Jamie Vicary

Jamie Vicary

Senior Research Fellow

Member of Faculty

Leaving date: 31st December 2020

Themes:

Quantum

Completed Projects:

more…

Interests

My work is on higher category theory and its applications in computer science and mathematics, particularly in areas related to quantum structures.

As well as my Oxford position, I hold a Royal Society University Research Fellowship and Senior Lectureship at the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham.

The future

June 2021. I will be giving an invited talk at the meeting "New Perspectives in Quantum Information" at ETH, Zurich.
May 2021. I will be giving an invited talk at the XIth KCIK Symposium in Gdansk, Poland.
December 2020. I will be giving a talk in the Homotopy Type Theory Electronic Seminar Talks series.
November 2020. I will be giving the Mathematics Colloquium at Dalhousie University.XX

The past

April 2020. I will be taking up a Senior Lecturer position at the University of Cambridge, in the Theory, Programming and Semantics group of the Computer Laboratory.
April 2020. The first Online Worldwide Seminar on Logic and Semantics (OWLS) was a huge success, with 359 participants at its peak, and hundreds of people taking advantage of the virtual coffee breaks to socialize. See you all 2 weeks time!
March 2020. With Alexandra Silva and Pawel Sobocinski, I am delighted to announce the Online Worldwide Seminar on Logic and Semantics (OWLS), a new online-only international seminar series, with "coffee breaks" before and after each seminar giving a nontrivial social component. Join our first seminar at 2pm UTC+1 on Wednesday April 1.
December 2019. I will be attending the Sixth Symposium on Compositional Structures (SYCO 6) in Leicester on 16-17 December.
November 2019. My textbook "Categories for Quantum Theory: An Introduction", coauthored with Chris Heunen, has been published by Oxford University Press!
November 2019. I will be giving an invited talk at an LMS Meeting on Category Theory and its Applications, organized by Andrew Smith and Peter Guthmann at the University of Leicester.
September 2019. I will be co-organizing SYCO 5 and STRINGS 3, which will be held together in Birmingham on 4-6 September.
August 2019. I have been invited to serve on the programme committee for QPL 2020.
August 2019. My student David Reutter has successfully defended his DPhil thesis. Congratulations David!
August 2019. Noah Snyder from the University of Indiana will be visiting.
August 2019. The paper "Quantum teleportation with infinite reference frame uncertainty and without prior alignment" (with Dominic Verdon) has been accepted by Physical Review A.
June 2019. I attended LICS 2019, and with David Reutter gave a presentation of our paper "High level methods for homotopy construction in associative n-categories".
June 2019. Invited tutorial "Higher Categories and Quantum Structures" as part of Quantum Symmetries 2019 at Ohio State University, organized by David Penneys.
April 2019. I will be giving a mini course at the 2019 Midland Graduate School on the Foundations of Computing Science with the title "Monoidal Categories and Higher Categories".
March 2019. The paper "High-level methods for homotopy construction in associative n-categories" (with David Reutter) has been accepted for presentation at LICS 2019.
March 2019. The Third Symposium on Compositional Structures (SYCO 3) took place on March 27 and 28 in the Department of Computer Science in Oxford, with 70 participants and 30 submissions.
March 2019. I presented the contributed talk "Introducing homotopy.io" at SYCO 3, giving an overview of the new tool developed with Lukas Heidemann and Nick Hu.
March 2019. I co-presented a live video podcast from the 4th Quantum Computing Hackathon, taking place at the Said Business School in Oxford.
March 2019. My student David Reutter has been awarded a postdoctoral position with Peter Teichner at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn, to start in September 2019. Congratulations David!
February 2019. My student Dominic Verdon, currently a postdoc with Ashley Montanaro in Bristol, has successfully defended his doctoral thesis "Algebraic quantum structures for reference frame–independent quantum teleportation and pseudotelepathy". Congratulations Dominic!
February 2019. New preprint "High-level methods for homotopy construction in associative n-categories" (with David Reutter), giving a general contraction principle for proof construction in homotopy.io.
January 2019. I have been invited to serve on the programme committees for ACT 2019 and QPL 2019.
