Prof. Francesco Petruccione

Professor Francesco Petruccione is a theoretical physicist and academic leader, currently holding the position of Professor of Quantum Computing at Stellenbosch University and serving as Director of the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS). He co-leads the Africa-Europe Cluster of Research Excellence (CoRE) on Artificial Intelligence, fostering collaboration across continents in advanced research domains. Prof. Petruccione pursued his studies in Physics at the University of Freiburg, Germany, where he obtained his PhD in 1988 and the prestigious Habilitation (Dr. rer. nat. habil.) in 1994. His distinguished career includes a long tenure as Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), where he also served as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Big Data and Informatics, and as Deputy Director of the National Institute for Theoretical Physics (NITheP). Additionally, he has held adjunct appointments internationally and sits on editorial boards such as “Open Systems and Information Dynamics”.