The UK's national quantum computing laboratory, based at Harwell in Oxfordshire, where researchers and companies use a range of real quantum computers.
The National Quantum Computing Centre, or NQCC, is the UK's national laboratory for quantum computing. Ordinary computers store information as ones and zeros. Quantum computers use the strange rules of physics at a tiny scale, which could let them solve certain problems, such as designing new materials or medicines, far faster. Building one that works reliably at large scale is a hard engineering challenge, and that is the NQCC's job. Its purpose-built home at Harwell is a 4,000 square metre building that was officially opened on 25 October 2024 by the Science Minister, Lord Vallance, and houses 12 quantum computers built on a range of different technologies.
The NQCC describes itself as a national centre that turns UK research into innovation. It says it tackles the engineering problems in scaling up quantum computers and works with industry, government and researchers to grow the UK's quantum computing community. Its stated areas of interest include improving how electricity grids are run, speeding up drug discovery, predicting climate, and artificial intelligence uses such as medical diagnosis and spotting fraud. It also runs an initiative on responsible and ethical quantum computing, which asks how the technology should be used safely and fairly.
The centre sits inside the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory on the Harwell campus in Oxfordshire, a science and innovation site that was founded in 1946 and now hosts more than 7,000 scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and technicians. The NQCC is a flagship programme of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), delivered by two research councils, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Science and Technology Facilities Council, and it is part of the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme. It also opened a Quantum Software Lab at the University of Edinburgh, so its work reaches Scotland as well as Oxfordshire.
More than 70 staff were expected to be based at the centre when it opened. The NQCC says it is guided by a leadership team, a Programme Oversight Board with members from both research councils, a Strategic Advisory Committee and a Technical Advisory Group. Its pages do not set out a culture statement, so we have not made one up, but its programmes, such as SparQ, which helps companies in fields like energy, healthcare and finance explore practical uses of quantum computing, show a strongly collaborative way of working with outside organisations.
The centre needs more than physicists. Its job titles and pages point to hardware technology managers working on machines such as superconducting quantum computers, software and algorithm specialists, engineers who run the facility, and teams who handle events, communications, education and community building. It also offers quantum education, so there are teaching and outreach roles too. If you enjoy physics, maths, computing or engineering, the NQCC's own site lists its vacancies and has a page on working there.
Website: www.nqcc.ac.uk
PURPOSE helps school and university students explore 62 sectors and over 1,000 entry-level careers in the UK, then connects them directly with employers.
Explore PURPOSE