A mission some ten years in the making, the Veterans Transition Resource Lab has grown from an engaged initiative to a full-blown, funded research lab aimed at improving employment outcomes for military veterans and their families.

The Veteran Transitions Research Lab (VTRL) conducts research through the Fuqua School of Business that helps to encourage other leaders in this field of research to launch investigations of this topic using their unique expertise. on enhancing veterans’ transition to the workforce. The VTRL’s work has received national attention and sponsorship from Microsoft, Amazon, LinkedIn, CVS Health, the Call of Duty Endowment, USAA and several U.S. universities. 

Aaron C. Kay, the J. Rex Fuqua Professor of International Management at the Duke Fuqua School of Business, Sean Kelley, Duke Fuqua School of Business Executive in Residence and David Sherman, professor of social psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), co-lead the VRTL’s research efforts,

In honor of Veterans Day and the important work the VTRL does for veterans, we highlighted the journey of VTRL from its inception into looking toward its future.

We are building a completely new field of academically rigorous research focused on areas of persistent challenge in military transition: underemployment, challenges with belongingness, and issues related to stereotyping of veterans and bias faced in employment.  With over 150,000 veterans transitioning each year, we have an opportunity to improve many lives through applied research generated by the VTRL and our partners. 

Sean Kelley

Kelley said he and Kay originally met in 2013 and began an exploration of this specific research with a gift of $250,000 from Microsoft, where Kelley worked at the time.  Kay and his primary collaborator, Dr. David Sherman, worked on a number of research efforts, after which Kelley joined as an Executive in Residence in 2020. This formed the Veteran Transitions Research Project, the earliest iteration of the VTRL.

Kelley said he and his team sought to fill what they saw as a gap in academic research centered on military veterans and their families. He said through corporate sponsorships and non-government organizations, they have raised $750,000 to put towards first party research on topics relevant to how veterans experience and adjust to the civilian workforce and the educational settings that facilitate this transition compared to the military, the way society and managers (that control hiring and promotion) view veterans, and, importantly, the interaction of these.

In addition to research, that funding has also supplemented VTRL in hosting two annual summits.

When we hosted the first conference in 2022, we were hopeful but had no idea how the conversations would transpire with such a diverse collection of leaders from academics with no background in veteran research to retired generals to veteran non-profit CEOs and government agency leads, to corporate military affairs leaders.  We were blown away with the chemistry, thoughtful dialogue, energy, curiosity and commitment to the ideas we had proposed and the path we were embarking upon. 

Sean Kelley

Kelley said at VTRL’s most recent summit they also held their first pitch competition. Seven proposals were awarded a total of $90,000. The first place pitch, Assisting Veterans’ Transition to the Civilian Workforce by Cultivating Opportunities: A Growth-Mindset-of-Opportunity Intervention by Paul A. O’Keefe, University of Exeter Business School, received a total of $20,000.

Kelley said a goal is to implement wise interventions to test program changes with veteran-serving organizations, and in doing so, positively impact outcomes for veteran employment, belongingness and well-being. He said while they are currently working on the academic engagement side of their research, the hope is to eventually engage more on the corporate side through sponsored research projects and program change implementations as well.  

VTRL also plans to publish a new video each time it releases research:

“We are building a completely new field of academically rigorous research focused on areas of persistent challenge in military transition: underemployment, challenges with belongingness, and issues related to stereotyping of veterans and bias faced in employment.  With over 150,000 veterans transitioning each year, we have an opportunity to improve many lives through applied research generated by the VTRL and our partners.”

Sean Kelley