In addition to our research, we are also keen on sharing our knowledge through outreach. If you would like to work with us on any outreach activity, get in touch!
Pathfinder Career Narratives #12
The Science Show | What Happens When Light Meets Flesh? A Dive into Biophotonics.
Akhil joins Dr Adetunmise Dada on Jambo! Radio, discusses what happens when light interacts with the body and how we are using these ideas and methods for safe and repeatable medical diagnostics.
Glasgow Science Festival #GlaSciFest
Our ‘Microscopy For All’ and ‘Biophotonics For All’ kits made an appearance at the Glasgow Science Festival!! We shared our research and insights with 130+ enthusiastic people of all ages at the Riverside Museum across two days of the festival.
#Pint23 Pint of Science
Our ‘Biophotonics for all’ kit travelled Glasgow-Florida (ETOP 2023)-Glasgow to make an appearance at the Pint of Science event (Dows Bar, Glasgow) on 22 May 2023. The kit engaged over 50 people, discussing biophotonics and diagnostics, and showed off some incredible (well, some people say ‘eerie’) blood vessels IN A BAR!
“Biophotonics for all” Outreach Kit
Biophotonics is becoming increasingly prominent in value and visibility. What was once an advanced field of research is now being included increasingly in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. To increase biophotonics-related STEM awareness, we developed simple and inexpensive LEDs and a camera set-up that allows visualising the blood vessels beneath the skin. The kit uses inexpensive blue, green, red and near-infrared LEDs to show the absorption of shorter wavelengths and transmission in the longer wavelengths in the finger. As an outreach and educational tool, this kit will illustrate the potential of using light for diagnostics.
This kit will be presented at the 2023 Education and Training in Optics and Photonics (ETOP) conference (May 2023), and available subsequently through SPIE proceedings.
Horizons of Optical, Photonics and Emerging Sciences (HOPES) Webinars #HOPESWebinars
This series led by Dr Akhil Kallepalli, in collaboration with the IEEE UK and Ireland Section Photonics Chapter and IOP Optical Group, brings research and innovation leaders forward to discuss the future directions across different topics and subjects.
This series takes a different approach to seminal webinars. Instead of focussing on a single piece of research and/or innovation, we invite highly impactful individuals to discuss the future of their domains. This will allow the speaker to share their informed view of future innovations on a platform that encourages a true exchange for shaping the evolution of science. We hope that in such discussions, unique solutions in pure and interdisciplinary domains can be unravelled.
Seeing beneath your skin @ The Big Bounce (Institute of Physics)
Our research into imaging blood vessels (preprint) is helping spread the word and awareness around light transport through tissue and sharing the improvements that can be achieved in healthcare with low-cost solutions. At the IOP’s annual Big Bounce event (Glasgow), we spoke to over 300 parents and children over the course of an afternoon, sharing the latest in the field, science in general, STEM career and more.
Secondary School Talk (Careers in Quantum Technologies: Imaging)
This event was presented online to multiple schools. Attended by over 400 students, the event detailed how quantum technologies and imaging play a vital role in biophotonics and was followed by a Q&A session.
Microscopes for Schools
Our idea, through this project, is to make microscopy accessible to schools. With support from our partners (below) and the open-access microscope, OpenFlexure, developed by Dr Richard Bowman‘s team, we are building 20 microscopes for schools around Glasgow. This project includes discussions with school teachers and presentations in schools (starting in 2022).
Follow all the latest updates on Twitter at #ModMicroPrimary
Mental Health in Academia
Actively looking after my personal mental health has been a key part of my research career. I am keen to share the message regarding positive mental health awareness and its importance in academia. To this end, I volunteer with Dragonfly Mental Health as an active speaker. In 2021, I have had 4 speaking engagements in Europe and the USA (over Zoom) and many more in 2022 covering topics of mental health literacy, fighting stigma, burnout and others.
IOP SW at the Royal International Air Tattoo 2019
Welcome to our Lab! 