The Wolfson Foundation awards grants to support and promote excellence in research areas that include science and medicine, the arts and humanities, education, and health and disability. The majority of the Wolfson grants are for capital infrastructure, including new buildings and equipment.
AiPT’s has received international recognition as a world leader in the field of photonics research, and the receipt of a £500,000 equipment grant from the Wolfson foundation in the wake of expert peer review represents a significant boost to our research efforts.
This investment has facilitated cutting-edge research in photonics, particularly in regard to its novel applications within the food and agri-tech industries.
This centre is led by Prof. Sergei Turitsyn and Prof. David Webb, and it represents one of the strategic emerging research directions within AiPT. Andrew Harris, Executive Director of Campaigns at Aston University, also played a critical role in facilitating this grant application and award.
The new centre’s initial research is focused on:
Food packaging
Mid-IR /near-IR fibre optical sensors for measuring nutrients within foods
Optical fibre sensors with coated nanomaterials capable of measuring glucose concentrations
Developing new technologies to monitor the concentration of micro and nano plastics in water.
In addition to undertaking research, the centre is strongly committed to promoting the uptake of photonics technologies within the agricultural sector. This effort has been supported by ERDF funding since 2019. AiPT is also proud to be a member of the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council Food Network+ (SFN+).
More information is available at the Wolfson Foundation.
- Our People
Nonlinear Photonics and Fibre Lasers - Professor Sergei Turitsyn s.k.turitsyn@aston.ac.uk
Optical Communication – Professor Andrew Ellis andrew.ellis@aston.ac.uk