Our Team
The IQN Hub brings together the UK’s academic leaders in quantum communications, photonic networks and information security in partnership with industry leaders and senior policymakers.
Director, Gerald Buller
Gerald is the Director of the Integrated Quantum Networks Hub and was Principal Investigator of the EPSRC-funded Quantum Communications Hub. He held an EPSRC Established Career Fellowship in Quantum Technology (2015-2020) and is currently a Professor of Physics at Heriot-Watt University. He has worked in single-photon physics and its applications since 1990, and is a long-standing expert in quantum communications.
In 2012, Gerald was the founding Director of Heriot-Watt’s Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences, bringing together photonics and quantum specialists from across physics, electronic engineering and mechanical engineering to establish a UK centre of excellence. Gerald has published over 300 papers in quantum technology, with over 12,000 citations and an h-index of 59. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the UK Institute of Physics and a Fellow of Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America). Gerald also co-founded Helia Photonics Ltd., where he remains a company director.
Assistant Director, Jason Smith
Jason is the Professor of Photonic Materials and Devices in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford and leads the Photonic Nanomaterials Group (PNG). His research focuses on the science and application of optical systems at nanometer and micrometer length scales, seeking to develop new devices and instruments for future technologies, including optical devices for quantum communications and computing.
Assistant Director, Ciara Rafferty
Ciara is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Secure information Technologies at Queen’s University Belfast, where she leads research into advanced cryptography and data security. She was a lead researcher in the UK Quantum Communications Hub and a Co-investigator on the Innovate UK AQuASeC project led by Toshiba Europe Limited and the Rolls Royce funded project SEQURED. She is a senior member of IEEE and an EPSRC SPRITE+ Expert Fellow.
Assistant Director, Alessandro Fedrizzi
Alessandro is a Professor of Physics at Heriot-Watt University with a twenty-year track record in experimental quantum technology research. His expertise lies in the engineering of quantum light sources for applications in quantum communication, computing and metrology. Alessandro’s current research focuses on quantum networking with multi-photon states and long-distance QKD over fibre and satellite links. He was a scientific lead on entanglement networking in the UK’s phase-2 Quantum Communications Hub.
Hub Manager, Georgia Mortzou
As the IQN Hub manager, Georgia is responsible for leading the operational infrastructure of the project. She is a highly experienced programme manager and has been involved in the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme since its inception, having worked for a decade as the manager of the now successfully concluded Quantum Communications Hub.
Business Development Manager, Jamie Cameron
Jamie has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Glasgow and holds a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry. In 2015, he was awarded a prestigious JSPS Fellowship which he took up at the University of Tsukuba in Japan and was a Senior Researcher at the University of Nottingham from 2017-2021. Since 2021, Jamie has worked in technology and business consultancy, supporting everything from new start-ups to large multi-national corporations, helping them drive their innovation ambitions forward.
As the Business Development Manager for the IQN Hub, Jamie is eager to bring together prospective industry partners, outside stakeholders and hub researchers to deliver on the outstanding promise of quantum networking technologies.
Finance Manager, Fiona Neill
As Finance Manager, Fiona is responsible for overall management of the Hub’s budget, analysing financial data, and forecasting. Over the last four and a half years she has worked as the Project Manager for a large EPSRC-funded programme grant (SPEXS) and has many years of previous experience in finance.