Rate My Professor Frederique Vanholsbeeck

Frédérique Vanholsbeeck is a full professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Auckland and Director of the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies at the University of Otago since April 2023. She earned her PhD in physics from the Université libre de Bruxelles, focusing on non-linear optical phenomena, after initially training as an architect at the Institut Supérieur d'Architecture Intercommunal Victor Horta. In 2001, she received the Scientific Prize of the Belgian Physical Society for the best Master's thesis. Following her PhD, she completed a one-year postdoctoral position at the University of Auckland, joining the faculty there in 2005 as the only woman academic in the department at the time. She progressed through the ranks to become a full professor in 2023. At Otago, she is listed in the Physics department within the Sciences Division.

Her research specializations encompass biophotonics, optical coherence tomography, fluorescence spectroscopy, and nonlinear optics, including applications in bacterial viability monitoring and food safety via developments like the optrode, a portable real-time fluorometer. Key publications include 'Optimisation of the Protocol for the LIVE/DEAD® BacLightTM Bacterial Viability Kit for Rapid Determination of Bacterial Load' (Frontiers in Microbiology, 2019), 'The role of pump incoherence in continuous-wave supercontinuum generation' (Optics Express, 2005), 'Absolute bacterial cell enumeration using flow cytometry' (Journal of Applied Microbiology, 2017), 'Dispersion compensation in Fourier domain optical coherence tomography using the fractional Fourier transform' (Optics Express, 2012), and 'Passively mode-locked Raman fiber laser with repetition rate' (Optics Letters, 2006). Vanholsbeeck has garnered major awards such as the Hill Tinsley Medal from the New Zealand Association of Scientists (2020), the inaugural Optical Society of America Diversity and Inclusion Advocacy Recognition award (2018), Dean’s Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching at the University of Auckland (2017), and election as a Fellow of Optica (2025). She has chaired the equity committee in her physics department, advancing inclusive hiring and award processes leading to Pleiades certification.