Speakers

Voices shaping the future of the field

META plenary and keynote lectures bring together scientists whose work is defining new directions across metamaterials, photonics and light–matter interactions.

META 2027 speakers will be announced soon

The plenary and keynote programme is currently being assembled. New speakers will be announced progressively as the scientific programme develops.

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From the META Archive

Landmark plenary lectures

While the META 2027 programme is being prepared, revisit selected plenary lectures from recent editions.

Sir John Pendry
Imperial College London · United Kingdom
Extreme Time Modulation of Material Properties and Hawking Radiation
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Andrea Alù
City University of New York · USA
Extreme Control of Light and Sound with Metamaterials
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Nader Engheta
University of Pennsylvania · USA
Metastructures That Compute and Optimize
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Harry Atwater
California Institute of Technology · USA
Active Metasurfaces in Space and Time
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Isabelle Staude
Friedrich Schiller University Jena · Germany
Active Photonic Metasurfaces Empowered by 2D Semiconductors
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Gloria Platero
ICMM-CSIC · Spain
Robust Edge States in Topological Lattices for Quantum Information Transfer
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Plenary Archive

Twelve editions of plenary science

Since 2014, 72 plenary lectures by 43 scientists have shaped the META programme. Selected lectures are available on the META YouTube channel.

META 2026 Dublin 5 plenary lectures
Jeremy J. BaumbergUniversity of Cambridge (UK)
Precision Nanogap Metamaterials for Tracking Bioanalytes using SERS and SEIRA
Alexandra BoltassevaPurdue University (USA)
Materials-Driven Photonics: Toward Tunable and Extreme Light Control
Federico CapassoHarvard University (USA)
Metasurfaces: From Classical to Quantum Optics
Rachel GrangeETH Zurich (Switzerland)
Quadratic Nanomaterials for On-Chip Classical and Quantum Devices
Ruwen PengNanjing University (China)
Metasurfaces as a Platform for Classical and Quantum Light Control
META 2025 Torremolinos 6 plenary lectures
Robert W. BoydUniversity of Ottawa (Canada) & University of Rochester (USA)
Applications of highly nonlinear epsilon-near-zero materials in photonics
Nader EnghetaUniversity of Pennsylvania (USA)
Metastructures That Compute and Optimize
Ortwin HessTrinity College Dublin (Ireland)
Nanoplasmonic Quantum Photonics
Stefanie KrokerTechnische Universität Braunschweig, Germany
Routes for integrated photonics and meta-optics in quantum technologies and precision experiments
Gloria Platero CoelloICMM-CSIC (Spain)
Robust Edge States in Topological Lattices for Quantum information Transfer
Eli YablonovitchUC Berkeley, USA
What I Wish I Had Known, as I Searched for The First 3d Photonic Bandgap
META 2024 Toyama 5 plenary lectures
Harry AtwaterCalifornia Institute of Technology (USA)
Active Metasurfaces in Space and Time
Hui CaoYale University (USA)
Shaping light propagation in complex media
Franco NoriRiken (Japan) and University of Michigan (USA)
Topological dissipation in a time-multiplexed photonic resonator network and topological temporally mode-locked lasers
Takashige OmatsuChiba University (Japan)
Materials manipulation with structured light fields
Daria SmirnovaAustralian National University (Australia)
Localized states trapped by topological defects in photonic and hybrid metasurfaces
META 2023 Paris 3 plenary lectures
Andrea AlùCity University of New York, USA
Extreme Control of Light and Sound with Metamaterials
Sylvain GiganSorbonne Université, France
Imaging and Computing with disorder
Jelena VuckovicStanford University, USA
Scalable classical and quantum photonics
META 2022 Torremolinos 5 plenary lectures
Jeremy J. BaumbergUniversity of Cambridge, UK
Picocavities: confining light below the size of an atom
Alexandra BoltassevaPurdue University, USA
Advancing Photonic Design and Quantum Circuitry with Machine Learning
Duheon SongSamsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Korea
Device technology and vision for a better life empowered by meta-photonics
Päivi TörmäAalto University, Finland
Bose-Einstein Condensation, Lasing and Topological Photonics with Plasmonic Lattices
Nikolay ZheludevUniversity of Southampton, UK and NTU, Singapore
Picophotonics
META 2021 Warsaw 7 plenary lectures
Robert W. BoydUniversity of Ottawa, Canada and University of Rochester, USA
How Light Behaves when the Refractive Index Vanishes
Federico CapassoHarvard University, USA
Structuring Light and Dark with Metaoptics
Nader EnghetaUniversity of Pennsylvania, USA
4D Structured Waves
Maiken H. MikkelsenDuke University, USA
