April 2025

Image showing two students, one male and one female, chatting against a lab background

Quantum Technology Hubs receive EPSRC funding to advance quantum skills and training

14 April, 2025

The Quantum Technology Hubs, part of the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme (NQTP), have been awarded a further £3M from EPSRC to develop a targeted quantum skills and training programme, helping to inspire and train the next generation of quantum experts.

Skills constitute a key part of the UK’s national quantum strategy published in 2023, and the focus of a recent DSIT-led wide consultation exercise (the “Quantum Skills Taskforce”). The five Hubs, which formally started in December 2024, will use the funding to design and implement a coordinated and expert-led skills and training programme over a period of four years. The programme will include an online seminar series, delivered by a diverse range of speakers from industry, charities and NGOs, highlighting the multidisciplinary nature of skills sought after in the sector. The experiences and career pathways of technicians involved in this kind of work will also be represented.

The programme will further include a series of international summer schools in quantum technologies to foster collaborative links with research communities abroad. A first Hubs summer school was held during the second phase of the NQTP, in 2023, and helped create the basis for increased mobility, giving postgraduate researchers an international perspective and contributing to an enhanced talent pipeline for UK academia and industry. That summer school, attended by 60 students, over half of whom were from overseas, was hugely successful. The new summer schools will partly replicate that model through blending traditional technical content with an expansive programme of transferable skills sessions, and contributions from industrial partners.

Entrepreneurial skills training across the Hubs will also be included in the new training programme, helping to equip a cohort of early-career researchers with the essential skills required to identify and develop commercial opportunities, collaborate with industry and interact with investors. This activity will primarily target those early career researchers with an active interest in spinning out technology from the Hubs’ research. In parallel, an entrepreneurial fellowships scheme will be set up to encourage PhD and early career researchers to deploy their scientific knowledge beyond the academic setting. Potential examples of this activity include the creation of near-prototype units to form part of an entrepreneurial venture, short-term placements in national labs or industrial facilities, or involvement in field trials in partnership with industrial end-users.

Quantum City is an initiative designed and launched by the partners of the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme in 2018, and aims to showcase the real-world, everyday impact of quantum technologies within the wider community. The project comprises a newly-launched website, school resources including on career pathways, and participation in a number of established national and regional outreach events such as New Scientist Live and Pint of Science. Quantum City is also an established platform for those studying and working within the Hubs wishing to develop their public engagement skills in terms of communicating scientific research into easy-to-understand, accessible language, a crucial skill for many careers. Part of the new Hubs skills and training funding will be invested in expanding this portfolio of public engagement activities to ensure a more coordinated approach and the involvement of other NQTP stakeholders such as the National Quantum Computing Centre and National Physical Laboratory.

On receiving the funding, Professor Miles Padgett, Science Co-Director at the UK Quantum Technology Research Hub in Sensing, Imaging and Timing, said: “It is fantastic to see both the importance placed on skills within the quantum agenda and the trust placed in the Quantum Hubs to deliver it.”

Dr Derek Craig, Deputy Director for Quantum Technologies at EPSRC said:

“This funding will support early career researchers, fostering a collaborative network between all five EPSRC Quantum Technology Hubs. By supporting careers, including through international summer schools, we’re paving the way for groundbreaking advancements in quantum technology and ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of this critical field.”

Image showing the Hub Director, Professor Gerald Buller (a white, middle-aged man) addressing the audience in a lecture theatre at the Hub launch event

New UK Quantum Hub launches to pioneer secure networks and advance the quantum internet

10 April, 2025

The Integrated Quantum Networks Hub will address the challenges underpinning the establishment of a “quantum internet”, by developing the novel technologies, protocols and industry standards necessary for the deployment of a secure, scalable, quantum communications infrastructure for the UK and beyond.

Led by Heriot-Watt University and supported by over £42M of EPSRC funding and industry contributions, the new Hub brings together the expertise of a further 12 leading UK universities (Bristol, Cambridge, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Imperial, Oxford, Queen’s Belfast, Sheffield, Southampton, Strathclyde, Warwick and York), two national laboratories – the National Physical Laboratory and STFC RAL Space – and over 40 industrial partners to secure the UK’s leadership in quantum secure communications.

