We are happy to announce that Dr. Vikas Kumar has joined RCALS as a postdoctoral scientist. He obtained his PhD at the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, working on the design and study of micro-structured waveguides and related devices for operation in the THz. He became interested in the photonic crystal fibres during his time at IIT Delhi, long before he decided to join RCALS.The utilities and magnificent characteristics of photonic crystal fibres have inspired and encouraged me a lot in my masters and doctoral years, and I was very fond of Prof. Russell's work, want to work with him in his team. I'm very glad to be offered a postdoctoral researcher in RCALS", said Dr. Kumar.Dr. Kumar has extensive experience in computational analysis, including beam propagation, finite element modelling and coupled Runge-Kutta methods, having previously applied them to the study of linear and nonlinear phenomena in photonic crystal fibres. He has published in leading journals such as Applied Optics, Optics Communications and JOSA B, as well as presenting his results at international conferences. Dr. Kumar plans to work on the numerical modelling of light-matter interactions in photonic crystal fibres."I have been welcomed by all the team members and I am very grateful for the warm hospitality they provided. It will be a good memorable time for me in my career", said Dr. Kumar.