Generous Networking

I’m happy to be back on the blog to share the news about organising an event to bring together students across Montréal to discuss experiences, enhance research synergies and connect the industry with the dynamic pool of talent that exists in town. I was part of the organising committee for the 3^rdMontréal Photonics Networking Event. The event was held on December 3^rd2019 in conjunction with the STARaCOM Winter School at McGill University’s New Residence Hall Conference Centre. There were almost 100 attendees, with 70 students, 18 of which presented research posters, and 20 professionals, including 10 judges from industry and academia.

Committee Slide — The organising Committee of the 3^rdMontréal Photonics Networking Event, with representatives from academia, industry and students from all 6 Montréal Universities with photonics research.

The event was brought together through our shared network. Everyone worked hard to get the word out to the students and professionals in town. We hosted two amazing speakers, Prof. Caroline Boudoux and Dr. Sebastien Blais-Ouellette, who shared their perspectives on transforming photonics technologies into enterprises. We obtained support from our partners to get this event off the ground and celebrate the quality of the research in Montréal, so I have to extend a special thanks to our partners, SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics, Excelitas Technologies, IEEE Montreal, Optonique and STARaCOM.

The dynamics in the organisation of this event reflect a form of Generous Networking, a concept that I borrowed from a generous networker and friend, Dr. Christina Willis. The idea is simple:

Know what your connections need, and find ways to help them before asking for their help.

I have been fortunate that through the professional networking I developed during my years in academia I encountered many individuals who were generous in their time and advice to help me settle in a new town far from “home”. Being part of the global students networks of the OSA, SPIE and IEEE Photonics Society organisations has been a privilege and a career boost. I enjoyed having the chance to meet the current student leaders across the universities in Montréal and be a part of the informal chapter meet-up at our event. Montréal is a cradle of talent to feed the 200+ companies in the greater Montréal recently identified by Optonique’s survey of the Quebec Photonics landscape.

img_20191203_142801830 — Student leaders of the SPIE, OSA and IEEE Photonics Society professional organisations in Montréal.

In the year that I’ve been in Montreal, I have enjoyed discovering the city and its rich professional landscape for photonics. I am grateful to the generous networkers who have contributed to helping me to get to where I am today. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to connect the dots back through my involvement in the Montréal Photonics Community. It’s fun, collaborative and there is still a lot of progress potential: all of this helps me with getting up in the morning!

Save the date: the 4th annual event is coming back to Montréal on October 23rd 2020!

191203-171324-0980 — See you in 2020 for the 4^th Montréal Photonics Networking Event! Photo credit Owen Egan

Lessons learnt in innovation

The EPSRC summer school was an applied approach to understanding the many different facets of innovation and entrepreneurship in photonics. The week featured Technologists who shared case studies and valuable insights into how a technology or a scientific principle could be developed into a business. To echo thoughts that I heard throughout the week, it’s not the tech that makes money, it’s the business model wrapped around it. There is not a recipe to for all and for this reason it was extremely insightful to get many perspectives from experts from in their early steps of entrepreneurship right through to the seasoned innovators.

Right to left: Prof. T. Baer, Prof. M. Dawson and Prof. C. Boudoux in conversation with moderator Prof. D. Reid during the panel discussion on innovation and entrepreneurship experiences. — Perspectives on innovation and entrepreneurship panel discussion with (right to left) Prof. T. Baer, Prof. M. Dawson and Prof. C. Boudoux in conversation with moderator Prof. D. Reid.

The school also consisted of courses in management and strategic planning techniques that can enable development and innovation in companies. Methods such as SCRUM , SWOT analysis and PESTEL, as well as technology screening techniques were introduced. These were put into practice throughout the week in an effort from the organisers to make the concepts as tangible as possible, which was very engaging and effective. A couple of lessons have stuck with me. First, complex information unrelated to the technology can be strategically selected to make greater impact in the workings of an organisation. Second, which resonated with me very well, values inform both the vision and the mission of a business organisation.

