Rate My Professor Kristy O'Neill

Dr Kristy O’Neill is a Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education within the School of Education at the University of New England. She earned her PhD from the University of Sydney in 2018, with research partially funded by the International Olympic Committee, investigating the links between early developmental environments and Olympic success in an Australian sporting hotspot. O’Neill also holds a Bachelor of Education (Health and Movement, Human Endeavour) with First Class Honours and University Medal from the same institution. Before joining UNE, her career in tertiary education included teaching, research, and professional positions at the University of Sydney, University of Wollongong, and Charles Sturt University, notably contributing to HEPPP-funded outreach initiatives for widening participation and social inclusion.

Her research focuses on athlete development and performance, health and physical education pedagogy, equity and inclusion in education, initial teacher education, and leveraging sport for community development and social inclusion. As Chief Investigator, she has procured over $700,000 in grants from Commonwealth, NSW State government, and philanthropic sources, including the Australian Government Department of Health’s Driving Social Inclusion through Sport and Physical Activity project ($224,677, 2020-2023) supporting Ezidi and other migrant communities in Armidale, and the Office for Regional Youth’s Get Active United program ($49,884, 2022-2023). O’Neill leads the School’s Equity, Inclusion and Participation research group and coordinates units such as EDPE150 Sociocultural Foundations of Health and Physical Education, EDPE247 Teaching Physical Education in Primary Schools, and EDPE346 Teaching Health Education in Primary Schools. She has received two Australian Awards for University Teaching Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (2022 individual; 2024 team), the inaugural ODLAA National Open and Distance Learning Award for Higher Education (2023), multiple UNE Vice-Chancellor and Faculty Citations for Educational Excellence, the University Medal, and Young Investigators Awards at international sport science congresses.