January 2019. I have been invited to join the Royal Society's International Exchanges panel.
December 2018. I gave an invited talk at the 2018 Midland Graduate School Christmas Seminar.
December 2018. SYCO 2 took place on December 17-18 at the University of Strathclyde, UK, organized by Fredrik Forsberg.
December 2018. Paper "Biunitary constructions in quantum information" (with David Reutter) accepted to Higher Structures.
November 2018. I will be giving a seminar to the Theoretical Physics group in Birmingham about the classification of 3d topological quantum field theories.
October 2018. I have been elected to serve on the FSCD Steering Committee as Workshop Chair.
September 2018. Research visit from Lucy Zhang, University of Toronto, to my group in Oxford.
September 2018. I will be talking about category theory and visual proofs at RCon3, a cryptocurrency conference in Berlin.
August 2018. We received 42 submissions for the First Symposium on Compositional Structures (SYCO 1), an exciting new meeting aiming to bring together the diverse communities whose work focuses on the theory and application of category-theoretical tools.
August 2018. I have been invited to be a founding editor of the new journal Compositionality.
July 2018. Invited keynote talk at the 13th International Workshop on User Interfaces for Theorem Provers, Oxford, UK.
July 2018. Invited keynote talk at Young Researchers in Mathematics, University of Southampton, UK.
June 2018. David Reutter and I had a great time at the Hay Festival, where we gave two sessions of our workshop "Build Your Own Quantum Computer!".
June 2018. Attending QPL 2018 in Halifax, a great conference in a wonderful city, and giving on a talk on our paper "Orthogonality for quantum Latin isometry squares" (joint work with Benjamin Musto).
June 2018. Paper "Coherence for Frobenius pseudomonoids and the geometry of linear proofs" (with Lawrence Dunn) accepted for publication in Logical Methods in Computer Science.
June 2018. Paper "Tight reference frame–independent quantum teleportation" (with Dominic Verdon) accepted to Physical Review A.
May 2018. My student Vaia Patta has successfully defended her doctoral thesis, entitled "Category Theory for Statistical Mechanics". Congratulations Vaia!
May 2018. My student Dominic Verdon has been offered a postdoctoral position in Ashley Montanaro's quantum information group at Bristol, to work on quantum algorithms and communication protocols. Congratulations Dominic!
April 2018. New preprint "Orthogonality for quantum Latin isometry squares" (with Benjamin Musto), describing a generalization of the orthogonality property of quantum Latin squares, with applications to perfect tensors and unitary error bases. UPDATE: accepted for QPL 2018.
April 2018. For most of this month I will be visiting Christine Tasson and Jean Krivine at IRIF, Paris, France.
April 2018. New preprint "Normal forms for planar connected string diagrans" (with Antonin Delpeuch), giving an algorithm to determine isotopy of planar connected diagrams in O(nm) time, where n is the number of vertices and m is the number of edges.
February 2018. New preprint "Quantum teleportation with infinite reference frame uncertainty" (with Dominic Verdon), describing new a way to increase the fidelity of quantum teleportation without any additional resource overhead, and without a prior synchronization step.
February 2018. Invited talk at Higher Gauge Theory and Quantum Matter, University of Leeds, UK.
January 2018. I have been interviewed by News.com.au for an article on quantum computing.
January 2018. I have joined the Theory Group of the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham as a Senior Lecturer and Royal Society Fellow, to be held jointly with my position as Senior Research Fellow in Oxford.
November 2017. I have been interviewed by BBC TV about quantum computers for their technology program "Click!" (my bits start at about 2:20, 3:20 and 5:25.)
October 2017. I have been interviewed by BBC News for the article "How do you build the next-generation quantum internet?".
October 2017. Welcome to Jean-Simon Lemay, who has started a PhD with me at the University of Oxford.
September 2017. I am serving as Workshop Chair for FSCD 2017, where we will be hosting 11 fantastic workshops: EUTypes, HDRA, HoTT, IFIP, IWC, LFMTP, SD, String, TLLA, UNIF and WPTE.
August 2017. I have been offered a Royal Society University Research Fellowship.
June 2017. I gave workshops at the Hay Festival and Cheltenham Science Festival (with David Reutter) where members of the public could build their own quantum computer.
