Hlér Kristjánsson (Upcoming member)

Biography

*** I am looking for 1-2 motivated students to join my new group at Université de Montréal / Mila as (a) PhD candidate(s) to start in Fall 2025! If you are interested in quantum information or quantum foundations, please apply by 13 January 2025 following the instructions on https://www.quantiki.org/position/phd-positions-quantum-information-and-quantum-foundations-universit%C3%A9-de-montr%C3%A9al

If you are interested in quantum machine learning, please apply through the Mila website. ***

I am an incoming Assistant Professor (starting Jan 2025) at Université de Montréal/ Mila - Québec Artificial Intelligence Institute, working in quantum information and quantum foundations, including quantum machine learning. In my research, I am interested in the foundational structures of quantum theory and how they can be used in novel ways for advantages in quantum information processing. Currently, my main interests are in understanding causality in quantum theory (including indefinite causal order), as well as in developing a paradigm of higher-order quantum computation, the quantum analogue of functional programming. These new tools have applications in fields ranging from quantum algorithms, simulation of physics systems and quantum machine learning to delegated quantum computation and quantum communication.

I grew up in Akureyri, Iceland, and later in Cambridge, UK. In 2018, I completed my undergraduate and master's degree in Physics at Imperial College London, UK, and did my master’s thesis at the University of Freiburg, Germany, on a one-year Erasmus exchange program, in the group of Prof Dr Andreas Buchleitner. In 2022, I completed my PhD in Computer Science at the University of Oxford, under the supervision of Prof Giulio Chiribella and Prof Jonathan Barrett, with a few months as a visiting PhD student at the University of Hong Kong. In 2021, alongside my PhD, I worked as an independent research consultant in quantum communications for Ofcom, the UK Office for Communications. From 2022-23, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tokyo, in the group of Prof Mio Murao, and from 2023-24 an independent postdoctoral research fellow in quantum foundations and quantum information at the Perimeter Institute and the Institute for Quantum Computing in Waterloo, ON.

In addition to science, I have also studied courses in violin performance as an Ash Music Scholar at the Royal College of Music, London, UK, in German at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany, in French at Université de Montréal, and in Chinese language as a Huayu Scholar at the National Kaohsiung Normal University, Taiwan. As a musician, I have co-composed and released an original album, and performed as a violinist at various venues. In my spare time, I like cooking and learning languages, as well as doing exercise and mindfulness meditation.