Applications of metasurfaces: From multispectral imaging to optical communications and biosensing
Masaya NotomiNTT Basic Research Labs., Japan
Integrated Nanophotonics for Optoelectronic Computation
Deirdre O'CarrollRutgers University, USA
Metasurfaces for Light Management in Semiconductor Thin Films
Vladimir M. ShalaevPurdue University, USA
Empowering Quantum Photonics with Nanoplasmonics and Machine Learning
META 2019 Lisbon 6 plenary lectures
Jeremy J. BaumbergUniversity of Cambridge, UK
Extreme nanophotonics: How to confine light below a cubic nanometre
Alexandra BoltassevaPurdue University, USA
Transdimensional Materials for Nanophotonics: From 2D to 3D
Federico CapassoHarvard University, USA
Metasurface polarization optics
Nader EnghetaUniversity of Pennsylvania, USA
Analog processing with metastructures
Sir John Brian PendryImperial College London, UK
Singular plasmonic surfaces and their properties
Eli YablonovitchUC Berkeley, USA
Optical Antenna Physics: Spontaneous Emission Faster than Stimulated Emission
META 2018 Marseille 5 plenary lectures
Federico CapassoHarvard University, USA
The Present and Future of Flat Optics: from Metalenses to Polarization Metaoptics and Arbitrarily Structured Light
Nader EnghetaUniversity of Pennsylvania, USA
X-Y-Z-T Metamaterials
Andrea FratalocchiKing Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
Evolutionary metamaterials: the imitation game of Nature for renewable energy harvesting, artificial intelligent photonics and advanced material engineering
Michelle L. PovinelliUniversity of Southern California, USA
Microstructured Materials for Thermal Heating and Memory
Vladimir M. ShalaevPurdue University, USA
Catching Light with Metamaterials
META 2017 Incheon 9 plenary lectures
Federico CapassoHarvard University, USA
Metaoptics in the visible
Dirk EnglundMIT, USA
Towards Scalable Semiconductor Quantum Networks
Ortwin HessImperial College London, UK
Active Quantum Nanoplasmonics: From Single Molecule Strong Coupling to Stopped-Light QED and Lasing
Satoshi KawataOsaka University, Japan
Tip-enhanced Raman scattering microscopy: plasmonic molecular imaging beyond the limits
Yong-Hee LeeKorea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Korea
Squeezing of Photonic Energy into A Point-like Space
Franco NoriRIKEN, Japan & University of Michigan, USA
Parity-Time-Symmetric Optics, extraordinary momentum and spin in evanescent waves, and the quantum spin Hall effect of light
Eli YablonovitchUC Berkeley, USA
Optical Antennas; Spontaneous Emission Faster Than Stimulated Emission
Xiang ZhangUC Berkeley, USA
Parity-time Symmetry Breaking Lasing and Anti-Lasing
Nikolay ZheludevUniversity of Southampton, UK and NTU, Singapore
Metamaterials, anapoles and flying donuts
META 2016 Torremolinos 7 plenary lectures
Andrea AlùUniversity of Texas at Austin, USA
Breaking reciprocity and time-reversal symmetry with metamaterials
Harry AtwaterCalifornia Institute of Technology, USA
Photonic design of nanoscale energy converters
Stephen M. BarnettUniversity of Glasgow, UK
Optical forces on exotic materials
Nader EnghetaUniversity of Pennsylvania, USA
Near-Zero Photonics
Demetrios ChristodoulidesUniversity of Central Florida, USA
Non-Hermitian photonics: PT symmetry and beyond
Sir John Brian PendryImperial College London, UK
Transformation optics, surface plasmons, and metasurfaces
David R. SmithDuke University, USA
Translational Metamaterials Research: Taking Metamaterials from the Laboratory to the Marketplace
META 2015 New York 8 plenary lectures
Sir Michael BerryUniversity of Bristol, UK
The singularities of light: intensity, phase, polarization
Federico CapassoHarvard University, USA
From Achromatic Flat Optics to Disordered Metasurfaces with Functional Connectivity
Nader EnghetaUniversity of Pennsylvania, USA
Metaplatforms
Claire GmachlPrinceton University, USA
Quantum Cascade lasers and applications in mid-infrared photonics
Atac ImamogluSwiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ), Switzerland
Spin-photon quantum interface
Mikhail D. LukinHarvard University, USA
New Interface Between Quantum Optics and Nanoscience
Vladimir ShalaevPurdue University, USA
New material platform for plasmonics
Nikolay ZheludevSouthampton University, UK &
Using metamaterials for optical switching
META 2014 Singapore 6 plenary lectures
Harry AtwaterCalifornia Institute of Technology, USA
Tunable Quantum Metaphotonics
Mark BrongersmaStanford University, USA
Device Applications of Metafilms and Metasurfaces
Nader EnghetaUniversity of Pennsylvania, USA
Metastructures at the Extreme
Masaya NotomiNTT Basic Research Laboratories and NTT Nanophotonics Center, Japan
Toward fJ/bit optical communication inside a chip
Marlan ScullyTexas A&M and Princeton, USA
Quantum Amplification by Superradiant Emission using Metamaterials
Eli YablonovitchUC Berkeley, USA
The Challenge of Using Optical Antennas to Accelerate Spontaneous Emission