Articles
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New research priority area: Shaping Interfaces Between Science and the Public
Our QISS project leader Sebastian De Haro is part of the new research priority area (RPA) Shaping Interfaces Between Science and the Public, which aims to establish a Public Methodology Centre to strengthen the relationship between science, citizen science, social debate and various professional practices. The RPA is a collaboration between the faculties of Humanities, Law, Science, Social and Behavioural Sciences, and the Amsterdam UMC. Read here more about the RPA.
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Quantuuuuhhm explained
In the Quantuuuuhm Podcast episode ‘Hoe de quantumcomputer alles kraakt en veilig maakt’ presenters Sander Denneman and Adriaan ter Braack visit at the UvA our QISS member Christian Schaffner, who explains them more how Quantum computers work (in Dutch). View here.
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Workshop on the Deployment of post-quantum cryptography
Ailsa Robertson attended early October a workshop of PQA Crypto Trimesterin Paris, serving as a forum to present and discuss the most pressing issues related to the practical deployment of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC). The program included skill-sharing sessions and open problem-solving discussions. Representatives from companies making the PQC transition were present, such as Microsoft (Christian Paquin), JP Morgan (Hubert le van Gong), Amazon Web Services (Matt Campagna) and Mike Ounsworth (Entrust).
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Act Now! QISS Poster Winner at Alice & Eve
Our QISS researcher Ailsa Robertson won the poster competition presenting her QISS work at the Alice & Eve workshop in Leiden (25 October). Congratulations!
With her poster “Your Cryptography will be broken: Act Now!” Ailsa focused on bottlenecks and tensions of making the transition to quantum-safe cryptography in the Netherlands. Other topics at the workshop ranged from responsible research in Large Language Models, the role of gender in security decision making, to the ethics in computing.
See Ailsa’s full poster here. -
Giga-Open Quantum Institute event at CERN Geneva
On 18 October, Giga—a global initiative to connect every school to the Internet by 2030— and the Open Quantum Institute—an initiative to connect quantum’s capabilities to the UN’s SDGs—, held an expert session titled “Quantum for Connectivity.” Eline de Jong was among the featured speakers, where she addressed both the practical and ethical implications of quantum technologies. In her talk, Eline outlined key structural challenges involved in embedding quantum technologies into society, highlighting considerations essential for responsible implementation. This session also served as a preliminary event for the upcoming “Quantum Humanity” conference scheduled for Spring 2025.
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QISS presentations at Summer conferences
This Summer, Eline de Jong presented her research about “technological understanding”, co-authored by Sebastian De Haro, at several conferences: Responsible Quantum Technology Conference (Stanford), EASST-4S (Amsterdam), and OZSW Annual Conference (Eindhoven). Technological understanding is the kind of understanding that is essential for designing and using technology. In their papers, Eline and Sebastian develop this concept, and specify three distinct types of technological understanding, each relevant to different contexts. This means that the understanding that is required for practical use of a technology or for thinking up new applications may differ from the understanding needed to build these technologies. This pluralistic approach to ‘expertise’ offers a valuable framework for assessing and improving understanding of technology in practice.
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Successfully defending Accessibility of Quantum Computers
Congratulations from all QISS members to Sanhit Mehta who successfully defended his Master of Science thesis on the “Epistemic and Technical Accessibility of Quantum Computers” !
Sanhit: ‘I thank my supervisor Sebastian De Haro, my daily supervisor Eline de Jong […] and other members of the QISS project for conversations from which I gained valuable insights. As I conclude another phase of my life, I am excited to see what lies ahead.’
Sanhit now joins the SURF team on their project of Fair Access To Quantum Computers. An exciting new chapter for him!
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Open letter Bart Groothuis on Quantum Security, with a QISS connection
QISS members Ot van Dalen and Christian Schaffner suggested to Bart Groothuis, member of European Parliament, to put the transition to quantum-safe cryptography on the EU agenda. As a result, Bart Groothuis wrote an open letter to the commissioner, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) and the European Data Protection Board (EDPB). This made for quite some news in the Dutch media, see for instance NOS, BNR and iBestuur.
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Gravitation grant for challenges in Cyber Security
The ‘Challenges in Cyber Security’ project brings together top researchers from the hard sciences in the cyber security field. This, according to Minister Dijkgraaf (Education, Culture and Science), places the research among ‘the world's scientific top’, and the project will thus receive a substantial NWO Gravitation grant.
QISS member Christian Schaffner will be working on the project and comments: ‘I’m really excited to get started with this big cybersecurity project. Together with the other consortium partners from TU/e, VU, RU and CWI, we are taking a systematic approach to make sure our cyber systems are secure. For example, we address long-term security by looking ahead to the time when quantum computers could break the encryption that keeps our online data safe right now. Even though that might be years away, bad actors could collect encrypted information today and crack it open later when they have the right tools. So we’re getting ahead of the game to protect our data for the future.’ -
New Master Quantum Computer Science at UvA
On 29 January a new Master Quantum Computer Science at the University of Amsterdam was accredited. Several courses are coordinated and conducted by QISS members and QuSoft, such as ‘Quantum in Society’ by Sebastian de Haro, and ‘Quantum Cryptography’ by Christian Schaffner. Enrolling is possible in May.
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QISS connected RQSC project awarded
Exciting news! Our QISS team has been awarded a grant by the Centre for Quantum & Society (Quantum Delta NL) for projects that accelerate the positive impact of quantum technologies in society. Our proposal Societal Incubator: A Responsible Quantum-Safe cryptography Transition (RQSC) builds on and supports our NWA-funded QISS project, in partnership with TNO and Fontys University.
The aim of the RQSC project is to use participatory and user-centre design principles to identify and implement societal requirements for RQSC-transition. This will be done through two workshops (Autumn 2024 and Spring 2025) where upstream stakeholders will be engaged with representatives from industry, academia, government and civil society. Read here about the call and awarded projects. -
Eline de Jong at Stanford’s new Center for Responsible Quantum Technology
The Stanford Law School very recently launched the Center for Responsible Quantum Technology. This center focuses on the ethical, legal, social, and policy aspects of quantum technology, including quantum artificial intelligence. It aims to address the challenges and opportunities presented by quantum technologies, such as encryption, computing, and sensors. And Eline de Jong has become one of the first research fellows, giving her a great opportunity to internationally highlight the QISS research. Congratulations, Eline! -
Quantum Research on the radio
QISS researcher Eline de Jong was guest on the public radio programme De Nacht Van NTR. Eline was interviewed about her research on the societal impact of future quantum computers and artificial intelligence. You can listen to the nice interview (in Dutch) via this link. -
QISS research officially started
In October, the QISS research project has officially started. We are looking forward to a fruitful multidisciplinary collaboration between scientists, financial institutions, the government and societal groups to investigate the impact of quantum secure cryptography!
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Large NWA grant for research into the social impact of quantum secure cryptography
See the article on the UvA website.