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A love of maths, a drive to understand the world through data, and a recent ADHD diagnosis have shaped the academic path of new ������ graduate, Dr Shane Mannion.

Shane, from Westport, Co Mayo, has joined over 700 students being conferred as part of the University’s Summer ceremonies, graduating with a PhD in Mathematics from UL’s Faculty of Science and Engineering. 

Growing up with cerebral palsy, Shane always had a strong interest in mathematics. 

“I liked maths before I even knew what it was. When I started school in junior infants, someone asked me if I liked maths and I said ‘no, just sums!’,” he recalled. 

“Having cerebral palsy limited my participation in typical physical activities like team-based sports, swimming, and cycling. I got a lot of enjoyment from reading and studying maths.

“As a teenager, I attended the Centre for Talented Youth in Dublin to study maths during the summer holidays, where I met a lot of friends that I’m still in touch with today.”

Shane’s gift for maths led him to UL where he initially studied Mathematics and Physics, before switching to a degree solely focused on Mathematical Sciences. He graduated with a first-class honours degree in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and decided to pursue a PhD through Science Foundation Ireland’s Centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science. 

“My research is around networks, and things that happen on them. A network can represent anything; an easy example is a social network like Facebook, where nodes are users and edges are friendships. I looked at the structures of these objects and what certain structural properties can tell us about the network at large. 

“I also looked at speeding up some algorithms for networks, and how information can spread across networks (like a news story) and how the quality of that information - for example fake versus real news - affects that spread,” he explained. 

In late 2023, Shane was diagnosed with ADHD, something that has transformed his personal and academic life. 

“Initially, I suspected I had OCD, as the things I was struggling with were things like realising I had time now to do my grocery shopping or some other chore and not being able to relax until it was done. 

“Another example, I would get up several times from my bed to make sure I had locked my door. This is a fairly classic OCD symptom, but in my case, it was less to do with checking that the door wasn’t closed properly, but more that I just could not remember closing it every time. As soon as I got back to my bed, I realised that I had been distracted by some other thoughts while checking if it was locked, and didn’t pay attention to whether it was locked or not.

“When I discovered the huge comorbidity between cerebral palsy and ADHD, I think I knew then I had it.”

With a confirmed diagnosis of ADHD, Shane experienced a shift in how he approached his work and life. With treatment and support, he has found a new sense of clarity and has seen a remarkable difference in his ability to focus on his study, in comparison to when he was studying for his undergraduate degree.

“It affected my work positively to find out for sure, gone was the ‘ADHD paralysis’ - this feeling of needing to do something, but being totally unable to actually start it. I was able to work in a much more focused way for more extended periods of time. It made every aspect of my life less stressful.

“I very quickly went from someone who needed to know every step of a plan at all times, or to know my day’s plan, and being very unable to deviate from a plan once it was in place to being much more ‘go with the flow’.

“My attention span improved, both in work and in social interactions. I used to struggle with hearing everything around me in a social interaction, for example, in a pub I would be listening to my friends but also constantly picking up bits of conversations around me and getting distracted. Medication was a magic bullet in that sense, it worked very well immediately for me.

“It’s not the only thing, however. I religiously write down all my appointments, meetings and commitments now, to avoid double-booking myself,” Shane continued.

More recently, Shane has become very active, in part to help with the symptoms of both cerebral palsy and ADHD. He has taken up running and is training for his first marathon which he hopes to run in the coming months. 

“Exercise, meditation and a good diet also massively help, as is the case with any mental health challenge. The worst thing about exercise and a good diet is that they work!” 

Shane is candid, however, about the narrative that ‘ADHD is a superpower’. 

“Nobody has ever suggested my cerebral palsy is a superpower. I would never call ADHD a superpower, and I think this is quite a harmful trend. ADHD is a very ‘trendy’ thing at the minute, and I think calling it a superpower is hurtful to people with the condition, particularly those who are undiagnosed. Many people think it’s over diagnosed, but in reality, studies have found that it is likely very under diagnosed.”

Another interesting fact about Shane is that he keeps bees with his Dad, Eddie, at home in Mayo. 

“It’s a great hobby and bonding activity! Good for the environment, and you get all the honey you could want. If you never want to struggle with the ice-breaker ‘tell us something interesting about yourself,’ again, get bees! It has saved me in that situation more times than I can count.”

Looking ahead, Shane would like to continue his career in academia. 

“Right now, I am applying for postdoc research jobs, and these roles apply mathematics to areas like neuro-oncology (brain cancer), disease spread, city planning, geometry, and much more. Maths is useful everywhere, and it is hard to imagine someone with a love for maths struggling to find a place to apply it.”

For those considering a degree in mathematical sciences, Shane offers this advice:

“I think people who really love maths should go for it. Often, people who are considering it are choosing between maths and something like engineering. I think in the end, the companies that hire one hire the other too, and you can always specialise down the line. If you know you want to go beyond an undergraduate degree, I think maths is an even easier choice, because the areas touched by mathematics are basically limitless.”