05 Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Sussex, East Sussex, United Kingdom

This position is part of a larger effort to develop and operate quantum computing solutions which scale to significantly larger system sizes. We currently operate 5 quantum computer prototypes in our lab and the position will focus on one or multiple of these experimental setups directed towards the implementation of quantum error correction, ion transport and quantum gate execution, raising gate fidelities, operation of multi-module quantum computing prototypes and the development of quantum computing microchips.

Some of the typical tasks for this position include operation of ion trap experiments, high power microwave setups, laser systems, optical setups and ultra-high vacuum setups as well as carrying out quantum information science experiments, quantum error correction, perform simulations of quantum systems, quantum control and other relevant theory and supervise undergraduate and postgraduate students.

The successful applicant should have an experimental PhD in a field related to our research area such as atomic physics, optical physics or quantum physics along with a good publication record. The salary offered will be appropriate to the qualifications, standing and experience of the successful candidate.

• This is an exciting opportunity for two highly-motivated and ambitious Post-Doctoral Research Fellows to join the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science (SCCS), an internationally prominent research group in consciousness science and one of the University’s Centres of Excellence. 

• Our core mission is to advance the scientific understanding of consciousness, and to use the insights from this research for the benefit of society, medicine, and technology.

• Based in our Informatics lab, you will be part of a diverse, interdisciplinary team led by Professor Anil Seth, which spans the departments of Informatics, Philosophy, Psychology and BSMS, and which enjoys a wide range of experimental and computational facilities (including EEG/TMS/fMRI). The group has strong collaborative links beyond Sussex, including leading consciousness researchers both nationally and internationally.

• Joining our Centre will offer plenty of opportunity to contribute to wider team activities, including collaborative research, public engagement activities, and – where appropriate – supervisory and administrative duties.

• You will be working on a European Research Council project called CONSCIOUS: Computational Neurophenomenology – Explaining Conscious Experiences in terms of Neural Mechanisms, which seeks to apply computational modelling methods to characterise phenomenological features of conscious experiences in experimentally testable ways. 

The successful applicant should have a PhD in machine learning in a field related to our research area such as causal learning, Bayesian networks, and statistical matching along with a good publication record in leading machine learning conferences. The salary offered will be appropriate to the qualifications, standing and experience of the successful candidate. 

Informal enquiries are welcome and can be made to Professor Novi Quadrianto ([email protected]).

The University is committed to equality and valuing diversity, and applications are particularly welcomed from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in academic posts in Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine and Mathematics (STEMM) at Sussex. 

The University of Sussex offers a fixed term position at the Sussex Centre for Quantum Technologies. Applications are invited both at the predoctoral (Research Assistant) and postdoctoral (Research Fellow) levels. This appointment offers excellent research opportunities in the rapidly developing field of semiconductor quantum technologies. 

Our research is supported by recent grant awards from the Leverhulme Trust, focusing on the fundamental semiconductor and quantum physics, and the QuantERA European network award, aimed at building quantum memory devices for applications in quantum communications. This position offers plenty of opportunities for national and international collaborations. The specific project work is flexible, to be agreed with the project lead.

Semiconductor quantum dots hold great promise for the development of a new generation of quantum computing and communication devices. When trapped in a nanoscale volume of a quantum dot, the quantised magnetic (spin) state of the electron forms a qubit. The well-developed semiconductor technologies and the small size (nanometers) of the quantum dots offer pathways to large-scale integrated quantum circuits. Recent breakthroughs in semiconductor nanotechnology resulted in a new generation of quantum dots, where quantum information processing is possible not only with electron spin qubits but also with subatomic magnetic spin states of the crystal lattice nuclei. The large number of nuclear spin qubits, typically 10000 per individual quantum dot, offers a very large quantum Hilbert space. If harnessed, this system can offer vast quantum information processing resources. The aim of your work will be to address this challenge by exploring fundamental physics of quantum coherence and entanglement, as well as developing prototype quantum spin-qubit and quantum-memory devices. Further information about this research area can be found at the Semiconductor Spin Qubits webpage.

The postholder will be supervised by the project lead, Dr Clio Berry. The postholder will oversee the day-to-day co-ordination of the trial. This involves academic and technical support to the project lead, oversight of trial progress, motivation and support to trial staff, oversight of participant recruitment and data management, liaison with groups involved within the trial and with partners and collaborators, and contribution to data analysis and report writing. The trial is based within a small, friendly and research active department within Brighton and Sussex Medical School. The postholder will be supported with their professional development, including opportunities for training, publishing, conference, and event attendance. Additional opportunities, such as teaching and student supervision, may be possible depending on interest and capacity.

The successful candidate should have, or be near to completing, a PhD in a relevant discipline (such as Psychology, Social Sciences, Health Sciences, Epidemiology) and/or equivalent experience of managing large and complex health or educational research projects. The successful candidate will require excellent communication and presentation skills, together with the ability to organise and motivate others. They will demonstrate flair, enthusiasm, innovation, and leadership when faced with challenges. They will provide strategic, tactical, and operational management skills in the planning and execution of the project. The successful candidate will understand the importance of upholding the scientific integrity of the randomised controlled trial approach. They candidate will have experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods.