Dr Shaban B. Sulejman

Profile

Education

• 2022 — 2025

  Doctor of Philosophy — Physics

  University of Melbourne · conferred January 2026

  Thesis: Metasurfaces for Tunable All-Optical Image Processing. Supervised by Prof. Ann Roberts, Dr Lukas Wesemann, Prof. Kenneth Crozier and Prof. Andrey Sukhorukov within TMOS. Awarded the 2026 Chancellor's Prize for Excellence in PhD Research; nominated for the 2026 Bragg Gold Medal for Excellence in Physics.

• 2020 — 2021

  Master of Science — Physics

  University of Melbourne · First class honours

  Thesis: Single-pixel ghost imaging with classical correlations and optical metasurfaces.

• 2017 — 2019

  Bachelor of Science — Mathematical Physics

  University of Melbourne · First class honours

Employment

• 2026 — present

  Research Fellow · Lead Entrepreneur

  School of Physics, University of Melbourne · TMOS

  • Leads optical system development and the commercialisation pathway for non-invasive gender determination of chicken eggs before incubation, in partnership with Australian Eggs.
  • Translates industry requirements — throughput, cost per egg — into system specifications, and acts as primary point of contact for the partner and for collaborators at the Melbourne Veterinary School.
  • Continues meta-optics research on all-optical feature recognition and single-shot birefringence imaging.
• Apr — Aug 2026

  Hardware Engineer

  School of Physics, University of Melbourne

  • Designed and built the optical configuration for fluorescence lifetime experiments on non-invasive gender determination of chicken eggs before incubation, supervised by Dr Snjezana Tomljenovic-Hanic and Dr Asma Khalid.
• Oct 2025 — Apr 2026

  Research Associate

  School of Physics, University of Melbourne · TMOS

  • Meta-optics research under Prof. Ann Roberts, developing metasurfaces for all-optical feature recognition and birefringence imaging.
• Jan — Jun 2025

  Fulbright Visiting Researcher

  Advanced Science Research Center, City University of New York

  • Five-month placement under Prof. Andrea Alù, Founding Director of the Photonics Initiative.
  • Conceived and led an independent research program on metasurfaces for all-optical feature recognition, coordinating the work across CUNY and the University of Melbourne.
• 2022 — 2025

  PhD Candidate

  School of Physics, University of Melbourne · TMOS

  • Designed, fabricated and characterised tunable metasurface platforms for all-optical image processing.
  • Established and coordinated international collaborations with CUNY, the University of Stuttgart, RMIT University, the Australian National University, Dorevitch Pathology, St Vincent's Hospital and the Florey Institute.
• 2020 — 2022

  Tutor, Laboratory Demonstrator & Marker

  School of Physics, University of Melbourne

  • Taught across first-year physics, special relativity & electromagnetism, and electrodynamics.
• Jan — Feb 2020

  Laby Research Scholar

  School of Physics, University of Melbourne

  • Designed nanostructures as anti-counterfeiting devices for Australian banknotes, in collaboration with the Reserve Bank of Australia.
• 2013 — present

  Event DJ & Master of Ceremonies

  Self-employed

  • Has operated an event services business for over a decade — client acquisition, pricing, contracting and delivery.

Refereed journal articles

Eight articles; five as first or co-first author. ^† denotes equal first authorship.

