The CQC is going through a transitional phase while we await the appointment of Prof Artur Ekert's successor as Leigh Trapnell Professor of Quantum Physics. The department hopes to make the appointment during the academic year 2007-8. We are likely to take on one or more PhD students for 2008-9; we are more likely to be able to be precise after the appointment is made. We always have to turn away some outstanding applicants: anyone considering applying to us should also apply widely elsewhere.

Successful applicants are likely to have a first class undergraduate degree in mathematics, physics or computer science, and should ideally also have an M.Sc. or equivalent qualification.
Candidates considering applying directly from an undergraduate degree are encouraged to consider applying first to take Cambridge's one-year Masters-level course, the Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics (Part III of the Cambridge Mathematics Tripos). The course includes several lecture courses (five in 2007-8) in aspects of quantum information science, as well as courses on a wide variety of other topics in theoretical physics and pure and applied mathematics.

Applications from graduate students to research centres in DAMTP are handled by the Board of Graduate Studies in the first instance, and then administered by the department. Applications for PhD places should thus be made to the Board of Graduate Studies in the first instance, specifying an interest in working at the CQC in DAMTP. The information needed can all be found on this page. The timetable for applications has early application deadlines: for example, the deadline for Gates and other scholarships for those applying from the USA for PhD places in 2008-9 is 15th October 2007. At this time, there are obviously a lot of applications to the university and beyond the initial acknowledgment of receipt of your application, it could be well in to April or May before you hear any more from the University. Once the application process has started, the University has an online tracking page, just don't expect to get information off it any faster than waiting for the mail!

Applications for the Part III course should also be made to the Board of Graduate Studies. The information needed can be found on this page.

We generally have many more applicants than available PhD places. Anyone applying to the CQC is thus advised also to investigate opportunities available at other quantum information science research institutions. A few are listed here, but the list is currently very incomplete.

Our standard method of funding UK and EU graduate students is by grants from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. These are allocated by the department, mostly after the Part III results in mid to late June. EPSRC studentships provide full support for UK students, and cover tuition fees for EU students from outside the UK.

There are some other possible sources for funding (which are not generally restricted to EU students): for example the Gates Foundation, the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, and a small number of the wealthier Cambridge Colleges. Decisions on these scholarships are made in May. Unfortunately (at least for us!), these funding sources are entirely outside our control or influence; in particular there is nothing we can do to get a decision from them sooner than May. Applications to these organisations and institutions need to be made separately. The University's Board of Graduate Studies web pages --- reached from the above-mentioned links --- have some information; anyone needing clarification or advice should contact either them or the relevant organisation. We have no independent sources of support for non-EU students.

While we try to be helpful where possible, there is normally little that we can add to the information given here. We cannot generally comment in advance on the chances of any individual application to the CQC being successful or offer advice in putting together an application. Applicants may find it helpful, though, to look at the information on these web pages, and especially useful to look at some of the recent papers of CQC members, which can be found on the quantum physics archive. (Some recent papers are also linked from CQC members' personal pages on this site.)

We may offer interviews to selected candidates once applications have been reviewed: the timetable for these varies from year to year.