Team

Prof Reed is a pioneer in the field of Silicon Photonics worldwide. He founded the Silicon Photonics group in 1989 at the University of Surrey. In 2012 Prof Reed brought his team to the University of Southampton, as Deputy Director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC). Prof Reed’s Group have provided a series of world leading results since its inception and are particularly well known for their work on silicon optical modulators.  They were the first to publish the design of a depletion mode silicon modulator, which is now the industry standard device, and they currently hold the world record for the fastest integrated Mach-Zehnder transmitter (112Gb/s OOK, 224 Gb/s PAM 4). Reed currently leads several other EPSRC funded grants, such as a Prosperity Partnership grant with Rockley Photonics, as well as the CORNERSTONE 2 and 2.5 projects and a communications project entitled “Towards a Revolution in Optical communications”.

Prof Reed is currently a member of 6 international conference committees, including serving as co-chair of the Silicon Photonics symposium at the SPIE Photonics West conference. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the SPIE, the IET, Optica and the European Optical Society (EOS). In 2013 he was awarded the IET Crompton medal for achievement in energy, a Royal Society merit award in 2014, the Individual Contributor (to silicon photonics) PIC award in 2019, and the SPIE Gold Medal in 2023.

Professor Callum Littlejohns joined the team as CORNERSTONE Coordinator in 2017 and is responsible for the day-to-day leadership of the team, having previously completed his PhD within the group in 2015. He has a track record of excellence, having received multiple awards throughout his academic life, including being recognised in the 2023 Electro-Optics Photonics100 list of people driving the global photonics industry forwards and being awarded the Information Overload category winner at the 2015 EPSRC ICT Pioneers Awards. Callum has published a book chapter, over 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and over 140 international conference papers. He has served as co-chair at the Silicon Photonics conference at SPIE Photonex since 2017. Callum is passionate about supporting our wide-ranging user base to turn their ideas into reality and his proudest professional achievement to date is building the diverse, passionate and talented CORNERSTONE team.

Andy joins CORNERSTONE as Director of Strategy where he will focus on developing and implementing strategies to maximise the commercial application of photonic integrated circuits.

He is co-chair of the Semiconductor Expert Working Group for the UK Telecom Innovation Network (UKTIN) and serves on the Government’s Semiconductor Advisory Panel. He has given expert evidence to Parliamentary inquiries including the National Security and Investment Act, the Telecom Security Act and the select committee on semiconductors. He has advised the OECD Semiconductor Informal Exchange Network, and is an Advisor to Silicon Catalyst.

Andy was the Founder of the Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult, securing a £54m investment. He represented the Catapult during roundtable discussions with the Prime Minister and high-level delegations to Hong Kong, India, Taiwan and the US White House.

Andy holds an Executive MBA from Glasgow University, a research doctorate from Strathclyde University and is a Fellow of the IET.

Bilge earned his B.Sc. in Electronics Engineering from Boğaziçi University, Turkey (2018), and his M.Sc. from Bilkent University, Turkey (2021). In 2021, he joined Cardiff University as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, conducting postgraduate research under the co-supervision of Prof. Anthony Bennett and Dr. J.P. Hadden.

His research portfolio includes visible-regime achromatic metalenses, single-photon emitters in III-nitrides, dielectric micropillar antennas, and AlN photonic integrated circuits, with contributions spanning both design and cleanroom fabrication.

Bilge joined CORNERSTONE as a PDK Engineer in March 2025 and is currently contributing to CORNERSTONE’s open-source PDK efforts in design, characterization, and documentation.

Prof. Thomson is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Professorial Fellow (Research) within the Silicon Photonics group of the Optoelectronics Research Centre. David leads research in the area of photonics for computing systems. His career in Photonics began with a year in industry at Nortel Networks in Paignton. David joined the University of Surrey in 2001 as an undergraduate student studying electronic engineering. He subsequently undertook PhD studies under the guidance of Professor Graham Reed investigating optical switching devices in silicon. From 2008 he worked as a research fellow in the same research group on a number of projects and different optical devices in silicon although focusing mainly on high-speed active devices and their integration with other photonic and electronic devices. David moved to the University of Southampton in 2012 taking up the role of senior research fellow. David has published over 95 journal papers, 19 patent applications and around 200 conference papers in the area of silicon photonics. David has served on 4 conference committees including IEEE Group IV Photonics and SPIE Photonics West.

Eleni has a Bachelor in Biomedical Sciences from Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, School of Occupational Health and Welfare, Department of Medical Laboratories in Greece. After Working in various hospital labs in Greece and Qatar Eleni relocated in Uk where she worked in studies and testing for Covid. As she always being interested in micro fabrications and engineering, she joined Cornerstone team in May 2022 where she focuses on scanner and CDSEM operation and planning.

Outside work she enjoys photography, yoga, and motherhood.

