Opportunities

The Centre of Excellence in Quantum Engineering, Science & Technology (QuEST) would like the support of two PhD students:

• PhD role 1: to develop teaching materials aimed at increasing investor confidence in supporting quantum businesses. You will create a short curriculum to help investors better understand quantum technologies and be able to evaluate investment opportunities in the area.
• PhD role 2: to develop a briefing paper on the UK quantum entrepreneurship ecosystem, looking at environments which promote building tech trajectories that are compatible with scale and generating financial advantage.

The ideal candidates will have an interest in the UK quantum ecosystem and entrepreneurship. You will gain experience of working with financial entrepreneurs, physicists, engineers, industry partners and policymakers. You will be partnered with  academics and involved in gathering and analysing information, and writing the report/curriculum. This may require attending occasional conferences/workshops.

Funding is available from the ICoNYCh project for PhD students to work 3.5 hours per week from now until 31 March 2025. You will be paid at the higher rate for graduate teaching assistants on the same terms. If you're interested, please send your CV and a single paragraph outlining relevant interests and experience to quantum@imperial.ac.uk by 15 November 2024. Please copy in your main supervisor to confirm that you have discussed this with them and have their support. Any questions, please contact quantum@imperial.ac.uk.

The ICoNYCh Exchange Awards support building links between researchers at Imperial College London and researchers in the Chicago Quantum Exchange and emerging New York quantum ecosystem, on any aspect of quantum science, engineering and technology. The aim of the Award is to build research capability and generate collaborative research and innovation on any topic in quantum science, engineering and technology. The Award should facilitate knowledge exchange, collaboration, or enhancement of expertise. The award supports travel and subsistence of the awardee for a visit to an institution in the greater NY or Chicago areas, or for the awardee to host a researcher from an institution in these areas at Imperial, up to a maximum of £2,500 each. 

The applicant must be a member of staff or a postgraduate student at Imperial College London. 

The call opens on 1 November 2024 and closes on 15 November 2024.

See all terms and conditions here: ICoNYCh exchanges award call document

Apply via this form

QuEST is developing a programme of training and social events for PhD students across the university who are working on quantum science and technology. This will include training in:

• entrepreneurship for quantum
• understanding policy for quantum researchers 
• science communication for quantum 
• quantum computing tools
• quantum careers.

All training is being developed primarily for the quantum DTP cohort, but will be open to quantum aligned students (undergraduate and postgraduate) and Early Career Researchers across the university. It will be advertised here, via the QuEST internal distribution list and via QTSoc.

10.00-17.00, Sir Alexander Fleming Building, South Kensington campus

This conference is for Imperial ECRs and research students, to find out about the quantum research going on across Imperial, and make connections with peers. It’ll feature keynote speakers, a poster session and breakout discussions. The conference is free to attend but we can't pay for poster printing. 

Keynote speakers are:

• Roberto Lo Nardo, Client Delivery Lead, IBM
• Helen Margolis, Head of Science for Time & Frequency and NPL Senior Fellow, National Physical Laboratory
• Roger McKinley, Quantum Technologies Challenge Leader, UKRI
• Richard Murray, CEO, ORCA Computing.

Panel moderator: Jessica Wade, Imperial College London

Sign up here.

This event is only open to current Imperial staff and students, and to students who will start their courses in October 2024.

The Centre of Excellence in Quantum Engineering, Science & Technology (QuEST) are seeking to engage two PhD students to work on an innovative training programme to help investors understand Quantum Technologies. The ideal candidates will have an interest in the UK quantum ecosystem and entrepreneurship.

You will be partnered with an academic and involved in gathering information, creating a curriculum, and coordinating training to help investors better understand quantum technologies (QTs) and be able to evaluate investment opportunities in the area. You will help to identify and support Imperial researchers who can deliver the training and design an engagement strategy to attract and educate the investment community. The programme will align with the ambitions of the National Quantum Strategy, and provide a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals, current state-of-the-art and potential opportunities of QTs. You will gain experience of working with financial entrepreneurs, physicists, engineers, industry partners and policymakers.

Funding is available for PhD students to spend up to 3.5 hours per week from now until 31 July and will be paid at the higher rate for graduate teaching assistants on the same terms. If you're interested, please send your CV and a single paragraph outlining relevant interests and experience to quantum@imperial.ac.uk. Please copy in your main supervisor to confirm that you have discussed this with them and have their support.

In spring 2024 EPSRC awarded Imperial an uplift of about £1M in DTP studentship funding for research in quantum technologies, for the forthcoming intake of PhD students.

To be eligible for support, students must be undertaking research training predominantly in EPSRC’s quantum technologies remit. Funding may be used to support stipend, fees (home rate), and RTSG. Note that in line with 2023 updates to UKRI T&Cs for training grants, RTSG spend must be itemised. A small number of international students can be supported with this funding, but the host department would need to cover the difference between home and international tuition fees.

QuEST is coordinating the allocation of these funds.

At this stage we are inviting departments to alert us to eligible applicants to whom offers have already been made (and may have been accepted) or who are under active consideration. We will make a first allocation from nominations received by 16 February and proceed to consider fortnightly batches thereafter.  

The QuEST management group will confirm eligibility and determine prioritisation. Preference will be given to students who:

• are supervised by early career academics
• have cross-departmental collaboration in the supervisory team
• are from groups under-represented in the quantum technologies field.

QuEST will also be organising some cohort building activities. By submitting nominations, departments and supervisors agree to encourage students' participation in these activities. 

QuEST has been allocated two DTP studentships by the Faculty of Engineering for the 2024-25 academic year. We are currently inviting applications for these studentships via engineering departments across the College. 

If you would like to nominate a student for one of these awards, details are below:

Eligibility:

• Candidates must be incoming PhD students for the 2024-25 academic year, with home-fee status and registered in the Faculty of Engineering.
• The candidates project must fall within the remit of “Engineering Quantum Technologies”.

The QuEST DTP studentship will provide up to 3.5 years of support (42 months), including:

• Full funding for home or Ireland tuition fees.
• A UKRI-level stipend, including London weighting.
• A consumables fund of £1,000 per annum for the first three years.

Nomination process:

• If you are interested in nominating a candidate for a QuEST DTP studentship, you should speak to the PG admissions team in your home department, as departments are collating nominations on behalf of QuEST.
• Departments have been asked to provide a shortlist of eligible candidates to QuEST no later than 8 January 2024, with the outcomes expected to be returned by 26 January 2024.
• Nominations will need to include a copy of the candidate’s application and a supporting letter from the potential supervisor.

QuEST Postdoc Seed Funding Call 2023/24

The overarching aim of the QuEST centre is to bring researchers together from across the College to translate discoveries in quantum science into transformative quantum technologies. QuEST invited applications for funding for short term (2–3 month, £10-15k) research projects to enable the development of new cross-disciplinary collaborations and research directions, and to generate proof-of-concept or preliminary results, with a view to developing a larger funding proposal in the near future.

QuEST funded 3 projects which ran between 1 April and 30 June 2023. Project descriptions are available here.