May 2017. Papers "A classical groupoid model for quantum networks" and "Biunitary structures for quantum information" (with David Reutter) accepted for CALCO 2017.
April 2017. Group seminar at IRIF, Paris, France.
March 2017. Extended abstract for "Data structures for quasistrict higher categories" (with Krzysztof Bar) accepted for LICS 2017.
February 2017. I have been offered an EPSRC Early Career Fellowship.
January 2017. New preprint "A classical groupoid model for quantum networks" (with David Reutter), describing new bicategorical structures for classical networking, which can emulate nontrivial quantum protocols, including quantum key distribution.
January 2017. New preprint "Shaded tangles for the design and verification of quantum programs" (with David Reutter), describing new techniques for drawing quantum circuits as shaded tangles, so that circuit verification is just knot isotopy. We also give a new state transfer algorithm for a cluster-based quantum computer, give new constructions of error correcting codes based on unitary error bases, and identify surprising topological properties of the quarter-turn about the X-axis on the Bloch sphere.
December 2016. Our proof assistant Globular has been loaded 10,000 times by 2,500 users!
November 2016. Research visit from Jean Krivine, IRIF, Paris.
November 2016. Paper on biunitary constructions (with David Reutter) accepted to QIP 2017, the top international quantum computing conference.
October 2016. New 112-page preprint "Data structures for quasistrict higher categories" (with Krzysztof Bar) gives the theoretical foundations for our proof assistant Globular, including a new definition of semistrict 4-category.
September 2016. New preprint "Biunitary constructions in quantum information" (with David Reutter.) Many new construction methods relating Hadamard matrices, unitary error bases, quantum Latin squares and controlled families, all illustrated with the graphical calculus for 2-categories.
August 2016. Public lecture "Our quantum future" at the University of Dalhousie, Halifax, Canada, introducing quantum computers and discussing the possible impact they might have on society.
July 2016. Invited lecturer for the AARMS Summer School, University of Dalhousie, Halifax, Canada. I gave a 30-hour course on Categories, Quantum Computation and Topology to 30 excellent and motivated students, including a big practical component using Globular.
June 2016. The paper "The categorified Heisenberg algebra I: a combinatorial representation" (with Jeffrey Morton), describing a combinatorial interpretation of Khovanov's categorification of the Heisenberg algebra, accepted to appear in JPAA.
May 2016. New result (with Krzysztof Bar), formalized here: every adjunction in a semistrict 4-category can be promoted to satisfy the butterfly equations.
April 2016. Paper "Globular: a proof assistant for higher rewriting" (with Krzysztof Bar and Aleks Kissinger) accepted for FSCD 2016.
March 2016. Preprint "Tight reference frame–independent quantum teleportation" (with Dominic Verdon) available online, describing the first zero-overhead procedure for quantum teleportation without a shared reference frame. UPDATE: accepted for conference QPL 2016. UPDATE: accepted for PRA.
March 2016. Semistrict 4-categories are now supported by the proof assistant Globular.
January 2016. Preprint "Surface proofs for linear logic" (with Lawrence Dunn) available online, describing a coherence result for Frobenius pseudomonoids and swallowtailators, with applications to proof equivalence for linear logic. UPDATE: different parts of this work accepted for workshops HDRA 2016 and LINEARITY 2016.
December 2015. We are excited to announce the launch of Globular (with Krzysztof Bar and Aleks Kissinger), a new online proof assistant for higher category theory. UPDATE: Over 6000 views in 6 months since launch, and 236 person-hours of use!
November 2015. The proceedings of QPL 2016 (with Chris Heunen and Peter Selinger) are now available.
September 2015. Preprint "Modular categories as representations of the 3-dimensional bordism 2-category" (with Bruce Bartlett, Chris Douglas and Chris Schommer-Pries) available online, giving the first full proof that 3-dimensional topological quantum field theories are classified in terms of modular tensor categories.
April 2015. Preprint "Quantum Latin squares and unitary error bases" (with Benjamin Musto) now available, which introduces quantum Latin squares and shows how they can be used to construct new sorts of teleportation protocol. UPDATE: accepted for QIP 2016, the top annual quantum information conference. UPDATE: to appear in Quantum Information & Computation.

