Maryam Khanahmadi

The Quantum Error Correction team at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Quantum Computing Programme (NQCP) is offering up to three PhD fellowships at the University of Copenhagen’s Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark. The programme is building a large, international, mission-driven research environment focused on advancing the full stack of quantum computing, from quantum processor development and the quantum-classical interface to quantum algorithms and applications. The advertised PhD projects sit within theoretical quantum error correction for fault-tolerant quantum computing. The research aims to reduce logical error rates while keeping approaches resource-efficient and experimentally feasible. Students will work on topics such as low-overhead and high-threshold error-correcting codes, including low-density parity check codes, resource estimation and optimization across different hardware platforms, distributed quantum error correction for modular architectures and quantum networks, and optimization of syndrome extraction circuits, error-correction cycles, and fault-tolerant logical operations. The position is embedded in the NQCP research ecosystem and involves collaboration with other teams in the programme. The advert emphasizes matching the project to the candidate’s background and interests, suggesting a flexible and collaborative research setup within a broader effort to develop fault-tolerant quantum computing hardware and algorithms relevant to life sciences. The fellowship will be supervised by Assistant Professor Maryam Khanahmadi, who leads the QEC team, with Stefano Paesani as principal supervisor. The research environment is described as creative, stimulating, dynamic, and international, based at the historic Niels Bohr Institute where quantum mechanics was formulated. The position is a PhD fellowship within a major quantum computing programme and offers the opportunity to contribute to theory-driven work on scalable, hardware-aware quantum error correction in a prominent Copenhagen research environment.