Generation Quantum: Eucor is setting up a comprehensive doctoral programme in quantum science
Freiburg, 26/02/2025
“Gen-Q” enables 51 young researchers to pursue a doctorate with an international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral focus. The University of Freiburg is involved in the programme collectively with its Eucor partners and the Universities of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Poznań in Poland.
The European Commission has approved Eucor – The European Campus’ application for a new international training programme for doctoral students in quantum science and technology. “Gen-Q” will enable 51 young scientists to pursue a doctorate with an international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral focus. The University of Freiburg is participating together with its Eucor partners from Germany, France and Switzerland (the Universities of Basel, Haute-Alsace, Strasbourg and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) and the universities of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Poznan in Poland. Two of the doctoral positions will be established at the University of Freiburg. The project will run for five years and has a total volume of over twelve million euros. Six million euros of this will come from the European Union, with additional funding from Switzerland and co-financing from the participating partner universities.
“Quantum science and technology is an interdisciplinary field that explores and harnesses the rules of physics, chemistry, materials science and computer science,” says Prof. Guido Pupillo from the University of Strasbourg, scientific director of the programme. “At Gen-Q, we are applying a wide range of perspectives to work on current future technologies, such as quantum computing and quantum sensing. To do this, we will bring a large cohort of talented young researchers from all over the world to the Upper Rhine region and to all of Gen-Q’s European partners. For this reason, the programme is of great importance for our institutions, regions, countries and Europe.” Prof. Dr Tobias Schätz, who heads the Experimental Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics research group at the Institute of Physics at the University of Freiburg and is responsible for Gen-Q there, adds: “By identifying talents and involving them in cutting-edge research, we are giving them early access to state-of-the-art quantum technology – in basic research and its path out of the laboratory into potential applications. The strong international network offers doctoral students opportunities that could significantly advance quantum science collectively and across disciplines.”
Interdisciplinary, intersectoral, international
The programme focuses on four main areas: (1) overcoming noise in quantum devices; (2) increasing the complexity of so-called qubits and sensors; (3) developing quantum hardware; and (4) developing quantum software and hybrid computing. The young scientists choose between the participating locations and the positions advertised there for their doctorate. They will also work with various industrial partners in the region.
‘The aim of Gen-Q is to help overcome future challenges in European quantum science and technology while training the next generation of academics needed to achieve this,’ says Prof. Dr Andrea Schenker-Wicki, rector of the University of Basel and president of Eucor – The European Campus. The collective programme builds on many years of cooperation between the participating scientists in the Upper Rhine region, particularly in the context of the QUSTEC (Quantum Science and Technologies at the European Campus) doctoral programme, which is now coming to an end. The project will also enable the alliance to strengthen its strategic focus on “Quantum Science and Technologies.”’ The Eucor universities are already working with partner institutions in the Netherlands and Poland as part of the European university alliance EPICUR.
For Gen-Q, the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) Eucor – The European Campus is receiving funding from the EU research framework programme “Horizon Europe” in the Marie Skłodowska Curie “COFUND” funding line to promote the mobility of scientists. The five universities in the Upper Rhine region founded the first EGTC in 2015, which is supported only by universities.