Papers

[P37] Eric Finster and David Reutter and Jamie Vicary (2020). "A type theory for strictly-unital ∞-categories". 45 pages. arXiv:2007.08307.

[P36] David Reutter and Jamie Vicary (2019). "High-level methods for homotopy construction in associative n-categories". 30 pages. arXiv:1902.03831. To appear in Proceedings of the 34th Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2019).

[P35] David Reutter and Jamie Vicary (2018). "Biunitary constructions in quantum information". Higher Structures 3(1), 109--154. arXiv:1609.07775. To appear.

[P34] Antonin Delpeuch and Jamie Vicary (2018). "Normalization for planar string diagrams and a quadratic equivalence algorithm". 38 pages. arXiv:1804.07832.

[P33] Krzysztof Bar and Aleks Kissinger and Jamie Vicary (2018). "Globular: an online proof assistant for higher-dimensional rewriting". LMCS 14(1). arXiv:1612.01093, doi:10.23638/LMCS-14(1:8)2018.

[P32] Dominic Verdon and Jamie Vicary (2018). "Quantum teleportation with infinite reference frame uncertainty". 30 pages. arXiv:1802.0904.

[P31] Benjamin Musto and Jamie Vicary (2018). "Orthogonality for quantum Latin isometry squares". 13 pages. arXiv:1804.04042.

[P30] David Reutter and Jamie Vicary (2018). "Shaded tangles for the design and verification of quantum programs". Proceedings of the Royal Society A. arXiv:1805.0154.

[P29] Krzysztof Bar and Jamie Vicary (2017). "Data structures for quasistrict higher categories (extended abstract)". In Proceedings of the 32nd Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2017), 12 pages. doi:10.1109/lics.2017.8005147.

[P28] Dominic Verdon and Jamie Vicary (2017). "Tight quantum teleportation without a shared reference frame". Physical Review A 98(12306), 27 pages. arXiv:1710.0106, doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.98.012306.

[P27] David Reutter and Jamie Vicary (2017). "A classical groupoid model for quantum networks". 29 pages. arXiv:1707.00966.

[P26] David Reutter and Jamie Vicary (2017). "Classical groupoid semantics for quantum networks". In Proceedings of the 7th Conference on Algebra and Coalgebra in Computer Science (CALCO 2017), LIPIcs 72, 18 pages. doi:10.4230/LIPIcs.CALCO.2017.19.

[P25] Lawrence Dunn and Jamie Vicary (2017). "Surface proofs for nonsymmetric linear logic (extended abstract)". In Proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on Linearity, EPTCS 238, 33-43. arXiv:1701.04917, doi:10.4204/EPTCS.238.4.

[P24] David Reutter and Jamie Vicary (2017). "Shaded tangles for the design and verification of quantum programs (extended abstract)". In Proceedings of the 14th International Workshop on Quantum Physics and Logic (QPL 2017), EPTCS 266, 329-348. arXiv:1701.03309, doi:10.4204/EPTCS.266.21.

[P23] David Reutter and Jamie Vicary (2017). "A 2-categorical approach to composing quantum structures". In Proceedings of the 7th Conference on Algebra and Coalgebra in Computer Science (CALCO 2017), LIPIcs 72, 1-20. doi:10.4230/LIPIcs.CALCO.2017.20.

[P22] Krzysztof Bar, Aleks Kissinger and Jamie Vicary (2016). "Globular: an online proof assistant for higher-dimensional rewriting". In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Formal Structures for Computation and Deduction (FSCD 2016), LIPIcs 34, 1-11. doi:10.4230/LIPIcs.FSCD.2016.34.

[P21] Krzysztof Bar and Jamie Vicary (2016). "Data structures for quasistrict higher categories". 112 pages. arXiv:1610.06908.

[P20] Dominic Verdon and Jamie Vicary (2016). "Tight reference frame–independent quantum teleportation". EPTCS 236, 202-214. arXiv:1603.08866, doi:10.4204/EPTCS.236.13.

[P19] Lawrence Dunn and Jamie Vicary (2016). "Coherence for Frobenius pseudomonoids and the geometry of linear proofs". Logical Methods in Computer Science (to appear), 30 pages. arXiv:1601.05372.

[P18] Bruce Bartlett, Christopher Douglas, Christopher Schommer-Pries and Jamie Vicary (2015). "Modular categories as representations of the 3-dimensional bordism 2-category". 71 pages. arXiv:1509.06811.

[P17] Benjamin Musto and Jamie Vicary (2015). "Quantum Latin squares and unitary error bases". QIC 16(15), 1318--1332. arXiv:1504.02715.

[P16] Krzysztof Bar and Jamie Vicary (2014). "A 2-categorical analysis of complementary families, quantum key distribution and the mean king problem". In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Quantum Physics and Logic (QPL 2014), EPTCS 172, 316-332. arXiv:1412.8548, doi:10.4204/EPTCS.172.23.

[P15] Chris Heunen, Jamie Vicary and Linde Wester (2014). "Mixed quantum states in higher categories". In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Quantum Physics and Logic (QPL 2014), EPTCS 172, 304-315. arXiv:1405.1463, doi:10.4204/EPTCS.172.22.

[P14] William Zeng and Jamie Vicary (2014). "Abstract structure of unitary oracles for quantum algorithms". In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Quantum Physics and Logic (QPL 2014), EPTCS 172, 270-284. arXiv:1406.1278, doi:10.4204/EPTCS.172.19.

