NQCC doctoral studentship scheme 2027: Project proposal EOI

Overview

The National Quantum Computing Centre has 6 funded studentships available to UK universities to run from autumn 2027. These studentships will form the third cohort of the NQCC’s Doctoral Studentship Scheme. The funding will be provided through EPSRC Industrial Doctoral Landscape Awards (IDLA), with the NQCC as the industrial partner.  

The application process has two stages. Firstly, the NQCC is inviting short summaries of proposed projects via an Expressions of Interest (EOI) call. Shortlisted EOI summaries will then be developed into full proposals with an NQCC co-supervisor. In August, the outcome of the EOI stage will be shared with all applicants, and more information on the full proposal stage of the process will be shared with the shortlisted EOI applicants. 

A description of this studentship scheme, along with instructions on how to submit an expression of interest (EOI), is available below. The deadline for EOIs is 14th July 2026.  

Important dates 

NQCC studentships 

The NQCC’s vision is for the UK to harness the power of quantum computing to solve some of the most complex and challenging problems facing society today. To help achieve this vision, the NQCC’s technology programme addresses key challenges associated with scaling quantum computing. To support the delivery of the National Quantum Strategy, particularly its objective to ‘ensure the UK is home to world-leading quantum science and engineering, growing UK knowledge and skills’, the NQCC’s doctoral studentship scheme aims to: 

• Fund applied research that bridges the gap between academia and industry, helping to de-risk the technology 

• Drive the generation of deeply skilled academic graduates who are highly employable across the UK quantum computing value chain

The NQCC funds studentships across quantum computing hardware, software, applications and component technologies. Studentships will sit within one of the following technical teams: trapped ions, superconducting circuits, tweezer arrays, software and control systems and quantum applications. NQCC priority themes for each research teams are outlined below. We welcome applications on any topics associated with these themes.  

Priority research themes 

Trapped ion quantum computing team:
•    Ion trap chip fabrication with integrated devices/integrated photonic circuits 
•    Architectures for fault tolerant trapped ion quantum computing 
•    Operational stability and calibration in trapped ion quantum computing   

Tweezer array quantum computing team:
•    Digital twins – models and optimisation
•    Continuous reloading of atoms
•    Error correction below-threshold, theory and experiment
•    Open, modular architectures for neutral atom quantum computing  

Superconducting circuits quantum computing team:
•    Fast recalibration and stability of high fidelity gate operation
•    Theory and implementation of planar quantum error correction codes
•    Detecting long-range correlated errors for quantum error correction

Software and control systems team: 
•    Quantum/HPC integration
•    Noise aware compilation 
•    Auto-calibration of qubits   

Quantum applications team: 
•    Quantum error correction 
•    Verification 
•    Cryptographically relevant quantum algorithms 

How to apply/ process: 

Applicants should complete the EOI response form by 14th July 2026. EOI project summaries will be shortlisted, and applicants informed of the outcome in early August. Shortlisted EOI summaries will then be invited to develop full proposals with an NQCC co-supervisor. More information on this stage of the process will be shared with shortlisted applicants in early August.  

Guidance 

• EOI proposals should focus on research and innovation ideas aligned to the priority research themes outlined under ‘NQCC studentships’

• EOI proposals should focus on research with a route to scaling or application as opposed to fundamental research into quantum computing, in line with the NQCC’s remit.