Person Type: International Steering Committee

Professor Julian D C Jones studied at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK, before becoming a lecturer at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Since 1988, he has been at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, establishing a research group in optical fibre sensors, optical instrumentation and laser-material interactions. In 2007, he became Deputy Principal for Strategy and Resources, in 2010 Vice-Principal, and additionally in 2013, Deputy Vice-Chancellor. He has over 500 publications. His interests have spanned the underlying physics and the engineering applications of fibre optics, of which a representative selection includes: monitoring techniques for laser welding; instrumentation for jet engine design experiments; pressure sensors used in experiments for mitigation of terrorist explosions; fluorescence techniques for detection of contamination in surgical instruments; quantitative measurements of wing shape in natural insect flight; and many more. Julian is a Director of OptoSci Ltd. In 2014 he was appointed to the Defence Science Advisory Council and from 2010 to 2014 he was a member of the Scottish Scientific Advisory Council. He is Treasurer of the Institute of Physics (IOP), a member of its Council and has chaired the Optics and Photonics Division, the Optical Group, the Institute in Scotland and the Education Committee in Scotland. He is Chairman of the Board of IOP Publishing and was editor of the Journal of Measurement Science and Technology. Julian is a Fellow of the IOP, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Optical Society of America (elected with the citation ‘… recognised for your world-leading track record in optical fibre sensors, optical instrumentation and laser-material interactions, and outstanding contributions to UK research strategy and planning’). He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of

Professor at School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), and vice-president of the Optical Society of Korea (OSK). He has published ~100 journal papers and ~160 international conference papers. His research interests include specialty optical fibers, fiber gratings, and fiber-based devices for communication and sensing.

Chair Professor of Photonic Instrumentation and Director of Photonic Sensors Laboratory. He authored/co-authored 2 books and 500 papers in the field of photonic devices and sensors. His current research interests are in novel fibre-optic instrumentations for high sensitivity detection of pressure, acoustic wave and trace chemicals.

Kentaro Nakamura received D.Eng. degree from Tokyo Inst. of Tech., Japan, in 1992. He has been a professor of Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Inst. of Tech. since 2010. His field of research is fiber optic distributed sensors and opto-acoustic measurements. He is interested in sensor application of polymer fiber, acoustic measurements based on optical method and optical/ultrasonic sensing devices. He is currently a chairman of Lightwave Sensing Technology Group in The Japan Society of Applied Physics.

Prof. López-Higuera is the founder and head of the Photonics Engineering Group of theUniversity of Cantabria, Spain. He is a Member of a wide set of international Committees of Conferences, R&D Institutions, and Companies in the area of photonic sensing. His work is focused on optical sensor systems and instrumentations for any sector application. He has worked in a wide range of R&D&i projects, acting in more than 80 of them as manager. He has contributed with more than 600 research publications including 17 patents closely related to optical and fiber techniques for sensors and instrumentations. He has worked as an editor and co-author of four R&D international books, as a co-editor of several conference proceedings and Journals and he has been the director of 16 PhD theses. He is co-founder of three technology-based companies. Prof. López-Higuera is a Fellow of OSA, Fellow of SPIE, Senior of IEEE and is a Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Cantabria. He is member of the CIBER-BBN at ISCIII. He is the founder and director of the International School on Light Sciences and Technologies at the “university of universities” the International University Menendez Pelayo in Spain.

Dr. Wojtek J. Bock received the M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering and the Ph.D. degree in Solid State Physics from the Warsaw University of Technology, Poland, in 1971 and 1980, respectively. Since 1989 he is a full professor of Electrical Engineering at the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), Canada. Since 2003 Dr. Bock is Canada Research Chair Tier-I in Photonic Sensing Technologies and Director of the Photonics Research Center at UQO. He has recently been awarded an SPI-NSERC Senior Industrial Research Chair (for 5 years) in Photonic Sensing Technologies for Safety and Security Monitoring. His research interests include fiber optic sensors and devices, multisensor systems, and precise measurement systems of non electric quantities. His current research program centers around developing a variety of novel fiber-optic device solutions and sensing techniques with a view to acquiring better performing photonic sensing components, devices and systems for applications in sectors of national importance to Canada. He has authored and co-authored more than 400 scientific papers, patents and conference papers in the fields of fiber optics and metrology which have been cited about 3500 times. Dr. Bock is a Fellow of IEEE, and was Associated Editor of IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology and International Journal of Sensors. He was also Chairman of the International Optical Fiber Sensor Conference (OFS21) held in Ottawa in May 2011.

Luc Thévenaz received the M.Sc. degree and the Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. In 1988 he joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL) where he currently leads a research group involved in photonics, namely fibre optics and optical sensing. Research topics include fibre sensors, slow & fast light, nonlinear fibre optics and laser spectroscopy in gases. He achieved with his collaborators the first experimental demonstration of optically-controlled slow & fast light in optical fibres. His expertise covers all applications of stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers and he is known for his innovative concepts related to distributed fiber sensing.. During his career he stayed at Stanford University, at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), at Tel Aviv University, at the University of Sydney and at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. In 2000 he co-founded the company Omnisens that is developing and commercializing advanced photonic instrumentation based on distributed fibre sensing. He is Fellow of both the IEEE and the Optical Society of America, and Editor in 3 major scientific journals.