Welcome to the homepage of the first SparQ Access (formerly QCAP) user meeting. The meeting will take place on the University of Kent’s campus in the historic city of Canterbury. It will be an opportunity for this emerging community to network, exchange best practice, and showcase their work. This meeting is organised by the University of Kent’s Quantum Applications Research Centre (QuARC) and sponsored by the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC).
Key dates
| Pre-announcement | 1 May 2026 |
| 1st announcement; registration opens | 10 June 2026 |
| 2nd announcement | TBA |
| Registration deadline (*) | 15 August 2026 (Extended) |
| Notification | 1 September 2026 |
| Late registrations (*) | 15 September 2026 |
| Meeting starts | 30 September 2026 |
Registration
Follow this link to register (*). During registration, you will be given the chance to propose a talk showcasing your SparQ Access/QCAP work (*). There is no registration fee, but there are limited places available.
(*) The programme is now full, but late registrations are accepted until the stated deadline and participation is open to everyone.
Travel & Accommodation
Participants are responsible for making their own travel and accommodation arrangements. Below are some helpful tips.
Travel
The campus is very close to Canterbury West railway station, which is only 51 mins from Kings Cross/St Pancras via the HS1. Follow this link for detailed directions to the campus and more travel options.
If you need to park on campus during the conference, use this parking permit which needs to be printed and displayed on your dashboard. Printed copies will be available at the conference registration desk. Outside the conference days you will need to follow the general parking instructions.
Once on campus, make your way to the conference building:
- Day 1 (Wednesday 30 September): The Gulbenkian.
- Day 2 (Thursday 1 October): Darwin College Conference Suite.
Accommodation
Canterbury is a major tourist destination and many accommodation options can be found on the main travel websites, both on- and off-campus. As a rough guide, the historic city centre is a 25-30 mins walk (or a 10-min journey on the Uni Bus) from the campus. Booking with plenty of time is strongly recommended.
Useful websites for finding accommodation:
Where to eat?
Looking for a bite in Canterbury? Check out our recommended list of Canterbury pubs and restaurants. If you prefer to grab a bite on campus, you can use the campus restaurants and shops guide.
Programme
View and download the complete Abstract Booklet (organized chronologically for both days).
Day 1 (Wednesday 30 September)
Location: The Gulbenkian
Registration opens: 9:45
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10:15 – 10:30
15m
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General
Welcome
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10:30 – 10:50
20m
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Opening Talk
NQCC Overview
Simon Plant
Deputy Director for Innovation, National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC)
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10:50 – 11:30
40m
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Keynote
Connecting the Quantum Dots: AI Pathfinders from Access to Discovery
Elham Kashefi
Director, Quantum Software Lab (QSL)
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11:30 – 11:50
20m
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Break
Coffee Break
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11:50 – 12:10
20m
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Session
Quantum advantage on IBM hardware for real-time dynamics of Quantum Field Theory
Bipasha Chakraborty
University of Southampton
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12:10 – 12:30
20m
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Session
A Structure-Aware Quantum Vision-Language Model on NISQ-Era Quantum Computers
Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh
University College London
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12:30 – 13:30
1h
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Break
Lunch Break
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13:30 – 13:50
20m
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Session
When Noise Looks Like an Attacker: Evaluating BB84 Eavesdropping Detection on IBM Quantum Processors
Adam Gorine
University of the West of England, Bristol
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13:50 – 14:10
20m
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Session
Forecasting chaotic systems with quantum reservoir computing
Osama Ahmed
Imperial College London / Qronon
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14:10 – 14:30
20m
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Session
On the feasibility of Quantum Cryptocurrency Mining
Lee Armstrong
University of Kent
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14:30 – 14:50
20m
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Session
Quantum products of experts
Marcin Jastrzebski
University of Sheffield
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14:50 – 15:10
20m
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Break
Coffee Break
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15:10 – 15:30
20m
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Session
Hybrid Classical-Quantum Generative Models for Synthetic Medical Data
Soraya Vaani Panambalom
Newcastle University
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15:30 – 15:50
20m
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Session
First Complete Gravitational Wave Encoded on a Quantum Computer
Hong Qi
Queen Mary University of London
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15:50 – 16:10
20m
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Session
Quantum Generative Diffusion Model for Real-World Time Series
Jack Waller
Kingston University
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16:10 – 16:30
20m
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Session
Quantum simulation of atomic nuclei
Professor Paul Stevenson
University of Surrey
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Day 2 (Thursday 1 October)
Registration opens: 9:30
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10:00 – 10:10
10m
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General
Welcome
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10:10 – 10:30
20m
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Session
Analysing Biological Networks using QAOA and Gaussian Boson Sampling
Lily Lee
Imperial College London
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10:30 – 10:50
20m
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Session
Hermitian Matrix Product Operators on Quantum Computers
Naivasha Williams
University College London
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10:50 – 11:10
20m
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Session
Mean-field ansätze for quantum sampling algorithms
Freddie Burns
University of Bristol
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11:10 – 11:30
20m
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Break
Coffee Break
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11:30 – 11:50
20m
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Session
Quantum Assisted rendezvous
Joshua Tucker
University of Kent
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11:50 – 12:10
20m
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Session
Hybrid Quantum Strategy Search for the graph domination game
Christopher Weeks
University of Kent
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12:10 – 12:30
20m
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Session
Solving larger Travelling Salesman Problem networks
Daniel Goldsmith
Kingston University
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12:30 – 13:30
1h
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Break
Lunch Break
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13:30 – 14:00
30m
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Session
From Access to Understanding: Lessons, Surprises and Progress through SparQ
Virag Umathe
Quantum Software Lab, The University of Edinburgh
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14:00 – 14:30
30m
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Session
Quantum Computing for Brain Network Analysis
Erika Molteni
University College London
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15:30 – 15:40
10m
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Closing Remakrs
SparQ Access: Achievements to Date and Outlook
Rob Whiteman
Quantum Readiness Delivery Lead, National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC)
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Organisation committee
- Jorge Quintanilla (chair)
- Carlos Perez Delgado (programme)
- Joshua Tucker (conference secretary)
- Lee Armstrong (webmaster)
- Lizzy Chipperfield (logistics)
- Chris Weeks (deputy conference secretary)
- Diksha Gautam (deputy logistics)
- Rob Whiteman and Rebecca Humble (NQCC coordinators)