Speakers

Professor Ts. Dr. Angela Amphawan received her PhD in optical communications from University of Oxford, UK. She then won the prestigious Fulbright Award to work on optical devices and networks at the Research Laboratory of Electronics and MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. She currently leads the Photonics Laboratory at Sunway University. Before joining Sunway University, she was Deputy Vice Chancellor of University Malaysia of Computer Science & Engineering, and previously, Director of the Optical Technology Research Laboratory at Universiti Utara Malaysia. Prior to that, she lectured at Multimedia University and served as Computing Officer at University of Oxford, UK. She is currently on the National 5G Task Force for development of 5G infrastructure. She also serves on the IEEE Joint Sensor and Nanotechnology Councils. In addition, she is on the Editorial Board of the APL Photonics Journal under the American Institute of Physics and several other international journals. In addition, she has served as Co-Chair, Technical Program Committee and International Scientific Committee for numerous international conferences. She has given keynote addresses at several Fulbright and IEEE events. She has won the International Academic Award by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, several Excellent Service Awards, Teaching Awards, Best Paper Awards and exhibition medals. She is also a recipient of the distinguished Telekom Malaysia scholarship. Her research has been funded by the Fulbright Foundation, Telekom Malaysia and Ministry of Higher Education. 

Prof. Dr. Chao Shen is a professor at College of Future Information Technology, Fudan University (Shanghai, China). He has authored 150+ peer-reviewed publications in the fields of semiconductor optoelectronics devices, GaN laser diodes, micro-LED, photonics integrated circuit (PIC), optical interconnect, visible light communications, and underwater wireless optical communications. Dr. Shen has served as a TPC member and invited speaker in many IEEE, Optica, and SPIE conferences. His work has been featured by over 40 global media, including Optics & Photonics News, IEEE Spectrum, Compound Semiconductor, SPIE Newsroom, EE Times Europe, Semiconductor Today, IET E&T, LaserFocusWorld, etc. He is the recipient of 2022 Okawa Foundation Research Grant. He is the co-director of Shanghai Engineering Research Center and the PI for 6G photonic device lab, which is developing next-generation photonics for high-speed communications and integrated optical systems. Dr. Shen received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from KACST-KAUST-UCSB SSLP program and his BSc in Materials Physics from Fudan. 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gaurav Kumar Bharti obtained his Ph.D. in Photonics from the National Institute of Technology Agartala, India, in 2020, and later served as an Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (2020–2021). He has authored over 50 publications with more than 600 citations (h-index 17) and was listed among the world’s top 2% scientists in 2023 (Stanford University, Scopus data). His research interests include Photonics, Optical Sensors, Quantum Computing, Cyber-Physical Systems, and Nonlinear Optics, with contributions spanning postgraduate supervision, publications, patents, and funded research and consultancy projects exceeding INR 50 Lakhs. Dr. Bharti is active in professional bodies such as IEEE, OPTICA, and SPIE, holding leadership roles including Executive Member of IEEE Madhya Pradesh Section and founding multiple award-winning IEEE student branches. He has received several recognitions, including the Transformative Researcher of the Year Award (2022), Rising Researcher of the Year Award (2026), and Best IEEE Chapter Advisor Award (2022–23), along with national fellowships and a visiting professorship in Turkey (2022–23). He previously served as an Assistant Professor at IIIT Bhopal (2023–2025), where he established advanced research laboratories, and is widely recognized as an educator, researcher, and mentor. 

Dr. John Dorighi is a photonics application engineer at Keysight Technologies with over two decades of experience in optical and high-speed digital communication. He earned his B.S. in Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder, followed by M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering from Northwestern University, where his doctoral research advanced the development, modeling, and characterization of fiber optic sensors for materials testing.  His current position at Keysight is to collaborate with leading university laboratories to pioneer new applications in photonics.  Focus areas include photonic integrated circuits (PICs), quantum communication, and optical 6G wireless.  John is a member of IEEE, and has held engineering roles at Hewlett-Packard, Agilent Technologies, and Keysight Technologies since 1999, enabling customers to advance next generation optical networks across multiple industry transitions. 

Dr. Kang Li is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of South Wales, specializing in photonics and optical engineering. He holds a PhD in Optics from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (2007) and a BSc in Optoelectronics from Changchun University of Science and Technology (2002). With over 20 years of research experience, his expertise includes integrated photonics, optical communications, semiconductor waveguides, wavelength conversion, and laser technologies. He has contributed to UK and EU-funded projects exceeding £2 million, supported by EPSRC, ERDF, Innovate UK, and industry partners such as Airbus and Renishaw. Dr. Li has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers in leading journals and actively collaborates with academia and industry. His work focuses on advancing integrated photonic systems for telecommunications and sensing. He is a member of OPTICA and the Institute of Physics (MInstP).

