Fellowship boosts quantum research
Edinburgh research into quantum science is benefiting from a share of £12 million investment by the UK Government.
Informatics research will benefit from the Quantum Technologies Fellowships, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The fellowships will support individual researchers and their teams to help realise the country’s potential in the field.
Verifying technology
Dr Elham Kashefi in the School of Informatics has been given an established career quantum technology award, for the verification of the technology.
Dr Kashefi’s project seeks to verify and validate potential quantum technologies, from full scale computers and simulators, to communication networks with devices of varying size and complexity, down to realistic gadgets based on quantum technology.
This represents a key challenge in the transition from theory to practice for quantum computing technologies.
Translating science
The fellowships are part of a £270 million UK National Quantum Technology Programme.
This is aimed at early and established career stage academics whose research focuses on the direct exploitation of quantum phenomena, to address the challenges of translation of quantum science through technology to eventual application.
Quantum technologies use the properties of quantum physics to gain a functionality or performance which is otherwise unattainable.
They promise dramatic changes in the technological capabilities in several key areas, including secure communications, metrology, sensor technologies, simulation and computation.
Other institutions benefiting from the awards are Universities of Bristol, Glasgow, Southampton, Sheffield, Strathclyde, Sussex, and Heriot-Watt University.
Pioneering researchers from across the UK are investigating game-changing applications for quantum technology, from advanced communications to improved cancer detection and navigation services. We want Britain to be the best place in Europe to innovate, and this £6 million investment in Scottish research will support the next generation of scientists and secure our leadership in world-class quantum research.
These fellowships are a key part of the UK’s National Quantum Technologies Programme; they will allow our current and future research leaders in the field to research, discover and innovate. They will push the quantum technologies agenda forward, make new collaborations - both to source wider research expertise to overcome technical barriers, and to engage with the industry partners who will potentially utilise these technologies.