We are pleased to announce the conference programme for TOP 2026.
Please note the final additions to the programme are currently being made so timings are subject to change.
Tuesday 24th February 2026
| Time | Title | Speaker | |||||||
| 08:30 | 10:00 | Registration, refreshments, breakfast and networking | |||||||
| 10:00 | 10:15 | Welcome from Conference Chair | Wladek Forysiak (University of Bristol) | ||||||
| 10:15 | 11:00 | Keynote: Networking in the Age of AI | Ashkan Seyedi (NVIDIA) | ||||||
| 11:00 | 11:30 | Coffee break, Exhibition and Posters | |||||||
| 11:30 | 13:00 | Panel session: Photonics for AI | Moderator: James Regan (Oriole Networks) Panelists: – Professor George Zervas (UCL and Oriole Networks) – Dr Xianxin Guo (Lumai) – Dave Grimm (Albion) – Matt Sysak (Lumentum) | ||||||
| 13:00 | 13:10 | Photonic Wire Bonds and Facet-Attached Micro-Lenses: Enabling Scalable Integration of Lasers and PICs | Abdeslem Ben Hamida, Vanguard Automation | ||||||
| 13:10 | 14:00 | Lunch, Exhibition time and Posters | |||||||
| Stream 1: Telecommunications Ashes Suite – chaired by Mingming Tan (Aston University) | Stream 2: Data Centres Pakistan Room – chaired by Stylianos Sygletos (Aston University) | ||||||||
| Time | Title | Speaker | Time | Title | Speakers | ||||
| 14:00 | 14:30 | Hollow-Core Fiber Transmission: Metro Trials and 11,000-km Loop Results | Abdallah Ali (Microsoft) | 14:00 | 14:30 | Novel Optical Transceivers for DCI relying on Analogue Optical Signal Processing | Ioannis Tomkos (University of Patras) | ||
| 14:30 | 15:00 | 100W C-band amplifiers for Tbit/s satellite links | James Edmunds (Gooch and Housego) | 14:30 | 15:00 | 3D-Printed Photonics | Dan Marom (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) | ||
| 15:00 | 15:30 | Intelligent Signal Processing and Detection in Optical Communication and Integrated Optical Communication and Sensing Systems | Tianhua Xu (University of Warwick) | 15:00 | 15:30 | Optical Signal Processing for Data Center Interconnects | Sarah Massad (Ghent University and imec) | ||
| 15:30 | 16:00 | Exhibition, Coffee and Posters | |||||||
| Stream 3: Photonic Components Ashes Suite –chaired by Andy Sellars (Cornerstone) | Stream 4: Free Space Optics Pakistan Room-chaired by Donald Govan (Mbryonics) | ||||||||
| 16:00 | 16:30 | Power efficient optical technologies for data centers | Matt Sysak (Lumentum) | 16:00 | 16:30 | Programmable Optical Surfaces for 6G: Resilience, Security, and Integrated Sensing | Hanaa Abumarshoud (University of Glasgow) | ||
| 16:30 | 17:00 | Multi-wavelength amplification with SOA’s for energy efficient data center interconnects | Liam Barry (Dublin City University) | 16:30 | 17:00 | Roll out of Satellite Optical Networks | Kasia Balakier (European Space Agency) | ||
| 17:00 | 17:15 | Passive Optical Networks Towards 200Gb/s for the Future Intelligent Access Network | Giuseppe Talli (Huawei) | 17:00 | 17:30 | STARNET: an end-to-end coherent optical satellite network communication challenges and opportunities | Donald Govan (Mbryonics) | ||
| 17:15 | 17:30 | Development of Photonic Crystal Devices with COMSOL Multiphysics® | Charlie Johnson (COMSOL) | ||||||
| 17:30 | 18:30 | Drinks reception and Poster Session | |||||||
Wednesday 25th February 2026
| Time | Title | Speaker | |||||||
