Quantum technologies industry event - Greater Manchester

Dr. Martin Mevissen, Senior Research Manager for AI & Quantum, IBM Research Laboratory

Dr. Martin Mevissen is the Senior Research Manager for AI & Quantum at the IBM Research lab in Dublin, Ireland. He recieved a M.S. degree in mathematics from ETH Zurich in 2007, and a Ph.D. degree in mathematical and computing sciences from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2010. After a post-doctoral fellowship with LAAS-CNRS in Toulouse, he joined IBM Research in 2011.

Dr. Mevissen’s expertise lies in the areas of mathematical optimization, operations research, decision making under uncertainty and their applications. He has been recipient of IBM Research Outstanding Technical Achievement Awards and an IBM Research Division Award. His current focus is quantum algorithms for mathematical optimization problems, optimisation-based methods for quantum systems, AI Applications and scaling and automating AI. Dr. Mevissen is a Master Inventor and a member of the Mathematical Science Council at IBM Research.

Ben Christy, Quantum Policy Lead, Office for Quantum, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Ben is the policy lead for supporting business and investment within the UK Government’s Office for Quantum. The Office is responsible for designing and delivering the UK’s National Quantum Strategy, a 10-year plan to make the UK a leading quantum-enabled economy, backed by £2.5 billion in public funding.

Ben has a background in net zero and innovation policy and is a Policy Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Dr Sonali Mohapatra, Quantum Innovation Sector Lead, National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC)

Dr Sonali Mohapatra is an Innovation Lead at the NQCC leading and supporting the NQCC’s innovation strategy and sectoral engagement framework. She focuses on quantum computing use-case discovery and application development working with a variety of stakeholders such as government, industry, academia, policymakers, regulators and investors to support the user journey from awareness to advocacy. These span across a portfolio of sectors such as financial services, healthcare & pharmaceuticals, space, energy, transport and AI to deliver quantum readiness for the UK. Sonali has an interdisciplinary research background and extensive industry experience leading the technical development and commercialisation of early-stage quantum, space and AI technologies. In the past she has led the development of multiple world firsts including but not limited to the development of some of the world’s first-ever AI powered miniatured quantum key distribution modules for CubeSats.

Dr Leon Lobo, Head of the National Timing Centre, National Physical Laboratory

Focussed on developing and delivering a national timing strategy, Dr Leon Lobo is Head of the National Timing Centre (NTC) programme at NPL. NTC will be developing capability toward a national resiliency in timing for our expanding digital infrastructure.  Leon led the team developing  NPLTime^® , NPL’s certified fibre-delivered time dissemination solution to the City of London for high frequency trading systems and regulatory compliance. 

Prof. Richard Curry, Vice-Dean Research and Innovation, Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Manchester

Prof. Richard Curry is Vice-Dean Research and Innovation within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Manchester. He is also a National Research Area Lead for the UK Henry Royce Institute research area of ‘Atoms to Devices’, and the co-leader of the UK Materials for Quantum Network. His research focuses on the study and development of new photonic materials and devices and doped solid-state materials for quantum technologies.

Prof. Jan-Theodoor (JT) Janssen, Chief Scientist, National Physical Laboratory

 Prof. Jan-Theodoor (JT) Janssen FREng FinstP FIET is the Chief Scientist at NPL and is distinguished for the application of quantum technologies and an NPL Fellow in Quantum Electrical Metrology. As member of the executive team he is responsible for the external scientific engagements with academia and other government organisations and recently also our international activities. JT is the executive sponsor for NPL’s Juno committee, which aims to address gender equality in physics and to encourage better practice for all staff and sponsor of the disability working group.  Earlier this year JT was appointed as the Royce Institute Strategic Advisory Board (SAB) Chair.

Gareth Lewellyn, Investment Director, Northern Gritstone

 Gareth is a University of Sheffield alumnus, graduating with a 1st Class masters degree in mechanical engineering. Gareth moved into early-stage technology investing with Grosvenor Food & AgTech, an evergreen investment group with a global mandate to invest in businesses and technologies delivering efficiency gains in all elements of the food supply chain. More recently Gareth has taken on operational roles in several portfolio companies, recently taking on the COO role in a data analytics business he co-founded.