Career Talk with Chiara Decaroli

Chiara Decaroli is originally from a small village in Italy. She fell in love with quantum mechanics during her high school years after reading a book on quantum entanglement which she did not understand. Wanting to dig deeper, she came to the University of Edinburgh for her Bachelors in Physics. While at Edinburgh Chiara was a class rep and part of Physics Pals, a group which helped younger students. She also started back then to get involved in outreach activities through Ascus, the Art and Science collaborative. After her Bachelors, she moved back to continental Europe to pursue an Erasmus Mundus Masters in Photonics and Quantum Optics, a 2-year programme during which each semester was held at a top university in Europe in the field. She studied and worked in laboratories in France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland. She continued her academic career with a PhD in trapped-ion quantum computing at ETH Zurich. On the side, she kept engaging herself in a variety of outreach projects, working with TED, creating a videogame on quantum physics, and inspiring others to learn more about quantum computing through videos, illustrations and articles. She is also a strong advocate for diversity in science and is the recipient of the first ETH Diversity award for her efforts in supporting women in science. Today, Chiara lives in the Oxfordshire countryside and works for the National Quantum Computing Centre, a newly launched National Centre focusing on quantum computing technology development and adoption. Her new role helps her combine her technical expertise with outreach and engagement with a wide spectrum of organisations, spanning academia, industry, government and the general public.