Parkrun Australia and Healthy Kids Project founder Tim Oberg has been named a 2026 QUT Outstanding Community Impact Alumnus for his work helping communities and children become healthier and happier.
The honour was announced at the annual QUT Outstanding Alumni Awards last night (October 29) at the university's Gardens Point campus in Brisbane.
Mr Oberg graduated from QUT in 2000 with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Human Movement Studies) and a Bachelor of Education (Secondary).
Now an Australian community sport leader, educator and entrepreneur, he is best known for founding and leading Parkrun Australia, a hugely popular grassroots movement with 500 events across Australia and the Asia-Pacific every weekend.
“I’m incredibly honoured and humbled to receive this award from QUT,” Mr Oberg said.
“It’s gratifying to know that my career working on projects that have had such a positive impact on communities has been recognised in this way by my old university.”
Mr Oberg’s QUT studies provided the springboard for an international career.
“After leaving QUT, I actually moved straight over to London to do teaching, which was something that was arranged through the university,” he said.
“I went for two years and stayed for 10.”
After encountering Parkrun in London, Mr Oberg returned to Australia in 2011 with the organisation’s first international licence agreement.
He served as CEO of Parkrun Australia for 11 years and grew the movement to more than one million participants across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
“What I’m most proud of about Parkrun is the impact that it has had on so many people’s lives in so many different ways,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about the human connection and that healthier and happier planet.”
Mr Oberg now runs the Healthy Kids Project, a charity that develops programs focused on physical activity, healthy eating and mental health.
Its national programs include the school-based RAD Run Club and Fresh Fruit Friday.
“I couldn’t feel prouder to know that programs that I’m involved in are having such a positive impact on children and their families,” Mr Oberg said.
Asked what advice he would give current QUT students, Mr Oberg encouraged them to pursue work they genuinely cared about.
“The world is changing so fast. You’re probably going to have many careers throughout your lifetime,” he said.
“But if that can all be underpinned by doing something that you’re passionate about, something that you enjoy, something that you love, then you’ll never feel like you’ve done a day’s work.”
Mr Oberg also serves on the Australian Sports Commission’s Play Well Strategy Leadership Group and is the President of Mackay District Junior Rugby Union, where he continues to champion accessible, inclusive and sustainable opportunities for people of all ages to lead active, healthy lives.
Media contact: QUT Media, media@qut.edu.au
