Professor Martin Dawson
Institute of Photonics
Personal statement
Professor Martin D. Dawson FRS FRSE FIEEE FOSA FInstP is a physicist known for his work on lasers and compound semiconductors. He is Director of Research in the University of Strathclyde’s Institute of Photonics, which he helped establish 28 years ago, and he was also appointed inaugural Head and Scientific Director of the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics (Fh-CAP), the UK's only Fraunhofer research centre, in 2012. Martin has over 35 years’ experience of applied research gained in academia and industry in the UK and USA and he has been involved in the formation and technical development of a number of spin-out businesses, most recently including mLED and Neuro-VLC. He gave the Rank Prize Lecture in 2014 and the Edwards Lecture in 2023 and he has received awards including Gabor Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics; Aron Kessel Award of the IEEE Photonics Society; Nick Holonyak Jr Award from Optica/OSA; Global Solid State Lighting Award of Outstanding Achievement from ISA; Distinguished Service Award from the IEEE Photonics Society. He and his group have twice been awarded the IEEE Photonics Technology Letters Best Paper Award (2019 and 2022). He and his colleagues' contributions were recognised in the award of the 2023 Queen's Anniversary Prize to the University of Strathclyde for 'Excellence, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Photonics'.
Prize And Awards
- Sir Harold Hartley Award (Inst MC)
- Recipient
- 1/11/2023
- 45th Edwards Lecture (City University, London) including WCSIM Medal
- Recipient
- 1/2/2023
- Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS)
- Recipient
- 15/7/2022
- IEEE Photonics Technology Letters Best Paper Award
- Recipient
- 2022
- Distinguished Service Award (IEEE Photonics Society)
- Recipient
- 1/11/2021
- Nick Holonyak Jr Award (Optica, the Optical Society of America)
- Recipient
- 1/11/2021
Publications
- 235 nm and 255 nm light-emitting diode based Gbps optical wireless communications up to 30 meters
- Zimi Hichem, Babadi Sina, Majlesein Behnaz, Osahon Isaac, McKendry Jonathan, Rajbhandari Sujan, Herrnsdorf Johannes, Haas Harald, Dawson Martin
- Optics Express (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.580372
- 650 Mbps optical wireless communications using ultraviolet-C micro-light-emitting diodes
- McKendry Jonathan, Zimi Hichem, Rajbhandari Sujan, Ruschel Jan, Rass Jens, Einfeldt Sven, Herrnsdorf Johannes, Dawson Martin
- IEEE Photonics Conference 2025 (2025)
- Ultralow photon flux OWC links using UV‐C single‐photon detection
- Liu Feng, Farmer James, Faulkner Grahame, McKendry Jonathan J D, Xie Enyuan, Zheng Qianfang, Wang Zhaoming, Wang Jianming, Hill Jordan, Herrnsdorf Johannes, Dawson Martin D, O'Brien Dominic
- Laser and Photonics Reviews Vol 19 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1002/lpor.202401804
- Transfer printing micro-assembly of silicon photonic crystal cavity arrays : beating the fabrication tolerance limit
- Bommer Sean P, Panuski Christopher, Guilhabert Benoit, Xia Zhongyi, Smith Jack A, Dawson Martin D, Englund Dirk, Strain Michael J
- Nature Communications Vol 16 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60957-1
- Single pixel image classification using ultrafast optoelectronic hardware
- Kanwal Aisha, Johnstone Graeme, Herrnsdorf Johannes, Henderson Robert K, Dawson Martin, Porte Xavier, Strain Michael
- CLEO®/Europe-EQEC (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1109/CLEO/Europe-EQEC65582.2025.11111172
- Optical wireless communications : enabling the next generation network of networks
- Krishnamoorthy Aravindh, Safi Hossein, Younus Othman, Kazemi Hossein, Osahon Isaac N O, Liu Mingqing, Liu Yi, Babadi Sina, Ahmad Rizwana, Ihsan Asim, Majlesein Behnaz, Huang Yifan, Herrnsdorf Johannes, Rajbhandari Sujan, McKendry Jonathan, Tavakkolnia Iman, Caglayan Humeyra, Helmers Henning, Turnbull Graham A, Samuel Ifor, Dawson Martin, Schober Robert, Haas Harald
- IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine Vol 20, pp. 20-39 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1109/MVT.2025.3555366
Professional Activities
- IEEE (External organisation)
- Advisor
- 2025
- Royal Society (External organisation)
- Advisor
- 1/1/2025
- Royal Society (External organisation)
- Advisor
- 1/9/2024
- Royal Society (External organisation)
- Advisor
- 1/1/2024
- Rank Prize Fund Symposium 'Neuromorphic Photonics'
- Organiser
- 6/2/2023
- IEEE (External organisation)
- Advisor
- 2023
Projects
- TITAN Extension. Integration of high-speed micro-LED transmitters with reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (micro-LED RIS)
- Herrnsdorf, Johannes (Principal Investigator) Dawson, Martin (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2025
- plaTform drIving The ultimAte coNnectivity (TITAN) (Future Communications Systems Hub)
- Haas, Harald (Principal Investigator) Dawson, Martin (Co-investigator) Herrnsdorf, Johannes (Co-investigator) Tavakkolnia, Iman (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 30-Jan-2026
- Structured light projection for FLIM in scattering environments (QUANTIC)
- Strain, Michael (Principal Investigator) Dawson, Martin (Co-investigator) Herrnsdorf, Johannes (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 30-Jan-2024
- Doctoral Training Partnership 2020-2021 University of Strathclyde | Gray, Johnathan
- Herrnsdorf, Johannes (Principal Investigator) Dawson, Martin (Co-investigator) Gray, Johnathan (Research Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2025
- Fraunhofer UK Research Limited: Studentship Agreement | Cohen, Steven
- Strain, Michael (Principal Investigator) Dawson, Martin (Co-investigator) Cohen, Steven (Research Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2020 - 01-Jan-2024
- QT Assemble: Integrated Quantum Technology Programme
- Strain, Michael (Principal Investigator) Dawson, Martin (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2023