Prof. Ruth Oulton is a Professor of Quantum Photonics at the University of Bristol. She is currently developing semiconductor quantum mechanical devices that will form the first reliable quantum sources of light such as single photons sources and single photon switches. These are key components in the up-and-coming quantum technologies, for use in secure communications and in novel quantum simulation techniques that solve classically intractable calculations. Prof. Oulton has a wide interest in light-matter interactions, and her other work includes investigations of how optical interference effects in plants improve photosynthesis, and how plastic molecules called j-aggregates can have the optical properties of metals. Prof. Oulton studied at the University of Manchester (UMIST), and undertook her PhD in Sheffield on the optics of semiconductor quantum dots. She was formerly an EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellow and a Quantum Technologies Fellow, and held an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship in TU Dortmund, Germany.