VTI Quantum Lab
The Quantum Lab at the Faculty of TPM has as its goal to bring the integrated systems, governance and values perspective of the TPM Faculty into the development of quantum technologies.
Vision: embedding quantum technologies in society
At TPM research on quantum technologies has started in the beginning of the 2020s. With initially a focus on ethical, societal, risks and governance aspects (see projects), soon after work on strategic management and market aspects was added. It is time that the Faculty broadly engages with these new technologies. Quantum technologies include new forms of computing, communication, modelling and sensing, and are seen as system technologies that will affect other technologies as well as society in general in a wide variety of aspects. TU Delft is leading in research on quantum technologies. By its mission and body of knowledge, TPM is well equipped to join the effort and contribute to world-class research, education and valorisation. This document presents the vision of the Quantum Lab at TPM for informing and inspiring faculty members to collaborate on the exciting research opportunities in this area. The Quantum Lab at TPM supports community building and the development of a TPM research agenda on quantum technologies.
Projects
HAPKIDO
The HAPKIDO project stands for Hybrid Approach for quantum-safe Public Key Infrastructure Development for Organizations. The project is a five-year initiative that aims to deliver sector-based plans towards quantum-safe Public Key Infrastructures (QS PKIs), including hybrid PKIs that demonstrate how QS solutions will work with existing infrastructures, and governance models that guide organizations towards a QS future.
Ethics of Quantum Technology
The ethics of quantum technology group of the Ethics and Philosophy of Technology section of the VTI department of TPM does research along four lines.
The group is part of the ELSA Action line of the Quantum Delft NL programme on developing quantum technologies within the Netherlands.
Media & Contact
Quantum is applied in various ways in TPM research and education. View an overview of our publications and courses here.
Team
Director
Pieter Vermaas
Pieter Vermaas, Director of the Quantum Lab at TPM, is leading the research group on the ethics and epistemology of quantum technologies of the Philosophy section of the VTI department of TPM.
In this research he combines his philosophy of technology work on design methods and design for values with his initial PhD research on the foundations of quantum mechanics.
In 2017 he published a first special issue that calls attention to the societal impact of quantum technologies: there is a need for non-physics scholarship to engage with these technologies, and for efforts to make quantum technologies understandable for non-physicists. For taking up these challenges Pieter Vermaas led two TU Delft vision teams on quantum technologies that explored the societal impact of quantum technologies. More publications of the TU Delft Quantum Vision Team:
Pieter Vermaas is part of the Quantum Delft NL programme on developing quantum technologies within the Netherlands. He co-shaped and co-leads the ELSA Action Line in this programme on Ethical, Legal and Societal issues.
Management Team
Nitesh Bharosa
Nitesh Bharosa is Professor in GovTech and Public Service Innovation at the faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM) of Delft University of Technology.
He is also member of the Management Team of the QuantumLab at TPM. His research together with Ini Kong, Lærke Christiansen and Marijn Janssen focuses on the governance of the transition towards quantum safe digital ecosystems. Focus areas include Digital Government, Banking and the Telecom sector that rely heavily on Public Key Cryptography, which is prone to future attacks with quantum computers. Part of this research is conducted in the NWO funded HAPKIDO program (Hybrid Approach for quantum-safe Public Key Infrastructure Development for Organisations) together with TNO, CWI, Logius, KPN, Microsoft and Zynyo. Nitesh is also the academic director of Digicampus – a quadruple helix innovation ecosystem for future public services.
Management Team
Roland Ortt
Members
Management Team
Nitesh Bharosa
Nitesh Bharosa is Professor in GovTech and Public Service Innovation at the faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM) of Delft University of Technology.
He is also member of the Management Team of the QuantumLab at TPM. His research together with Ini Kong, Lærke Christiansen and Marijn Janssen focuses on the governance of the transition towards quantum safe digital ecosystems. Focus areas include Digital Government, Banking and the Telecom sector that rely heavily on Public Key Cryptography, which is prone to future attacks with quantum computers. Part of this research is conducted in the NWO funded HAPKIDO program (Hybrid Approach for quantum-safe Public Key Infrastructure Development for Organisations) together with TNO, CWI, Logius, KPN, Microsoft and Zynyo. Nitesh is also the academic director of Digicampus – a quadruple helix innovation ecosystem for future public services.
Professor
Stefan Buijsman
Stefan Buijsman has a background in the philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of science and now works primarily on the responsible use of digital technologies.
His research focuses on epistemic aspects of these technologies, such as their explainability as well as other forms of information (e.g. about the design choices and reliability) that users may need to develop and use them responsibly. He is the managing director of the Delft Digital Ethics Centre and as such acts as liaison between that centre and the QuantumLab, to foster research connections on the responsible use of Quantum technologies.
PhD Candidate
Lærke Christiansen
My name is Lærke Vinther Christiansen and I am a part of the QuantumLab at TU Delft. In my daily work, I am a first-year PhD Candidate at TPM.
My PhD is a part of a larger research project called HAPKIDO which focuses on the different challenges there are in transitioning to quantum-safe(QS) hybrid public key infrastructure (PKI) systems, both from a technical and socio-technical perspective. My research focuses on technology governance and how we can facilitate collective action amongst stakeholders by using serious games as a tool to raise awareness for QS PKI.
Professor
Trijsje Franssen
Dr. Trijsje Franssen is Researcher and Assistant Professor in Ethics and Philosophy of Technology at TUDelft.
