Emeritus Professor James Wilkinson

James S. Wilkinson joined the Optical Fibre group in the School of Electronics & Computer Science, University of Southampton in 1985. He was part of the founding team of the Optoelectronics Research Centre in 1989 and is now Emeritus Professor of Optoelectronics. He took his BSc and PhD, both in electronic engineering, from University College London in 1977 and 1985. He conducted research into optical fibre transmission systems at the GEC Hirst Research Centre, London, from 1977 – 1979, and into optical monitoring and control for haemodialysis procedures at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, between 1983 and 1985. He taught in the School of Electronics & Computer Science at Southampton University from 1985-2022. His research focusses on optical materials and devices for sensing and telecommunications including integrated fluorescence multisensors, waveguide Raman biosensors and mid-IR waveguide spectroscopy for environmental monitoring and point-of-care medical diagnostics, and rare-earth-doped waveguide amplifiers and lasers. James is a Fellow of the IEEE, IET and the IoP and was a cofounder of UoS spin-out Mesophotonics Ltd, which first commercialised Klarite SERS chips. He held a €3M ERC Advanced Investigator Grant on “Wideband Integrated Photonics for Accessible Biomedical Diagnostics”. From 2014-2018 he was Associate Dean, Planning and Strategy, for the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering. He maintains an active interest in photonic materials and devices.