SSAC Chair
Professor Julian D C Jones studied at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK, before becoming a lecturer at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Since 1988, he has been at Heriot-Watt University. In 2007, he became Deputy Principal for Strategy and Resources and in 2010 Vice-Principal. Since 2020 he has served as Senior Deputy Principal.
His research interests are in photonics, encompassing the physics and engineering applications of lasers and fibre optics. His work has been applied in communications, sensing and instrumentation, manufacturing and national defence; it featured in the University’s 2021 award of a Queen’s Anniversary Prize.
Julian first served as a member of the Scottish Scientific Advisory Council from 2010 to 2014, and he rejoined in 2019. He has also been a member of the UK’s Defence Science Advisory Council. He is a member of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee of the Scottish Funding Council and a Director of OptoSci Ltd.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (IOP), served as its Treasurer from 2011–19, and was previously Chair of the Board of IOP Publishing and Editor in Chief of the Journal of Measurement Science and Technology. He was elected as an Honorary Fellow in 2020. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and has served as a member of its Council. He is also a Fellow of Optica, formerly the Optical Society of America.
He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE, in 2002 for services to science and engineering and in 2022 was appointed as Honorary Consul General for Norway in Edinburgh.
Professor Jones joined the SSAC on 1 December 2019 and took up appointment of Chair from 1 November 2023.
