ASP Online Seminars: Quantum Computing: Foundations, Applications, and the Decade Ahead

by Ouissal Moumou (Quantinuum, UK)

Tuesday 29 Sept 2026, 13:00 → 14:30 UTC

Abstract:

Quantum computers run on three physical effects with no classical counterpart: superposition, interference, and entanglement. This talk explains what these words mean, using pictures and small calculations, and then discusses the general application of quantum technologies. Quantum technology has multiple applications. Simulating molecules and materials, which is useful for chemistry, drug discovery, and battery design. Quantum sensing, already producing magnetometers and gravimeters in use today, with applications from medical imaging to mineral exploration. Quantum communication, and the pressure quantum algorithms put on current cryptography. We will also cover the topic of quantum hardware: how long a qubit survives, how many operations fit in that window, and how far the machines stand from their promises. The talk closes with what this means for research and industry in Africa, drawing on the African Quantum Strategy from the African Strategy of Fundamental and Applied Physics, and introduces a twelve-week course offered through the Academy in which students implement the core algorithms themselves. This talk assumes no background in quantum mechanics.

Bio of the speaker:

Ouissal Moumou is a quantum computing researcher from Tangier, Morocco, most recently a research scientist at Quantinuum in the UK researching the potential of quantum machine learning and running quantum circuits on real quantum hardware (ion-traps). She is a co-author of the UNESCO-endorsed African Quantum Strategy and was named to the African Quantum Consortium's 50 Women in Quantum in Africa. Ouissal also designed an open quantum computing curriculum with other experts in collaboration with CERN, to be implemented by CERN partner universities. She holds an MSc in Mathematics and Foundations of Computer Science from the University of Oxford and a BSc from Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane.