Ian Walmsley is the founding Director of the University of Oxford Quantum Institute. He is Professor of Quantum Science and Engineering at Oxford, and Professor of Experimental Physics at Imperial College London.
He is an expert in quantum photonics applied to information sciences, and his research in optical science and engineering has ranged from ultrafast optics, including the invention of the SPIDER technique for ultrashort pulse characterization, to quantum simulation, including the first experimental demonstration of Boson Sampling.
Ian was the second Provost of Imperial College London, and previously Hooke Professor of Experimental Physics and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at the University of Oxford, and Professorial Fellow at St Hugh’s College. While at Oxford, he led the UK National Quantum Technology Programme’s first Hub on quantum computing, NQIT, and co-founded ORCA Computing, a spin out based on patents from that Hub.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, Optica (of which he was President in 2018), the American Physical Society and the Institute of Physics, and has won several awards, including a CBE in 2024 for services to science and quantum technologies. He is currently the Chair of the National Quantum Computing Centre Strategic Advisory Committee and a member of the National Quantum Technology Programme Strategic Advisory Board, advising the government on the development of the programme and industry sector in this domain.
More details of Professor Walmsley’s current areas of research can be found here.