[P13] Bruce Bartlett, Christopher Douglas, Christopher Schommer-Pries and Jamie Vicary (2014). "Extended 3-dimensional bordism as the theory of modular objects". 64 pages. arXiv:1411.0945.

[P12] John Baez and Jamie Vicary (2014). "Wormholes and entanglement". CQG 31(21), 214007. arXiv:1401.3416, doi:10.1088/0264-9381/31/21/214007.

[P11] Krzysztof Bar and Jamie Vicary (2014). "Groupoid semantics for thermal computing". 22 pages. arXiv:1401.3280.

[P10] Mike Stay and Jamie Vicary (2013). "Bicategorical semantics for nondeterministic computation". In Proceedings of the 29th Conference in the Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFPS 2013), ENTCS 23(3), 555-567. arXiv:1301.3393.

[P9] Jamie Vicary (2013). "Topological structure of quantum algorithms". In Proceedings of the 28th Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2013), 33 pages. arXiv:1209.3917, doi:10.1109/LICS.2013.14.

[P8] Jamie Vicary (2012). "Higher semantics for quantum protocols". In Proceedings of the 27th Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2012), 10 pages. doi:10.1109/lics.2012.70.

[P7] Jamie Vicary (2012). "Higher quantum theory". 46 pages. arXiv:1207.4563.

[P6] Jeffrey Morton and Jamie Vicary (2012). "The categorified Heisenberg algebra I: A combinatorial representation". JPAA 222(3), 703-745. arXiv:1207.2054, doi:10.1016/j.jpaa.2017.05.004.

[P5] Jamie Vicary (2010). "Categorical formulation of finite-dimensional quantum algebras". CMP 304(3), 765-798. arXiv:0805.0432, doi:10.1007/s00220-010-1138-0.

[P4] Bob Coecke, Dusko Pavlovic and Jamie Vicary (2008). "A new description of orthogonal bases". MSCS 23(3), 555-567. arXiv:0810.0812, doi:10.1017/S0960129512000047.

[P3] Jamie Vicary (2008). "Completeness of dagger-categories and the complex numbers". JMP 52(8), 82104. arXiv:0807.2927, doi:10.1063/1.3549117.

[P2] Jamie Vicary (2007). "A categorical framework for the quantum harmonic oscillator". IJTP 47(12), 3408-3447. arXiv:0706.0711, doi:10.1007/s10773-008-9772-4.

[P1] Peter Coveney, Jamie Vicary, Jonathan Chin and Matt Harvey (2004). "WEDS: A web-services based environment for distributed simulation". PTRSA 363(1833), 1807-1816. doi:10.1098/rsta.2005.1608.

Talks

[T77] November 2020. ''TBA'', Dalhousie Mathematics Colloquium. (invited)

[T76] December 2020. ''TBA'', Homotopy Type Theory Electronic Seminar Talks, Online. (invited)

[T75] June 2020. ''Higher structures for quantum information'', New Perspectives in Quantum Information, ETH, Zurich. (invited)

[T74] May 2021. ''Compositional quantum combinatorics'', XIth International KCIK Symposium, University of Gdansk, Poland. (invited)

[T73] November 2019. ''Strictly associative and unital higher category theory'', LMS Meeting on Category Theory and its Applications, University of Leicester, UK. (invited)

[T72] June 2019. ''Higher Categories and Quantum Structures'', Summer School on Quantum Symmetries, Ohio State University, USA. (invited)

[T71] March 2019. ''Introducing homotopy.io'', Third Symposium on Compositional Structures (SYCO 3), University of Oxford, UK.

[T70] April 2019. ''Monoidal Categories, Higher Categories'', Midland Graduate School 2019, University of Birmingham, UK.

[T69] December 2018. ''A geometrical proof assistant for infinity-categories'', Midland Graduate School Christmas Seminar 2018, University of Birmingham, UK. (invited)

[T68] November 2018. ''Particle-field duality for 3-dimensional topological quantum field theory'', Birmingham Theoretical Physics seminar, University of Birmingham, UK. (invited)

[T67] September 2018. ''Category Theory: Visual Mathematics for the 21st Century'', RChain DevCon, Berlin, Germany. (invited)

[T66] July 2018. ''The geometry of proof: a beginner's guide to higher category theory'', Young Researchers in Mathematics 2018, University of Southampton. (invited)

[T65] July 2018. ''Designing Globular: formal proofs as geometrical objects'', 13th International Workshop on User Interfaces for Theorem Provers, University of Oxford, UK. (invited)

[T64] June 2018. ''Orthogonality for quantum Latin isometry squares'', 15th International Conference on Quantum Physics and Logic, University of Dalhousie, Halifax, Canada.

