Professor Gavan McNally

I am a behavioural neuroscientist. I study the fundamental behavioural and brain mechanisms for learning and motivation and understanding how these apply to clinical conditions such as addictions, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders.  I am interested in identifying these mechanisms, at the cellular, circuit, and systems level and also in translating this fundamental information into new treatments of psychological conditions. To do so, I adopt a systems neuroscience approach combining well controlled behavioural approaches with a variety of approaches (optogenetics, chemogenetics, in vivo calcium imaging, whole brain circuit mapping) in normal and transgenic animals to map and manipulate, at cellular and circuit levels, brain mechanisms. I pursue human clinical applications with colleagues at University of Sydney, Sydney Local Health District, Monash University, and Turning Point.

My research is supported by both the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council. I have previously been an ARC QEII (2008-2012) and Future Fellow (Level 3) (2013 - 2016).

I am Editor-In-Chief of Neurobiology of Learning & Memory and Senior Editor of The Journal of Neuroscience. I am editorial board member of Behavioral Neuroscience, Addiction Neuroscience, and Behavioural Pharmacology. I am the Scientific Program Chair for the 2024 World Congress of the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism.

The lab currently comprises 5 Research Fellows, 4 PhD students, research assistants and undergraduate students. Please contact me if you would like to join us.

Education

BSc (Hon) (UNSW)
PhD  (UNSW)

Awards and Honours

2009 Association for Psychological Science, International Rising Star
2010 Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
2010 UNSW Faculty of Science Staff Excellence Award for Research and Training
2011 Pavlovian Research Award, The Pavlovian Society 
2017 D.G. Marquis Behavioral Neuroscience Award, American Psychological Association
2017 Fellow, American Psychological Association
2019 Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences in Australia
2021 D.G. Marquis Behavioral Neuroscience Award, American Psychological Association

Current Research Staff

Postdoctoral

Dr Zhi Yi Ong 
Dr E. Zayra Millan
Dr Joanna O-Y. Yau
Dr Phillip Jean-Richard-dit-Bressel
Dr Eun A Choi

PhD

Bixuan Lin
Si Yin Lui
Sophia Gilchrist
Eddie Wise