Melbourne, Australia
Physicist · Optics & Photonics Researcher Research Fellow & Lead Entrepreneur, School of Physics, University of Melbourne ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems
Dr Sulejman designs ultrathin nanostructured devices that could reduce the size and cost of advanced diagnostic and sensing instruments, so that access to them is not confined to well-equipped laboratories.
Dr Sulejman's research interests lie in applied nanophotonics and meta-optics, with a focus on ultrathin optical metasurfaces. Motivated by growing up in a rural community, his work aims to design metasurfaces that could reduce the size and cost of advanced diagnostic and sensing instruments so that access to them is not confined to well-equipped laboratories.
He currently leads experimental programs on tunable metasurfaces for all-optical feature recognition and single-shot birefringence imaging. He also serves as Lead Entrepreneur on a project investigating non-invasive gender determination of chicken eggs before incubation, in collaboration with the Melbourne Veterinary School and Australian Eggs, funded by an Ignite grant from Australia's Economic Accelerator program.
Dr Sulejman completed his PhD in Physics at the University of Melbourne in 2025 within TMOS, supervised by Professor Ann Roberts, Professor Ken Crozier, Professor Andrey Sukhorukov and Dr Lukas Wesemann. His thesis was awarded the 2026 Chancellor's Prize for Excellence in PhD Research, and was nominated for the 2026 Bragg Gold Medal for Excellence in Physics. During his candidature he spent five months as a Fulbright Visiting Researcher at the Advanced Science Research Center, City University of New York, supervised by Professor Andrea Alù.
He contributes actively to science communication and outreach, particularly in regional Victoria. He has represented the University at schools, science roadshows and public events, held committee roles in professional societies, and served as a Faculty of Science ambassador.
Tunable metasurfaces that perform all-optical computations without digital post-processing. Includes feature recognition, phase-contrast microscopy and the first thermally reconfigurable edge detection metasurface built with phase-change materials.
Infrared multimodal microscopy platforms that switch between phase contrast and bright field, imaging unstained prostate cancer cells and breast tissue — built with clinical and commercial pathology partners.
An optical sieve for detecting, sizing and counting nanoplastics — the first metasurface platform for the task, surpassing resolution limits of conventional analytical instruments.
Leading optical system development for non-invasive gender determination of chicken eggs before incubation, using fluorescence lifetime imaging, in partnership with Australian Eggs.
School of Physics, University of Melbourne · TMOS
School of Physics, University of Melbourne
TMOS, University of Melbourne
Advanced Science Research Center, City University of New York
School of Physics, University of Melbourne · TMOS
School of Physics, University of Melbourne
Self-employed
Click here for the full publication list: Google Scholar, ORCID, or the full CV.
First metasurface-based platform for nanoplastic detection and sizing, extending nanophotonics into environmental sensing.
Thermally reconfigurable metasurfaces for all-optical edge detection — ranked among the journal's top 20 Physics publications of 2024.
† Equal first authorship · Citation counts via Google Scholar
Collection of press that Dr Sulejman has featured in.
A selection from thirty-two competitive scholarships, prizes and awards totalling more than AUD 300,000.
Thesis nominated; outcome pending.
Dr Sulejman is a regular public speaker at the Rotary Club of Shepparton, the Greater Shepparton Foundation, and Dafydd Lewis Trust and Mary Jane Lewis Foundation events. He has given invited seminars at:
Leadership, outreach and mentoring — much of it aimed at students who don't start with easy access to science.
Dafydd Lewis Trust & Mary Jane Lewis Foundation
A scholarship recipient from 2017–19, and since then on the other side of it: joined the Trustees' panel interviewing applicants, returned to Shepparton High School to promote the scholarship to Year 12 students, mentored a recipient through their degree, and delivered invited talks to the Trust community.
University of Melbourne
Ran events for the Melbourne optics student cohort. Selected as one of 100 students globally for Optica's fully-funded Student Leadership Conference in Rochester, New York, where the Optica Foundation filmed an interview with him about the chapter's work.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems
One of ten TMOS researchers selected for a three-day science communication workshop at Questacon. Developed and hosted a public science show on the history of light at the Shepparton community library, plus workshops in schools across Victoria and South Australia.
Postgraduate Physics Students' Society, University of Melbourne
Organised events for the postgraduate cohort, then served as club vice-president alongside the President.
Melbourne Peer Mentor Program, University of Melbourne
Mentored a group of commencing undergraduates through their first semester. Earned a Melbourne Plus People Leadership credential for the work.
Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne
Represented the Faculty across academic panels, interviews, information evenings and university campaigns.
Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne
Built a science show over a semester of weekly training, then took it on a two-week roadshow to lower socio-economic schools across metropolitan and regional Victoria.
University of Melbourne
Thesis: Metasurfaces for tunable all-optical image processing. Supervised by Prof. Ann Roberts, Prof. Ken Crozier, Prof. Andrey Sukhorukov and Dr Lukas Wesemann within TMOS. Awarded the 2026 Chancellor's Prize for Excellence in PhD Research; nominated for the 2026 Bragg Gold Medal for Excellence in Physics.
University of Melbourne · First class honours
Thesis: Single-pixel ghost imaging with classical correlations and optical metasurfaces.
University of Melbourne · First class honours