[T63] June 2018. ''Build Your Own Quantum Computer'', Hay Festival, Hay-on-Wye, UK. (public)

[T62] April 2018. ''Practical higher-dimensional algebra '', Chocola Seminar on Logic and Computation, University of Lyon, France. (invited)

[T61] February 2018. ''Practical higher-dimensional algebra '', Higher Gauge Theory and Quantum Matter, University of Leeds, UK. (invited)

[T60] July 2017. ''Classical models for quantum networks'', 14th International Conference on Quantum Physics and Logic, Institute for Computing and Information Sciences (iCIS), Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. (invited)

[T59] June 2017. ''Build Your Own Quantum Computer'', Cheltenham Science Festival, Cheltenham Science Festival, Cheltenham, UK. (public)

[T58] May 2017. ''Build Your Own Quantum Computer'', Hay Festival, Hay-on-Wye, UK. (public)

[T57] May 2017. ''Science Cafe'', Interview with BBC Radio Wales. (invited) (public)

[T56] April 2017. ''Formalizing Compositional Proofs'', Theoretical Computer Science Seminar, Institut de Recherche en Informatique Fondamentale, Paris, France. (invited)

[T55] February 2017. ''Globular: A Proof Assistant for Diagrammatic Science'', Babbage Departmental Seminar, Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK. (invited)

[T54] February 2017. ''Formal Proof in Higher Category Theory'', 10th Yorkshire and Midlands Category Theory Seminar, University of Leicester, UK. (invited)

[T53] December 2016. ''Formalizing Compositional Proofs'', Compositionality and Logical Structures in Computation, Simons Institute, University of California, Berkeley, USA. (invited)

[T52] November 2016. ''Globular: Higher Categories, The Easy Way'', Category Theory seminar series, University of Cambridge, UK. (invited)

[T51] October 2016. ''Formalizing Compositional Proofs'', Theoretical Computer Science Seminar, University of Birmingham, UK. (invited)

[T50] August 2016. ''Our Quantum Future'', Distinguished Public Lecture Series, University of Dalhousie, Halifax, Canada. (invited) (public)

[T49] July 2016. ''Formalizing Geometrical Proofs'', Modelling Topological Phases of Matter, University of Leeds, UK. (invited)

[T48] July 2016. ''Categories, Quantum Computation and Topology'', AARMS Summer School Lectures, University of Dalhousie, Halifax, Canada. 30-hour intensive lecture course (invited)

[T47] June 2016. ''Introduction to Globular'', Foundational Methods in Computer Science 2016, University of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada. (invited)

[T46] May 2016. ''Formalizing Geometrical Proofs'', 2016 Georgia Topology Conference, University of Atlanta, Athens, USA. (invited)

[T45] April 2016. ''Surface Proofs for Linear Logic'', Theoretical Computer Science Seminar, University of Bath, UK. (invited)

[T44] April 2016. ''Biunitarity for Quantum Structures'', Eighth Workshop on Information and Processes (WIP 2016), Fontainebleau, France. (invited)

[T43] March 2016. ''Unspeakable Cryptography'', First Oxford Cryptography Day, University of Oxford, UK. (invited)

[T42] October 2015. ''Higher Categories and Quantum Computation'', Higher Topological Quantum Field Theory and Categorical Quantum Mechanics, Erwin Schrodinger Institute, Vienna, Austria. (invited)

[T41] June 2015. ''Higher Categories and Quantum Field Theories'', 18th Symposium on Topological Quantum Information, University of Athens, Greece. (invited)

[T40] June 2015. ''Topological Foundations for Computation'', AMS-EMS-SPM Joint International Meeting, Unversity of Porto, Portugal. (invited)

[T39] April 2015. ''The Categorified Heisenberg Algebra'', Workshop on Homotopy Type Theory and Physics, University of Bristol, UK. (invited)

[T38] March 2015. ''Higher Categories and Quantum Computation'', Pure Mathematics Seminar, University of Leicester, UK. (invited)

[T37] October 2014. ''The Topology of Information Flow'', European Telecommunications Standards Institute 2nd Quantum-Safe Crypto Workshop, Ottawa, Canada. (invited)

[T36] September 2014. ''The Topology of Information Flow'', Quantum Foundations Seminar, Waterloo, Canada. (invited)

[T35] September 2014. ''State of the Art: Topology of Quantum Algorithms'', Post-Quantum Research - Addressing Future Challenges and Directions, Isaac Newton Institute, University of Cambridge, UK. (invited)

