CQT announces change in Deputy Director

Valerio Scarani, who has been a Principal Investigator since CQT was founded in 2007, is now the Centre's Deputy Director.

CQT’s Valerio Scarani is appointed Deputy Director for the Centre following the retirement of incumbent Lai Choy Heng.

“I greatly benefited from Choy Heng’s experience and wisdom after I moved to Singapore to head CQT in 2020. On behalf of generations of CQTians, I thank him for his long service to the Centre. I now look forward to Valerio’s advice and support in leading CQT at this important time, when quantum technologies are soaring around the planet. CQT must strive for continued scientific excellence,” says CQT Director José Ignacio Latorre.

Valerio takes the role of Deputy Director on top of his responsibilities as a CQT Principal Investigator and Professor in the NUS Department of Physics. He was also previously Deputy Head for the Department of Physics.

Valerio is one of the Centre’s pioneering PIs – arriving in Singapore just as the decision to set up CQT as Singapore’s first Research Centre of Excellence in 2007 was announced.

“After benefitting so long from the structure of CQT and the environment, I’m happy to be able to serve and maybe to contribute to the future of CQT that is being designed right now,” says Valerio. He speaks more about his memories and future ambitions in this separate interview.

Choy Heng was also with CQT from its inception, involved in shaping the policies to administer this new type of entity and then serving as Deputy Director alongside founding Director Artur Ekert. He led the search committee that has overseen the hiring of the Centre’s Principal Investigators. He also held numerous other senior appointments within the University, including being Dean of the Faculty of Science and Vice-Provost for Academic Personnel.

Choy Heng (left) is pictured receiving the Emeritus Professorship award from Gong Jiangbin, Head of the Department of Physics and a CQT PI.

Choy Heng was conferred the NUS Emeritus Professorship Award in June. In a short speech of appreciation at the conferment ceremony, CQT Admin Director Kuldip Singh spoke on their even longer history together: Choy Heng had advised his final-year research project when he was an undergraduate.

He noted that Choy Heng’s contributions were instrumental in developing quantum information science in Singapore. “This actually can be traced back to a small journal group which I think was established in 1998, when a group of us – Prof Lai was one of the keen players – came together every Friday evening to talk about physics, about areas of our interest. It was during this period that I think we chanced on quantum information,” he recalled. This led to the first research group in quantum information being established in NUS in 2002 with a small grant. “That really kind of took off,” said Kuldip.