Hub events bring researchers together
Hub events bring researchers together
The Hub recently hosted two important internal events designed to bring researchers from all our 17 partner institutions together in one place. Held in Oxford, attendees came from universities from all around the UK, ranging from Glasgow to Southampton. With teams as widely distributed as this geographically, in-person events offer a rare but important opportunity to disseminate information, exchange ideas, and make new connections.
Researcher Retreat
The first event was a Researcher Retreat, organised by early career researchers (ECRs). This two-day event for students and ECRs was designed to pool expertise, share knowledge, and build networks across different fields. With around 30 attendees, the event focussed on both theoretical and experimental disciplines, including presentations on the state-of-the-art in each area, frontier talks, and interactive sessions. Guest speakers, including Zhanet Zaharieva, Co-Founder & COO of Quantum Dice, and Jonathan Legh-Smith, Executive Director of UKQuantum. They provided insights into taking research from the lab into the real world as a spin-out, and an overview of the developing quantum landscape outside of academia.
The event also included brainstorming and breakout sessions, allowing researchers to delve deeper into potential collaborations. Attendees left the Researcher Retreat equipped with new ideas and connections to propel their research forward.
Imperial College London researcher Michael Hanks said "The recent QCS Hub Researcher Retreat was a great opportunity to connect with other early career researchers affiliated with with Hub in a social environment, and to build a clearer picture of research interests around the country."
Project Forum
Following the retreat was the latest of our six-monthly Project Forum events. This took place on the 19th and 20th of June at the Blavatnik School of Government, part of the University of Oxford. Around 70 members of the Hub, from all career stages, attended this event, creating a vibrant platform for researchers to talk about their work and learn about each other’s projects.
As always, the event provided an update on the progress on each of the Hub's research areas, along with ECR talks from each session, showcasing an individual piece of work from each area. Petros Wallden from the University of Edinburgh, who leads the Hub's work on quantum software explained "The Project Forum is a very useful event, where the latest exciting developments in each work package are communicated, discussions cross-platform and between hardware and software researchers take place, and the seeds for new collaborations are sown."
Students also had the opportunity to share their cutting-edge research during flash-talk sessions, which are always a highlight of the event. The Project Forum gives Hub doctoral students the unique opportunity to speak to a wide audience including senior leaders from within the UK quantum computing community. On this occasion, Stuart Ferguson, Tanmay Chandane, Molly Smith, and Sophie Decoppet talked about their work, highlighting the diverse and innovative projects being conducted within the Hub. "Presenting my research at the QCS Project Forum allowed me to see how my work fits into the bigger picture of quantum computing and learn from other researchers working in a wide variety of fields. It was a great opportunity to practice my presentation skills and was a lot of fun!" Molly Smith explained.
The Project Forum is a very useful event, where the latest exciting developments in each work package are communicated, discussions between hardware and software researchers take place, and the seeds for new collaborations are sown.
In addition to talks about science within the Hub, the Forum also provides an opportunity to hear guest speakers. David DiVincenzo, Director of the Institute of Theoretical Nanoelectronics at the Peter Grünberg Institute at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, joined the meeting to present a talk entitled "Where are the photons in a transmission-line pulse?". We were also joined by Daisy Hung, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for the University of Oxford’s Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences division. Daisy delivered a thought-provoking presentation on being an effective bystander and intersectional ally, emphasising the importance of championing equality and diversity in research environments.
The Project Forum took place immediately after the Researcher Retreat, which helped provide a direct link between the two events. Michael Hanks explained the benefit of this approach, saying "Connecting the retreat closely with the annual Project Forum helped to boost attendance by simplifying travel and organisation, while earlier conversations at the retreat helped to set a background for the broader work-package presentations of the main forum itself."
These events highlight the QCS Hub’s dedication to fostering a collaborative and inclusive research environment. By bringing together individuals from various disciplines and career stages, the Hub continues to drive innovation and excellence in the field of quantum computing, as well as helping foster the next generation of research leaders. "It is stimulating to present my research to such a diverse audience of quantum technology with exposure to perspectives never imagined before" , says student Tanmay Chandane, "and I believe future practical quantum technologies would involve a hybrid of different platforms and such events nurture that. "
"It was fantastic to see so many people at the forum last week, both familiar and new faces" says Hub Director Dominic O'Brien. "These are a great opportunity to meet researchers across the broad range of topics in the Hub, and a key part of how we advance our research agenda. I hope those who attended enjoyed it as much as I did."
