Dr Christopher McArdle
PhD MBA BSc MAE QDR FCIArb MIoD FIET CEng
Master, Worshipful Company of Arbitrators, October 2022-23
Chris is extensively experienced as an Expert Witness in the UK, Europe and the USA and is a qualified and experienced Arbitrator and Mediator, having published over 300 Arbitration Awards as sole arbitrator – hence his membership of the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators, where, prior to becoming Warden, he chaired the Education and Pupillage Committee and sat on the Court of Assistants.
Chris is a successful Chartered Engineer, Project Manager and Company Director. He holds a PhD in Microelectronics and has over 40 years’ experience of electronic, micro-electronic and software design and manufacture. He is an acknowledged expert in all aspects of high-volume, high-tech product design and manufacture (contracts, industrial design, materials, design methods, manufacturing, testing, distribution, and outsourcing). He is experienced in the management of high-value, multi-disciplinary, international technical projects, forming and directing international joint-venture companies and of high-volume electronic manufacturing and outsourcing in the Far East and USA.
He has extensive experience of forensic engineering of software, electronic & electrical systems, from investigating electronic and software systems on sunken ships and crashed aircraft to opining on complex intellectual property disputes and has given evidence in courts and tribunals in the UK, Europe, USA and the Far East. He has also given technical evidence in a number of high-profile anti-terrorist cases including, for example, the downing of Pan AM flight 103 over Lockerbie.
He is an Honorary Research Associate of the University of Liverpool, the city of his birth, where he provides technical guidance on electronics and software to a research group working in the field of Musculoskeletal Biology.
Although largely retired, Chris maintains an active involvement in Engineering through, for example, consulting on a recent project which sent equipment to the International Space Station. As he says, “You can’t turn down an opportunity to work with NASA – it’s just too much fun”.
The Master’s Consort, Mrs Ann McArdle, is an experienced Systems Analyst, Programmer and Company Director. Chris and Ann now live in Cornwall, travelling frequently to London to take part in livery activities.