Fiona McArdle graduated from the University of Ulster in 1987 with a B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemical and Biological Sciences. She was employed by The Department of Agriculture and Food Science, New Forge Lane, Malone Road, Belfast as a analytical chemist in June 1987. She then moved to The Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Dublin, to take up a position as a research analyst with responsibility for development and validation of HPLC methods for analysis of drugs in  clinical samples. Subsequently she moved to Norbrook Laboratories, Newry, Co. Down, to take up a position as a research analytical chemist with responsibility for method development and validation for analysis of drugs in animal tissue and in formulated products. She then moved to the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) to complete a PhD in Electroanalytical Biosensor Development. She was awarded the Duncan Davis award for her research in 1991. She graduated with a PhD in 1993. She took up a lecturing position in the Department of Chemistry, University of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire in 1992 and in 1993 she moved to the then Regional Technical College, Sligo to take up a lecturing post in the School of Science. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences at the Institute of Technology, Sligo.