Georgia Mourkioti received her BSc in Materials Science in 2016 from the University of Patras and her MSc in Materials Science with First-Class Honours in 2019, from the same University. Her undergraduate research was on the design of photonic structures for applications in optical memory media, which was a collaboration with ‘OPTICON GROUP ABEE’ company. Her postgraduate research was on the study of slow light and polarization dynamics in quantum-dot vertical-cavity semiconductor structures. During her postgraduate studies she was awarded the ‘’K. KARATHEODORI’’ scholarship from the University of Patras. In 2019 she joined the University of Southampton as a Marie-Sklodowska Curie Fellow to pursue her PhD studies in Optoelectronics. Her research was on sub-wavelength structuring of crystalline materials aiming for the development of novel Grating Waveguide Structures (GWS) for high-power lasers. During her studies she was awarded the ‘Dean’s Award’ for the year 2022/2023 for exceptional contribution to the Nanofabrication Cleanroom of the Faculty.

Georgia joined CORNERSTONE in January 2023 to contribute her expertise and knowledge for the development and fabrication of silicon photonic devices.

Goran Mashanovich is a Co-investigator for CORNERSTONE. Prof. Mashanovich completed primary and secondary education in the city of Valjevo, Serbia. He received BSc and MSc degrees from the University of Belgrade, Serbia and PhD in Silicon Photonics from the University of Surrey, UK. In 2008, he was awarded a Royal Society Research Fellowship to work in a new research field in the UK, that of Mid-Infrared Silicon Photonics. He joined the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton in 2012 where he heads the Mid-IR Silicon Photonics Group. His research interests include silicon and germanium photonic circuits, sensors, transceivers, integration and packaging. He is author of 450 publications. Prof. Mashanovich has been investigator on projects worth £40 million (£4m as Principal Investigator). He is Fellow of Optica, a member of several international conference programme committees and also a visiting professor at the University of Belgrade. Goran is very interested in innovative teaching and he has received several teaching awards.

Hanuushah graduated with a First Class Honours Master’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Southampton in 2022. While pursuing her degree, she also participated in hackathons to design novel solutions for industry-based problems and interned in Malaysia where she taught children the basics of coding at Chumbaka Cyberjaya. Hanuushah joined the CORNERSTONE team as a Research Technician with the interest to enter the nano/microfabrication industry. Outside of work, she enjoys playing ultimate frisbee and traveling.

Mahdiyar completed his PhD at Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) in 2021. He then pursued a Postdoctoral position at Durham University starting in 2023, focusing on research into LEFETs using diffraction gratings.

In July 2025, Mahdiyar joined CORNERSTONE, where he contributes to silicon photonics projects.

Martin Ebert studied nanotechnology and microfabrication at the University of Magdeburg, Germany, and obtained his Dipl. Ing. degree in 2011. After working as a research scientist at the Fraunhofer research organization for several years, he embarked on his Ph.D. studies focusing on ZnO nanowire field-effect transistor fabrication at the University of Southampton. Upon completing his Ph.D. in 2019, he joined the Photonic Systems Circuits and Sensors Group as a research fellow, where he developed fabrication processes for integrated silicon photonic devices. Since 2022, Martin Ebert has been a technical manager at CORNERSTONE, where he leads a group of technicians and spearheads the development of new platforms and customized batches for integrated photonic devices.

Dr. Mehdi Bankar’s role in the CORNERSTONE team is a Senior R&D manager. Mehdi received his bachelor’s degree in 2005 and a Master’s degree with distinction from The University of Southampton in 2008. His PhD at The University of Southampton was in “Sub-micron texturing for photovoltaic antireflection and light-trapping.” He has explored 3 novel anti-reflection schemes based on sub-micron scale texturing of silicon and received his degree in 2015. He has a strong background in semiconductor devices, extensive experience with micro/nanofabrication processes. Mehdi joined The Silicon Photonic Group at The University of Southampton in July 2015 to explore optical modulation/detection and integration.

Shengqi joined CORNERSTONE in December 2024 as a PDK Design Engineer.

He received his MSc degree in Microelectronic System Design from the University of Southampton in 2018. He completed his PhD research in the field of Integrated Optofluidics in 2022 at the University of Southampton. In 2023, he worked as a Photonics Engineer at O-Net Photonics, where he initialized and developed a Si-PIC-based next-generation FMCW LiDAR for two years.

With over four years of experience in free-space photonics and three years of experience in Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC), he is highly skilled in visual and IR functional metalens and photonics devices on SiN and SOI platforms. He is also experienced in customer-facing product and system design.

Tania De Los Santos is the Project Administrator for the CORNERSTONE team. She completed her degree in Tourism at the University of Seville in 2017 before relocating to the United Kingdom. Driven by her interest in administration and business support, she joined the JS Group as an Administrator. Building on her experience, she later joined Pace Recruitment Services as a Payroll Administrator. Tania joined the CORNERSTONE team in June 2023. Outside work, she enjoys traveling, immersing herself in new cultures and indulging in crafting activities.