Headshot of Cian O’Donnell.

Cian O’Donnell

Lecturer in data analytics
Ulster University

Cian O’Donnell is a computational neuroscientist and lecturer in data analytics at Ulster University. His group works on the mechanisms of learning and memory, autism, and developing statistical methods for neuroscience data.

He earned his B.Sc. in applied physics at Dublin City University, followed by his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in neuroinformatics at the University of Edinburgh. He spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, before returning to the United Kingdom in 2015 as a lecturer and then senior lecturer at the University of Bristol. In 2021, he moved to Ulster University in Derry, Northern Ireland.

From this contributor

Explore more from The Transmitter

Photo collage of Tempest McDonald.

When autistic kids grow up, Chapter 2: “You need to go to college”

With just a high school equivalency degree and struggling as a single mother, Tempest McDonald is forced to shift her priorities.

By Brady Huggett
11 June 2026 | 28 min listen
Research image of X-linked RNAs in male mice.

Noncoding RNA sways core autism traits in mice

Small deletions in an X-linked RNA alter social and repetitive behaviors in male mice without broadly affecting learning or memory.

By Giorgia Guglielmi
11 June 2026 | 4 min read
Headshots of the 2026 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience winners.

Four protein synthesis pioneers win Kavli Prize in Neuroscience

Their research revealed how neurons synthesize proteins in previously unrecognized places.

By Alissa de Chassey
10 June 2026 | 4 min read