In conversation with Mike Reilly during SCRUM workshop session for the development of a business plan for our social enterprise.

The main deliverable of the week was a group project to develop a pitch for a start up for a product or service for the photonics industry. My team, Haggis Photonics (affectionately named after one of Scotland’s national delicacies), developed a pitch based on building automated components for the photonics industry using 3D printed technology. The business would place itself between the expensive equipment and the Makers market. We also identified a potential to use this product for the training of technician in vocational career paths, a subject close to my heart! We had the opportunity to pitch the idea to 3 serial entrepreneurs and business development experts. The exercise and feedback was very insightful into what is needed in the process of developing a business.

Final poster presentation of my research in integrated optics and Bragg gratings from the University of Southampton! — My final poster presentation on my research in integrated optics and Bragg gratings from the University of Southampton!

The week was very enjoyable, busy and packed full of educational and social activities. The social highlights for me were the traditional Scottish Ceidh, a very active evening of dancing, and the banquet dinner in the luxurious university Lower College Hall (see cover picture!). I also had the opportunity to present one of my last projects that I have conducted in Southampton as a result of research done during my PhD, which was a great opportunity to reflect on the work I had conducted in the past 4.5 years. Thanks to the school I have gained a lot of insight into how innovation takes place in the tech sector. It has given me lots of pointers to look out for as I embark on the next stage of my career (announcement on job situation to follow!).

To sign off, I wish to extend a thank you to Prof. Derryck Reid and Kasia Sulima for the organisation of the summer school, Munadi Ahmad for the cover picture, and the local student organising team for a week packed of social activities. Thanks for tuning in. Bye for now.

A wee school trip to Scotland

Fàilte!

I am in St Andrews, Scotland, for the 2018 Summer School in Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Photonics. The school is organised by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s (EPSRC) Centre for Doctoral Training in Applied Photonics and is hosting an impressive list of experts from many branches of the photonics sector. I look forward to gaining some varied perspectives on drivers and lessons learnt in photonics-driven technological innovation.

Invited speakers at the 2018 Summer School in Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Photonics. Photo source @cdtap.

Why the need for such a summer school for postgraduate and early-career professionals? The organisers have described the motivations very succinctly:

The worldwide photonics market is worth $150 billion. Graduate schools around the world are producing excellent photonics researchers, but achieving sustainable economic impact makes it important to stimulate a spirit of enterprise, technology transfer, innovation and entrepreneurship in this community of early career researchers.

The attendees will likely be postgraduate researchers and early-career professionals, and it will be a great opportunity to meet to discuss their work in photonics and applications in industry and academia.

As part of the summer school I will also present work in the development of integrated waveguides and gratings for integrated optical gyroscopes for potential applications in navigational systems, which has stemmed from work in my PhD and an international collaboration with researchers from Zhejiang University in China (as described in a previous post). I am also excited to be exploring an idea I have for a consultancy service to improve the “STEM fluency” in public and private organisations wanting to make more efficient Impact in their work in their local community.

I wish to take the opportunity to thank the organising committee for awarding me a bursary to have the privilege of attending this summer school. More to follow in the coming days, so make sure that you subscribe to my updates from the website!

Worldwide Universities Networks

During my recent trip to China I had the opportunity to meet with researchers in my field of integrated photonics. Through Chaotan Sima, an alumni of my research group in the Optoelectronics Research Centre, I was introduced to Professor Huilian Ma, of Zhejiang University’s Laboratory of Micro-Optic Gyroscopes in the school of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The research centre has approximately 40 research students and 10 professors. I had the pleasure of meeting Prof. Ma’s group, including my PhD student-counterpart Jianjie Zhang. I am extremely grateful for the kind and generous reception of my hosts, who made me discover Hangzhou food and helped me settle in after an eventful travel. Credit goes to them too for all the pictures in the post!

A warm reception to Hangzhou, with Prof. H Ma's research group and Chaotan Sima, to my right. — A warm reception to Hangzhou, with (left to right) Lu Ying, Lin Yi, Ma Huilian, Sima Chaotan, Posner 马修 (me!), Zhang Jianjie, Ye Sen and Li Hanzhao. In Chinese, it’s first surname, then given name!

