Dr Kath O'Brien

Faculty of Health,
School of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences
Biography
Dr. Katherine (Kath) O’Brien explores the operational environment and working practices of both sport officials and coaches. Kath’s research interests cover a range of topics related to operating in high performance sport, but most notably focus upon understanding the qualities that foster the work and development of sport officials. Aiming to create deeper discussion and research around how sport officials develop their craft, Kath created the Australian Sport Officiating Summit (ASOS) hosted online at QUT. Kath is also founder and co-developer of the QUT Women in Sport Leadership Conference in partnership with QUT Sport. In 2022, Dr. O'Brien was awarded an Australian Award for university teaching (AAUT Early Career Teaching Excellence Award), and, in 2020, Kath won the prestigious Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence, being named the QUT David Gardiner 'Teacher of the Year'. Dr. O'Brien was also awarded a QUT Faculty of Health Early Career Research Grant in 2021 to study the impact of 360-video on student learning in online university settings. Kath teaches post-graduate and undergraduate students in the disciplines of exercise science and sport coaching, as well as teaching health and physical education pre-service teachers aspects of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Dr. Kath O'Brien is also a registered HPE teacher and previous international coach for both men’s and women’s teams in the sport of Touch Football.Project/Publication Highlights:
- Seen but not heard: missing the mark in conceptualizing high performance officials
- The development of craft in Australian National Rugby (NRL) league referees
- The issue of unconscious bias in referee decisions in the National Rugby League
Award Highlights:
- 2022 - Australian Universities Award for Teaching Excellence (AAUT) - ECR
- 2021 - QUT Faculty of Health - Early/Mid Career Research Grant Scheme
- 2020 - QUT Vice Chancellor Award - David Gardiner QUT Teacher of the Year
Personal details
Positions
- Lecturer
Faculty of Health,
School of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences
Keywords
Sport Officiating, High Performance, Learning, Pedagogy, Education
Discipline
Cognitive Science, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Human Movement and Sports Science
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- PhD (University of Queensland)
Professional memberships and associations
- Sport Australia - Industry Advisory Group - Officiating
- Sport Australia - Coach & Officiating Steering Committee
- The Officiating Collective - Lead Researcher
- Creator and organiser - The Australian Sport Officiating Summit (ASOS)
- Founder - QUT Women in Leadership Conference (partnership with QUTSport)
Teaching
Current Teaching:
- Lecturer - Faculty of Health (School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences)
- Senior Fellow - Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
- Unit Coordinator - XNB197, XNB299; XNB390; EUB420; EUB107
- Courses - XNB174; XNB188; XNB296
- Chairperson / Panel Member - QTPA
Previous Employment and Teaching:
- Casual Academic - University of Queensland (Post-graduate Master of Coaching)
- Casual Academic and Unit Coordinator - University of New England (UNE)
- Head of Department (HOD) - HPE and Sport
- Acting Deputy Principal
- Secondary Teacher - HPE, Chemistry, Biological Science, Sport & Fitness, Dance
- Board Member - Touch Football Queensland
- Executive Officer - Queensland Touch (SWQ)
Experience
- Australian Coach - Men's & Women's Teams - Touch Football
- Chair - Touch Football Queensland Coaching Panel
- Member - Touch Football Australia Coaching Panel
- Member - Womensport Toowoomba Panel
Selected publications
- O'Brien K, Rynne S, (2021) Seen but not heard: Missing the mark in conceptualizing high performance officiating, Sport in Society, 24 (7), pp. 1110-1121.
- Grey M, Mallett C, O'Brien K, Rynne S, (2020) High-performance coaches. In D Hackfort & R Schinke, The Routledge International Encyclopedia of Sport and Exercise Psychology: Volume 2: Applied and Practical Measures, Routledge, pp. 343-358.
- O'Brien K, (2020) Two refs are better than one, so why does the NRL want to drop one?, The Conversation.
- O'Brien K, (2018) Blow that whistle: Seven reasons you should respect the ref in the NRL Grand Final, The Conversation.
- O'Brien K, (2016) Split second decisions with little praise: So what does it take to ref a game of NRL, The Conversation.
- O'Brien K, (2015) NRL video refs can still make the call even if they're not at the game, The Conversation.
QUT ePrints
To find publications by Kath, visit QUT ePrints, the University's research repository.
Awards
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2020
- Details
- QUT Vice-Chancellor Award for Excellence: David Gardiner Teacher of the Year
- Type
- Fellowship of a Learned Academy or Membership of AIATSIS
- Reference year
- 2020
- Details
- Senior Fellowship: Higher Education (SFHEA)
- Type
- Advisor/Consultant for Industry
- Reference year
- 2020
- Details
- Consultant: Sport Australia on Sport Officiating Learning & Education
- Type
- Reviewer for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2020
- Details
- Sport, Education and Society
- Type
- Reviewer for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2020
- Details
- International Journal of Sport Science and Coaching
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- UQ: Dr Alf Howard International Travel Scholarship
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2014
- Details
- Deans Commendation for Academic Excellence