Professor Elham Kashefi, Chair
Elham is Professor of Quantum Computing at the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, and Directeur de recherche au CNRS at LIP6 Sorbonne Université. She co-founded the fields of quantum cloud computing and quantum computing verification and has pioneered a transdisciplinary interaction of hybrid quantum-classical solutions from theoretical investigation to actual experimental and industrial commercialisation. Elham is seconded 30% of her time from University of Edinburgh to the NQCC in her capacity as Chief Scientist.
Professor Mag. Dr Barbara Kraus
Barbara studied physics and mathematics at the University of Innsbruck. After post-doctoral stays at the MPI for Quantum Optics, Garching and at the University of Geneva, she returned to the University of Innsbruck, where she became in 2013 associate professor and in 2020 professor. In 2023, she was appointed to the professorship of Quantum Algorithms and Applications at TUM. Her research group is working on identifying new, feasible applications within quantum information processing and on the verification of quantum processors.
Dr Donatella Cassettari
Dr Donatella Cassettari is an experimentalist with over 25 years of experience in cold atom physics. She gained her PhD on one of the first experiments on atoms chips. She then went on to work on optical lattices, quantum chaos, Feshbach resonances, and vacuum studies with cold atoms. Her current research programme focuses on holographic optical traps. Holographic traps are realised by shaping the intensity profile of a laser beam using a spatial light modulator, and they allow the creation of many different trapping geometries. Dr Cassettari’s achievements have been in laying the foundations of this technique, in the development of the numerical methods needed for hologram calculation, and in the identification of new experimental scenarios that holographic traps enable. Holographic traps have inherent versatility and can be applied to different goals in the field of quantum sensing and quantum computation.
Professor Gerard Milburn
Gerard Milburn obtained a PhD in theoretical Physics from the University of Waikato in 1982 for work on squeezed states of light and quantum non demolition measurements. He is currently lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Physics at Sussex University, and Quantum Fellow at the National Quantum Computing Centre at Rutherford National Laboratory.
Gerard Milburn is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the American Physical Society. He is the author of five books including Quantum Optics (with Dan Walls), Quantum Measurement and Control (with Howard Wiseman) and Quantum Optomechanics (with Warwick Bowen).
Dr Giovanna Sammacro Tancredi
Giovanna is a Senior Researcher at Chalmers University of Technology, where she leads the experimental team working on the realisation of large-scale superconducting quantum processors. Giovanna is also a co-founder of ScalinQ, a company focussing on commercialisation of cryogenic hardware for quantum computing. Giovanna attained her PhD at Royal Holloway University of London (RHUL) on superconducting devices. After a postdoc at RHUL, she worked at University of Oxford as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Dr Peter Leek, focussing on scaling up of superconducting qubits. In 2018, Giovanna joined the Quantum Computing group at Chalmers as a permanent researcher within the Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology (WACQT). She is now leading the research group toward the realisation of a 100-qubit quantum processor and since June 2025 she serves as Co-Director of WACQT.
Professor Loyd McKnight
Professor Loyd McKnight is Head and Scientific Director at Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics (CAP) and Professor of Practice at the University of Strathclyde’s Institute of Photonics. Under his leadership, the quantum technologies team at the Fraunhofer CAP has grown since 2013 to become one of the most active participants in the UK National Quantum Technologies Innovation Programme supporting over 60 companies across computing, networking and sensing.
Professor McKnight has played a key role in shaping collaborative research and innovation activities that accelerate the translation of emerging quantum technologies into real-world applications and strengthen UK capability. His expertise spans quantum photonics and laser technologies, including integrated photonic technologies, frequency-stabilised lasers, nonlinear optics, and entangled photon sources.
Michael Groves
Michael Groves is a GCHQ expert in cryptographic security research. His current position is Head of the Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research (HIMR), a strategic partnership activity with UK academia providing world-class mathematical consultancy to GCHQ. Prior to that he held a variety of research leadership positions internal to GCHQ.
Michael was Vice Chair of an International Standards (ETSI) working group in postquantum cryptography from 2012-16; he was a member of the Programme Advisory Committee for the NQCC between 2019-2024; and is currently on advisory boards for the London CDT in Geometry and Number Theory, and the Edinburgh CDT in quantum informatics.
Dr Tobias Lindstrom
Tobias received his PhD in Physics from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, in 2005. He joined NPL 2012 and is now a Principal Scientist in the Department of Quantum Technologies. In 2024 he became the Head of Science for the department.
Tobias research interests include many aspects of solid-state quantum information processing. In particular the study of decoherence mechanisms and other topics related to the materials used to fabricate quantum circuits. He is also involved in the development of novel methods and instruments for characterising quantum circuits. Tobias is active in several organisations developing international standards for quantum technology.
