WELCOME TO InPhoSpec 2026!
Integrated Photonics Spectroscopy Summer School
We are delighted to invite you to the 2026 Summer School on Integrated Photonics Spectroscopy, taking place in Galway, Ireland. This four-day school will bring together early-career researchers and leading experts to explore the rapidly evolving landscape of integrated photonic technologies and their application to advanced spectroscopic sensing. Participants can expect a rich programme of lectures, discussions, and networking opportunities spanning topics such as photonic integrated circuits, metasurfaces, mid-infrared sensing, photonics packaging, and optical spectroscopy techniques.
This year’s Summer School will be held at the
University of Galway, Ireland
on
4th - 7th August 2026
Set against the stunning scenery of the west of Ireland, with Galway’s wild Atlantic coastline, sweeping Connemara landscapes, and vibrant city culture providing an inspiring backdrop, the school offers an exceptional environment for learning, collaboration, and the forging of new scientific connections. The event is organised as part of the PROTEMIC project, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network funded under the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, and welcomes participants both from within the network and from the broader research community.
Registration
Registration is now open!
Full registration includes on-campus accommodation in the Dunlin Village residence – your own en-suite room in a 4 or 6 bedroom self-catering apartment, with shared kitchen and living area. The registration fee also includes: lunch and teas/coffees for 4 days (Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri); Drinks Reception on Monday evening; Event Dinner on Wednesday evening; Excursion on Wednesday afternoon; refreshments at the Poster session on Tues.
Self-host registration includes everything in Full Registration except that no accommodation is provided. Choose this if you prefer to make your own hotel arrangements. Please note that, in this case, the organisers cannot make hotel bookings for you; a non-exhaustive list of suggested hotels is provided below for convenience, but this should not be considered an endorsement of any particular hotel, and no special rates have been arranged with any of them.
One-day registration allows attendance for one day only. It includes lunch and tea/coffee on that day, but it does not include any accommodation, nor does it include the Excursion or Event Dinner.
N.B. For PROTEMIC Doctoral Candidates: It is not necessary for PROTEMIC DCs to register through the link below. Instead, please complete the form circulated separately.
Full Registration: €650
Self-Host Registration: €370
One-Day Registration: €180
Registration is managed through the MTU Events booking website:
Accompanying Persons: If you plan to travel with accompanying persons (e.g. spouse, children), we will do our best to assist where possible. E.g. it may be possible to book an entire 4- or 6-room apartment for your family (subject to availability and additional cost). They are also welcome to join the excursion and/or event dinner, depending on capacity. If you wish to make arrangements for accompaying persons, please email inphospec@protemic.eu.
Venue
Summer School Location
The venue for the Summer School is the Institute for Lifecourse & Society (ILAS) Building on the campus of University of Galway, conveniently situated on the outskirts of Galway city.
Address: Institute for Lifecourse and Society, University of Galway, Upper Newcastle Road, Galway, Ireland (H91 C7DK)
GPS Coordinates: 53.288798695904724, -9.069750333089507
On-Campus Accommodation - Dunlin Village
On-campus accommodation provided for the Summer School will be in the Dunlin Village residence, a new residence which opened in September 2023. The residence is conveniently located opposite the event venue.
Dunlin Village is a bright, modern, energy-efficient residence with 674 bedrooms in 125 spacious, self-catering, apartments. Apartments contain 4 or 6 individual
bedrooms along with a spacious shared kitchen and living area. Each bedroom comes with its own en suite bathroom, ample storage, and a work desk.
Address: Dunlin Village, Upper Newcastle, Galway (H91 DFD0)
GPS Coordinates: 53.28984612659994, -9.069301744177094
Travel and Parking
Getting Here
The nearest airport is Shannon Airport, about an hour’s drive from Galway. Dublin Airport is about 2 hours 15 mins drive.
There are a number of bus services linking Galway to other Irish cities; see Bus Éireann (public), or private operators such as CityLink.
The train station in Galway is located near Eyre Square in the city centre (about a 15-30min drive to ILAS, depending on traffic). Regular trains from Dublin take about 2.5 hours. The train from Cork requires changing at Limerick (or Dublin), and can take 4-5 hours total. See Irish Rail for timetables.
Some further details on how to get to the ILAS Building are available here.
For navigating around the campus, the University has an interactive Campus Map – search for ‘ILAS’.
