Biography
Aongus McCarthy is from Ferbane, Co. Offaly, Ireland. He graduated with a BSc from University College Galway in 1989, a Diploma in Electronic Engineering from the Institute of Technology in Carlow, Ireland in 1990 and received a BSc in Physical Optoelectronics from Essex University, England in 1991. Between 1991 and starting his PhD at Heriot–Watt University in 1997, he spent two years as an Associate on a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) run Teaching Company Scheme (now known as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships) between Coventry University and Signam Limited in Warwick. He was then employed by Signam and was the leader of the R & D Design Team that developed a pre–production prototype of a thermal transfer printer for printing onto non–absorbent polyester type materials.