Keynote Speakers

Professor Frédérique Vanholsbeeck is an internationally recognised physicist working at the interface of biophotonics, optical fibre technologies, and biomedical imaging. She is a Professor of Physics at Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland, where she is the founding leader of the biophotonics group. Her research encompasses optical coherence tomography (OCT), fluorescence and vibrational spectroscopy, nonlinear optics, and multimodal optical imaging, with applications in tissue biomechanics, bacterial detection, environmental sensing, and cultural heritage science. Her team has developed versatile fibre-based imaging systems that enable non-destructive, dynamic interrogation of biological tissues and environmental samples.

In addition to her research, Professor Vanholsbeeck provides leadership within the international photonics community. She is Director of Te Whai Ao — the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence, and is widely recognised for her advocacy for diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM. Overall, her work bridges fundamental optical physics with translational biophysical applications through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Jayanta Kumar Sahu is a Professor of Photonics at the University of Southampton, UK, specializing in fiber lasers, optical engineering, and photonics. His research spans fiber optics, optical communications, and material characterization, contributing significantly to advancements in photonic technologies. He is affiliated with the university's School of Electronics and Computer Science, where he leads innovative work in laser systems and optical components. His expertise positions him as a key figure in the global photonics research community.

Prof. Kenneth Kin-Yip Wong received combined B.E. (1st class honor with medal award) degree in electrical engineering and B. S. degree in physics from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, in 1997. He received the M.S. degree in 1998 and the Ph.D. degree in 2003, both in electrical engineering at Stanford University. He was a member of the Photonics and Networking Research Laboratory at Stanford University. His research field included DWDM systems, SCM optical systems, fiber nonlinearity, and fiber optical parametric amplifiers. He is author or coauthor of over 50 journal and conference papers. He worked in Hewlett-Packard Laboratories as research engineer and contributed in projects included parallel optics and VCSEL in 1998-99. He also worked as independent consultant in Innovation CORE (A Sumitomo Electric Company), CA, in 2004. He was the recipient of OSA New Focus Student Award in 2003 and IEEE/LEOS Graduate Student Fellowship in 2003. He is the reviewer for Optics Letters, JOSA B, Optics Express, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology and Optics Communications. Prof. Wong is currently a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the University of Hong Kong. He is a senior member of the IEEE (Photonics Society), OSA, and SPIE.

Yoshiaki Yasuno leads the Computational Optics Group at the University of Tsukuba. He obtained his PhD based on his research work in spatio-temporal optical computing in 2000 and extended this concept to optical measurement, including Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT). Since 2003, he has been working in ophthalmic OCT imaging, including the retinal and the anterior-eye. He has also actively worked for OCT angiography and polarization-sensitive OCT. Since 2018, he has worked for OCT-based label-free microscopy, which enables multiple contrasts using computational technologies and theoretical modeling of modern metrology.