The visit was a great opportunity to learn about how photonics integrated circuits can be used as optical gyroscopes. Gyroscopes are used to stabilise position of navigation systems or automatic pilots independent of their movement of rotation. It is important for space applications, such as in satellites orbiting around the earth, where the ability to accurately determine position is of the utmost importance. Normally gyroscopes have moving (mechanical) parts, so can be delicate to package and send safely up to the space! The integration of these devices leads to more stable, smaller and scalable technologies.

Prof. Ma’s group at Zhejiang University is developing integrated optical gyroscopes on chips the size of a large stamp. They design and test prototypes on a silica-(glass)-on-silicon platform. These devices must maintain a very high signal-to-noise ratio to be efficient sensors. A well-known problem for optical gyroscopes is that the signal can be degraded by imperfect polarisations of the laser source used with these systems. In Southampton I had been researching ways to create on-chip polarisation filters compatible with silica technology, which could improve the performance of these devices. In the months leading up to this trip I had received some prototypes to test the suitability of the Southampton Direct UV Writing laser system to make polarizing filters using tilted gratings in waveguides, using the fabrication techniques I’ve discussed previously. The visit gave me the opportunity to present the work I’ve conducted to date and understand the testing methods. It’s been extremely worthwhile discussing the project directly with the people involved, and I’m looking forward to further experimental work that will arise from these discussions.

Professor Huilian Ma, I, and ORC alumni Chaotan Sima discussing preliminary test results of the integrated optical gyroscopes. — Professor Ma Huilian, Sima Chaotan and I discussing preliminary test results of the integrated optical gyroscopes, with some refreshing seasonal fruits.

Heading East

I’m excited to be travelling to China. I’m on my way to Hangzhou, which is a couple hours away from Shanghai. This will be a relatively short trip, and a good opportunity to revive the blog with news and pictures of where my research and outreach activities take me! Thanks for tuning in, expect 2-3 posts a week over the next fortnight.

Next week I will be presenting a paper at the 14th International Conference on Education and Training on Optics and Photonics (ETOP) on organising science classes in places where you wouldn’t expect them. This is based around a couple of events, one that I run at the 2016 Winchester Cathedral Primary Science Festival, and another show on particle physics that co-author Alex Jantzen did at Salisbury Cathedral. You’ll read (and see) more about that in due course!

Finding new places for teaching: optical sciences workshops in Winchester Cathedral.

I will also be visiting Zhejiang University to meet with potential collaborators on research projects. I posted a while back on the research I am doing to build photonics integrated circuits to make polarisation filters. An application of these filters is to enhance optical integrated gyroscopes, a type of sensor that can be used for navigation in aerospace or satellites for instance. The polarisation of light in these circuits can cause unwanted sources of noise that are detrimental to the signal they are trying to sense. The technology I’ve been developing could offer a significant improvement of the “signal-to-noise” ratio in these devices. I am looking forward for the opportunity to present my research and find out about work happening in Zhejiang.

I was very near Guangzhou in 2008, but I never visited. Back then I spent time in Shanghai, studying Mandarin Chinese at Fudan University. The memories are great, alas the language skills not so good anymore! I have found that Chinese is an unforgiving language, which will slip away without regular practice! I imagine that in the past 9 years Shanghai has changed a lot, and I’m looking forward to catch up with people and see how things have changed!

The Shanghai Bund, July 2008. — The Shanghai Bund, September 2008.

This trip will not have been possible without the support of a few organisations, and I am grateful for receiving travel grants from the IOP Physics Communicators Group, Zhejiang University, the University of Southampton EPSRC-funded Future Photonics Manufacturing Hub and Impact Acceleration Account.

Thanks

Thank you for following

The first episode of my travels and research in North America is drawing to a close. It’s been wonderful and I have many people to thank.

Large back packs and a poster tube for research and travel.

