Blindboy Boatclub and David Gillick receive Honorary Fellow Awards at IADT Conferring

An Honorary Fellow of IADT is someone who has an outstanding record of achievement in scholarship or practice, or who has contributed to public service related to the mission and vision of IADT.

Blindboy has been awarded the title of Honorary Fellow of IADT in recognition of his achievements and his impact and engagement with diverse audiences on topics spanning mental health, creativity, politics, mythology, culture, and history.

Persistently curious, a continuous and frequent thread that emerges throughout Blindboy’s work is creativity — which as we know is core to IADT’s vision and mission — using his platform to interrogate the process of creativity and its relationship with mental health and wellbeing, with writing, music, the wider arts and much more.

Blindboy’s innate curiosity has led him to embrace subjects ranging from psychology to creativity, from culture to mythology, from the environment to social issues. He has had an immensely positive influence on education and social engagement through his work. His ability to communicate complex ideas around creativity, psychology, and critical thinking help to encourage transformation through social change. At IADT, we recognise and promote the values of embracing a wide range of interests and being genuinely multidisciplinary. Blindboy is an excellent example of this.

David Gillick has been awarded the title of Honorary Fellow of IADT in recognition of his achievements as an athlete, his active charitable roles, and his prominence as an advocate for positive mental health and well-being, in addition to being an IADT graduate and frequent guest speaker and contributor to IADT programmes.

David is one of Ireland’s most successful sprint athletes. He stepped off the track in 2013 after a successful athletics career, which included winning Ireland’s first sprint gold medal in 76 years and winning the European Indoor 400m championships in 2005. He retained his title in 2007 and became an Olympian in 2008.

David is a graduate of IADT’s Certificate in Sport and Performance Psychology. Since he graduated from the programme in 2017, David has returned annually to speak with both our Certificate and BSc (Hons) Applied Psychology Year 2 – Sport and Performance Psychology students. He is consistently generous with his time, authentic, and inspirationally honest in sharing his athletic and post-sport retirement experiences and insights.

At IADT, we recognise and promote the values of embracing a wide range of interests and being genuinely multidisciplinary. David is an excellent example of this. He is an ambassador for the charity and humanitarian organisation, GOAL. As well as Marathon Kids and the VHI – Parkrun, both initiatives aimed at encouraging people from all life-paths engage in social running in order to benefit their physical and mental well-being.

IADT was delighted and honoured to confer the award of Honorary Fellow to Blindboy Boatclub and David Gillick and congratulate them both on joining the prestigious company of our IADT Honorary Fellows.