Events and Outreach

On the 2^nd of July we were visited by Dr. Jana Jágerská from UiT The Arctic University of Norway, where she leads a research group focused on integrated photonic sensors and mid-infrared (MIR) nanophotonics. Her research bridges the fields of optical spectroscopy, microfabrication, and material science to develop compact, highly sensitive devices for trace gas detection, isotope analysis, and environmental monitoring. At UiT, she continues to push the frontiers of integrated photonic sensing, with ongoing projects on chip-based IR and Raman spectroscopy, sample pre-concentration, and photonic integration. Jana gave a seminar while she was visiting “Advances and Limitations in Mid-IR Nanophotonic Waveguides for Precision Gas Sensing” Jana’s visit was really beneficial to the project and she shared a lot of her knowledge with the group.

Dr Pin Dong recently has recently been interviewed by the managing editor of Clinical Lab International to talk about Therapeutic Drug Monitoring with FTIR, particularly on her groups recent publication “Protocol for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Within the Clinical Range Using Mid-infrared Spectroscopy” in the journal Analytical Chemistry.  The article can be viewed here.

Prior to Christmas, volunteers from the MISSION team were again invited by event co-Director Libby Battaglia to the annual award winning Light Up Trail at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, with the aim to ‘shed light’ on the world of photonics and the work that we do. Optoelectronics Research Centre’s (ORC) MISSION programme, in partnership with the CORNERSTONE project, Physics & Astronomy, and Light Up Trails has become a much anticipated highlight in our outreach and engagement programme, allowing researchers to mingle with families and join in with the seasonal festivities amongst the nearly 1500 visitors.

On Saturday evenings in November and December team members were amongst the festive displays talking about light and photonics, to young and old alike. Not only were our ‘Photon Fairies’ a great photo-opportunity for the youngsters, but we also enabled them to ‘create rainbows’ with plastic diffraction gratings, demonstrated fibre optics with polymer fibres and showed the silicon photonics equivalent … the waveguide.

When we look at light we look at ‘colours’. Using the gratings we explained how they can be used to detect different lights or ‘other things’ that absorb light, enabling us to help the environment and health care.

All over the trail people could be seen viewing the displays with the gratings, and talking amongst families and friends. “I keep the grating from last year in my phone case all the time”, said one enthusiastic visitor, “I even took pictures of the sunrise in the arctic circle on holiday this year using it”.

Visitors took away stickers, gratings and gained a basic understanding of what photonics means and what silicon photonics can do for our daily lives. All of this world leading research based at the ORC right on their doorsteps, alongside our partners and local industry.

In September the Early career researchers travelled to Oxford to attend a session on career development, where we listened to some inspiring talks;
Dr Callum Stirling from Innovate UK provided an overview of his journey from researcher to Innovation lead of quantum technologies, and spoke of how his technical background has proved invaluable helping progress Quantum technology in the UK.
Prof Jon Heffernan co-investigator on the MISSION project and Director of the National Epitaxy Facility University of Sheffield, shared his own personal career story from his early passion for Physics and journey from researcher to director role within industry, and back to Academia.
Dr Jenna Bowen from CMD Cardiff shared her story, qualifying as a Pharmacist, then completing a PhD and going on to run a startup business while also working as a Lecturer.
We also held a session on managing imposter syndrome. The group then went on and ended the day with some traditional punting on the river Cherwell.

The MISSION project has been presented at two conferences recently. Dr. Milos Nedeljkovic talked about the main building blocks of MISSION sensors and about MISSION applications at the IEEE Summer Topicals conference (15-17 July 2024, Bridgetown, Barbados) and Prof. Thomas Krauss and Prof. Goran Mashanovich covered general MISSION work at ICANS30 in Manchester, UK (5-8 August 2024).

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The MISSION consortium had a two-day meeting in London, on 21st and 22nd May 2024. ECRs from the MISSION project had an Away Day on Career Development on 21 May. They had visitors from industry (Horiba UK) to explain their work and business, and to offer career advice. They also had a training session on giving flash talks. During this event, professionals from various sectors shared insights into their industries, provided valuable networking opportunities and tips on strengthening job applications. The flash talk training helped ECRs enhance their presentation skills through interactive workshops and flash talk practice sessions. The day aimed to equip early career researchers with the knowledge and tools needed for successful career transitions. Based on feedback from the ECRs in the consortium, a follow-up event will take place in early September. The second day was dedicated to work package updates and planning work for the next few months. 

On 21st March 2024, Dr. Anu Agarwal, a Principal Research Scientist at MIT, visited the MISSION team in Southampton and gave a seminar on silicon photonics integrated circuits. The MISSION team showed Dr Agarwal the cleanroom and several silicon photonics laboratories and discussed future collaboration with her group, particularly on gas sensing and detector integration.

In December 2023 the whole team met at the Institute of Engineering and Technology in London for an all-day meeting, where we shared updates and prepared for an upcoming Steering committee.