Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ESQ (ESQ-FP: Erwin Schrödinger Quantum Science Programme)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2020-05-01 do 2023-10-31
ESQ was hosted and coordinated by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), financed by the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF). It was initially operated in close collaboration with three ESQ partners, the University of Vienna (UNIVIE), the Technische Universität Wien (TUWIEN) and the University of Innsbruck (UIBK).
The mission of ESQ was to host a Fellowship Programme for excellent postdoctoral research in quantum science and technology and to support focused, exploratory research projects via a Discovery Programme.
Funding via the MSCA COFUND scheme ESQ Austria allowed us to elevate the Austrian Fellowship Programme to a European level, providing it with a broader perspective to attract and train excellent incoming scientists to shape the quantum research landscape.
While the Austrian programme had already started 2 years earlier, COFUND enabled the international selection and hiring of 5 fellows in each of three consecutive years 2018-2020 all with an employment contract for 2 years, which was only occasionally aborted to allow the candidates to follow a promotion to a longer-term position elsewhere in the world.
This was timely and important, since quantum science and technology has seen a stuning growth in academia and industry, world-wide.
Global investment in quantum technology are estimated to currently exceed 20 billion dollars, with large players in the US, China, Europe. Many large IT companies have joined the race and many start ups in the fierld are sprouting and flourishing.
At the end of the ESQ COFUND program, the original task is even more urgent than before: Industry is absorbing the best quantum scientists on highly paid jobs, quantum researchers become young entrepreneurs and academic jobs in quantum science have been newly created.
While large scale quantum computing lies still in the future, small scale systems have become commercially available, quantum random number generators, quantum key distribution systems have become commercial devices.
The same is true for a wide field of quantum sensors, form atomic clocks, matter-wave sensors, NV-magnetometers, superconducting sensors etc.
There is a clear need in academia and industry for a high number of highly qualified quantum researchers. ESQ was timely and important and lived up to the expectations.
The mission of ESQ was to host a Fellowship Programme for excellent postdoctoral research in quantum science and technology and to support focused, exploratory research projects via a Discovery Programme.
Funding via the MSCA COFUND scheme ESQ Austria allowed us to elevate the Austrian Fellowship Programme to a European level, providing it with a broader perspective to attract and train excellent incoming scientists to shape the quantum research landscape.
While the Austrian programme had already started 2 years earlier, COFUND enabled the international selection and hiring of 5 fellows in each of three consecutive years 2018-2020 all with an employment contract for 2 years, which was only occasionally aborted to allow the candidates to follow a promotion to a longer-term position elsewhere in the world.
This was timely and important, since quantum science and technology has seen a stuning growth in academia and industry, world-wide.
Global investment in quantum technology are estimated to currently exceed 20 billion dollars, with large players in the US, China, Europe. Many large IT companies have joined the race and many start ups in the fierld are sprouting and flourishing.
At the end of the ESQ COFUND program, the original task is even more urgent than before: Industry is absorbing the best quantum scientists on highly paid jobs, quantum researchers become young entrepreneurs and academic jobs in quantum science have been newly created.
While large scale quantum computing lies still in the future, small scale systems have become commercially available, quantum random number generators, quantum key distribution systems have become commercial devices.
The same is true for a wide field of quantum sensors, form atomic clocks, matter-wave sensors, NV-magnetometers, superconducting sensors etc.
There is a clear need in academia and industry for a high number of highly qualified quantum researchers. ESQ was timely and important and lived up to the expectations.
The prime task of ESQ was the selection of promising fellows and to integrate them into the Austrian research landscape. Three calls were published between 2018 and 2020, on websites of international physics societies and job websites including Euraxess. The calls were distributed to hundreds of colleagues in quantum research all around the world.
All application documents were screened for eligibility by the ESQ office. Recommendation letters and application documents were forwarded to the ESQ Scientific Advisory Committee for review.
In 2018, ESQ received 80 applications from 24 countries, with 56 male and 15 female candidates formally eligible. In 2019, ESQ received 37 applicants from 17 countries (29 male and 8 female candidates), with 31 formally eligible. In 2020, ESQ received 81 applications from 26 countries (67 male and 14 female candidates).
The large number of applications ensured a high level of competition for only 5 ESQ positions awarded in every call.
A jury composed of seven prominent experimental and theoretical physicists from the US, France, Japan, Germany, Poland selected the candidates in two steps:
The preselection was based on the candidates’ list of grades, certificates, publications and awards, as well as at least two letters of recommendation. The hearing consisted of a personal presentation in front of the jury with presentations of past achievements, plans for the future and general questions.
Every successful ESQ fellow was free to choose any ESQ faculty member as their mentor and host. The fellows were employed at these institutions with a salary and benefits following the EU Marie Curie rules.
All starting ESQ fellows completed a Statement of Ethics and their Individual Career Plan. They received regular updates also on soft skill training opportunities. ESQ co-organized Austrian network meetings in quantum science.
ESQ was successful in filling all open positions with qualified scientists who are now pursuing successful careers. The list of ESQ fellows, their projects, distinctions and publications are presented on the ESQ webpage: www.oeaw.ac.at/esq/home.
The prime outcome of the project is training in research: This is well documented, as all ESQ fellows together contributed to nearly 100 publications, often in prestigious journals, among them in Nature, Science Advances, Physical Review Letters, Phys. Rev. X, Quantum Science and Technology.
All application documents were screened for eligibility by the ESQ office. Recommendation letters and application documents were forwarded to the ESQ Scientific Advisory Committee for review.
In 2018, ESQ received 80 applications from 24 countries, with 56 male and 15 female candidates formally eligible. In 2019, ESQ received 37 applicants from 17 countries (29 male and 8 female candidates), with 31 formally eligible. In 2020, ESQ received 81 applications from 26 countries (67 male and 14 female candidates).