Prof. Dr. Kimio Oguchi received his B.E. and M.E. in Applied Physics (1978, 1980) and a Doctor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering (1995) from Nagoya University, Japan. He joined NTT in 1980, where he led R&D in fiber-optic systems, including pioneering passive optical LAN, early PON prototypes, and multi-band WDM systems, while contributing to ITU-T standardization (SG13, SG15). In 2004, he moved to academia as a Full Professor at Seikei University, focusing on photonic and sensor-based networks. Since 2019, he has been a Project Professor at NTUST, Taiwan. He has also held industry roles, including Director at SAXA Holdings (2015–2019), and currently serves as an outside director at TAMA-TLO Ltd. He has played key roles in international conferences, notably as a founding member of OECC, and remains active in FOAN and IEICE collaborations. His research interests include photonic networks, cyber-physical systems, sensor networks, and content distribution.

Dr. Nadiatulhuda Zulkifli is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Engineering at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), where she leads the Lightwave Communication Research Group. She received her PhD in Engineering from the University of Essex, UK, with a focus on dispersion-optimized resource allocation in all-optical networks. Her research expertise lies in optical communication and networking, particularly passive optical networks (PON), including GPON and TWDM-PON, dynamic bandwidth allocation, and performance optimization of next-generation optical access networks. Her work also encompasses optical network security, fault monitoring and localization, and the integration of optical and wireless access networks, with emphasis on energy efficiency and network resiliency. More recently, she has explored the use of machine learning techniques for anomaly detection and intelligent network management in optical systems. Dr. Nadiatulhuda has authored over 45 ISI/Scopus-indexed journal papers and more than 30 conference publications, and has been actively involved in various research projects. She is a Professional Engineer registered with the Board of Engineers Malaysia and has supervised numerous PhD and Master’s students in optical communication and networking. 

Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Sumiaty Ambran is currently a fixed-term Associate Professor at Tokyo City University, Japan. She began her academic journey with a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Telecommunication Engineering in 2005 from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, followed by a Master’s degree from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) in 2008. Her deep interest in optoelectronics led her to pursue and complete a Ph.D. at the renowned Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC), University of Southampton, United Kingdom, in 2013. She is a registered Professional Engineer (PEng) with the Board of Engineers Malaysia and a Chartered Engineer (CEng) with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), United Kingdom. With over 20 years of experience in academia and professional practice, she actively contributes to teaching, research, and consultancy. Her research interests include planar integrated optical devices, optical sensors, optical interconnects, rare-earth-doped devices, and optical amplifiers. Dr. Sumiaty has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and presented her work at various national and international platforms. She has led and contributed to numerous national research projects and consultation activities. Notably, she serves as a senior consultant and subject matter expert for strategic initiatives with agencies such as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the Malaysian Technical Standards Forum Bhd (MTSFB), particularly in developing technology roadmaps and certification frameworks for the communications sector.

Vorathin Epin is a Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Malaysia. He holds a Ph.D. in Instrumentation and Control Engineering and a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.) in Mechanical Engineering from Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP). He was the recipient of the UMP Postgraduate Research Award at the 16th UMP Convocation Ceremony. He is a registered Professional Engineer with the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) and serves as a Youth Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Pipeline Science and Engineering. He has also been invited as a speaker at several international conferences and industry events. His research expertise focuses on fibre optic sensing technologies particularly fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. He has published over 20 WoS-indexed journal papers, holds three granted patents with one additional patent filed and has secured more than RM 2 million in research funding. His notable projects include structural monitoring of the Penang Second Bridge and multiple oil and gas projects in collaboration with TotalEnergies and PETRONAS.

Prof. Dr. Yoshimasa Kawata is a Trustee, Executive Director, and Vice President of Shizuoka University, Japan. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Osaka University in 1992. After serving as an Assistant Professor at Osaka University and a researcher at AT&T (Lucent Technologies) Bell Laboratories in the United States, he joined Shizuoka University in 1997. A former Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Professor Kawata currently leads advanced research at the Research Institute of Electronics. His pioneering work focuses on nonlinear optics, three-dimensional optical memory, and electron beam-excitation assisted microscopy. Throughout his career, he has been a key figure in the development of next-generation optical storage and nano-imaging technologies.