-
On 10th December 2025, the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Quantum Informatics officially launched, bringing together researchers, students, and partners from academia and industry. The event celebrated the new CDT, which is dedicated to advancing quantum research, training, and collaboration across sectors.
A big thank you to our keynote speakers, Prof Harry Buhrman, who presented on ‘Quantum Heuristics: From Worst Case to Practice’, and Dr Christa Zoufal, who spoke on ‘The Road Towards Quantum Advantage’. We also thank Prof Andrew Green, Prof Elham Kashefi, and Prof Viv Kendon for delivering short talks showcasing the quantum research they are leading or that is taking place in their institutions, and extend our thanks to the students who presented posters highlighting their impressive ongoing research. Finally, we are grateful to all attendees for joining us and making the launch event such a success.
As outlined in the Programme Agenda below, slides from the presentations are available upon request, should you want to dive deeper into the exciting research showcased at the event.
Programme Agenda
Welcome & Introduction
Welcome by Professor Helen Hastie, Head of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics, followed by an introduction and overview of the QI CDT by Professor Chris Heunen, the QI CDT Director.
———-
Keynote 1: Professor Harry Buhrman (Chief Scientist at Quantinuum and Professor at the University of Amsterdam)
Talk: Quantum Heuristics: From Worst Case to PracticeAbstract: Which problems allow for a quantum speedup, and which do not? This question lies at the heart of quantum information processing. Providing a definitive answer remains difficult, as it touches on some of the deepest open problems in complexity theory. To make progress, the field relies on conjectures such as P ≠ NP and the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis, which suggest that for many computational problems, our current algorithms are asymptotically close to optimal in the worst case. However, these hypotheses do not fully capture the situations that arise in practice. In real-world applications we are often concerned not with universal optimality, but with the behavior of specific problem instances. Understanding when quantum algorithms outperform classical ones requires new tools and new ways of thinking. In this talk, I will explore this landscape from both theoretical and practical perspectives. On the theoretical side, I will introduce the notion of “queasy instances” – problem instances that are quantum-easy but classically hard. On the practical side, I will discuss how insights about such instances inform developments in quantum hardware design and hardware–algorithm co-design, and how they point toward achievable pathways for quantum advantage.
Bio: Harry Buhrman is Chief Scientist for Quantum Algorithms & Innovation at Quantinuum and Professor of Algorithms, Complexity Theory, and Quantum Computing at the University of Amsterdam. He is also a founding director of QuSoft, the Dutch research center for quantum software. In the late 1990s, he established the first quantum computing group in the Netherlands. His work helped pioneer quantum communication complexity and showed that quantum systems can exponentially speed up not just computation but also communication. He co-developed frameworks for understanding the limitations and capabilities of quantum algorithms, now standard in the field. Buhrman has received a Vici award, coordinated major quantum projects, and serves on advisory boards of leading institutes including the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics. He is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research spans quantum computing, cryptography, complexity theory, distributed computing, and learning theory.
———-
Short Talks
Short talks from members of the QI CDT Management Committee and Supervisory Network, offering insights into their quantum research, showcasing some of the work currently underway across our academic community.
- Professor Andrew Green, University College London
- Professor Elham Kashefi, University of Edinburgh and NQCC
- Professor Viv Kendon, University of Strathclyde
———-
Student Poster Session
———-
Keynote 2: Dr Christa Zoufal (Quantum UK Research Manager at IBM)
Talk: The Road Towards Quantum AdvantageAbstract: As quantum computing nears the point where some tasks outpace classical methods, establishing a clear and shared path towards quantum advantage becomes increasingly important. This progress relies on strong collaboration between academia and industry. In this talk, we outline the current state of quantum computing, highlight the algorithmic families most likely to deliver early advantage, and describe IBM Quantum’s work toward a platform-agnostic and empirically validated quantum advantage. We conclude by sharing our vision for a near future in which quantum systems augment high-performance computing, opening new possibilities in chemistry, materials discovery, optimisation, and beyond.
Bio: Christa Zoufal manages the IBM Quantum UK Research team in collaboration with the Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation, helping translate advanced research into industry impact. She is also a Quantum Applications Researcher at IBM Research–Europe, Zurich, developing and assessing quantum algorithms for optimisation, machine learning, and simulation. She earned her PhD from ETH Zürich in 2021 on scalable generative quantum machine learning. Her work focuses on connecting theoretical quantum computing with practical use cases across industry and academia. From 2020 to 2025, she contributed to the Unitary Fund, supporting open-source quantum software and community-driven innovation. Her research ultimately aims to pinpoint meaningful quantum advantage and accelerate the integration of quantum technologies into real-world computational workflows.
———-
