Ciarán is a Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor at the University of Limerick, where his teaching and research specialities are artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision. Much of his research focuses on industry driven projects in the areas of artificial intelligence and computer vision applied to domains such as autonomous driving, medical imaging, and the circular economy. His industry partners in currently active projects include Valeo, Provizio, Advanced Manufacturing Control Systems Group, and Collins Aerospace, among others. Ciarán is also the programme director for the new Master of Engineering in Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence.

Previously, Ciarán completed his B.E. in 2003 from the National University of Ireland, Galway, and PhD in 2009 from the same institute. Between 2003 and 2005 he worked as an FPGA developer on radar products with Connaught Electronics Ltd. His PhD was in automotive omnidirectional camera design and calibration. From 2009 to 2020, Ciarán worked as a team lead and architect for various computer vision projects with Valeo Vision Systems, including Object Detection, Reconstruction, Visual Odometry, Visual SLAM and Stereo. In 2016, he was promoted to Valeo Senior Expert, a role that is recognised by Valeo as equivalent of Director level in a technical stream. In his industrial career, Ciarán was an inventor on more than 150 patent applications.