Munster Technological University has announced that their nominee for the D’Arcy McGee Beacon Fellowship from the Ireland Canada Universities Foundation has been successful. Professor Sean Blenkinsop, from the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, is one of Canada’s leading authorities in the field of outdoor pedagogy and learning in concert with nature. He works in the Faculty of Education at SFU and is Co-Director of the Imaginative Education Research Group (IERG).

The prestigious D’Arcy McGee Beacon Fellowship is the latest initiative from the board of trustees of the Ireland Canada Universities Foundation. The foundation was established 28 years ago by the Irish and Canadian governments to build academic links and develop cultural understandings between the two countries. Former President Dr. Mary McAleese delivered the first Beacon Fellowship lecture in November last year. As part of the Fellowship, Dr. Blenkinsop will deliver the Beacon lecture on 15th March. The lecture will be streamed live on YouTube with recordings being curated afterwards by MTU through SWORD and the UNESCO Chair research centre.

Sean undertook his doctoral thesis on the philosophy of education at Harvard University with a focus on existentialism, education, dialogue, and the environment.  His current research explores teacher education, school change, and the challenge of justice and the environment in a rapidly changing world.  Sean has also been, and still is, involved in creating and researching three innovative public elementary schools in British Columbia that are focused on being much more community, place, and nature-based in both pedagogy and curriculum.  Important strands in this work include ideas related to nature as co-teacher, questions of equity, cultural change, and eco-social justice. Sean has published more than 100 articles and chapters and his most recent book with Palgrave McMillan was an innovative research adventure project called Wild Pedagogies: Touchstones for Re-Negotiating Education and the Environment in the Anthropocene. 

Dr. Blenkinsop said “I am delighted to accept this Beacon Fellowship and I look forward to connecting with educators in Ireland as we explore together how we can work with nature in our teaching programmes”. The application for this Beacon Fellowship was made jointly by the School of Health & Social Science at MTU and the Institute of Education at DCU. In the coming weeks, Dr. Blenkinsop will be leading a number of workshops with teacher educators for primary and early years education from campuses in Dublin, Cork and Kerry. He will also host workshops for outdoor learning students and lecturers at MTU Kerry.

Dr. Michael Hall, Head of School of Health and Social Sciences at MTU said “Congratulations to Dr. Blekinsop, but also the multidisciplinary team within the department of Health & Leisure at MTU and Institute of Education at DCU for writing such a strong proposal and securing the nomination of Dr. Blekinsop. We look forward to welcoming Sean to MTU over the course of this Fellowship where no doubt he will inspire and encourage our students to follow in his footsteps.”

The Beacon Fellowship lecture will be streamed live on Monday, 15th March 2021 at 16:30(GMT)

Live stream on the MTU Kerry campus YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/MTUKerry

For Further enquiries contact tomas.aylward@staff.ittralee.ie or orla.kelly@DCU.ie