| 08:30 | Registration, refreshments and breakfast | ||||||||
| 09:00 | 09:45 | From Lab to Live Networks: Supercharging UK Telecoms R&I with JOINER | Dimitra Simeonidou (University of Bristol) | ||||||
| 09:45 | 10:30 | The Networked Quantum Data Machine: Scaling Secure Services through Photonic MBQC | Elham Kashefi (NQCC/University of Edinburgh/CNRS) | ||||||
| 10:30 | 10:45 | Coffee break, Exhibition time and Posters | |||||||
| 10:45 | 11:30 | Keynote: Redefining Future Coherent Transceivers via Subsystem, Device, and DSP Innovations | Xi (Vivian) Chen, Nokia Bell Labs | ||||||
| 11:30 | 12:45 | Panel session: AI for Photonics | Chair: Alejandra Beghelli, BT Panelists: – Jorg Peter Elbers, VP Advanced Technology, Standards and IPR, Adtran – Nigel Davis, Systems Design Architect, Ciena – Annalisa Morea, Senior Consulting Engineer, Nokia – Lareb Zar Khan, Meta – Michael Doherty, PhD student, University College London | ||||||
| 12:45 | 12:50 | Poster Award Winner Announcement | |||||||
| 12:50 | 13:30 | Lunch, Exhibition time and Posters | |||||||
| Stream 5: Photonic Components Ashes Suite –chaired by Andy Sellars (Cornerstone) | Stream 6: Intelligent Optical Networks Pakistan Room –chaired by Shuangyi Yan (University of Bristol) | ||||||||
| Time | Title | Speaker | Time | Title | Speakers | ||||
| 13:30 | 14:00 | Integrated Photonics for Future Systems | Prof Mike Wale (University College London) | 13:30 | 14:00 | Optical Testbed DataSpace: A New Role for Optical Network Testbeds in the Era of Network AI/ML | Yuki Yoshida (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) of Japan) | ||
| 14:00 | 14:30 | All-Optical Switches for AI Data Centres: Advancing Integration and Performance | Dr Ning Zhang (CSA Catapult) | 14:00 | 14:30 | Carrier-grade AI/ML for optical network automation: from models to deployment requirements | Carlos Natalino (Chalmers University of Technology) | ||
| 14:30 | 15:00 | Silicon Nitride Photonics for High‑Performance Visible and NIR Integrated Circuits | Dr Thalia Dominguez Bucio (Optoelectronics Research Centre) | 14:30 | 15:00 | Next Generation RAN enabled by Photonic Technologies | Tongyun Li (University of Cambridge) | ||
| 15:00 | 15:30 | Exhibition, Coffee and Posters | |||||||
| Stream 7: Data Centres, FSO and Quantum Communications Ashes Suite –chaired by Qiushuo Sun (BT) | Stream 8: Quantum Communications Pakistan Room chaired by Simone Eizagirre Barker (Nu Quantum) | ||||||||
| 15:30 | 16:00 | Fast Reconfigurable Optical Circuit Switches for Scale-Out and Scale-Up AI Networking | Ana Gonzalez (iPronics Programmable Photonics) | 15:30 | 16:00 | The long and potholed road to a UK quantum network | Alessandro Fedrizzi (Heriot-Watt University) | ||
| 16:00 | 16:30 | How Optical Wireless Fills GNSS and radio positioning Gaps | Iman Tavakkolnia (University of Cambridge) | 16:00 | 16:30 | Resources and applications for advanced quantum networking | Eleni Diamanti (Welinq) | ||
| 16:30 | 16:45 | Chip-based quantum key distribution for large scale deployment | Robert Starkwood (KETS Quantum Security) | ||||||
| 16:45 | 17:00 | A UK Entangled Photon Source to Deliver the Quantum Internet | Michele Natrella (Lumino Technologies) | 16:30 | 17:00 | Distributed Quantum Computing across a Trapped-Ion Quantum Network | Dougal Main (University of Oxford) | ||
| Close | |||||||||