Third-year students host successful quantum computing workshop

Undergraduate students organise Edinburgh's first Qiskit Fall Fest.

Congratulations to the group of third year School of Physics and Astronomy undergraduate students who organised a successful three-day quantum computing workshop, Qiskit Fall Fest.

The student organisers include: George Comyn, Sherelle Ishmael, Ruben Lee, Hannah Pathirana, Jaz Thuku, and Evelyn Wilson.

Qiskit Fall Fest is part of a worldwide community of 200 university groups which aims to empower people who are curious about quantum computing to learn more about the subject.

The Edinburgh event included:

• talks from experts in industry and academia
• hands-on workshops where participants had the opportunity to run programs on a real quantum computer
• a careers panel
• networking events involving professionals and quantum enthusiasts.

The event was a tremendous success, with over 100 people joining the kick-off talk and around 50 attending the final day (despite a very stormy Saturday!).

The event was supported by the Higgs Centre and the Quantum Software Lab, with  significant support from School of Informatics PhD student Stuart Ferguson.

Thank you to speakers and panellists who include: Dr Jack Brennan (Quantcore), Dr Oliver Brown (EPCC), Dr Callum Duncan (Aegiq), Emma Hughes (QI-CDT), Brian Ingmanson (IBM), Dr Caitlin Jones (Quantum Software Lab), and Dr Steven Thomson (School of Physics and Astronomy).

This is the first year that Edinburgh has hosted the Qiskit Fall Fest, and we hope that further events will take place in the future.