Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem is Professor in Photonic Materials and Optical Fibres and Deputy Director of the Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) at Adelaide University. She is also Director of the Optofab Adelaide Hub at the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF). She received the Ph.D. degree in 1994 at the University of Jena, Germany. She was 1988-2000 with the University of Jena, Germany; 2001-2004 with the Optoelectronics Research Centre in Southampton, UK; and since 2005 with the University of Adelaide, Australia. In 2023, she was awarded a South Australian State Government Future Making Industry Fellowship and an ARC Laureate Industry Fellowship on “Breaking through the manufacturing ‘glass ceiling’ for ZBLAN glass fibres”. Her research focuses on the development of novel optical glasses and specialty optical fibres for laser and sensing applications.