Congratulations to Dr Calum Williams (Centre for Metamaterial Research and Innovation) who has been awarded a 3- year EPSRC New Investigator Award of £757k for his innovative photonic sensing project ‘SPECTROMETA: Spectroscopic environmental exposure photoacoustic sensing using metamaterials.’
The project will investigate a new approach to detecting substances of environmental and public-health importance in air and water. Current high-performance spectroscopic instruments can be costly, complex and difficult to deploy outside specialist laboratories. SPECTROMETA aims to develop a compact deployable sensing platform that combines specially engineered metamaterials, multimodal detection pathways and computational spectral analysis.
“Receiving this EPSRC New Investigator Award is an exciting opportunity to establish SPECTROMETA within Exeter’s CMRI and build a new research team around it. Our aim is to connect fundamental advances in photonics and metamaterials with real world sensing needs—enabling sophisticated measurements in the places where they can make the greatest difference. This funding gives us the freedom to explore new ideas and turn them into useful technology.”
Dr Calum Williams
The research will draw on collaborations with academic and environmental partners, including The Met Office and South West Water, helping to ensure that the research addresses practical environmental-monitoring challenges. EPSRC New Investigator Awards support researchers in establishing independent research groups and developing their own research vision. Dr Williams’ research focuses on controlling light–matter interactions in photonic nanostructures to create new functional devices for sensing, imaging and related applications.
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