Dr. Cian McCafferty is a lecturer and principal investigator at University College Cork, working in the department of Anatomy & Neuroscience. He graduated from UCC with a B.Sc. (Hons) in Neuroscience in 2010, and from Cardiff University with a Ph.D. in experimental electrophysiology of epilepsy in 2014. For his doctoral research, Dr. McCafferty investigated the activity of thalamic neurons during absence seizures in a rat model, and the contributions of thalamic T-type calcium channels to the electrographical and behavioural components of the seizures. After a year of postdoctoral research in Cardiff University, Dr. McCafferty pursued an Epilepsy Foundation postdoctoral fellowship in Yale University. He expanded this initial fellowship into 4 years of postdoctoral research at Yale into neuronal and network mechanism of absence seizure behavioural severity, researching the hemodynamic and electrophysiological changes in the cerebral cortex associated with the behavioural severity of experimental absence seizures. Dr. McCafferty's current research at UCC focuses on the electroencephalography of epilepsy and migraine.

Dr. McCafferty's research interests focus on the information that is carried in electroencephalographic (EEG) signals about seizures and migraines, and how that information can be used by people with epilepsy and migraineurs. In epilepsy research, he is investigating the priorities of people with epilepsy in seizure forecasting devices and how these can be addressed using existing seizure prediction algorithms and repositories of EEG recordings. In migraine research, he investigates how physiological variables (including EEG features, cardiovascular features, and activity) change over the course of the migraine cycle and is interested in the neurophysiological mechanisms that cause migraine headaches.

Dr. McCafferty is interested in the application of backward design and active learning principles to achieve goal-oriented learning: the identification of graduate skillsets, attributes, and goals, and the construction of teaching and learning materials and methods to best bring students towards them. His teaching in the Neuroscience (CK402) and Medical and Health Sciences (CK707) programs aims to equip students to apply broad scientific principles to their lives and careers, focusing on the interpretation of scientific data in its various forms as well as the design of experiments to address outstanding scientific questions and the effective presentation of the ensuing data. Dr. McCafferty also teaches Neuroscience students in his specific areas of research interest, including epilepsy, consciousness, and awareness.