Welcome to the Optics & Photonics Research Group! Since the school inception, research and teaching activities in the area of theoretical quantum optics has been a major thrust area in the School of Physics. During the following decade the activities expanded into experimental Laser Physics, Nonlinear Optics, and quantum optics. Expert training of students in these thrust areas has produced several high-quality researchers whose contributions brought in accolades to the group and the School of Physics. More recently, the research activities carried out in the school have expanded into several diversified and emerging areas of research including Optics and Applications of Structured Surfaces and Amplitude-Phase-Polarization Structured Light Beams with Tunable Optical Angular Momentum; Laser Generation, Detection and Applications of Shock Waves; Laser Trapping, Tweezing and Cooling of Biological and Optical Matter and Experimental Quantum Optics and Nanophotonics.