Georgie Burgess
26 February 2026: It’s the famous and free five kilometre fun run that brings together millions of people across the globe each weekend, but could parkrun be used to enhance the quality of life for people with dementia?
That's the question Dr Georgina Chelberg, a postdoctoral fellow, from the º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ’s Centre for Ageing Research and Translation (CARAT) is preparing to investigate with an $85,000 project grant from the Dementia Australia Research Foundation.
Inspired by her background in public health and exercise science, Dr Chelberg is hoping to generate real world evidence on the impact of “social prescribing” parkrun – which takes place every Saturday morning at over 500 venues around the country – for people with dementia.
“I’ve always had this interest in physical activity through the lifespan and just the way that it connects people to much bigger benefits than just physical health,” said Dr Chelberg.
“And parkrun is just this incredible community asset that people can get involved in through not just walking or running but also volunteering or even spectating, so I’m going to be exploring if this is a safe and inclusive space for people with dementia to experience social connections alongside some physical activity.”
The grant, which Dr Chelberg describes as a “massive boost” for her research journey, will support a two-year pilot project. She will be relying on GPs and other health professionals, who are already prescribing parkrun to a range of patients, to steer people with a dementia diagnosis to the weekend activity.
The overall aim is to the improve health and wellbeing of people with a dementia diagnosis, support personal empowerment and strengthen community connection.
“This type of non-medical prescription is called social prescribing and is designed to enhance wellbeing through engagement in meaningful, enjoyable activities. While evidence shows the general benefits of parkrun participation, little is known about how social prescribing works for people living with dementia,” she said.
Dr Chelberg is currently a co-investigator for the evaluation of the University’s ground-breaking Sustainable Personalised Interventions for Cognition, Care, and Engagement (SPICE) program, a 10-week multicomponent rehabilitation program for people with dementia and their care partners in the ACT region.
“For people with dementia it can really be quite an isolating condition to live with – it can impact your social connections, hobbies, and employment. People are trying to find their way through those changes and so connecting them to services and avenues of support is important.
“Those connections are something that is central to SPICE but we’re also looking for other avenues to support people, which we believe parkrun can do.”
The project has already received endorsement from parkrun, with Glen Turner the head of Communications and Health & Wellbeing for parkrun Asia Pacific welcoming the research initiative.
“This project aligns closely with our ongoing commitment to support health professionals to have conversations with patients about parkrun and to signpost them to our events.
“There is a growing body of international research evidencing how parkrun can be an effective referral tool, and we are excited to contribute to a project that will broaden this evidence base and improve quality of life for people with dementia and those around them.”