As proud Gold Sponsor of the event, SQA co-presented a Careers Fair and Open Day, showcasing our talent development initiatives to a global audience.
The breadth of SQA’s expertise and workforce development efforts were showcased before a global audience at the recent 2026 Quantum Australia Conference, held at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
SQA was proud Gold Sponsor of the event, co-presenting the Careers Fair and Open Day to help inspire local university and high school students to pursue quantum-related careers and empower them with insights on where the field is heading.
At the Careers Fair, SQA Director Professor Peter Turner delivered an uplifting keynote address titled ‘Quantum 2045: Jobs, skills and training’, highlighting the wide-ranging career pathways that continue to emerge as Australia’s quantum industry matures.
“There’s a lot of opportunity,” Professor Turner said. “The quantum workforce in Australia requires people: manifestly interdisciplinary people who can bridge between very, very technical things and the business side of things – application developers, trainers, quantum operators, as well as leadership skills, client engagement and more.”
In the Day 2 Plenary, ‘Global Quantum Horizons: National Strategies and International Momentum’, SQA’s Executive Chair Dr Cathy Foley AO (Australia’s 9th Chief Scientist) set the scene for discussion with an inspiring reflection on how Australia punches above its weight globally in quantum. This is thanks to innovative and forward-looking initiatives such as Australia’s National Quantum Strategy and strategic collaboratives including Sydney Quantum Academy.
“[Researchers] realised something important. It was time for quantum to become not just a research field, but an industry – and Australia is all in,” she said.
“Over the last five years, Australia has gone from having only a handful of quantum companies to building one of the world's most dynamic quantum ecosystems.
“Now we have more than 50 quantum companies, strong university and public research capability, growing international investment, and one of the world's strongest quantum talent pipelines relative to population size.”
A groundswell of public and private investment into quantum technologies globally have also seen countries increasingly treat quantum as a “strategic capability tied to economic competitiveness and national resilience,” according to Dr Foley.
“Quantum has the potential to affect every industry sector. And if we want a quantum industry that works for everyone, then it must connect to broader societal and economic challenges: whether it's health, climate, energy systems, food security, resilient infrastructure or advanced manufacturing.”
The panel featured Finland’s Minister for Trade, H.E. Ville Tavio, as well as representatives from Germany, Japan, France, The Netherlands, the USA and the United Kingdom. Dr Foley also joined the conference’s penultimate fireside chat with The Hon. Ed Husic, Chair of Standing Committee on Economics, Australian Labor Party.
SQA talent recognised in QA poster prize
SQA scholars were represented in a highly competitive field of almost 60 entrants in the Quantum Australia Conference Poster Competition, supported by KPMG Australia.
Congratulations to Jasleen Kaur (Macquarie University) on being awarded the runner-up prize for her presentation titled ‘Learning non-Markovian noise in quantum devices using AI’. Harshna Gounder (UTS) was also awarded the People’s Choice award for her presentation, ‘Hyperentanglement-empowered quantum waveguide optics’.
SQA would like to acknowledge the following students and alumni who also presented a submission in the 2026 poster prize:
SQA experts featured across QA Conference program
What is quantum really? Panel
An interactive overview of the challenges involved in translating the strange and powerful quantum field into user-friendly takeaways for industry, policy and the general public.
Quantum Horizons Research Session – Quantum Computing Panel
This flagship session brought together some of Australia’s leading quantum researchers for an exploration of the emerging ideas that will shape the future of quantum applications and technologies.
Australia’s Quantum Research Powerhouses
An overview of some of the leading ARC Centres of Excellence and Training Centres driving the nation’s most ambitious quantum research.
Quantum Enablers
This panel session showcased the infrastructure powering progress in quantum technology.
Read more of the post Quantum Future Talent: From Curiosity to Career
Read more of the post Inside Industry Hiring: The skills that set quantum PhDs apart
Read more of the post SQA expands Industry Experience Program