In September, the annual group outing, called 'QuTech Uitje', was once again a great success. The Friday started off with a scavenger hunt through the city centre of Delft. It was followed by a lunch at Knus in Delftse Hout. After the lunch it was time for the activities: archery tag, Robinson Crusoe, painting, yoga and paddle boats. Although the weather was less than ideal (to put it mildly), everyone still had a lot of fun. After the activities everyone enjoyed a barbecue and a wonderful performance by our very own Q2 band. For some, the Uitje ended here, but a big group spent the entire weekend together in Leuven.

Their weekend commenced with a tour in Museum M, while a small group (the pub quiz winners) enjoyed an augmented reality tour of the Sint-Pieterskerk. Afternoon activities included various sports workshops such as bubble football, ultimate frisbee and skateboarding. The evening consisted of a well-earned dinner at Domus and a bowling session.

The annual QuTech Summer Party took place in June. Everyone enjoyed the lovely atmosphere as well as the delicious food and beverages. Lots of stories and laughs were shared with new and familiar faces. As is tradition, QuTech’s very own ‘Q2’ band performed for an enthusiastic crowd to conclude the evening.

On Sunday 8 December, a team of QuTech members participated in the Bruggenloop. A total of 25 runners joined this race across iconic bridges in Rotterdam. The runners competed not only against the other participants, but also against the typically Dutch autumn weather, and the not-so-typically-Dutch elevation profile of the bridges.

As the participants crossed the Erasmus bridge and the Maasboulevard, darkness rolled in. The lamps that were handed out at the start proved useful, and made for a scenic view as all 15000 little green lights crossed the Van Brienenoord bridge. Having ascended this final and highest bridge, the participants could focus on the final kilometres to reach their goal time.

Every QuTech participant finished the full 15K race, many of them within their goal time. This was thanks in part to QuTech supporters along the route: the shouting really helped to get the final sprint going.

The annual QuTech Christmas party took place at Café X, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner and had plenty of drinks. After dinner it was time for our very own Q2 band, and they delivered an amazing performance once again. Next up was our own QuTech DJ Irene Fernández de Fuentes. She took over on stage and finished off the great night.

Scientific director at QuTech Lieven Vandersypen has been appointed as member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Dutch: KNAW), together with 16 others. On Monday 30 September, the new Academy members were installed.

The KNAW is traditionally a society of outstanding Dutch scientists. Members are elected based on high-quality scientific achievements. A membership is for life. Every year, the KNAW elects new members to vacant positions. This is based on nominations from within and outside the KNAW. The opinion of external referees weighs into the selection.

A research consortium from TU Delft and Leiden University received an NWO Summit Grant of 35 million euros, as a long-term support and to continue their prominent role internationally. They aim to investigate the fundamental limits of quantum physics. In total five consortia from different Dutch universities will receive a total of 188 million euros to strengthen the position of Dutch science. QuTech members include Lieven Vandersypen (Lead applicant), Eliška Greplová, Ronald Hanson, Barbara Terhal and Stephanie Wehner.

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded an NWO Veni grant to Tim Coopmans. The grant (320 thousand euros for a three-year programme) will allow him to search for promising methods for correcting errors in quantum computations.

Building big enough quantum computers for practical applications is mainly prevented by errors in the quantum chips. Tim Coopmans will use his grant to have conventional computers find new methods for correcting these errors. The computer uses logical reasoning for this, acting like ‘Sherlock Holmes’ who logically deduces who the most likely suspect (a good method for correcting errors) is. In other words, by automatically deducing ways to correct errors in quantum computers.

Out of 1308 applicants, Coopmans was one of the 174 researchers who got awarded a Veni grant. This will allow him to further develop his own research ideas over the next three years.

Anasua Chatterjee received support from the TU Delft Excellence Fund to bring her expertise to TU Delft. The TU Delft Excellence Fund supports TU Delft’s excellence strategy based on the three pillars of Research, Education and Valorisation. The first focus of the Excellence Fund is to attract top international scientists and to help accelerate high potentials.

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) awarded an NWO Vidi grant to Christian Andersen. The grant (850 thousand euros for a five-year program) will allow him to develop a scalable architecture for Andreev spin qubits.

Out of 829 applicants, Andersen was one of the 102 researchers who were awarded a Vidi grant. The grant will allow him to further develop an innovative line of research over the next five years and further expand his research group.