I have visited people in 9 universities and 3 companies in the last 8 weeks. Thank you for giving me your time. I have enjoyed having the opportunity to discuss my research, my outreach & education work, and my plans for the future. It has been a true pleasure to meet you and find out what you do and what drives you.

Thank you to the organisations that have supported me throughout: the OSA, the SPIE, the University of Southampton and its’ Optoelectronics Research Centre, for providing me with the means and the networks to reach out to places far and wide and assist me in crafting my research adventure.

Thank you to all the people that I have met along the way. The new meetings have been rich and inspiring, the reunions have been great. I wish that I will see you again soon.

Thanks to the Lightwave team — A Powerpoint-thanks to the Lightwave team, as seen during my conference presentations.

Thank you to all of you that got me here, kept in touch, and followed the blog; you, unknowingly perhaps, kept me going throughout. My supervisors, Peter and James, for letting me go ahead with this project. Stephan, for encouraging me to blog and enhancing this space with cool maps, videos and a subscriber mailing list. The Lightwave team, all of you who make me feel a part of this wonderful community of research, education and inspiration; it was an honour to present our work at an international conference and tour our kit across North America. And of course, my family, and Mum, Dad, Rebecca for being there, always; and Becky, love of my life.

Thank you all

A surprise reunion with Becky at London Heathrow on my way back! — A surprise reunion with Becky at London Heathrow on my way back.

World classes

Last week I attended an international conference called Optics Education and Outreach IV (IV because it’s the 4th time it’s run!), which was held at the SPIE Optics + Photonics 2016 congress. I presented work that I and colleagues from the University of Southampton carried out during the 2015 International Year of Light (IYL 2015). IYL 2015 was proclaimed by UNESCO to recognise and celebrate the importance of light and light-based technologies for society, healthcare, education, environment, economy and as a means to connect the world.

2015 was proclaimed the International Year of Light by the United Nations to raise awareness of light sciences and its applications.

The conference was inspiring. It brought together a rich mix of researchers, educators and industry professionals to present outreach and education activities running around the world. Truly world-class. Words cannot begin to capture the diversity, enthusiasm and richness of what is going on. The work will eventually appear in an open access journal, and I will update this page when it becomes available.

I and, I felt, all of the authors sought to present our work on the world stage to inspire and inform. I had the pleasure to write 3 papers with 12 incredible human beings that go by the label of researchers:

Class-based outreach led by postgraduate students for school pupils. I presented types of activities that are suitable for working with schools, including poster competitions, school assembly lectures, workshops, classes, and more! This also included a once-in-a-lifetime project where 4 PhD students, from Southampton, and 2 high school pupils, from the Thomas Hardye School, took to the world stage by presenting outreach at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris for the IYL 2015 opening ceremony; here’s a great write-up of what happened in Paris, courtesy of Nicholas Wong.
Reflecting Photonics: a garden, with flowers, inspired by the world-leading research in photonics (the science of light) carried out at the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre. Watch the full video of my presentation here, courtesy of Dirk Fabian.
A compact optics suite with hands-on optics experiments and fully self-contained, like the one I have been touring during my trip through North America. It has now travelled to over 15 locations in 3 continents and 5 countries!

I presented the first 2 papers, and Nicholas did a great job at presenting paper #3.

Suited to educate: Nicholas and I presenting our oortable hands-on optics experiments suite at the 2016 SPIE Optics + Photonics congress. — Suited to educate: Nicholas and I presenting our portable hands-on optics experiments suite at the 2016 SPIE Optics + Photonics congress.

IYL 2015 had a global reach and the global impact will also, no doubt, be huge. I will be going back to UNESCO next month to hear the report on the year. It’s humbling that I played a part in this. I presented my hard work on the world stage at an international conference, people will read about this in a journal article, and I was filmed in front of a live audience on Facebook! Over 400 people have tuned into my talk, and those dearest to me, my girlfriend, sister, parents and family, were able to watch me present; that means the world to me.

Demonstrating live how light can be guided through fibres of plastic by total internal reflection. Watch the full video here, courtesy of Dirk Fabian.

