Paddy O'Connor graduated from QUB in 2014 with a BSc in Psychology (Hons), and was also awarded a PhD in 2019 from QUB. Paddy previously worked at QUB School of Psychology as a Research Assistant, and as a Part-time Lecturer at Belfast Metropolitan College.  Paddy was appointed a Lecturer in Education at the School of Psychology in October 2020.

Paddy’s research interests fall within Developmental and Cognitive Psychology. His PhD, and subsequent research, focuses on the importance of ordering skills to the development of maths learning in young children, with a focus on the development of diagnostic tools to detect maths difficulties in children at the beginning of primary school. Paddy’s research also focuses on the effects of math anxiety on children’s learning of new mathematical concepts, and how parental influences affect children’s attitudes towards mathematics. More recently, Paddy has also been involved in research on temporal cognition and visuospatial perspective-taking.  

Paddy is a member of the Psychonomic Society and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.