Over $1 million in funding from the Australian Government’s Next Generation Emerging Technologies Graduates Program, Sydney Quantum Academy and industry partners will go towards 24 new quantum student scholarships to be offered in 2022.  

The scholarships will be designed to cover the full breadth of what’s required for the quantum technology industry: from hardware and software to responsible innovation.  Scholarships will be available to Honours, PhD and Masters students studying and undertaking quantum research at SQA partner universities – Macquarie University, University of Sydney, UNSW Sydney and UTS.  

$715,000 in funding will be supplied through the government program, with the remainder to come from SQA and several industry partners representing a cross section of the emerging quantum industry. Partners include KPMG, QuintessenceLabs, and quantum startups BTQ AG and Joseki. 

“Industry involvement in our scholarship programs is vital in ensuring students gain hands-on experience early into their research careers and engage on potential industry applications,” says Professor Peter Turner, CEO Sydney Quantum Academy. 

For BTQ AG, which has recently established operations in Sydney and builds quantum ready infrastructure for blockchain networks, the scholarships will provide an intensive research relationship between the rapidly expanding blockchain industry and academia.  

“Students can expect to embed themselves in an environment where they translate formal concepts from the field of quantum computing to significant real-world problems such as privacy rights and crypto asset evaluation,” says Prof Gavin Brennen, Quantum Information Advisor at BTQ AG. 

“BTQ will gain from the knowledge provided by students who have been trained within the SQA and its cohort of quantum experts to solve outstanding problems in the industry such as fast and secure digital signatures, and more energy efficient blockchain mining.” 

The 24 scholarships will join SQA’s current scholarship programs which have to date funded over 140 fellows, undergraduate and PhD students to the tune of $11.5 million.   

“On top of industry experience, the students will also become part of Sydney’s growing quantum community – one of the world’s largest concentrations of quantum experts,” adds Peter.  “The opportunity to connect and learn from peers across the considerable breadth of Sydney’s research groups is part of what makes our scholarship programs so unique.” 

Scholarships will be made available from late 2022. Sign up to SQA’s mailing list to be notified of opportunities.  

More on the Next Generation Emerging Technologies Graduates Program 

The Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Graduates and Next Generation Emerging Technologies Graduates Programs expect to fund at least 480 nationally competitive scholarships to attract and train the next generation of technology specialists. Visit CSIRO’s website for further details.