The awardees who have benefitted from awards in Call 4 continue to demonstrate that there is a wide variety of applications for photonics with great impact potential. Their projects span developing solution-enabling environmental sensing and low-carbon solutions, new sensing for the whisky industry, advances in medical development, and opening up access to molecular imaging.
Eight projects share in over £388,000 of impact acceleration funding from the PQA.
Dr Joel Terry of the University of Glasgow is developing an affordable approach to ultra-widefield scanning ophthalmoscopes that can image up to 80% of the retina, improving health outcomes and finding diseases earlier.
Three projects focus on the essential monitoring needed for clean environments and the transition to a low-carbon society. Dr Fabian Massabuau of the University of Strathclyde will develop a UV-based water quality sensor that will deliver a substantial performance leap, enabling national-scale pollution monitoring. Dr Tariq Sajjad of London South Bank University will produce an operando microscopy tool, giving industry-first access to live battery dynamics, unlocking real-time insights into battery operation, driving performance, efficiency, and lifespan – all essential in a world increasingly using batteries for vehicles and other essential tasks and tools. Dr Andrew Greer of the University of Glasgow will refine an optical interconnect proving scalability of technology that will contribute to the reduction of power consumption in AI data centres, while increasing efficiency, reducing size, increasing yield, and prolonging laser lifespan.
Prof Alasdair Clark of the University of Glasgow and Dr Graham Bruce of the University of St Andrews will both work on projects with the Scottish Whisky Research Institute and its members. Prof. Clark’s project will deliver a portable prototype device for rapid, on-site flavour quality assessment in Scotch whisky production. By enabling real-time, point-of-need analysis that previously required costly, centralised laboratory equipment, the technology will strengthen quality control processes, reduce delays, and enhance production confidence across the industry. The platform also opens opportunities for wider deployment in aquaculture and other high-value liquid production sectors. Dr Bruce is building a new instrument capable of identifying counterfeit whisky, without needing to open a bottle or waste a single drop. The device measures the colours of light scattered by the whisky, which act as a fingerprint for the contents, through both colourless and coloured glass bottles. This ensures only quality whisky is drunk in bars and at home.
Prof Stephen Sweeney of the University of Glasgow, in collaboration with Optos plc, will develop a short-wavelength tuneable laser technology using heterogeneous III-V on silicon photonics to enable next-generation Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC)-based Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) systems, addressing the key commercial need for compact, scalable, and low-cost light sources, supporting device miniaturisation and novel imaging architectures beyond the limits of fibre-based systems.
Dr John Danial of the University of St Andrews will prototype a compact, hand-sized microscope ALBA capable of molecular-scale imaging at a fraction of the price, widening access to advanced imaging and enabling breakthroughs in disease diagnosis, pathogen detection, understanding cellular function, and advanced photonics education worldwide.