[T34] June 2014. ''Topological Quantum Field Theory'', Theoretical Physics Seminar, Imperial College London, UK. (invited)

[T33] June 2014. ''Topological Foundations of Quantum Computation'', Theoretical Physics Seminar, University of Leeds, UK. (invited)

[T32] May 2014. ''The Geometry of Information Flow'', Departmental Seminar, University of Birmingham, UK. (invited)

[T31] May 2014. ''Logical Foundations of Classical Encryption and Quantum Teleportation'', Workshop on Post Quantum Research - Identifying Future Challenges and Directions, Isaac Newton Institute, University of Cambridge, UK. (invited)

[T30] April 2014. ''Topological Foundations of Classical Encryption and Quantum Teleportation'', Seminar at the Centre for Quantum Information and Foundations, DAMTP, University of Cambridge, UK. (invited)

[T29] April 2014. ''A Geometrical Logic for Classical and Quantum Computation'', Computer Science Theory Seminar, Queen Mary University of London, UK. (invited)

[T28] March 2014. ''Computation from Higher Representation Theory'', Workshop on Parameterized Morse Theory in Low-Dimensional and Symplectic Topology, Banff Research Station, Canada. (invited)

[T27] February 2014. ''Classical and Quantum Computing with Higher Algebraic Structures'', Topology Seminar, University of Oxford, UK. (invited)

[T26] December 2013. ''Geometric Logic of Information Flow'', Workshop on Information and Processes (WIP 2013), Centro de Investigación y Adiestramiento Político y Administrativo (CIAPA), University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica. (invited)

[T25] October 2013. ''Geometric Logic of Information Flow'', Departmental Seminar, University of Oxford, UK. (invited)

[T24] October 2013. ''Geometric Logic of Information Flow'', LogIC Seminar, Imperial College London, UK. (invited)

[T23] September 2013. ''The Geometry of Quantum and Classical Information'', Group Seminar, Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (RIMS), Kyoto, Japan. (invited)

[T22] April 2013. ''Bicategorical Foundations for Quantum Information'', Group Seminar, Centre for Australian Category Theory, University of Macquarie, Sydney, Australia. (invited)

[T21] March 2013. ''The Geometry of Quantum Information'', Quantum Information Seminar, University of Nagoya, Japan. (invited)

[T20] March 2013. ''Applications of Category Theory to Quantum Physics'', Group Seminar, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan. (invited)

[T19] January 2013. ''Topological Structure of Quantum Algorithms'', Quantum Information Seminar, University of Bristol, UK. (invited)

[T18] March 2012. ''A 2-Categorical Formalism for Quantum Information'', Oxford Quantum Information Science Workshop, University of Oxford, UK. (invited)

[T17] May 2011. ''123 TQFTs'', Quantum Field Theory seminar series, University of Oxford, UK. (invited)

[T16] May 2011. ''123 TQFTs'', Workshop on Higher Gauge Theory, TQFTs and Categorification, University of Cardiff, UK. (invited)

[T15] April 2011. ''A Bicategorical Syntax for Concurrency'', Classical and Quantum Information Flow, Bellairs Research Institute, McGill University, Holetown, Barbados. (invited)

[T14] February 2011. ''The Category Theory of Quantum Field Theory'', Category Theory seminar series, University of Cambridge, UK. (invited)

[T13] February 2011. ''123 TQFTs'', Workshop on Higher Gauge Theory, TQFT and Quantum Gravity, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal. (invited)

[T12] June 2010. ''Functorial Semantics of Systems, Spaces and Logics'', Seminar on the Semantics of Information, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik, Germany. (invited)

[T11] May 2010. ''Introduction to Monoidal Categories and the Graphical Calculus'', QICS Spring School on Foundational Structures in Quantum Computation and Information, University of Oxford, UK. (invited)

[T10] March 2010. ''3D TQFTs as Frobenius Algebras'', Workshop on Information Theory, Quantum Mechanics and Security, Bellairs Research Institute, McGill University, Holetown, Barbados. (invited)

[T9] January 2010. ''Complex Numbers and Categorical Structures'', Theoretical Computer Science seminar series, University of Birmingham, UK. (invited)

[T8] October 2009. ''A New Description of Maximally-Entangled Meaasurements'', Second Workshop on Informatic Phenomena (WIP 2009), Tulane University, New Orleans, USA. (invited)

