Bits are where you think they are. Tiny bits can show up any place. When you look at a bit, it stays the same. But when you look at a tiny bit, it changes. This is seriously weird to people. TINY-BIT-COMPUTERS use this to run very fast.
To make a computer work you need to tell it what to do, by writing your ideas in a way the computer can understand. This is hard, because you have to think like a computer and not like a person. Telling tiny-bit-computers what to do is even harder, because thinking like a tiny-bit-computer and not like a human is seriously hard. I look for ways to explain to tiny-bit-computers what we want in a way that is easier for humans to think about.
To do this I use STUDY-OF-THINGS-TALKING and STUDY-OF-GROUPS-OF-THINGS-TALKING.
History
- 2015-present, University of Edinburgh: senior research fellow, reader, professor.
- 2014-2015, St. Hugh's College Oxford: lecturer.
- 2009-2012, California Institute of Technology: visiting research fellow.With John Preskill.
- 2009-2015, University of Oxford: research assistant, research fellow, senior research fellow.
With Samson Abramsky and Bob Coecke.
- PhD, 2009. Thesis: "Categorical Quantum Models and Logics"
Supervisors: Bart Jacobs and Klaas Landsman, Radboud University Nijmegen.
- MSc in Mathematics, 2005. Thesis: "The possibilities and impossibilities of recursive Ramsey theory"
Supervisor: Wim Veldman, Radboud University Nijmegen.
- MSc in Computer Science, 2005. Thesis: "Complexity in the Real world"
Supervisors: Herman Geuvers and Dick van Leijenhorst, Radboud University Nijmegen.
Honours
Roles
- Director, Centre for Doctoral Training in Quantum Informatics, 2023-present.
- Director of People & Culture, School of Informatics, 2022-2024.
- Director, Cisco Centre of Excellence in Quantum and AI, 2023-present.
- Cohort Lead, Maths & CS 4th year, 2024-present.
- Founding member, Quantum Software Lab, 2023.
- Deputy Director, Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science, 2020-2023.
Teaching
Boards
Committees
Organisation
Funding
- EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Quantum Informatics, PI, 2025-2033
- EPSRC Hub for Quantum Computing via Integrated and Interconnected Implementations, co-I, 2024-2029
- EPSRC project Rubber DUQ: Flexible Dynamic Universal Quantum Programming, PI, 2023-2026
- EPSRC project Quantum Advantage Pathfinder, co-I, 2023-2026
- RoarQ project A unified noise-aware compiler stack for NISQ, PI, 2023-2025
- EPSRC Hub in Quantum Computing and Simulation, co-I, 2019-2025
- EPSRC project Distributing big quantum computations over small quantum computers, PI, 2022-2024
- Cisco RFP project Distributing big quantum computations over small quantum computers, PI, 2021-2022
- EPSRC Early Career Fellowship extension Combining Viewpoints in Quantum Theory, PI, 2019-2021
- DOD MURI Semantics, Formal Reasoning, and Tools for Quantum Programming, PI, 2016-2019
- EPSRC Early Career Fellowship Combining Viewpoints in Quantum Theory, PI, 2013-2018
- NWO Rubicon Quantum Theory and Categorical Logic, PI, 2009-2011