Three Society Fellows and Distinguished Fellows have been appointed to the National Quantum Advisory Committee, announced on 22 September by the Minister for Industry and Science, the Hon. Ed Husic MP.  The 15-member committee, to be chaired by Australia’s Chief Scientist and Society Distinguished Fellow, Dr Cathy Foley AO DistFRSN FAA FTSE, will be “an integral part of Australia’s quantum capability across research, industry, and government.”

The other Society members appointed to the Committee are Distinguished Fellow Scientia Professor Michelle Simmons AO FRS DistFRSN FAA FTSE of UNSW Sydney, and Fellow Dr Simon Devitt FRSN from the University of Technology Sydney.   

Professor Simmons, who is the Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computing and Communications Technology and the Founder of Silicon Quantum Computing recently delivered an address on quantum computing titled  ‘Manufacturing at the atomic scale‘ at the August 2022 Ideas@theHouse, presented by the Governor of NSW, Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AO KC in collaboration with the Royal Society of NSW. 

Dr Simon Devitt FRSN, who is the Research Director for the Centre for Quantum Software and Information at UTS, is an Australian theoretical quantum physicist who has worked on large-scale Quantum computing architecture.  He was the winner of the Society’s Warren Prize for 2020.

Further information about the National Quantum Advisory Committee is available on the InnovationAus website.