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Short Biography

Dr. Hughes is a full Professor in the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy at Â鶹ÍøÕ¾, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where he has been since 2005. He did his undergraduate studies and PhD work at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, and then carried out postdoctoral work in Germany, Japan, and the USA. He also worked for several photonics start-up companies including Lumerical Solutions Inc., a world leading optical software company based in Vancouver, BC, which he co-founded in 2003, and who were successfully acquired by Ansys in 2020. His research group at Queen's has been focusing on the theory and applications of light-matter interactions and quantum optics in photonic nanostructures, contributing to both basic science and emerging nano- and quantum- technologies, and collaborating with a range of leading experimental and theoretical groups.

Dr. Hughes has authored or co-authored hundreds of scientific articles in the premier optics and physics journals, and mentored a number of outstanding students and postdoctoral fellows. Research honors include an Ontario Early Research Award, a CFI Leaders Opportunity Award, a Queen’s Chancellor’s Research Award, a Queen’s Prize for Excellence in Research, an NSERC Discovery Accelerator Award, a major CFI Innovation Fund, and a FAS (Faculty of Arts and Sciences) Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentorship. Dr. Hughes is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (IOP) in the UK, a Fellow of the Optical Society of America (now OPTICA), a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), and a recipient of a prestigious Humboldt Research Award and several JSPS (Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science) Invitational Fellowships to carry out long term research in Japan (at Riken Labs).