Niall has received an honorary doctorate for having attained outstanding distinction in his field from University College Dublin. The other semester’s honorary doctorate recipients included cancer support advocate and public sector chief executive Sir Ciarán Devane; poetry anthologist Niall McMonagle; diplomat David Donoghue; and scientist Alistair Hetherington.
On the 26th of May Niall joined architect Will Alsop, and poets Katharine Kilalea and Matthew Gregory at the RIBA for a discussion on whether poetry and architecture can together reveal something new about our contemporary experience of space. How do the two art forms inform each other, and what can poetry and architecture and their intersection tell us about modern habits and habitation? The event was curated by Catherine Hamilton from the arts association Store. Niall’s piece ‘My Portfolio in Poems’ looked at particular poems that directly influenced his projects.