Rory O’Connor to be honoured with Alumnus Illustrissimus award from St. Columb’s old boys

Professor O’Connor will receive the accolade at the College Union’s Annual Dinner 2023 in the Ebrington Hotel on November 10.

The suicide-prevention expert who is originally from the Duncreggan Road teaches at the University of Glasgow where he leads the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory.

Prof. O’Connor attended St. Patrick’s Primary School followed by St. Columb’s College (1984-1991) before moving to Queen’s to study psychology where he graduated with 1st class honours in 1994.

He complete his PhD on suicide at Queen’s in 1997. Suicide prevention research has been his life’s passion. He has worked in Scotland for all of his career, being promoted to Professor of Psychology in 2008.

He is currently Professor of Health Psychology in Glasgow where he is director of the Suicidal Behaviour Research Lab, one of the leading suicide/self-harm research groups internationally – and leads the Mental Health & Wellbeing Research Group.

He is President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and a Past President of the International Academy of Suicide Research.

He is the only person from Ireland or the UK to have held the Presidency of both Global Suicide Research and Suicide Prevention Organisations and only the second person ever to have held both positions.

He is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the International Academy of Suicide Research.

His research has been extensively cited as evidenced by Rory being named in the 2022 and 2023 ISI Highly Cited Researchers list, that ranks researchers globally in the top 1% for citations in their field.

His research also informs government policy and practice internationally. Indeed, he is co-chair of the Scottish Government’s Academic Advisory Group on suicide prevention.

He is recognised across the world for his Integrated Motivational-Volitional (IMV) model of suicidal behaviour – a theoretical model that has led to a step change in our understanding of suicide and is one of the leading models of suicide.

Rory is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Research Award in 2023. He was also delighted to win Derry Ambassador of the Year in 2022 (alongside colleagues Siobhan O’Neill and Barry McGale) for bringing the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) World Congress on Suicide Prevention to Derry.

This was IASP’s biggest ever conference and the biggest conference ever held in Derry.

He is also co-author/editor of several books, including being the author of the award-winning book ‘When It is Darkest: Why People Die by Suicide and What We Can Do To Prevent It’ written for the general public which summarises his life in suicide research and prevention.

‘When It Is Darkest’ won the BPS Popular Science Book Award in 2022. Rory has also advised and contributed to numerous TV documentaries on suicide including BBC’s Life After Suicide (which won a Mind Media Award for Best documentary and was Bafta-nominated) and Roman Kemp’s Our Silent Emergency.

He was also featured on BBC Radio 4’s The Spark which meets ‘leading thinkers’ who ‘posit solutions to the structural problems of our age’ earlier this year. He also co-hosts MQ’s award-winning Open Mind podcast on mental health.

College Union appeals for 'old boys' to get in touch