Parking
Be aware that parking around campus is very restricted, with clamping strictly enforced. Most parking spots are for permit holders only. The conference organisers will have a limited number of permits available for Summer School attendees – if you require one of these, please contact inphospec@protemic.eu to make a request.
Even if you have a permit, this only allows you to park in certain designated spaces – please ensure you are correctly parked!
There is a Park & Ride car park very close to the venue; again, most spaces are for permit holders only, but there are a limited number of Pay & Display spaces.
Hotel Suggestions (self-hosting option)
If you prefer not to avail of the on-campus accommodation, and choose the ‘Self-Hosting’ registration option instead, then you are responsible for arranging your own accommodation. For convenience, we provide here a non-exhaustive list of some nearby hotels. However, please note that the organisers are not able to book hotels for you, and there are no special rates negotiated with any of the hotels. The list below does not imply endorsement by the organisers of any particular hotel.
Menlo Park Hotel, Headford Road, Galway. Tel: +353 91 761 122
The Dean Galway, Prospect Hill, Galway. Tel: +353 91 749 200
Leonardo Hotel Galway, Quay Street, Galway. Tel: +353 91 566 444
Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill, Galway. Tel: +353 91 514 644
The Western Hotel, Prospect Hill, Galway. Tel: +353 91 562 834
Excursion
[Details of the Excursion TBD].
Programme
N.B. At this time the programme is still being finalised. The schedule currently shown here is an outline only, to allow planning of travel, etc. A more complete schedule will be published once the majority of speakers have confirmed timings, etc.
Monday 3rd August 2026
19:30 – 21:00: Early Registration and Drinks Reception
Tuesday 4th August 2026
08:30 – 09:00: Registration
09:00 – 10:00
[TBC]
10:00 – 11:00
[TBC]
11:00 – 11:15: Coffee break
11:15 – 12:15
[TBC]
12:15 – 13:15
[TBC]
13:15 – 14:00: Lunch
14:00 – 15:00
[TBC]
15:00 – 16:00
[TBC]
16:00 – 16:20: Coffee break
16:20 – 17:20
[TBC]
17:20 – 18:30: POSTER SESSION with Refreshments
Wednesday 5th August 2026
09:00 – 10:00
PLENARY TALK
[TBC]
[TBC]
10:00 – 11:00
[TBC]
11:00 – 11:15: Coffee break
11:15 – 12:15
[TBC]
12:15 – 13:15
[TBC]
13:15 – 14:00: Lunch
14:00 – 19:00: Excursion
19:00: Event Dinner
Thursday 6th August 2026
09:00 – 10:00
[TBC]
10:00 – 11:00
[TBC]
11:00 – 11:15: Coffee break
11:15 – 12:15
[TBC]
12:15 – 13:15
[TBC]
13:15 – 14:00: Lunch
14:00 – 15:00
[TBC]
15:00 – 16:00
[TBC]
16:00 – 16:20: Coffee break
16:20 – 17:20
[TBC]
17:20 – 18:20
[TBC]
Friday 7th August 2026
09:00 – 13:00: PROTEMIC Project Meeting
For members of the PROTEMIC Network only
Posters
All student attendees will be expected to present a poster at the Poster Session on Tues 4th August. Posters should be prepared in A0 Portrait size; other than that, you may use your own template, but please include the InPhoSpec2026 logo (download here).
PLEASE NOTE: There will be no facilities for printing posters at the venue. Attendees should print their posters themselves and bring them with them. Poster boards and velcro strips for attaching posters will be provided.
Best Poster Prize: €TBD
There will an award for the Best Poster presentation. Details TBC.
Contact
InPhoSpec 2026 is organised by the Centre for Advanced Photonics & Process Analysis (CAPPA) at
Munster Technological University
To contact the organisers, please use the email address:
InPhoSpec 2026 is organised in conjunction with the PROTEMIC Doctoral Network. PROTEMIC – Integrated Spectroscopy for Protein Analysis Using Metasurfaces and Interband/Quantum Cascade Devices – is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action which is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme. It is a Double Doctorate programme involving 10 partners across Ireland, Germany, Austria, Spain and Switzerland, which trains 12 Doctoral Candidates (DCs) in a cross-disciplinary network combining photonics integration and advanced spectroscopy to demonstrate a new paradigm of in-situ measurements of protein denaturation. Find out more at www.protemic.eu.
Banner image credit: Prof. Chaosheng Zhang