Dr Akyana Britwum, a lecturer at the Department of Physics, at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) will speak at African Photonics Hour during SPIE Photonics West 2026 in San Francisco, one of the world’s leading conferences in optics and photonics.

African Photonics Hour features a curated series of concise live and recorded presentations by researchers, innovators and educators advancing photonics across Africa, organisers said.

In his presentation, Dr Britwum will showcase the work of the Ghana Photonics and Optics Laboratory (GPOL), highlighting research activities, student training and outreach initiatives.

He will also discuss how the programme is strengthening photonics education and building local capacity in Ghana, as well as the broader role of photonics in workforce development and innovation across Africa.

Dr Britwum is a solid-state physicist with expertise in low-cost optical sensing, electronic instrumentation for low-resourced environments and laboratories, and thin-film synthesis for photovoltaic applications.

He joined KNUST as a lecturer in 2015 after completing his PhD and holds a BSc, MSc and PhD in Physics, all from KNUST.

He is the Principal Investigator of GPOL, where he leads efforts to develop photonics research and education infrastructure in West Africa. He also leads initiatives to apply generative artificial intelligence to strengthen research capacity in Ghana.

A globally recognised leader in STEM outreach and education, Dr Britwum has secured multiple research grants, built international academic collaborations and mentored emerging scientists.

KNUST congratulate Dr Britwum for representing the Department of Physics, the College of Science and Ghana on the global stage.