I used to think creativity was a gift, you had it or you didn't. Now I know that it is more like a muscle that needs to be exercised. If you don't, you lose it. With a background in the creative and digital arts - from puppetry and community arts to computer animation, interactive design and digital film, I have been using my creativity since I was born. After learning that creativity was available to anyone, I have been busy researching, teaching and designing tools to help anyone develop and use their creativity consciously and consistently.

I describe myself as being of the Star Wars generation, growing up with the universal energy of The Force on the one hand, and the practical down-to-earth problem solving of MacGyver on the other. On the one hand, I help people to see their circumstances from a bigger perspective, while at the same time applying MacGyver's pragmatic approach to problem solving using only the resources he has to hand.

Professional Qualifications & Training

• Certified Trainer with Project Renaissance, teaching Creative Problem Solving
• Level I & II Certification in Spiral Dynamics
• Nonviolent Communication International Intensive Training in Social Change
• Facilitator in Open Space Technology
• Certified Practitioner of Guided Self Healing
• Certified Practitioner & Teacher of Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT)

Awards & Recognition

Finalist in Big Idea Award 2008. 3rd place winner in the Social Entrepruneur category for the development of Rory's Story Cubes: Actions as a globally accessible language learning tool.

Impetus Award for Human Rights (2004-2007). This award was presented three years running for a series of film projects that I co-facilitated with Tom Magill of the Educational Shakespeare Company. We worked with groups of teenagers from Nationalist and Loyalist areas of Belfast, helping them to tell their stories.

Unltd - Building Peaceful Communities Award. Rory has received a financial award from UnLtd (supported by the Millenium Project) to develop his social entrepreneurship project, Unfolding Stories. This community project involving nine groups in Belfast will result in the publication of a book. Each group will use Rory's Story Cubes to create their story. In order to promote the concept of prosperity through creativity, participants will share the profits of their sales of the book, reinvesting it into their groups and communities.