1. S. Arslan^†, S. B. Sulejman^†, S. Klein, J. Haener, J. Schwab, D. Ludescher, L. Wesemann, A. Roberts, H. Giessen and M. Hentschel, “Polarisation-dependent elliptical and rectangular Mie voids,” Small e11992 (2026). doi ↗
2. H. Wang, S. Ma, S. B. Sulejman, N. Priscilla, W. S. L. Lee, P. F. M. Elango, L. Wesemann, E. Hinde and A. Roberts, “Wavelength and polarisation multiplexed nonlocal metasurface for quantitative phase microscopy,” Nanophotonics e70190 (2026). doi ↗
3. D. Ludescher, L. Wesemann, J. Schwab, J. Karst, S. B. Sulejman, M. Ubl, B. O. Clarke, A. Roberts, H. Giessen and M. Hentschel, “Optical sieve for nanoplastic detection, sizing and counting,” Nature Photonics 19, 1138–1145 (2025). doi ↗
4. S. B. Sulejman, L. Wesemann, M. McCormack, J. Meng, J. A. Hutchison, N. Priscilla, G. McColl, K. Read, W. Sim, A. A. Sukhorukov, K. B. Crozier and A. Roberts, “Metasurfaces for infrared multimodal microscopy: phase contrast and bright field,” ACS Photonics 12(3), 1494–1506 (2025). doi ↗
5. M. Cotrufo^†, S. B. Sulejman^†, L. Wesemann^†, M. A. Rahman, M. Bhaskaran, A. Roberts and A. Alù, “Reconfigurable image processing metasurfaces with phase-change materials,” Nature Communications 15, 4483 (2024). doi ↗
6. N. Priscilla^†, S. B. Sulejman^†, A. Roberts and L. Wesemann, “New avenues for phase imaging: optical metasurfaces,” ACS Photonics 11(6), 2843–2859 (2024). doi ↗
7. N. Priscilla, L. Wesemann, L. Clark, S. B. Sulejman, J. Rickett, T. J. Davis and A. Roberts, “Rapid inverse design of metasurfaces with an asymmetric transfer function for all-optical image processing using a mode matching model,” Optics Express 32, 26964–26978 (2024). doi ↗
8. S. B. Sulejman^†, N. Priscilla^†, L. Wesemann, W. S. L. Lee, J. Lou, E. Hinde, T. J. Davis and A. Roberts, “Thin film notch filters as platforms for biological image processing,” Scientific Reports 13, 4494 (2023). doi ↗

Refereed conference proceedings

1. D. Ludescher, B. Hisenaj, L. Wesemann, J. Schwab, J. Karst, S. B. Sulejman, M. Ubl, B. O. Clarke, A. Roberts, H. Giessen and M. Hentschel, “Optical sieve for nanoplastic detection, sizing, and counting: improved detection efficiency through principal component analysis,” Proc. SPIE 14076, Nanophotonics XI, 1407608.
2. S. B. Sulejman, L. Wesemann, M. McCormack, J. Meng, J. A. Hutchison, N. Priscilla, G. McColl, K. Read, W. Sim, A. A. Sukhorukov, K. B. Crozier and A. Roberts, “Metasurfaces for infrared multimodal microscopy,” Proc. SPIE 13378, High Contrast Metastructures XIV, 1337804.
3. L. Wesemann, S. B. Sulejman, N. Priscilla, L. Clark, H. Wang, I. Khodasevych, K. M. Nair, M. A. Rahman, T. J. Davis, M. Cotrufo, A. Alù, F. Iacopi, M. Bhaskaran and A. Roberts, “Innovations in all-optical image processing: the promise of meta-optics,” Proc. SPIE PC13030, Image Sensing Technologies, PC130300B (2024).
4. N. Priscilla, N. Li, L. Wesemann, S. B. Sulejman, J. Meng, R. T. Ako, M. Bhaskaran, A. A. Sukhorukov and A. Roberts, “High resolution bio-imaging via inverse design of metasurfaces,” Proc. SPIE 12895, Quantum Sensing and Nano Electronics and Photonics XX, 128950P (2024).
5. L. Wesemann, S. B. Sulejman, N. Priscilla, W. Lee, L. Clark, J. Rickett, J. Song, J. Lou, E. Hinde, T. J. Davis and A. Roberts, “Meta-optics for new approaches to all-optical image processing,” Proc. SPIE PC12622, Optical Methods for Inspection, Characterization, and Imaging of Biomaterials VI, PC126220B (2023).
6. S. S. M. Khaleghi, S. Balendhran, N. S. Azar, S. B. Sulejman, A. Roberts and K. B. Crozier, “High resolution, low noise and full colour single pixel imaging camera using cyclic patterns,” CLEO 2023, Technical Digest Series (Optica Publishing Group, 2023), paper ATu3K.6.
7. N. Priscilla, S. B. Sulejman, W. S. Lee, L. Wesemann, T. J. Davis and A. Roberts, “Shedding new light on phase contrast imaging with nanophotonics,” Optica Imaging Congress, Technical Digest Series (Optica Publishing Group, 2023), paper FTh3G.1.
8. S. B. Sulejman, N. Priscilla, L. Wesemann, W. S. L. Lee, T. J. Davis and A. Roberts, “Biological phase contrast imaging with notch filters,” Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science 2022, Technical Digest Series (Optica Publishing Group, 2022), paper JW4A.74.

