In this blog Ben Hanley, chair of the Opening up Photonics steering committee interviews Susannah Heck, a Principal Engineer with Effect Photonics, about how learning to step out of her comfort zone helped her navigate a career in Photonics.
Background
I’m half Irish, half Swiss. I was born in Switzerland, and with my dad’s job we moved to Paris for a bit. I did most of my schooling in Switzerland before moving to Ireland for what was meant to be a year, it turned into eleven, covering both my undergraduate and PhD studies. After that, I moved to London for a postdoc, then to Northampton to work for Oclaro (now part of Lumentum), and later to Scotland to join Kaiam in Livingston. I’m laughing because the first time I ever visited Edinburgh was to find somewhere to live after taking the job!
I’ve since worked across several tech companies including CST (now Sivers Photonics) and for the past few years I’ve been working remotely from Edinburgh for a Dutch firm. I’ve moved a lot, but Edinburgh is actually the place I’ve lived the longest.
I enjoyed maths, physics and applied maths in school. My maths, applied maths and physics teacher had a polarising lecturing style, but I found it engaging. In my first undergraduate year, I studied maths, physics, chemistry, and applied maths, before choosing to major in physics with a minor in applied maths.
I was drawn to optics, quantum mechanics and physical chemistry, but my real introduction to photonics came in my third year in Cork. I met Dr Fatima Gunning from the Photonic Systems Group at Tyndall, who showed me their new photonics lab. I remember thinking, “Wow, physics looks like this?” all the fibres, scopes, modulators, and high-speed kit. That summer I interned there, splicing fibres and setting up test beds, and I realised I wanted to understand the components behind the systems.
That curiosity led to my PhD starting in 2005, focusing on semiconductor lasers and amplifiers for telecoms, part of a project with partners like Alcatel in Paris. I liked that there was a real customer interested in my results; it made the research feel purposeful. After my PhD, I did a short postdoc at Imperial College London before moving into industry, where I’ve been for about 15 years.
What drew you to maths and physics?
They were the subjects that just clicked. The penny dropped faster than with languages or humanities, I understood them instinctively.
As an undergraduate, I enjoyed labs, but the photonic systems lab was something else: big scopes, error rate testers, expensive shiny kit, it was hands-on and tangible. You’d apply theory, then in practice find, “I can’t close this system, why?” That curiosity about noise and performance eventually pushed me toward semiconductor devices. I wanted to know which parameters mattered, what could be optimised, and what physics dictated what you simply had to work with.
For my PhD, I was an experimentalist in a theory group which was the best of both worlds.
Why was industry relevance important in your research?
Some people are motivated purely by personal development, and that’s valid. But for me, I’m more driven when there’s a real customer or application. It matters that what I’m doing will be used and that it has tangible value beyond theory. That’s probably why I’ve stayed in industry. I like seeing my work make an impact.
What challenges have you had to overcome?
Public speaking and networking haven’t come naturally to me. I’m quite shy, and even now I get nervous on stage or on the phone. But I’ve learned to put myself in those situations deliberately. Each time you do it, it gets a bit easier, and you realise how much benefit there is in pushing through the discomfort. It’s definitely been a learned skill, not an innate one.
Who or what has inspired or supported you along the way?
Most of the people who’ve inspired me probably don’t even know it. They’ve been a mix of managers and colleagues, men and women, whose emotional intelligence or leadership style I admired. Sometimes you see how someone handles a situation and think, “That was impressive, I want to learn from that.”
I’ve been fortunate to work with people open to sharing their time, knowledge, and honest feedback. Constructive criticism can sting, but it’s invaluable if you’re trying to grow.
What’s the best career advice you’ve received?
“Don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone.”
“Every experience is worth it even the ones that don’t go to plan.” “You always learn something, even if it’s just don’t do that again!”
And finally, “Work on your soft skills as well as your technical ones.” You can’t overemphasise how important it is to collaborate effectively. Some people are naturally good at it, but most of us have to work on it and those who do tend to stand out.
Have you noticed gender imbalance in your industry?
In my career, I’ve rarely been in the majority. Some companies are more balanced than others, depending on the department for example, supply chain roles might have more women than engineering.
Yes, I’ve been the only woman in the room at times. Fortunately, I’ve had mostly positive experiences and supportive colleagues both male and female. That’s not to say challenges don’t exist, but I’ve been lucky overall.
How has moving between countries shaped you?
Every move has pushed me out of my comfort zone and taught me to adapt. I’ve always spoken the local language, which helped. The biggest leap was moving within Ireland for university from Kilkenny to Cork.
I didn’t know many people so I made myself join the university mountaineering club. That first Sunday hike in Kerry turned out to be a great decision. I made some lifelong friends, and the club gave me leadership experience as treasurer, transport officer and captain.
All that came from simply choosing not to spend my first weekend alone in student digs. It taught me the value of saying yes to new things after that, later moves, even to new countries, never felt quite so daunting.
In the end, every big step, whether it was joining a new company, learning to speak up, or moving across borders, has been about the same principle: stepping out of my comfort zone.
