Mahrokh Avazpour was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions co-fund Sparkle Fellowship in 2022 under the supervision of Prof. Liam Barry. She is working in the Optical Communications laboratory in the School of Electronic Engineering, Dublin City University. Mahrokh’s current focus is on the generation of optical frequency comb using mode locked fibre laser. She has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at University of Guanajuato campus Salamanca in Mexico, designing the passive mode locked laser to improve the soliton spectral compression. In 2020 she took up a lecturing position in the University of Oaxaca in Mexico.

Mahrokh received an international gold medal for her research work on optical property on liquid crystals in Seoul International Invention Fair, Korea and 2 gold medals from ITEX and CITREX exhibitions in Malaysia 2013. Mahrokh obtained her Ph.D. from the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico in 2019. Her primary research area is mode locked fibre lasers. During her Ph.D. she worked on generating soliton pulses and compression of spectrum using NOLM method.

She received her Master of Science (M.Sc.) Physics from Mysore University, India and Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) Physics from Azad University of Mashhad, Iran.

Serene is a final year Ph.D. candidate at Queen's University Belfast, specializing in the dynamic field of photonics and data storage. Serene`s research focuses on the intricate mapping of thermal variations on plasmonic nanostructures utilizing Scanning Thermal Microscopy (SThM) techniques.

Serene`s academic journey has been a diverse one, spanning continents and disciplines. With a Master's in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Glasgow and a Bachelor's in Biotechnology Engineering from India, Serene brings a unique blend of expertise to her research. This interdisciplinary background has equipped Serene with a holistic perspective, enabling her to tackle complex challenges at the nexus of science and technology.
Beyond academia, Serene is deeply committed to fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange within the scientific community. Serene actively engages in initiatives aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion in STEM fields, believing in the power of diverse perspectives to drive innovation and progress.

Marcos joined the PhD program in Electronic Engineering with the Radio and Optical Communications Lab at Dublin City University, under the supervision of Prof. Liam Barry and Francisco Díaz in May 2020 graduating with his PhD in July 2024. His current research field includes spectrally efficient modulation for optical communications through fiber and free space. Marcos has also worked on Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNGs) and Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs).

"Someone considering a PhD? Yes definitely go for it. More than a technical degree I think it teaches a lot of things in life."

Hemalatha is a researcher in photonics, currently part of the opto-team in the EP-ESE group at CERN, focussed on developing radiation-hard optical links for high-energy physics using silicon photonics. Hemalatha`s role involves designing and characterizating radiation-insensitive optoelectronic devices.

"If you are interested in doing physics research, even if that's in a company, having a PhD under your belt is a huge boon both personally and career-wise."

Oisin McCormack is an experimental physicist currently working in the field of nanophotonics and biosensors. Oisin is a MSCA Postdoctoral researcher in nanophotonics at Trinity College Dublin working on a project entitled "All-Dielectric Metasurfaces for Sensing Applications (MESA)" and has many areas of research interest including design, manufacture, and characterization of metasurfaces and nanostructures.

"Consider what your motivations are for doing a PhD, not just doing something for the sake of it."

Coming Soon!
Season 2 of a Little Light Listening launches on the 27th September.
This season we explore what is a researcher, the winding paths to becoming researchers and the rewards.
Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
#STEM #Podcast #ResearchStories

In this episode we discuss how the use of a light is helping doctors to understand how the lungs of premature babies are functioning in way that can be done using a harmless light source, can be continuously so you can keep an eye on this at all times and which can help ultimately bring better outcomes for these babies futures. The technique this is all based on is as in Scattering Media Absorption Spectroscopy (GASMAS) and in this podcast we learn more about this novel technique. 

Hosted by David McGovern. Special thanks to our guests Stefan Stefan Anderson-Engels and Hanna Sjöström.

This podcast is created by Irish Photonic Integration Centre in partnership with Science Foundation Ireland. Special thanks to our producer Kieran Hurley from University College Cork UCC 98.3FM radio.

For more information visit our website https://www.ipic.ie/engagement/podcast/.

In this episode we discuss with Alfredo Carpineti about how light has enabled us to communicate and display images to each other across continents, locate yourself to within a few metres anywhere on earth and to look back in time and see images across the depths of space including black holes which were imaged for the first time in 2019. 

Hosted by David McGovern. Special thanks to our guest Alfredo Carpineti.

This podcast is created by Irish Photonic Integration Centre in partnership with Science Foundation Ireland. Special thanks to our producer Kieran Hurley from University College Cork UCC 98.3FM radio.

For more information visit our website https://www.ipic.ie/engagement/podcast/.