Invited seminars

Academic seminars

• University of Melbourne, Jun 2026 — departmental seminar on postdoctoral research in meta-optics, hosted by the School of Physics.
• Harvard University, Apr 2025 — 60-minute seminar, “Metasurfaces for image processing applications”, hosted by the group of Prof. Federico Capasso.
• City University of New York, Feb 2025 — 60-minute seminar, “Metasurfaces for image processing applications”, hosted by the group of Prof. Andrea Alù.
• University of Stuttgart, Jul 2024 — 60-minute seminar, “Tunable metasurfaces for multimodal microscopy”, hosted by the group of Prof. Harald Giessen.
• University of Melbourne, Jun 2021 — “Imaging the invisible using nanoscale physics”, Faculty of Science Work Experience Program for Year 10 students.

Public and community talks

• Rotary Club, Shepparton, Aug 2025 — 30-minute presentation on his story.
• Greater Shepparton Foundation, Aug 2024 — address on the impact of the Lift Off Scholarship program, at the Bella Ainsworth Perpetual Lift Off Scholarship fundraising dinner.
• Dafydd Lewis Trust & Mary Jane Lewis Foundation, May 2024 — address on research career pathways and scholarship impact, at the annual networking event.
• Rotary Club, Shepparton, Aug 2022 — “My story: from Shepparton to optical physics”.

Research impact & media

“Optical sieve for nanoplastic detection, sizing and counting”, Nature Photonics (2025)

• Authored the accompanying explainer in The Conversation, syndicated by Yahoo News Australia.
• International coverage including the University of Stuttgart, ScienceDaily, SciTechDaily, Analytica World, Mirage News and TMOS.

“Reconfigurable image processing metasurfaces with phase-change materials”, Nature Communications (2024)

• Ranked among the journal's top 20 Physics publications of 2024.
• Coverage including Phys.org, City University of New York and RMIT University.

Peer review & memberships

Journal referee — Dec 2024 to present

• Optics Express, Optics Letters and Optical Materials Express (Optica Publishing Group).
• npj Nanophotonics (Nature Portfolio).

Memberships — since Feb 2022

• International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), Optica, the Australian and New Zealand Optical Society (ANZOS), and the Australian Institute of Physics (AIP).

Conference presentations

Fifteen presentations across Australia, Asia and the United States.

• Metasurfaces for all-optical object recognition · TMOS Conference, Sydney, 2025
• Metasurfaces for infrared multimodal microscopy · SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, 2025
• Tunable metasurfaces for infrared multi-modal image processing · TMOS Conference, Perth, 2024
• Tunable metasurfaces for infrared multi-modal image processing · KOALA, Melbourne, 2024
• Tunable metasurfaces for infrared multi-modal image processing · AIP Congress, Melbourne, 2024
• Nanophotonic wavefront sensing with nonlocal metasurfaces · ICMAT, Singapore, 2023
• Dielectric metasurface for polarisation-switchable phase visualisation · ICMAT, Singapore, 2023
• Phase imaging using polarisation-sensitive dielectric metasurfaces · APNFO, Busan, South Korea, 2023
• Classical ghost phase imaging using metasurfaces · KOALA, Adelaide, 2022
• Classical ghost phase imaging using dielectric Mie metasurfaces · TMOS Conference, Murray Bridge, 2022
• Phase contrast imaging with thin film notch filters · AIP Congress, Adelaide, 2022
• Biological phase contrast imaging with notch filters · Frontiers in Optics, Rochester, New York, 2022
• Classical ghost image processing using nanostructures · KOZWaves, 2022
• Ghost phase imaging using metasurfaces · ANZCOP, 2021

Awards, scholarships & prizes

Thirty-two competitive awards totalling more than AUD 300,000, plus one thesis nomination currently under consideration.

Under consideration

• 2026Nominated — Bragg Gold Medal for Excellence in PhysicsAustralian Institute of Physics

