Chair of the Scottish Science Advisory Committee and Wardlaw Professor of Physics, University of St Andrews
Professor Sibbett is recognised as a pioneer and world authority in ultrafast lasers, nonlinear optics and optoelectronics/photonics and he has published over 300 scientific journal papers in these areas. His work has wide-ranging applications in the field of ultrafast science and technology, including optical communications and photobiology. He is presently the Co-Technical Director of the St Andrews Photonics Innovation Centre which promotes the linkage of academic research to applications in industry, Director of an EPSRC-funded Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (Ultrafast Photonics Collaboration) on ultrahigh speed data-communications and Co-Director of a SHEFC-funded Strategic Research Development Grant on the application of photonics to biology and medicine. He received the Rank Prize for Optoelectronics in 1997 and the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society for "Research into Ultrashort-pulse Laser Science and Technology" in 2000. In 2002 he was awarded the Quantum Electronics Prize by the European Physical Society in recognition of the ‘excellence and enduring impact’ of his major research contributions.
