Sonja Franke-Arnold, FRSE, holds the Chair of Quantum Optics at the University of Glasgow’s School of Physics and Astronomy.  Since 25 years she has been fascinated by structured light, its angular momentum and more recently polarisation vortices, and its interaction with atomic vapours. Her research encompasses fundamental studies of light matter interaction and topological phases to industry-led investigations of quantum-enhanced spectroscopy and quantum magnetometry based on vector vortex light.