Prof. Simon C. Fleming

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Qualifications
BSc (Hons), University of Leeds, UK, 1982, PhD (Electronic Engineering), University of Leeds, UK, 1986,

Current appointment
Professor, School of Physics
Chief Operations Officer, CUDOS
Deputy Chairman, Bandwidth Foundry International


Employment History
Director / Acting Director / Technical Director, Optical Fibre Technology Centre, University of Sydney (1996 – 2008); Chief Executive Officer, Australian Photonics CRC (2004 – 2006); Senior Research Fellow, Optical Fibre Technology Centre, University of Sydney (1994 – 1996); Professional Scientist, BT Labs, Ipswich, UK (1993 – 1994); Senior Research Fellow, BT Labs, Ipswich, UK (1991 – 1993); Consultant, BT Labs, Ipswich, UK (1991 – 1991); Research Fellow, University of Leeds, UK (1986 – 1991); Design Engineer, Racal SES, Tewkesbury, UK (1982 – 1983).

Major Awards
Fellow of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET)

Professional Association
The Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET, previously IEE) (Fellow and Chartered Engineer - FIET, CEng); The Australian Institute of Company Directors (Graduate - GAICD); The Australian Optical Society (Councillor since 2009, Treasurer since 2010)

Expertise
Simon Fleming has twenty five years experience in research and research management in photonics, with extensive experience of leadership, governance and commercialisation. His research career has focussed on optical fibre, fibre devices and fibre fabrication. After completing his PhD in micro-metrology and standards for the then new single mode fibres, his postdoctoral research at Leeds University and then British Telecom Labs shifted to the design and application of rare-earth doped fibres. He contributed to the development of fibre lasers and fibre amplifiers, especially the praseodymium doped fluoride fibre amplifier. This latter expertise brought him to the University of Sydney to head up a team applying the same fibre to develop blue fibre lasers in collaboration with IBM. As this project completed, his research shifted largely to non-linearity in fibre, and his career shifted significantly into management. The research on non-linear fibre focussed very much on poling, a field in which he is a leader and still very active. In recent years, a new direction in his research has been applying his knowledge of fibre fabrication technology to the fabrication of metamaterials. He has authored ~250 journal and conference publications, and has been involved in organising ~50 conferences, including as General Chair and Technical Program Chair. In 1996 Fleming took over management of the Fibre Fabrication Facility at the Optical Fibre Technology Centre (OFTC) and then in November became the head of OFTC. He successfully led OFTC through the tumultuous dot.com boom and bust until 2008, when it was clear that the research focus had shifted from silica fibre. With Eggleton, he established the Institute of Photonics and Optical Science (IPOS) and successfully transferred the key people, facilities and activities of OFTC to IPOS. He also held several management and leadership roles in the Australian Photonics Cooperative Research Centre, including CEO. These roles provided extensive experience of management, leadership, corporate governance, industry engagement and research commercialisation, especially through spin-offs.