Prof. Sewell leads ICFO’s involvement in training early career scientists and engagement with academic programs. He is Coordinator of the in-house PhD in Photonics program offered in collaboration with the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech, co-director of the Master of Multidisciplinary Research in Experimental Sciences offered by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in conjunction with The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, and sits on the steering committee of the Master in Quantum Science and Technology, an interuniversity program led by the University of Barcelona.

Dr. Sewell is from Melbourne, Australia, where he completed a dual arts/science undergraduate degree majoring in Physics and Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. He received his PhD in Physics from Imperial College London in 2009 working on precision measurements with ultracold atoms, where he helped develop a matter wave interferometer using atom-chip technology. He joined ICFO as a Marie Curie Research Postdoctoral Fellow in 2009 in the group of Prof. Morgan Mitchell, leading a research laboratory in experimental quantum optics, developing new techniques for quantum-enhanced optical magnetometry with laser cooled atoms.

In 2014 he was appointed Staff Academic Scientist and Coordinator of Academic Programs at ICFO, responsible for graduate education and training programs, including the ICFO PhD program, engagement with local and international Masters programs, the Plus+ training program, and academic mentoring of students and postdoctoral researchers. In 2020 was appointed SPIE@ICFO Chair for Diversity in Photonic Sciences, and in 2021 he was appointed Head of Academic Affairs at ICFO.