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Prof C. David Wright

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Prof C. David Wright

Professor of Electronic Engineering - Head Nano-Engineering Science and Technology Group - Co-Director EPSRC CDT in Metamaterials - Co-Director Centre for Metamaterials Research & Innovation

Location: Harrison 308

Telephone: 01392 723614

Extension: (Streatham) 3614

C David Wright obtained a B.Sc. with first class honours in Physics from Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, an M.Sc. in Solid State Physics from the University of Sheffield, and a Ph.D. in Perpendicular Magnetic Recording from Manchester (CNAA). He worked as a Process Engineer for Philips Electronics in Manchester, before taking up a faculty appointment in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Manchester. before moving to Exeter to take up the Chair in Electronic and Computer Engineering.

Professor Wright’s research centres on the development of (i) future generation, non-volatile, memory and computing devices and technologies, and (ii) active optical metasurfaces for the control of light from the UV to the THz. 

A recent emphasis has been on (i) the incorporation of advanced functionality into memory devices, in particular demonstration of their ability to perform arithmetic and logic processing, as well as mimic neuronal and synaptic systems of the brain, and (ii) the development of chalcogenide phase-change metasurfaces for applications such as LIDAR and multispectral imaging.

Professor Wright is also heavily involved in the development of research strategy, at the UK, European and international level.

He led the UK Government (DTI) funded Data Storage Network, led the EU's Special Strategic Action on memory technology, was part of the team that carried out a strategic review of the EU's flagship FP7 nanoelectronics programmes - the ENIAC & ARETMIS JTIs that account for over €3 billion of EU spending, and he is a lead contributor on memory technology to the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI.org).

Professor Wright currently leads the €4 million H2020 project Fun-COMP (www.fun-comp.org), that brings together leading EU university groups (Oxford, Muenster, C2N-CNRS) and industrial researchers (IBM, Thales, IMEC) to develop new fast, low-power approaches to computing using integrated photonics techniques. He is also a key partner in major EPSRC-funded projects developing flexible electronics materials and devices (the £3 million Waft project, see waft.materials.ox.ac.uk/), new chalcogenide materials for electronic and photonic device applications (the £2.5 million Champ project, see https://chalcogenide.net/) and novel metamaterial-based approaches to the control of electromagnetic and acoustic waves (the TEAM-A project, see https://emps.exeter.ac.uk/team-a). He is Co-Director of Exeter’s EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Metamaterials (see http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/metamaterials/) and the Centre for Metamaterials Research & Innovation (https://emps.exeter.ac.uk/metamaterial-cmri).

Professor Wright has collaborated at some time or other with most of the major electronics companies in the world, including IBM, Micron Semiconductor, ST Microelectronics, Philips, GEC-Plessey, Sony and Panasonic. He also works closely with smaller companies, such as PragmatIC, Waveoptics and Bodle Technologies Ltd, and has extensive links within the national and international defence and security sectors.