There's a distinctive Bull to Bull race trophy sitting on a desk in Oregon. Its proud owner is Associate Professor Stewart Trost who won the prize as a teenage athletics champion in the beef capital around three decades ago.

The early experience Stewart gained racing around the athletics oval on Rockhampton Campus helped him secure a sporting scholarship to study in America, where he competed as a moderately successful 'journeyman' on the college circuit.

Visiting researcher Dr Stewart Trost (right) chats with Dr Corneel Vandelanotte on Rockhampton Campus, near the athletics track he used to compete on as a teenager

And while he has returned to work in Australia a few times, he's currently a physical activity researcher based at the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Science at Oregon State University.

Dr Trost returned to CQUniversity recently as a distinguished visitor to report on his current intervention study - 'Journey to a Healthy Child Care Home'. He revealed how simple and cost-effective support structures can improve the physical activity levels and nutrition of children in family day care.

The visitor was hosted by our Institute for Health and Social Science Research (IHSSR). He met researchers from our Centre for Physical Activity Studies (CPAS) and said they had "enough shared interests which could evolve into collaborations".

LINK for Prof Stewart Trost's presentation on Family Day Care