Kevin Mullaney received a B.Sc. degree in physics and economics from Keele University in 1982. He undertook his Ph.D. degree on the CO2 laser processing of fibre tapers and fibre Bragg gratings at Cranfield University. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow in Applied Optics in the Centre for Engineering Photonics, Cranfield University. He has industrial experience in product development for space, military, telecommunication and aerospace optical applications. He holds three patents in optical coatings for space applications and wavelength locking systems for tunable lasers.