The project was formally launched yesterday in Edinburgh at an event attended by over 120 researchers, industry stakeholders, and government representatives. This included senior figures from the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT), UKRI, GCHQ, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Technology Scotland, the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC), as well as key figures from the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme.

Quantum networks enable the transmission and sharing of quantum information by harnessing entanglement and quantum measurement—capabilities that go beyond what classical systems can achieve. The Integrated Quantum Networks (IQN) Hub is working to realise scalable, practical quantum networks, from local links between quantum processors to national entanglement infrastructure and intercontinental satellite-based communications. This pioneering research opens up transformative possibilities in quantum-secure communications, distributed quantum computing, and ultra-sensitive quantum sensor networks. The hub’s vision aligns with the UK Government’s national quantum strategy, which sets out an ambitious goal: by 2035, the UK will have deployed the world’s most advanced quantum network infrastructure.

Kickstarting the proceedings, Tom Newby, Head of DSIT’s Office for Quantum, talked about the opportunities afforded by quantum technologies for the UK’s evolving industry landscape, the development of supporting skillsets and the potential for economic boost through leading innovation and commercialisation activities.

Secretary of State for Science and Technology, Peter Kyle said:

“Supporting the deployment of technology that emerges from the Quantum Research Hubs will mean faster diagnoses for diseases, critical infrastructure safe from hostile threats and cleaner energy, all of which are key to our Plan for Change.

“By pooling expertise from across the UK to capitalise on quantum technology, we can transform sectors like healthcare and security to improve lives and create a culture of accelerated innovation that helps to grow our economy.”

The event featured a series of expert talks and panel discussions with industry partners, spotlighting the Hub’s vision to develop and commercialise next-generation quantum communication technologies. Highlights included advances in quantum memories, new network designs that integrate with today’s fibre-optic infrastructure, and satellite-enabled quantum communication—already being demonstrated through SPOQC, one of the UK’s flagship quantum space missions. To support the growing quantum ecosystem, researchers are also working on essential technologies like quantum light sources, detectors and switches, while contributing to the development of future security standards that will help shape the industry as it scales.

Hub Director, Professor Gerald Buller from Heriot-Watt University, said:

“The Integrated Quantum Networks Hub is building on the UK’s enormous strengths in quantum research and combines our world-class academic base with leading industry partners from across the telecommunications, space, security and quantum technology sectors. We have a hugely ambitious vision to establish UK leadership in quantum networking however, through this Hub, we have assembled an extraordinary partnership to help deliver this.”

Andrew Lord, Head of Optical Network Research at BT, a key industry partners of the project, said:

“BT is thrilled that this crucial quantum networks hub has been launched and we look forward to being involved with it. Quantum networks go far beyond Quantum Key Distribution and we are excited to see research leading towards the ultimate promise of quantum connections between quantum computers.”

Professor Gillian Murray, Deputy Principal for Business and Enterprise, Heriot-Watt University added:

“Collaboration sits at the heart of everything we do at Heriot-Watt. By working closely with industry, government, and research partners through initiatives like the Integrated Quantum Networks Hub, we’re helping to shape the innovation clusters of the future—ones that will drive economic growth, deliver secure technologies, and position the UK as a global leader in quantum innovation. These partnerships are critical to unlocking new capabilities and translating world-class research into real-world impact.”

The IQN Hub is part of a network of five quantum technology hubs, launched by UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), with a £106 million investment from EPSRC, the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), UKRI Medical Research Council (MRC), and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

To find out more, visit iqnhub.org

image showing the configuration of the UK Quantum Network during the recent experimental demonstration securely transferring data between Cambridge and Bristol

Researchers Demonstrate the UK’s First Long-Distance Communication Over a Quantum Network

8 April, 2025

Researchers have successfully demonstrated the UK’s first long-distance ultra-secure transfer of data over a quantum communications network, including the UK’s first long-distance quantum-secured video call.

