Chancellor's Fellow - Quantum Computation
University of Edinburgh - closing date 24/5/23
The role
The School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh is seeking to appoint up to two Chancellor’s Fellows who have a strong track record in research and the potential to make a leading contribution to the University through furthering its strategic goals in the area of quantum computation. Chancellors Fellowships are 5-year tenure track fellowships, designed to provide talented early career researchers with the support required to develop into a leading research-active academic at the University of Edinburgh.
The opportunity
We are considering applications to join our recently established Quantum Software Lab in collaboration with the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) to expand the research activity of our team, which has a strong tradition of high-quality research in quantum informatics within the University of Edinburgh. The Quantum Informatics research group, is currently composed of around 40 members among which six are permanent staff, led by Prof. Elham Kashefi, Scientist of the National Quantum Computing Centre. The successful candidate is expected to contribute to the vision and research of the Quantum Advantage Pathfinder (QAP) EPSRC project. QAP’s mission is to turn industry pain points into quantum research problems, through a systematic specification of desired mathematical properties, to guide the design of necessary algorithmic modules, with their implementation on hardware accompanied by performance benchmarking, to enable researchers to investigate the enhancements necessary for current or future hardware/software platforms in a certifiable and verifiable way. QAP is a multidisciplinary collaborative project with several key academic and industry partners (e.g. QCS hub, NPL, NQCC, QCA cluster, Riverlane, ORCA, Rigetti, CISCO etc). We welcome applications to develop and lead such an interdisciplinary research project, and contribute to shaping and supporting the University research strategy in quantum computation.
We strongly encourage applications from female researchers, minority ethnic groups, first generation STEM academics, and other underrepresented groups in academia, as well as applications from those with non-traditional career paths, including those with family, caring or health career breaks, or those who have moved to academia from a career in another sector.
We welcome applications that address experience of, or demonstrable potential to, develop and lead interdisciplinary initiatives that go across Schools and Colleges. Priority will be given to applications that can make a key contribution to research and innovation in one of the following two research areas, but other topics in the general field of Quantum Informatics and Quantum Software are also welcomed:
- Quantum Algorithms and/or Quantum Machine Learning: This includes research that focuses on near-term (inc. variational quantum algorithms, QAOA, quantum annealing) or/and “long-term” quantum algorithms (inc. different models of computation such as adiabatic, quantum random walks, measurement-based), applications of quantum computing (for example in cryptography), quantum complexity theory, theory and applications of quantum machine learning and theory and applications of quantum simulation.
- Quantum Fault-Tolerance Quantum Systems and Architecture: This includes research that focuses on quantum error correction, quantum error mitigation, architecture and design of quantum computing, compiling, and generally research that addresses different layers of the quantum stack going from the details of the hardware all the way to abstract quantum algorithms and applications, and their interconnection.
Additional information
Closing date: 24/5/23
Find out more and apply here
Informal enquiries may be directed to Prof. Elham Kashefi: ekashefi@inf.ed.ac.uk
