Since 2015, Ferry Prins has been leading an independent research group on Photonic Nanomaterials & Devices. Originally founded at ETH Zurich with support from the Swiss National Science Foundation, his lab relocated to the Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC) of the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in 2017. Ferry has over a decade of experience in material design and characterization, working on a variety of topics such as molecular magnetism, molecular electronics and, most prominently, nanomaterial photonics. His group currently consists of 3 PhD students and 3 undergraduates.

Ferry obtained an MSc (with distinction) from Leiden University in 2007 working on the design and synthesis of molecular magnetic materials under the guidance of Prof. Jan Reedijk. In 2011 he obtained his PhD from the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University of Technology under the supervision of Prof. Herre van der Zant. For his PhD thesis, he worked on the development of single-molecule and nanoparticle-based electronic devices. He then joined the group of Prof. William Tisdale at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the beginning of 2012, where he led a small team of PhD students on spectroscopic studies of exciton dynamics in nanomaterial assemblies. In 2014 he joined the Optical Materials Engineering Laboratory of Prof. David Norris at ETH Zurich, where he started his independent research career in 2015 thanks to funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation. In further recognition, he was promoted to the position of Lecturer (Dozent) by the Rectorate of ETH Zurich in 2016. In spring 2017 he accepted an offer to expand his research group at the Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC) of the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.

He is recipient of various awards, most prominently the Rubicon from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, the Ambizione from the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Talent Grant from the Comunidad de Madrid, the IFIMAC Fellowship, the La Caixa Junior Leader and most recently the Ramon y Cajal.