On February 9th, 2026 the starting event for the first cohort of PhoQS-FUTURE took place. The aim of the programme is to provide doctoral students with excellent scientific training and career preparation in the interdisciplinary field of innovative photonic quantum technologies.
Prof. Dr. Christine Silberhorn welcomed the 29 doctoral students, together with the programme coordinator Dr. Anna Bauer and Sabrina Schmöckel, to the interdisciplinary Institute for Photonic Quantum Systems and to PhoQS-FUTURE. In her presentation, she introduced the structures and vision of the institute and spoke about the milestones of the exciting doctoral period that lies ahead for the PhD students.
The PhoQS-FUTURE doctoral students then received an overview of the programme and the next milestones. The first day was rounded off with a round of introductions, which gave them exciting insights into the doctoral topics of the other doctoral students from the four disciplines of physics, mathematics, computer science and electrical engineering.
The PhoQS-FUTURE doctoral students will meet weekly on Mondays from 3 p.m. in the PhoQSync Weeklies format. Some of the events, where specific speakers are invited, will be open to all PhoQS members. Which events these are and who will speak on which topic can be found in the PhoQS exchange calendar. The remaining events are exclusively open to members of the cohort.
The first open weekly event was the poster session on February 16 th, 2026. The doctoral students of the first cohort presented their research projects on posters and discussed them with the PhoQS members. A total of 51 PhoQS members exchanged ideas on the various research topics, provided feedback and developed new ideas. In future, the Early Career Conference will be organised by the doctoral students once a year in February so that the entire institute can discuss the current research priorities together.
