Younès Messaddeq

Younès Messaddeq began his academic career in 1994, as a professor at the Institute of Chemistry of the University of Sao Paolo in Brazil. In 2010, he moved to Canada to head the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Photonic Innovations. The Chair is based at Université Laval in Quebec City where Professor Messaddeq is a faculty member at the Department of Physics, Physical Engineering and Optics.

A world-renowned leader in the study and development of materials for optics and photonics, Younès Messaddeq leads a research team of graduate students, full-time scientists and technicians involved in pushing the boundaries of knowledge in ultra-low loss mid-infrared glasses, microstructured and multi-functional optical fibres and nanostructured materials for applications in health, environment, communications and defence & security.

A firm proponent of international collaboration, Professor Messaddeq has spearheaded various research and training initiatives that have resulted in the establishment of synergistic partnerships. One such partnership is the International Joint Unit with the University of Sao Paulo (UNESP) in Brazil, of which he is Director. Another is the International Associated Laboratory on light-matter interactions that brings together researchers at the CNRS and Université de Bordeaux in France and at Université Laval and INRS in Canada. He is also the Director of this initiative.

Professor Messaddeq has authored over 500 publications (Google Scholar, H index: 60) detailing his innovative research on new glass materials. In addition, he holds more than 20 patents. In 2013, he was recognized by Université Laval for his involvement in four patent applications. He has also made an immense contribution to the training of the next generation of photonic material scientists having supervised and co-supervised some 80 graduate students and post-docs.

Professor Messaddeq is co-leader of the Sentinel North program at Université Laval. Made possible thanks to a grant of $98 million from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, the biggest ever awarded to Université Laval, Sentinel North allows the institution to draw on over a half-century of northern and optics/photonics research to develop innovative new technology and improve understanding of the northern environment and its impact on human beings and their health. The Sentinel North strategy is built around a major transdisciplinary research program to create new international mixed research units and research chairs, recruit world-class professors, and train the next generation of researchers capable of solving the complex problems of a changing North.

In the spring of 2018, the Government of Canada awarded him and 5 other colleagues the prestigious Brockhouse Prize for interdisciplinary research in science and engineering. This recognition is bestowed upon a team of exceptional researchers from different disciplines who have combined their expertise to produce achievements of outstanding international significance in the natural sciences and engineering

Apart from his academic pursuits, Professor Messaddeq has participated in several industrial research and development initiatives with prestigious companies in France, Brazil, Sweden, the United States and Canada.