Federica Poli has been with the Information Engineering Department, University of Parma, since 2006. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma.
In the last 20 years, her main research activity concentrated on the analysis and the design of specialty optical fibers, particularly photonic crystal fibers, and fiber amplifiers and lasers. In recent years, her activity has been mainly devoted to visible fiber lasers, in particular yellow sources based on Dysprosium-doped fluoride fibers. Presently, she is conducting in-depth analyses of the properties of Bismuth-doped fiber amplifiers for the next generation of ultra-wideband optical communications, and she is working on the channel modelling for underwater optical wireless communications.
Prof. Poli has been a member of the research group of the University of Parma in the project “TRIBOLETTO - Three research activities boosting up RIGOLETTO”, funded by the European Union through the Next Generation program, which finished in December 2025. Since March 2024 she has been the Principal Investigator (PI) of the two-year research project “Enabling devices and techniques for ultra-wideband fiber optic communications”, financed by the University of Parma. She has been a member of the research unit of the University of Parma involved in the Satellite Network of Experts (SatNEx V) project - Work Item “Air-to-water communications”, funded by the European Space Agency, which finished in September 2024.
Federica is Secretary of the IEEE Photonics Society Italy Chapter since 2026, and she is Associate Editor of the “IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics” since 2021. She serves as a reviewer for the principal optics and photonics related international journals.
She is a member of the Technical Committee of the "EPS-QEOD Europhoton Conference" since 2026, of the "Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics/Europe – CLEO®/Europe-EQEC", since 2023, and of the "Italian Conference on Optics and Photonics", since 2016.
Federica has been the thesis supervisor of students of the second cycle degree in Communication Engineering, and the supervisor of 2 PhD students in the “Information Technologies” course of the Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma. She has been a member of the International Mobility Committee of the Department as Erasmus Delegate for the telecommunication engineering area from 2017 to 2024.
Since 2024, she participates to the activities of the EU GREEN Alliance in the frame of Work Package 5 “Engagement for sustainable societies and economies”. She has been the co-organizer of dissemination activities for the European Researchers’ Night from 2015 to 2019, and since 2022. Since 2018, she has been an active participant and co-organizer of orientation events and seminars for secondary school students, especially to promote STEM courses for young women.
In 2023 she was the coordinator of the project “Così fan tutte? Riflessioni e dialoghi sul divario di genere”, funded by the Guarantee Act Committee of the University of Parma. The project intended to promote moments of dialogue, reflection and sharing on stereotypes and gender inequalities, which accompany women from childhood to their working career.
Federica is the PI of the two-year project “STEM-UP – Università, Scuola e Imprese per costruire il Futuro”, funded in June 2025 by the University of Parma. The project, presented by a team of colleagues from five Departments of the University actively involved in outreach activities for years, aims to disseminate the STEM culture through a network connecting University, schools, and companies, to promote the participation of young people, especially girls, in STEM fields.
She received the “Marisa Bellisario” Prize in the section “Laureate con 110 e lode” in 2003 (XV edition).
