In a Centre as ambitious and interdisciplinary as QUBIC, collaboration isn’t just encouraged—it’s essential. The Connect Initiative is our flagship program designed to support researchers in building meaningful, hands-on collaborations across disciplines, institutions, and borders.

It’s about more than travel or internships. It’s about creating the conditions for researchers in quantum science and the life sciences to work together in ways that are thoughtful, productive, and sometimes unexpected.

Why Connect Matters

Quantum biotechnology is a frontier field. It brings together expertise from quantum physics, bioscience, and beyond—and that kind of interdisciplinarity takes time, trust, and shared experience. The Connect Initiative helps make that possible by supporting researchers to:

• Spend time in unfamiliar lab environments
• Learn new scientific approaches and techniques
• Build collaborations that wouldn’t happen through remote meetings alone

What Connect Made Possible in 2024

Earlier this year, three researchers shared how Connect helped them pursue projects that expanded their research and built new connections across the Centre:

• Dr Marita Rodriguez (UQ) visited labs in Wollongong and Melbourne to explore how authorship and credit are negotiated in interdisciplinary teams. Her work offers practical insights into how recognition is shared—and how we can support fairer collaboration, especially for early-career researchers.
• Dr Sergey Kruk (UTS) travelled to UQ and UoM to bring nanophotonics into biological sensing and quantum measurement. His collaborations showed how photonics can enhance the tools we use in bioscience and quantum sensing—making measurements more sensitive and precise.
• Dr Benjamin Carey (UQ) worked with researchers at UOW to build a chip-scale platform for measuring muscle-cell contraction. His project bridges quantum optics and live-cell biology, opening new possibilities for studying neuromuscular function at the single-cell level.

These projects reflect the kind of work Connect is designed to support—collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and deeply relevant to QUBIC’s mission.

What’s Available in 2025

The 2025 Connect Initiative is now open to Centre members. This year’s program includes:

• Internships with industry and government
• Travel support for international collaboration
• Exchange placements embedding quantum researchers in bioscience labs—and vice versa

Each stream is designed to broaden your perspective, deepen your expertise, and strengthen the Centre’s interdisciplinary culture.