Stephen graduated from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in 2015 with a BSc in Metallurgical Engineering. In 2016, he served as a teaching assistant at the Department of Materials Engineering at KNUST. He obtained an MSc in Welding Engineering at Cranfield University in 2017. During his master’s degree, he undertook an industrial project sponsored by SPI Lasers to investigate dissimilar welding of ultra-thin metallic alloys. His MSc dissertation focused on investigating plasma and laser cleaning of titanium wire for Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing.

He pursued a PhD at the Applied Optics and Photonics group (AOP) at Heriot-Watt University on “High-quality, high-speed laser engraving using high average power nanosecond pulsed fibre lasers. 

In July 2021, following completion of his PhD research, Stephen was appointed as Research Associate, continuing in the AOP group. He is currently working to develop a laser welding process for joining optical and IR materials such as glasses and crystals to supporting materials such as metals, an EPSRC sponsored project.

Stephen’s research interests are focused on laser-material interaction: laser process optimisation, understanding laser material structural modifications and correlating structural changes to the material’s long-term performance. Throughout his research career, he has been involved in additional projects such as laser dissimilar welding, laser silicone removal, laser surface cleaning, laser colour marking, laser paint removal, and surface texturing.