B-PHOT professors Heidi Ottevaere and Nathalie Vermeulen will be serving as programme committee members for, respectively, the MOEMS and Miniaturized Systems XXIV conference and the Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials and Devices XXIV conference at the 2025 edition of SPIE Photonics West.

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, B-PHOT Brussels Photonics, and the City of Halle are collaborating on a new innovative STEM hub (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Starting in 2025 in a 4500m² space near Brussels, the project will address the growing demand for STEM professionals and the need to engage young people early in scientific and technological studies. With over 6,000 secondary school students, Halle is set to become an even more significant education hub.

Artemii Tishchenko has successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled 'Phase Matching Strategies in Nonlinear Frequency Conversion of Short and Ultrashort Pulses: Exploring the Role of Intermodal Interactions in High Index Contrast Double-Clad Optical Fibers' under the supervision of Prof. Francis Berghmans and Prof. Tigran Baghdasaryan.

Francesca Venturini, a distinguished professor of applied optics from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, has joined forces with the B-PHOT researcher Prof. Lien Smeesters to pioneer advancements in the detection of mycotoxins in food.

B-PHOT welcomed professor Carlos Trujillo from EAFIT University in Medellín, Colombia, as part of the 'Global Minds' staff exchange program of VLIR-UOS. Professor Trujillo, a distinguished member of EAFIT’s applied optics group, is engaging in a week-long stay to foster joint research endeavours and academic exchanges.

Robbe de Mey has successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled 'Lasers with Multiple Feedbacks for Wideband Chaos Generation' under the supervision of Prof. Martin Virte and Dr. Spencer W. Jolly.

At the SPIE Photonics Europe 2024 conference, two PhD researchers from B-PHOT were honored with the 'Best Student Paper' award for their exceptional contributions to optics and photonics. Sara Abbasi and Mehrdad Lofti Choobbari both were selected for their contributions at the international conference.

Together with Linea Recta, B-PHOT is developing a non-destructive method to detect carcinogenic substances such as acrylamide, for example in Dimabel's waffles. This innovative approach based on hyperspectral cameras continuously checks for dangerous substances and foreign objects.

Maria Lopera, PhD student at B-PHOT Brussels Photonics, has been honoured with the distinguished SPIE Optics and Photonics Scholarship, valued at $5,000. The scholarship is conferred by SPIE, the leading international society for optics and photonics, and recognizes outstanding academic and research achievements in the field.

B-PHOT researcher Sidney Goossens recently delivered an engaging presentation for Flanders Make's Tech@Lunch series, focusing on the theme "Optical Fiber Sensors for Asset Monitoring."

Second-year civil engineering bachelor students from Vrije Universiteit Brussel visited the VUB Photonics Campus last week. The students toured the Photonics Innovation Center and its laboratories, where they explored various applications of optics and photonics.

In celebration of the International Day of Light on May 16th, the B-PHOT Student Chapter announced the winners of its annual Photo Contest, highlighting the profound impact of light in our lives. This year's competition showcased an array of stunning photographs, each capturing the essence and beauty of light.