European Conference and Exhibition on Optical Communication 2026
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Join us at Hack Your Research for an exciting event featuring interactive demos of the most powerful tools and techniques used by expert researchers and professionals to simplify all aspects of optical communication research. Whether you are a student or a highly experienced researcher, everyone is welcome! Come and learn from the trial-and-error experiences of others, connect with peers and experts and engage in stimulating discussions, all while enjoying light food and drinks in a relaxed and fun environment.
This special event will include a lunch sponsored by Optica, providing attendees and panelists with an opportunity to interact and network.
Lena Wosinska (Chalmers University, Sweden)
Lena Wosinska received her PhD degree in Photonics and Docent degree in Optical Networks from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden where she established and led a widely recognized research group working on optical networks. At KTH she was a Full Professor of Telecommunication until October 2018. Currently she is a Research Professor with the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, where she moved together with her team. Her research broadly concerns optical communications and networks, including fiber access and 5G/6G transport networks, energy and cost efficiency, optical data center networks, photonics in switching, network control, reliability, security, and survivability incl. application of ML/AI. She was involved and had a leading role in several EU projects, as well as coordinating national and international research projects. She has been involved in many expert assignments, including serving in the panels evaluating research project proposals for many funding agencies, guest editorships of leading IEEE, OSA, Elsevier and Springer journals, serving as General Chair and Co-Chair of several IEEE, OSA and SPIE conferences and workshops. She has been an Associate Editor of OSA Journal of Optical Networking and IEEE/OSA Journal of Optical Communications and Networking, Springer Photonic Networks Communication Journal and of Wiley Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies. Currently she is serving on the Editorial Board of IEEE Communications Magazine.
She received IEEE ComSoc ONTC Outstanding Technical Achievement Award 2021 for Pioneering Research in Optical Networks and Jane M. Simmons Memorial Speakership Award 2025 for the numerous contributions to optical networking research and for mentoring and inspiring a generation of leaders in optical networking.
Olga Vassilieva (Fujitsu, USA)
Olga Vassilieva received the M.S. degree in physics from Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, in 1988 and the Ph.D. degree in physics from The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA, in 1999. She is a research scientist in the Advanced Technology Laboratory at 1Finity Americas, Inc., Dallas, TX, USA. Her research focuses on high bit-rate coherent optical transmission systems, advanced optical modulation formats, techniques for mitigating fiber transmission impairments, and the advantages and practical implementation of hollow-core fiber. Before joining 1Finity Americas, Inc., she held research positions at Fujitsu Network Communications, USA, and Fujitsu Laboratories of America, USA.
Dr. Vassilieva is a Senior Member of IEEE and has authored or co-authored numerous scientific papers. She currently serves as Chair of the S3 Subcommittee for OFC 2027 and as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Lightwave Technology. She previously served as a technical program committee member for OFC 2025/2026 and CLEO-PR 2022.
Anna Tzanakaki is a Professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece where she is leading the “Systems and Networks” Research Group. Previously she was an Associate Professor at the Athens Information Technology (AIT) Center, Greece and an adjunct faculty member of the Information Networking Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, USA. Her research interests include network architectures and design and over the past 10 years has focused on 5G and 6G infrastructures. She has been and is actively participating in a number of EU research projects, has served as the technical coordinator of the 5G PPP projects 5G-PICTURE and 5G-VICTORI, and is currently the Project and Technical coordinator of the EU DEP projects 5G-TACTIC focusing on 5G Security. She is a co-author of over 250 publications and co-inventor of several granted and published patents. She is the recipient of the OPTICA Jane Simmons speakership award 2024 for her contribution to optical and converged network research.