[T7] June 2009. ''Higher-Dimensional Quantum Mechanics'', Categories, Quanta, Concepts, Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Canada. (invited)

[T6] November 2008. ''A Guide to the Dagger-Functor in Quantum Theory'', Analytic Topology seminar series, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, UK. (invited)

[T5] September 2008. ''The Way of the Dagger'', Foundational Structures for Quantum Information and Computation, Obergurgl, Austria. (invited)

[T4] March 2008. ''Generalizing C*-Algebras'', Workshop on Logic, Physics and Quantum Information Theory, Bellairs Research Institute, McGill University, Holetown, Barbados. (invited)

[T3] January 2008. ''A Categorical Framework for the Quantum Harmonic Oscillator'', First Workshop on Categories, Logic and the Foundations of Physics, Imperial College London, UK. (invited)

[T2] August 2007. ''A Categorical Framework for the Quantum Harmonic Oscillator'', Workshop on Categorical Quantum Logic, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, UK. (invited)

[T1] May 2007. ''A Categorical Framework for the Quantum Harmonic Oscillator'', Group Seminar, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, UK. (invited)

Public engagement

I find public outreach work exciting and fulfilling, and consider it an important part of an academic career. With David Reutter, I have developed a public engagement workshop, called Qubit.Zone, where participants can explore exciting quantum ideas—including superposition, entanglement and teleportation—using hand-held electronic qubit simulators. A list of all my group's public engagement activity is given below. If you would be interested in having a Qubit.Zone workshop as part of your event, get in touch!

[E10] August 2018. We gave a Qubit.Zone workshop at Brasenose College, Oxford to a group of students from under-privileged backgrounds with an interest in maths and science. (Fatimah Ahmadi and Jean-Simon Lemay.)

[E9] June 2018. We gave a Qubit.Zone workshop at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, to an audience of 25 students in year 12 from schools in the north of England. (Fatimah Ahmadi and Linde Wester.)

[E8] June 2018. We gave two public workshops at the Hay Festival under the title "Build Your Own Quantum Computer!", with about 20 participants per workshop. (David Reutter and Jamie Vicary.)

[E7] April 2018. We gave three Qubit.Zone workshops at the Department of Physics in Oxford, as part of the event Marie Curious — Girls Exploring Science. There were about 15 girls per workshop. (Fatimah Ahmadi and David Reutter.)

[E6] April 2018. We gave a Qubit.Zone workshop at the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, as part of "Target Oxbridge", an event to encourage applications from black and mixed-race students. (Benjamin Musto and Dominic Verdon.)

[E5] February 2018. We gave two Qubit.Zone workshops at University College in Oxford as part of a mathematical sciences study day for high-achieving Year 12 students, with about 20 students per workshop. (David Reutter and Dominic Verdon.)

[E4] January 2018. We took part in Radley College STEMFest, giving two Qubit.Zone workshops each with about 20 students drawn from local Oxford schools. (David Reutter and Dominic Verdon.)

[E3] June 2017. Two Qubit.Zone workshops were given at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, to two groups of girls from year 9 with an interest in science and technology. (Fatimah Ahmadi, Vaia Patta, Jamie Vicary and Linde Wester.)

[E2] June 2017. We gave two public workshops at the Hay Festival, with the title "Build Your Own Quantum Computer!", each with about 20 participants. (David Reutter and Jamie Vicary.)

[E1] June 2017. We gave two public workshops at the Cheltenham Science Festival with the title "Build Your Own Quantum Computer!", each with 20 participants. (David Reutter and Jamie Vicary.)

Other things

Here's some other things I'm doing at the moment.

I maintain two popular mailing lists, one for international quantum foundations announcements with over 950 subscribers, and another for quantum computing and quantum foundations events taking place in Oxford with around 100 subscribers. Please get in touch if you'd like to be added to either of these.
I am the lecturer for Categorical Quantum Mechanics (with Dan Marsden, and originally with Chris Heunen). These notes are being turned into a textbook with OUP, to be published soon.
I frequently supervise DPhil, MSc and undergraduate students on topics related to the mathematical foundations of quantum computing. If you'd like to work on a project with me, get in touch.

Biography

I did an undergraduate degree in Physics at Mansfield College, Oxford, followed by the Part III mathematics course at DAMTP and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. I then did a PhD in category theory and the foundations of quantum information with Chris Isham at Imperial College London, which was awarded in 2009. Since then I have been based in Oxford, becoming a Senior Research Fellow in 2013. In the period 2011-2014 I also held a Senior Research Fellow position at the Centre for Quantum Technologies in Singapore.