Hands-on optics

This Tuesday I visited the University of California, Berkeley. I had an excellent afternoon running an outreach workshop with the kit that I am touring.

With a group of 8 graduate students we explored 3 different themes of photonics, i.e. the science of light (photons). We used hands-on experiments to experience scientific phenomena on mirrors & reflections, the electromagnetic spectrum and telecommunications. Easier possibly shown in video.

Mirrors can be made to create illusions. The Secret Savings box is not magic. The floating ball is actually half a ball stuck on a diagonal mirror. The other half of the ball is a mirror image. The coin disappears behind the mirror when dropped in the top of the box.

White light isn't white. Right? We see it in rainbows, where sun light can be split into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, ... This is the visible light of the electromagnetic spectrum. 
This plastic sheet is a diffraction grating, a rainbow maker. The plastic has thousands of lines engraved in it, a grating. The grating splits the different colours of the light by changing the direction of travel of each different colour. Gratings can be used to filter light, reflect it, block it, or make it change direction.

Light travels in a straight line, but it can be made to bend and change directions in materials such as glass or plastic. This effect is called total internal reflection and is the fundamental principle of operation of fibre optics. 
Fibre optics are strands of glass that physically connect the world to carry messages and information, in the form of light, and are the skeleton of the internet.

I hope you get the feeling that these are very hands-on demos!

One important point was raised during the workshop. It remains a challenge to explain the scientific intricacies to a public that is not familiar with the underlying science and applications. That is where the practical experiments come in handy, as experiencing these effects can lead to questions and richer engagement. I, the researcher, can inform and help my audience form an opinion on the subject matter and broaden their horizon.

I am very grateful to Stephan, Joe and Mimi from the University of Southampton’s ILIAD team for the help in making these Vine clips and setting up this Tumblr page with more examples of hands-on optics experiments.

Thank you again to the UC Berkeley Photobears Society for the warm welcome and hospitality.

Comments open for discussion.

Peer learning at Stanford

On Monday 22nd August I visited Stanford University. It’s an impressive campus. I loved the architecture, I really enjoyed there being palm trees, and the university has a great free shuttle bus service to transport visitors all around it.

Welcome to Stanford University, CA, USA.

I met with members from Stanford’s Optical Society. I presented examples from the activities that I have been running with the University of Southampton’s Optics and Photonics society and I had the opportunity to demonstrate the portable outreach workshop that I am touring. There was a lot of interest in the optics and telecommunications classes for school pupils that I and fellow PhD students have developed in Southampton; it would be amazing if these classes could be reproduced outside of the UK!

The presentation was really a 2-way discussion and I learnt a lot about their society. They have an impressive exec team, with a huge number of officers engaged in running their activities, be it social, charity, outreach, education or academic.

I found out about some of the original initiatives they have put into place to enrich the student experience of their members. Here are a few that inspired me, and that I hope can inspire others!

Technical skills workshop. Think of something that you might want to use on a daily basis, but don’t know where to start. It can be a software package (Blender), a programming language (Python), a document preparation tool (LaTeX), etc. Next, find students or academics within the department or the wider university who use these skills on a daily basis. Ask them if they would like to run a 3-4 hour workshop, then book a conference room, throw in some refreshments and there you have it, an educational activity for your peers and colleagues at the workplace.
Jointly run socials with other departments. The aim is to bring together researcher working with optics, such as photonics scientists with researchers in microscopy for biology applications. The key is to select your audience, and pitch it correctly.
Student weekend retreats. This is great. Organise a weekend with lectures from academics, sponsored by companies in the industry (to make it affordable on a student budget!), and invite students, researchers and industry professionals to network and socialise in a friendly environment.
Laser harps, as seen on Youtube. Looks amazing, I really want one!

I went to give a presentation, but at the end of the day I learnt a lot; I wish that these ideas will provide long-lasting inspiration to myself and others taking on voluntary roles in student societies. Thanks again to the Stanford Optical Society team for the warm welcome, I had a wonderful afternoon.