John Donegan

John Donegan is an Irish physicist and academic specializing in photonics, nanophotonics, and optical communications. He is the Professor of Physics and Applications of Light at Trinity College Dublin and Deputy Director of the CRANN Nanoscience Research Centre having previously served as Head of the School of Physics at Trinity. A Fellow of Trinity College and the Institute of Physics, he has contributed to research and industry collaboration in optical and photonic sciences in Ireland and internationally.

Education Donegan received his B.Sc. in Physics (First Class Honours) in 1982 from the University College Galway (now University of Galway). He went on to complete his M.Sc. in Physics in 1984 and his Ph.D. in Physics in 1986 at the same institution. His doctoral research was supervised by Professor G.F. Imbusch. In 1997, he was awarded an M.A. (j.o.) from the University of Dublin, Trinity College.

In 1989, he returned to Ireland and joined Optronics Ireland, a newly established research centre at Trinity College Dublin, where he worked as a Senior Research Officer until 1993 under the direction of John Hegarty.

He joined the Department of Physics at Trinity College Dublin in 1993 as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor equivalent), and progressed through the ranks from Senior Lecturer to Professor of Physics and Applications of Light in 2018. Throughout his time at Trinity College Dublin, Donegan served as the Head of School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin (2008 – 2010), Deputy Head of School (2010 - present), Director of Research, School of Physics: (2005–2008), Chairman, Personnel and Appointments Committee, (2007–2008), Board Member, Trinity College Fellows Constituency (2007–2008) and as Course Director, Physics and Chemistry of Advanced Materials (1999–2002). He has led academic–industry research collaborations, particularly through AMBER, working with companies such as Western Digital, Nokia Bell Labs, and Pilot Photonics.

He has also made contributions to research on 2D materials. Donegan was part of the collaborative team that demonstrated Liquid Phase Exfoliation, a useful method for large-scale production of 2D materials. The resulting paper, published in Science, has been cited over 7,000 times. His work was part of two papers in Nature Communications that quantified both light scattering in 2D sheets and use optical effects to estimate sheet size.