Academy Fellow

Tony Okely is Chief Mission and Strategy Officer at Excelsia University College and an Honorary Professor at the University of Wollongong. His research has advanced understanding of how physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep influence children’s health and development, and has translated that evidence into policy, practice and global public health action.

A central contribution has been his leadership in reconceptualising these behaviours as an integrated 24-hour movement continuum rather than as separate domains. Over more than 15 years, he has led the development and updating of Australian movement guidelines for children and young people, including the first Australian 24-hour movement guidelines for the early years. These guidelines have been incorporated into national policy and practice frameworks, including the National Quality Framework for early childhood education and care and the Australian Curriculum.

Okely’s work has also had substantial international influence. He successfully advocated for the World Health Organization to develop global movement guidelines for children under five and subsequently served on the WHO Guideline Development Group that produced the first global recommendations integrating physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for this age group. He has provided technical advice to guideline initiatives in Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Portugal, the Asia-Pacific region and Mexico, helping to shape public health recommendations well beyond Australia.

A second major contribution is his leadership of the SUNRISE International Study of Movement Behaviours in the Early Years, the first global surveillance study focused on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep among young children. The study spans 68 countries, including 47 low- and middle-income countries, and has generated comparable evidence in settings where population-level data have historically been scarce. Through SUNRISE, Okely has combined scientific leadership with research capacity building, mentoring early-career researchers, supporting locally led publications and grant applications, and developing partnerships with WHO and UNICEF to strengthen global surveillance of young children’s movement behaviours.

Across his broader research program, Okely has led and contributed to intervention studies, measurement research and systematic reviews examining how movement behaviours can be assessed, understood and improved in children and young people. His contribution to the social sciences lies not only in producing influential research, but in connecting behavioural science, education, public health and policy. By building international collaborations, mentoring the next generation of researchers and translating evidence into guidelines and practice, his work has helped establish movement behaviours in childhood as an important area of social and public policy, with enduring impact in Australia and internationally.

Honorary Professor (University of Wollongong) (from 1/2026)

Professor II, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (1/2021-10/2026)

2025 Supervisor of the Year Award, University of Wollongong.

2021 Alumni Prize for Research, University of Wollongong

2020 Senior Researcher of the Year Award, University of Wollongong

1.      Draper, CE; Yousafzai, AK; McCoy, DC;…Okely AD. The next 1000 days: building on early investments for the health and development of young children, The Lancet,404,10467,2094-2116,2024.

2.      Toledo-Vargas, M; Chong, KH; Maddren, CI;… Okely, AD. Parental technology use in a child’s presence and health and development in the early years: A systematic review and meta-analysis, JAMA pediatrics,179,7,730-737,2025.

3.      Ding, D; et al. Daily steps and health outcomes in adults: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis, The Lancet Public Health,10,8,e668-e681,2025.

4.      Okely, AD; Ryan, ST; Varman, S; Emori, RB; Galy, O; Novotny, R. Burden of childhood obesity in Pacific Islands Countries and Territories, The Lancet Regional Health–Western Pacific,73,101942,2026.

del Pozo-Cruz, J; Alfonso-Rosa, RM; Zhang, Z; …Okely AD. Global reference values for daily steps in preschool children (SUNRISE): a cross-sectional analysis from 44 countries, The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health,10,789-796,2026