The large number of applications ensured a high level of competition for only 5 ESQ positions awarded in every call.
A jury composed of seven prominent experimental and theoretical physicists from the US, France, Japan, Germany, Poland selected the candidates in two steps:
The preselection was based on the candidates’ list of grades, certificates, publications and awards, as well as at least two letters of recommendation. The hearing consisted of a personal presentation in front of the jury with presentations of past achievements, plans for the future and general questions.
Every successful ESQ fellow was free to choose any ESQ faculty member as their mentor and host. The fellows were employed at these institutions with a salary and benefits following the EU Marie Curie rules.
All starting ESQ fellows completed a Statement of Ethics and their Individual Career Plan. They received regular updates also on soft skill training opportunities. ESQ co-organized Austrian network meetings in quantum science.
ESQ was successful in filling all open positions with qualified scientists who are now pursuing successful careers. The list of ESQ fellows, their projects, distinctions and publications are presented on the ESQ webpage: www.oeaw.ac.at/esq/home.
The prime outcome of the project is training in research: This is well documented, as all ESQ fellows together contributed to nearly 100 publications, often in prestigious journals, among them in Nature, Science Advances, Physical Review Letters, Phys. Rev. X, Quantum Science and Technology.
The mission of ESQ was to fund research personalities. COFUND allowed us to train 15 excellent experienced researchers and to provide them with an opportunity to grow personally, scientifically and to boost their career perspectives.
This job was completed with success. All fellows continued on a scientific position.
4 ESQ fellows accepted a permanent research position, while being on the ESQ fellowship. They moved to University of Strathclyde (Glasgow), Barcelona (ICCUB), Boulder/Colorado, and Mallorca/Spain, and to the University of Sorbonne/Paris.
1 fellow: Asst. Professor at Trinity College, Dublin.
3 fellows: Researcher at University of Innsbruck - (with a ESQ Discovery Grant) and at Austrian Institute of Technology (permanent)
8 fellows: PostDoc at IQOQI Vienna, University of Vienna, University of Innsbruck
2 fellows: TU Wien
ESQ is proud to have hosted so many successful fellows, who were also distinguished by external grants: ERC Starting Grant + 1 QuantERA project, Lise Meitner Fellowship (FWF), ESQ Discovery Grant, Young Independent Researcher Group (FWF).
ESQ had started originally with a team of 27 scientific hosts in all partner institutions combined. Due to the local excellence and the supportive environment in Austria, the number of professors and excellence grant holders grew by about 50%.
By October 2019, 14 new professors and excellence grant holders in quantum science were integrated into the ESQ faculty in Innsbruck and Vienna to widen the range of high-quality training opportunities for postdocs in 2020.
By mid-2022, ESQ had already integrated 62 Austrian quantum research groups.
They form the basis of excellence in a rich quantum land scape. The rapid growth of the ESQ team supports our initial claim that the ESQ COFUND program was very timely and of value to society.
The outstanding status of Austrian quantum research was also recognized by numerous prestigious prizes to those who served as hosts to our fellows.
An outstanding example is Anton Zeilinger, who served both as president and signatory of the Austrian Academy of Sciences during the largest part of the CODFUND program, served as potential scientific hosts and was decorated by the Nobel Prize in Physics, in 2022.
The importance of quantum science in Austria has been recognized by the FWF awarding a Cluster of Excellence to Quantum Austria ("QuantA"), which unites all more than 60 Austrian teams that were previously also partners in ESQ.
ESQ had thus a large leveraging effect in Austria.
This job was completed with success. All fellows continued on a scientific position.
4 ESQ fellows accepted a permanent research position, while being on the ESQ fellowship. They moved to University of Strathclyde (Glasgow), Barcelona (ICCUB), Boulder/Colorado, and Mallorca/Spain, and to the University of Sorbonne/Paris.
1 fellow: Asst. Professor at Trinity College, Dublin.
3 fellows: Researcher at University of Innsbruck - (with a ESQ Discovery Grant) and at Austrian Institute of Technology (permanent)
8 fellows: PostDoc at IQOQI Vienna, University of Vienna, University of Innsbruck
2 fellows: TU Wien
ESQ is proud to have hosted so many successful fellows, who were also distinguished by external grants: ERC Starting Grant + 1 QuantERA project, Lise Meitner Fellowship (FWF), ESQ Discovery Grant, Young Independent Researcher Group (FWF).
ESQ had started originally with a team of 27 scientific hosts in all partner institutions combined. Due to the local excellence and the supportive environment in Austria, the number of professors and excellence grant holders grew by about 50%.
By October 2019, 14 new professors and excellence grant holders in quantum science were integrated into the ESQ faculty in Innsbruck and Vienna to widen the range of high-quality training opportunities for postdocs in 2020.
By mid-2022, ESQ had already integrated 62 Austrian quantum research groups.
They form the basis of excellence in a rich quantum land scape. The rapid growth of the ESQ team supports our initial claim that the ESQ COFUND program was very timely and of value to society.
The outstanding status of Austrian quantum research was also recognized by numerous prestigious prizes to those who served as hosts to our fellows.
An outstanding example is Anton Zeilinger, who served both as president and signatory of the Austrian Academy of Sciences during the largest part of the CODFUND program, served as potential scientific hosts and was decorated by the Nobel Prize in Physics, in 2022.
The importance of quantum science in Austria has been recognized by the FWF awarding a Cluster of Excellence to Quantum Austria ("QuantA"), which unites all more than 60 Austrian teams that were previously also partners in ESQ.
ESQ had thus a large leveraging effect in Austria.