Simultaneously, she is working on a postdoc project at the Julia Cramer group, which is the Quantum & Society Lab of Leiden University. In this interdisciplinary lab she works together with physicists and other researchers to explore the impact of quantum technology on society from a science communication perspective. In her research, in which Prof. P. Vermaas is also involved, Franssen investigates the potential of art and creativity to foster a public discussion on quantum technology. With her expertise on this topic and her experience working at the Cramer group in Leiden, Franssen contributes to TUDelft’s QuantumLab by sharing her knowledge on both content and form of a Quantum and Society research group.
Professor
Nihit Goyal
Nihit Goyal is an assistant professor of policy innovation at the department of Multi-Actor Systems (MAS) in the faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM).
His academic program focuses on understanding, explaining, and promoting policy innovation in complex sociotechnical systems in order to catalyse transitions to a more sustainable future. His work sheds light on policy innovation through: (i) an interdisciplinary approach synthesising research in policy studies with behavioural studies, international relations, and science & technology studies; (ii) the use of multiple –and mixed – methods spanning computational text analysis, econometrics, and qualitative techniques; and (iii) an application to novel cases with high policy relevance. He studies the policy process, policy design, and policy outcomes empirically, often in an international and comparative manner. His role in the QuantumLab is driven by an interest in understanding the relationship between technological disruption and policy innovation.
Links to publications
Professor
Marijn Janssen
Prof.dr.ir. Marijn Janssen is full professor in ICT & Governance. His research is focussed on ICT-architecting in situations in which multiple public and private organizations need to collaborate, in which ICT plays an enabling role, there are various ways to proceed, and socio-technical solutions are constrained by organizational realities and political wishes.
ICT-architecting provides principles, patterns and other instruments to guide organizations to design their infrastructure, applications, information, processes and organizations. The landscape is fundamentally changing due to current technology developments like cloud-computing, Software as a Service, blockchain, semantic services, big and open linked data (BOLD) and policy developments like open data and open government. These developments challenge the traditional relationship between governments and the public and new forms of governance are emerging.
Professor
Geerten van de Kaa
Geerten van de Kaa is Associate Professor of Standardization and Business Strategy at Delft University of Technology, and Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Standardisation.
In the past years, he has worked on various EU and NWO funded research projects. His research has appeared in high-ranking international journals, including Organization Studies, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Technovation, and Technological Forecasting and Social Change. At TU Delft he teaches courses on strategic management, technology and strategy, and on ‘standards battles’. He holds a PhD from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.
PhD Candidate
Ini Kong
Ini Kong is a PhD candidate in the Department of Engineering Systems and Services at TPM, in the ICT section.
Under the supervision of Prof.dr.ir. Marijn Janssen and Prof.dr.ir Nitesh Bharosa, her PhD research focuses on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) systems that facilitate digital communication and information exchange. The aim of the research is to guide organizations transitioning toward Quantum-safe (QS) PKI systems and extend knowledge on the development of a stages-of-growth model for the QS transition. Her PhD research is part of a larger project called HAPKIDO (Hybrid Approach for quantum-safe Public Key Infrastructure Development for Organizations) funded by NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research). The project delivers sector-based plans towards QS PKIs, including hybrid PKIs that demonstrate how QS solutions will work with existing infrastructures, and governance models that guide organizations toward a QS future. Source: TNO
Management Team
Roland Ortt
Postdoc
Luca Possati
Luca M. Possati studied philosophy at the university of Rome. He is currently a postdoc researcher at TU Delft.
He was a researcher and lecturer at theUniversity of Porto, the Institut Catholique de Paris and the Fonds Ricoeur (Ecole des hautes tudes en sciences sociales). He is associate editor forHumanities & Social Sciences Communications.He has published numerous papers and books on phenomenology, and history of contemporary philosophy. He is the author ofThe Algorithmic Unconscious. How Psychanalysis Helps in Understanding AI(Routledge, 2021).
Luca currently collaborates with the Quantum Delta NL project on quantum technologies. His research focuses on technology assessment, engineering systems, AI ethics and ethics of quantum technologies.
Martin Sand
Professor
Oscar Oviedo Trespalacios
Postdoc
Steven Umbrello
Steven Umbrello is the Managing Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (501c3 non-profit, Boston, MA) and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Delft University of Technology.
He studied philosophy of science and technology at the University of Toronto (H.B.A), epistemology, ethics, and mind at the University of Edinburgh (MSc), science and technology studies at York University (MA), and the ethics and design of AI at the Northwestern Italian Philosophy Consortium (PhD). His research focuses more broadly on value sensitive design, its philosophical foundations as well as its application to novel technologies like quantum computing, sensing, and internet.
Director
Pieter Vermaas
Pieter Vermaas, Director of the Quantum Lab at TPM, is leading the research group on the ethics and epistemology of quantum technologies of the Philosophy section of the VTI department of TPM.
In this research he combines his philosophy of technology work on design methods and design for values with his initial PhD research on the foundations of quantum mechanics.
In 2017 he published a first special issue that calls attention to the societal impact of quantum technologies: there is a need for non-physics scholarship to engage with these technologies, and for efforts to make quantum technologies understandable for non-physicists. For taking up these challenges Pieter Vermaas led two TU Delft vision teams on quantum technologies that explored the societal impact of quantum technologies. More publications of the TU Delft Quantum Vision Team:
Pieter Vermaas is part of the Quantum Delft NL programme on developing quantum technologies within the Netherlands. He co-shaped and co-leads the ELSA Action Line in this programme on Ethical, Legal and Societal issues.