The team, from the Universities of Bristol and Cambridge, created the network, which uses standard fibreoptic infrastructure, but relies on a variety of quantum phenomena to enable ultra-secure data transfer.

The network uses two types of quantum key distribution (QKD) schemes: ‘unhackable’ encryption keys hidden inside particles of light; and distributed entanglement: a phenomenon that causes quantum particles to be intrinsically linked.

The researchers demonstrated the capabilities of the network via a live, quantum-secure video conference link, the transfer of encrypted medical data, and secure remote access to a distributed data centre. The data was successfully transmitted between Bristol and Cambridge – a fibre distance of over 410 kilometres.

This is the first time that a long-distance network, encompassing different quantum-secure technologies such as entanglement distribution, has been successfully demonstrated. The researchers presented their results at the 2025 Optical Fiber Communications Conference (OFC) in San Francisco.

Quantum communications offer unparalleled security advantages compared to classical telecommunications solutions. These technologies are immune against future cyber-attacks, even with quantum computers, which – once fully developed – will have the potential to break through even the strongest cryptographic methods currently in use.

In the past few years, researchers have been working to build and use quantum communication networks. China recently set up a massive network that covers 4,600 kilometres by connecting five cities using both fibreoptics and satellites. In Madrid, researchers created a smaller network with nine connection points that use different types of QKD to securely share information.

In 2019, researchers at Cambridge and Toshiba demonstrated a metro scale quantum network operating at record key rates of millions of key bits per second. And in 2020, researchers in Bristol built a network that could share entanglement between multiple users. Similar quantum network trials have been demonstrated in Singapore, Italy and the USA.

Despite this progress, no one has built a large, long-distance network that can handle both types of QKD, entanglement distribution, and regular data transmission all at once, until now.

The experiment demonstrates the potential of quantum networks to accommodate different quantum-secure approaches simultaneously with classical communications infrastructure. It was carried out using the UK’s Quantum Network (UKQN), established over the last decade by the same team, supported by funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and as part of the Quantum Communications Hub project.

“This is a crucial step toward building a quantum-secured future for our communities and society,” said co-author Dr Rui Wang, Lecturer for Future Optical Networks in the Smart Internet Lab‘s High Performance Network Research Group at the University of Bristol. “More importantly, it lays the foundation for a large-scale quantum internet—connecting quantum nodes and devices through entanglement and teleportation on a global scale.”

“This marks the culmination of more than ten years of work to design and build the UK Quantum Network,” said co-author Adrian Wonfor from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering. “Not only does it demonstrate the use of multiple quantum communications technologies, but also the secure key management systems required to allow seamless end-to-end encryption between us.”

“This is a significant step in delivering quantum security for the communications we all rely upon in our daily lives at a national scale.” said co-author Professor Richard Penty, also from Cambridge and who headed the Quantum Networks work package in the Quantum Communications Hub. “It would not have been possible without the close collaboration of the two teams at Cambridge and Bristol, the support of our industrial partners Toshiba, BT, Adtran and Cisco, and our funders at UKRI.”

“This is an extraordinary achievement which highlights the UK’s world-class strengths in quantum networking technology,” said Gerald Buller, Director of the IQN Hub, based at Heriot-Watt University. “This exciting demonstration is precisely the kind of work the Integrated Quantum Networks Hub will support over the coming years, developing the technologies, protocols and standards which will establish a resilient, future-proof, national quantum communications infrastructure.”

The current UKQN covers two metropolitan quantum networks around Bristol and Cambridge, which are connected via a ‘backbone’ of four long-distance optical fibre links spanning 410 kilometres with three intermediate nodes.

The network uses single-mode fibre over the EPSRC National Dark Fibre Facility (which provides dedicated fibre for research purposes), and low-loss optical switches allowing network reconfiguration of both classical and quantum signal traffic.

The team will pursue this work further through a newly funded EPSRC project, the Integrated Quantum Networks Hub, whose vision is to establish quantum networks at all distance scales, from local networking of quantum processors to national-scale entanglement networks for quantum-safe communication, distributed computing and sensing, all the way to intercontinental networking via low-earth orbit satellites.