EPSRC Council member
Professor Ian White CBE DL FREng is a member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Council.
Professor White is a Professorial Fellow at the University of Bath, having previously served as Vice-Chancellor and President of the university since 2019. Prior to that he was a Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and then Master of Jesus College, University of Cambridge.
Professor White’s research interests are in photonics, communications and radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking, his work having led to him receive the IEEE Aron Kressel Award in 2011. He is a co-founder of Zinwave Ltd, a company providing wireless coverage solutions and PervasID Ltd which develops RFID readers. Professor White is currently an editor-in-chief of Nature Microsystems and Nanoengineering.
At Cambridge, Professor White led the photonics activity in the Electrical Division of the Department of Engineering, where he led a series of major projects funded by EPSRC. His research interests in photonics include:
- optical data communications
- quantum communications
- laser diode-based devices
Arising from this research, he has studied advanced radio frequency access systems and RFID detection.
In respect of technical standards, Professor White led the 10GbE IEEE 802.3aq channel ad hoc study group following the invention of offset launch for Gigabit Ethernet. This standard is now having several billion links worldwide, with devices arising from the work in this standard finding wide use in electronic consumer products. Professor White has approximately 1,000 publications.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
He was appointed CBE in the King’s Birthday Honours 2024.
Last updated: 11 April 2025