Prof. Richard Penty

Prof. Richard Penty's first foray into the world of optical communications was via a sponsorship with the National Coal Board for whom he designed a 1Mb/s optical line card. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in Engineering and Electrical Sciences in 1986 and a PhD for research into nonlinear optical fibre devices in 1990. Richard Penty was then a SERC IT research fellow at Cambridge until taking up a lectureship in physics at the University of Bath later that year. In 1996 he moved to the University of Bristol as a lecturer in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, subsequently being promoted to a professorship. His current research is in radio over fibre systems, optically switched networks, and advanced functional photonic components.

In 2001 he moved to the Cambridge University Engineering Department, where he currently holds the position of Professor of Photonics, and was elected to a fellowship of Sidney Sussex College in 2002. He is an honorary editor of IEE Optoelectronics and has co-authored over 400 papers.