Topological Wave Innovation Lab (TWIL)
Shaping waves with complex topologies to revolutionize our information society and resilient sustainability
Shaping waves with complex topologies to revolutionize our information society and resilient sustainability
About the PI
Yijie Shen is a Nanyang Assistant Professor in Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies — School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences & School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University. He is a member of the Optical Society of America (Optica), the Chinese Optical Society (COS) and Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. He won the Wang Da-Heng Optics Award (COS, China) in 2019, Rising Stars in Optics 2024, IOP, iSPN 2025 Young Researcher Award, and 2025 Rising Stars of Light. He is an Editorial Board Member and Advisory Panel Member of Journal of Optics; Associate Editor in: Advanced Photonics Nexus; Light Manipulation and Applications; Photonics Research; Harmonics and Scattering, etc., Topical Editor in Light: Science & Applications and Light Publishing Group, and Guest Editor in: Nanophotonics, PhotoniX, Communication Materials, etc. He is committee member/organizer of conferences FiO, PIERS, JEMS, etc. He has published more than 100 papers in high-impact journals including Nature, Nature Photonics, Nature Materials, Nature Physics, Nature Electronics, Science Advances, Physical Review Letters, Nature Communications, Light: Science & Applications, Laser & Photonics Reviews, Optica, etc., with over 10000 citations.
Academic Websites:
Email: yijie.shen@ntu.edu.sg
Address: PAP-04-10, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371, Singapore
Curriculum Vitae
Employment Experience
2023.08 – now Nanyang Assistant Professor
School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences & School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371, Singapore
2020.12 – 2023.08 Senior Research Fellow
2019.10 – 2022.10 Marie S.-Curie Research Fellow
Nanophotonics & Metamaterials Group (Nikolay I. Zheludev group)
Optoelectronics Research Centre & Centre for Photonic Metamaterials, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
2019.03 – 2019.06 Invited Visiting Researcher
Structured Light Laboratory (Andrew Forbes group)
School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa
Education Experience
2015.08 – 2019.10 Ph.D. in Optical Engineering
Address 1: Key Laboratory of Photonic Control Technology (Tsinghua University), Ministry of Education, Beijing 100084, China.
Address 2: State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
2011.09 – 2015.07 B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Automation
Address: School of Mechanical & Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510640, China
Professional Qualifications
2026 – Present Topical Editor. Light: Science & Applications / Light Publishing Group
2026 – Present Associate editor. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, USA
2026 – 2027 Committee member, The 6th International Conference Optoelectronic Information (ICOI 2027), China
2026 – Present Member, LUX Photonics Consortium, Singapore
2025 – Present Journal Ambassador in Singapore, Chinese Laser Press, China & Singapore
2025 – Present Associate editor. Light Manipulation and Applications, China
2025 – Present Associate editor. Harmonics and Scattering, AIP, USA
2025 – 2026 Associate editor. Photonics Research, Optica, USA
2025 – 2026 Guest editor. Nanophotonics, Wiley, USA
2025 – Present Editorial Board Member, Advanced Photonics Nexus, CLP & SPIE
2024 – 2025 Committee member, 14th Joint European Magnetic Symposia (JEMS) 2025, Germany
2024 – Present Editorial Board Member, Journal of Optics, IOP, UK
2023 – Present Affiliate member, The International Institute for Sustainability with Knotted Chiral Meta Matter (SKCM2)
2021 – Present Honorary Rosalind Member, London Journals Press, London, UK
2024 – Present Advisory Panel member, Journal of Optics, IOP, UK
2018 – Present Member, Chinese Optical Society, China
2017 – Present Member, Optical Society of America (OSA / Optica), USA
2014 – Present Member, Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, China
Academic Honours and Awards
2026 Wiley China Excellent Author Program
2026 2025 SPMS Young Researcher Award, Nanyang Technological University
2026 Top 100 Outstanding Reviewers, China Laser Journal, 2025 [link]
2026 Top 50 achievement, NTU Entrepreneurship Academy (NTUpreneur) & Chua Thian Poh Pinnacle Prize (2026)
2026 LaserLink Person Award 2025, Chinese Laser Press [link]
2025 Journal Ambassador in Singapore, Chinese Laser Press
2025 2025 Rising Stars of Light, Light: Science & Applications, Nature [link]
Faculty Track Finalists [Global Top 6] & Final Winners [Global Top 3]
2025 Young Scientist Award (YSA) at PIERS 2025
2025 Best Session Organizer Award (BSOA) at PIERS 2025 in Chiba
2025 iSPN 2025 Young Researcher Award, Singapore (2025)
2024 Alexander von Humboldt Award (for experienced visitor), Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany (2024)
2024 Rising Stars in Optics 2024, IOP, UK (2024)
2021 Nominated for excellence award, Excellent Doctoral dissertation of Optics in 2019, Chinese Optical Society.
◊ Top 15 in China [link to COS]
2020 OSA Outstanding Reviewer Recognition, Optical Society of America (OSA), USA
2020 IOP Publishing Outstanding Review award winner, Institute of Physics (IOP), UK (2020)
2020 Marie S.-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships, European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
2019 Wang Da-Heng Optics Award, Chinese Optical Society, China
Funding
2027 – 2030 Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) Competitive Research Programme (CRP) - Frontier CRP (TBD)
2027 – 2030 Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) AcRF Tier 2 grant (TBD)
2026 – 2027 NTU College of Science Collaborative Research Award 2026 (TBD)
2026 – 2029 Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Japan-Singapore Joint Grant (H25-MRO3489)
2025 – 2028 Singapore A*STAR Manufacturing Trade and Connectivity (MTC) Individual Research Grant (M24N7c0080)
2025 – 2029 Singapore National Quantum Processing Initiative (NQPl) - Neutral Atom Array
2025 – 2026 NTU SPMS Collaborative Research Award
2024 – 2027 Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) AcRF Tier 1 grant (RG147/23)
2024 – 2027 Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) AcRF Tier 1 Quantum Thematic grant (RT11/23)
2024 – 2025 Imperial-Nanyang Technological University Collaboration Fund
2023 – 2027 Nanyang Technological University Start Up Grant
2020 – 2023 European Union's Horizon2020 Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellowship & MULTIPLY Cofund Project (H2020 GA 713694)
Teaching
2023 – Present PH2301: Physical Optics
2024 – Present PH7028: Nanophotonics
2024 – Present PH2199: Physics Lab IIB
2024 – Present PH6780: Supervised Research Project
2024 – 2025 CC0007: Science & Tech for Humanity (Tutorial)
2024 – 2026 EG2810: Mathematics A (Tutorial)
2025 – Present FE1073: An Introduction to Engineering and Practices