Awarded

• 2026Chancellor's Prize for Excellence in PhD ResearchUniversity of Melbourne
• 2025Dr Albert Shimmins Postgraduate Writing-Up AwardUniversity of Melbourne
• 2025Student Conference Support GrantSPIE
• 2024Fulbright Future ScholarshipFulbright Australia
• 2024Postgraduate Student PrizeAustralian & New Zealand Optical Society
• 2024Best Oral Presentation AwardTMOS
• 2024Partner Investigator Exchange AwardTMOS
• 2023Optics & Photonics Education ScholarshipSPIE
• 2023Leader of the Year AwardTMOS
• 2023Industry AwardTMOS
• 2023Collaboration AwardTMOS
• 2023Dr Alan Kenneth Head PhD International Research AwardSchool of Physics, University of Melbourne
• 2023Best Poster Presentation AwardICMAT, Singapore
• 2022Best Poster Presentation AwardKOALA
• 2022Meta-Together Working Party AwardTMOS
• 2022 — 25Ernst & Grace Matthaei ScholarshipUniversity of Melbourne · funded PhD
• 2022Dixson Scholarship in Experimental PhysicsSchool of Physics, University of Melbourne
• 2022Bright Spark PhD Top-Up ScholarshipTMOS
• 2022 — 25Research Training Program Scholarship (Fee Offset)Australian Government
• 2021Student Ambassador Leadership ProgramUniversity of Melbourne
• 2021Dr Jean E. Laby BursarySchool of Physics, University of Melbourne
• 2021 — 23Lift Off Margaret Attwood Trust Education ScholarshipGreater Shepparton Foundation
• 2020 — 24Rural and Regional Enterprise ScholarshipQueensland Tertiary Admissions Centre
• 2020N. D. Goldsworthy Scholarship for PhysicsSchool of Physics, University of Melbourne
• 2020Muriel Ramm Science BursaryUniversity of Melbourne
• 2020Dr Jean E. Laby BursarySchool of Physics, University of Melbourne
• 2020Melbourne Graduate Access ScholarshipUniversity of Melbourne
• 2020Laby Research ScholarshipSchool of Physics, University of Melbourne
• 2018Peter Cole ScholarshipInternational House, University of Melbourne
• 2017 — 21Relocation ScholarshipDepartment of Health & Human Services Australia
• 2017 — 19Dafydd Lewis Trust ScholarshipEquity Trustees Melbourne
• 2017 — 19Melbourne Access ScholarshipUniversity of Melbourne
• 2017Hilda Trevelyan Morrison ScholarshipUniversity of Melbourne

Professional activities & outreach

• 2017 — present

  Scholar, then mentor

  Dafydd Lewis Trust & Mary Jane Lewis Foundation

  Scholarship recipient 2017–19. Joined the Trustees' panel interviewing applicants (2018); promoted the scholarship to Year 12 students at Shepparton High School; mentored a recipient through their tertiary studies (2022–23); delivered invited talks to the Trust community.

• 2022

  Co-President, SPIE & Optica Student Chapters

  University of Melbourne

  Selected as one of 100 students globally for Optica's fully-funded Student Leadership Conference, Rochester, New York.

• 2022

  Outreach Committee

  TMOS

  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 school workshops across Victoria and South Australia.

• 2022

  Student–ECR Conference Organising Committee

  TMOS

  Organised node activities for the Melbourne TMOS universities (RMIT and University of Melbourne).

• 2022

  Peer Mentor

  Melbourne Peer Mentor Program, University of Melbourne

  Mentored commencing undergraduates through their first semester. Earned a Melbourne Plus People Leadership credential.

• 2021 — 2023

  Activities Officer, then Secretary

  Postgraduate Physics Students' Society, University of Melbourne

• 2021 — 2023

  Lift Off Scholar

  Greater Shepparton Foundation

  Spoke to Goulburn Valley high school students on scholarships, careers and post-secondary study options. Interviewed by Shepparton News, The Adviser, ABC Radio, One FM and WIN News.

• 2021

  Science Student Ambassador

  Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne

• 2020 — 2021

  Staff–Student Liaison Committee Representative

  School of Physics, University of Melbourne

• 2020

  Tutor, VCE Summer School Program

  University of Melbourne

  Specialist Mathematics Units 3 & 4.

• 2019

  Science Delivery Outreach Program

  Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne

  Built a science show across a semester of weekly training, then delivered it on a two-week roadshow to lower socio-economic schools across metropolitan and regional Victoria.

• 2017

  Future Rural Leaders Residential Program

  YouThrive Victoria

• 2014 — 2016

  Soccer Coach

  Shepparton High School

  Coach and assistant coach of the Under 15s and Senior Boys teams.

Industry collaboration

• Australian Eggs (2026 – present) — leads optical system development for non-invasive gender determination of chicken eggs before incubation; convert operational requirements into system specifications; direct partner contact.
• Dorevitch Pathology & St Vincent's Hospital (2023 – 2025) — developed the infrared multimodal microscopy platform with a commercial pathology provider, assessed against the constraints of a commercial diagnostics laboratory.
• Reserve Bank of Australia (2020) — designed nanostructures for anti-counterfeiting of Australian banknotes.
• Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health — clinical sample collaboration on infrared multimodal microscopy.

Referees

Available on request.