The International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors (OFS), established in 1983, is acknowledged as the world’s leading conference on all topics related to photonic sensing principles and technologies supported in fiber optics, providing a forum for reporting and exchanging ideas on the latest advances in the field. It has also contributed significantly to industrialization and standardization of the related devices and systems for field deployment.
The next OFS Conference, OFS-29, will be held in Porto, Portugal, from 25-30 May 2025. It will offer plenary and invited talks, contributed oral and poster presentations, workshops, and exhibitions of commercial products. Social and cultural events will also take place to foster networking among the participants in a friendly and inspiring environment.
At the beginning of the 1980s, the recognition of the opportunity for high-performance sensing associated with optical fiber led to the development of a new R&D field, creating a community that had its first meeting in London, April 1983, which became identified as OFS1-1st International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors.
Since then, 28 editions of this conference have taken place every 18 months (except in the pandemic time), moving across Europe, Americas, and Asia/Pacific accordingly with the poetic principle “following the light” (the Sun). Over this period of more than 40 years the field expanded enormously in consequence of progress in multiple scientific and technological domains, also the diversity of applications where sensing supported by optical fiber presents comparative advantages.
Now, the timeline converges to OFS29, which will happen in Porto by May 2025. It is demanding the responsibility of organising an event that does justice to the prestigious history of this emblematic conference. Being aware of that, we will do our best to build a scientific program of recognised quality, an exhibition where companies all around the world demonstrate their technologies and optical sensing equipments, an environment where different generations of researchers and entrepreneurs meet and feel encouraged to share their experiences and goals, an welcoming atmosphere that helps everyone feel at home.
In short, we express our commitment to do our best to turn all of this a reality, looking for a meeting tuned to the culture and values that have guided OFS over the years.
