Speakers

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Prof. Dr. Mohd Adzir Mahdi

AFFILIATION: Universiti Putra Malaysia

FIELD OF EXPERTISE: Laser and Sensor

BIOGRAPHY:

Mohd Adzir Mahdi is a pioneering figure in Malaysia’s photonics landscape, actively advancing optical research at Universiti Putra Malaysia. He received his B.Sc. with first-class honors from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (1996), followed by his M.Sc. (1999) and Ph.D. (2002) with distinctions in Optical Fiber Communications from Universiti Malaya.

His early career began at Telekom Malaysia Photonics Research Centre, where he was instrumental in establishing the nation's foundational research in optical fiber amplifiers. After further honing his expertise as an optical amplifier designer at two US-based start-ups, he joined UPM in 2003. Today, his core research drives the technological development of ultrafast fiber lasers. Notably, his team’s breakthrough work on graphene/polymer-based saturable absorbers led to the 2018 incorporation of the spin-off company, inLAZER Dynamics Sdn. Bhd., of which he is a co-founder.

Adzir has authored over 500 technical publications and holds 11 patents, reflecting his dedication to bridging the gap between foundational physics and commercial application. His outstanding contributions to the photonics community have been recognized with numerous accolades, including the IEEE LEOS Graduate-Student Fellowship, the COMSTECH Young Scientist Award, the Malaysia-SCOPUS Research Excellence Award for Research Innovation, the National Academic Award, and the Royal Society-Newton Ungku Omar Advanced Fellowship. He is also a distinguished Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia.

Prof. Dr. William Shieh

AFFILIATION: Westlake University

FIELD OF EXPERTISE: Optical Communications and Sensors

BIOGRAPHY:

Prof. William Shieh received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering and the Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Southern California, Los Angles, in 1994 and 1996, respectively. He had worked in various previous renowned institutions such as Jet Propulsion Laboratories, Pasadena, California, and Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, New Jersey. From 2004 to 2022, he had been with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia. In 2022, he joins the Westlake University as Chair Professor in Optical Communication and Sensing. He has published more than 300 journal and conference papers and submitted 14 U.S. patents (nine issued).

He has been awarded Australian Future Fellowship (2011-2014). He is a fellow of both IEEE and Optical Society of America (OSA).

Dr. Atilla Hilt

AFFILIATION: Nokia, Budapest, Hungary

FIELD OF EXPERTISE: Hybrid fiber/wireless anyhaul network

BIOGRAPHY:

Dr. Attila Hilt graduated in Electrical Engineering from BME, the Technical University of Budapest. In 1989 he joined TKI, the Research Institute for Telecommunications, Budapest, Hungary. Until 1999, he led the Telecommunication Test Laboratory of TKI. In 1999, he received the doctorate degree with honors in Optics, Optoelectronics and Microwaves from INPG, the ‘Institute National Polytechnique de Grenoble’ in France, and in 2000 the PhD degree from the BME, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary.

Attila Hilt joined Nokia in 2000, where he is currently working as a chief architect. He has been involved in the dimensioning and planning of several fixed, mobile and cloud core networks. He participated in the testing, piloting, deployment and optimization of mobile and backhaul networks, including nationwide modernization projects in Europe. For several years he worked in Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, France, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland and in UK, for the modernization of mobile operators’ radio and core networks. In 2022 he received the prestigious Nokia Bell Labs DMTS award (Distinguished Member of Technical Staff).

Since 2019, Attila Hilt has been an associate professor at BME, VIK, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics of Budapest University of Technology and Economics. He gives lectures on mobile networks, optical telecommunications and lightwave system applications. His research interests include measurement techniques, fixed, mobile, wireless and cloud-based networks, including microwave, millimeter-wave and photonic systems. He is an author and co-author of 100+ scientific papers and 300+ research project and test reports, consisting of guidelines, requirement specifications and lecture notes in the field of telecommunications. Dr. Hilt regularly reviews scientific papers and dissertations, and he is a member of the editorial board of the Infocommunications Journal. He lectured two books and reviewed 9 PhD theses, 12 MSc and BSc dissertations.

Attila Hilt is a member of HTE, the Scientific Association for Infocommunications (HTE) and the Hungarian Chamber of Engineers (MMK). Since 2016, he is a member of the Telecommunications Public Body of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA). In 2018 he was elected to be a member of TTB, the Telecommunications Scientific Committee of MTA.

INVITED SPEAKERS

Prof. Ts. Dr. Angela Amphawan

Sunway University, Malaysia

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

Fudan University, China

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

Galgotias University, India

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. Karolina Slowik, Institute of Physics Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland
Prof. Dr. Zian Cheak Tiu, MILA Unviersity, Malaysia
Dr. Vorathin A/L Epin, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Malaysia
Prof. Kimio Oguchi, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan
Dr. Kang Li, The University of South Wales, UK
Prof. Yoshimasa Kawata, Shizuoka University, Japan
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lim Kok Sing, Photonics Research Centre, Universiti Malaysia
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sumiaty Ambran, Tokyo City University, Japan
Dr. John Dorighi, Keysight Technologies
Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Nadiatulhuda Zulkifli, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia
En. Hafiz Laili, MIMOS, Malaysia
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Noran Azizan Cholan, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Malaysia

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