The importance of education and making it accessible to all was among the themes discussed an the inaugural lecture in memory of the late historian Dr Éamon Phoenix.
US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland, Joe Kennedy III was the guest speaker at the event at Stranmillis University College (SUC) in Belfast.
The college said the Dr Éamon Phoenix Memorial Lecture was established to honour the legacy of “one of the pre-eminent historians of our time, with a unique ability to bring history to life”.
Dr Phoenix, an Irish News columnist, acclaimed author and broadcaster, died in November 2022 following a short illness. He was 69.
He has been remembered as “an educator whose unwavering dedication to fostering innovative teaching approaches, promoting critical thinking, and nurturing a vibrant intellectual environment left an indelible mark on colleagues, students and Northern Ireland society as a whole”.
Dr Jayne Brady, head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, paid tribute to the work and impact Dr Phoenix made, while a lecture on partition and education policy divergence in the 1920s was delivered by Professor Noel Purdy (Stranmillis) and Dr Tom Walsh (Maynooth University).
Dr Phoenix’s wife Alice also spoke at the event and announced the creation of the Éamon Phoenix Foundation.
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Professor Jonathan Heggarty, principal and CEO of SUC, said it was a “mark of Dr Éamon Phoenix’s reputation and respect” that they welcomed Mr Kennedy as the keynote speaker.
In his keynote speech, ‘Education as a Catalyst for Economic Progress’, Mr Kennedy spoke about “educational disadvantage, early years education, the need for educational innovation and education as the foundation and cornerstone of economic prosperity”.
He said he believed in the importance of early years education as it “not only sets children up to thrive, but it also provides families with greater financial security”.
“When children are in care, parents can work; student parents can achieve degrees,” he said.
“Early education is perhaps the best investment in education - and economic opportunity for families - that we can make.”
Mr Kennedy added that children “don’t know how to hurt or hate”.
“Their wants and needs are the simple, basic things that unite us all,” he said.
“That is, of course, the great lesson that Northern Ireland teaches the world. A lesson that Dr Phoenix knew well, and that has certainly taken hold of me.
“That despite our differences and divides, our future is shared. Our prosperity is linked. That there is, in fact, only one path forward - together.
“It’s a lesson demonstrated again last evening, and one, I’m certain, that would have Dr Phoenix cheering.”
