 27700999024 | Gift Fund established for charitable purposes