Ashley Wright

^{Keynote speaker, Dr. John Bush, Professor of Mathematics at MIT.}

A first for Newfoundland and Labrador

From July 6-10, Memorial University's Faculty of Business Administration welcomed nearly 40 academics from around the globe for the Seventeenth Biennial IQSA Conference on Quantum Structures — the first time the gathering has been held in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Founded in 1990, the International Quantum Structures Association (IQSA) brings together researchers working at the intersection of quantum mechanics and mathematics, physics, philosophy and other interdisciplinary fields. This year's conference drew participants from as far afield as the United States, Japan, Malaysia and across Europe, including the Czech Republic, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Germany.

Keynotes from Harvard, MIT and Memorial

The week-long program featured keynote talks from three distinguished scholars: Dr. Jacob Barandes of Harvard University, Dr. John W.M. Bush of MIT, and Memorial's own Dr. Trung Q. Duong, Canada Excellence Research Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering — a lineup that reflected both the conference's international stature and Memorial's growing role in the field.

^{Keynote speaker, Trang Duong, Canada Excellence Research Chair at Memorial.}

Celebrating young researchers

The conference also marked the presentation of the 2026 Birkhoff-von Neumann Prize, awarded every two years to outstanding young researchers in the field. This year's recipients were Dr. Nicholas Ormrod of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and Dr. Shengyang Zhong of Peking University.

Delegates also travelled from institutions including Stanford University and several Canadian universities to take part in the week's talks and discussions.

^{Keynote speaker, Dr. Jacob Barandes, Harvard University.}

A Memorial-led effort

The conference was organized locally by members of Memorial's Centre for Quantum Social and Cognitive Science (CQSCS) and Department of Mathematics and Statistics, with support from the university's Conference Fund, the Quantum Communications and Computing Center (QC3), and the NSERC CREATE QAI4DO training program. The Faculty of Business Administration's own faculty and staff also played a key role, providing support that helped bring the conference to campus and ensure its smooth running throughout the week.

Dr. Emmanuel Haven, Dr. A. Faseruk Chair in Financial Management in the Faculty of Business Administration, was among the local organizers who helped bring the conference to Memorial. During the conference, Dr. Haven was also newly appointed president of the IQSA.

"It was a real pleasure to work with my colleagues across the Faculty of Business Administration and the University in setting up the conference. The International Quantum Structure Association (IQSA) will also stay with CQSCS for a while now as I was voted in as the new president of the IQSA," said Dr. Haven.