Stewart Murdoch, Director of Leisure & Culture Dundee, has been honoured with a Global Ambassador Award by the International Association for Community Development (IACD) for his outstanding contributions to the field of community development.
Stewart trained as a Community Development Worker in Glasgow graduating in 1976 and worked in the city until 1990. Initially he was responsible for supporting public participation in the Glasgow Eastern Area Renewal Project (GEAR). This led to an interest in Planning and he went on to qualify in Urban and Regional Planning. Between 1980 and 1990 Stewart was the Director of the Maryhill Community Central Halls, at that time an experiment in community controlled resources. The project operated as a community business which employed 90 staff delivering a wide range of services under the control of a locally elected board of trustees.
During this period Stewart set up and chaired the West of Scotland Community Work Accreditation Unit which set out to recognise the competence of community activists who had not had the opportunity to take part in professional training.
Stewart is past chair of the Scottish Community Development Centre, Scottish Community Development Alliance and the education and training standards body for Community Education in Scotland – CeVe.
Stewart moved to Tayside as Regional Community Education Organiser in 1990. Since 1996 he has been a member of the Chief Officers Management Team for Dundee City previously as Director for Communities. He was appointed Director of Leisure & Culture Dundee at its inception in 2011.
Stewart supported the IACD Conference held in Edinburgh in 1999, joining the organisation at that time. He was then responsible for hosting the HQ of IACD in Dundee for some 6 years, setting up IACD as a Scottish Charity and establishing a funding partnership with the Scottish Government. He chaired the planning group for the 2013 Glasgow Conference. Stewart served on the IACD Board as Secretary, Treasurer and Vice President over a 12 year period.