Dr Mark Thompson’s appointment, made under the EPSRC’s Challenging Engineering scheme, is a joint lectureship with the Department of Physics. Dr Thompson, whose main research interests are in the field of photonic devices, photonic integration and experimental quantum optics, has also been awarded a 2008 Toshiba Fellowship, a collaboration between Toshiba and EPSRC aimed at fostering and developing the relationship between Japanese industry and UK academia.

Dr Ruth Oulton has just taken up a five-year EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowship and will take up a full lectureship post when the fellowship period has ended. Her general research areas are quantum optics and the electronic structure of semiconductors.