CIGI Welcomes Six Emerging Scholars to Explore the Future of Quantum Technology, Security and Governance

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Waterloo, Canada, Sept. 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) has selected six emerging scholars from across Canada for a new research and mentorship program bringing multidisciplinary perspectives to critical policy questions surrounding quantum technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and national security.

The scholars make up the inaugural cohort of The Quantum Nexus Emerging Scholars Program, a competitive program funded through the Department of National Defence’s Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDS) Targeted Engagement Grant program, examining the nexus of quantum technologies, intellectual property (IP) and national security. The program is part of CIGI’s Responsible Technology program and attracted a strong field of applicants from universities across the country.

“The questions that quantum technologies raise for Canada sit where science, law, security and industrial policy meet, and they will be settled by whoever thinks about them most carefully. These six scholars were selected for intellectual range and independence of judgment. I look forward to mentoring them as they help Canada and its allies work out how to protect what is strategically sensitive in the least restrictive way, while keeping science open and the democratic industrial commons strong,” said Mauritz Kop, CIGI Senior Fellow and Principal Investigator of the project.

Running from September to December 2026, the program gives students and early-career researchers an opportunity to contribute directly to policy research on emerging technologies with significant implications for Canada. With backgrounds spanning international affairs, global security, medicine, computer science and emergency management, the cohort reflects the range of expertise needed to understand how advances in quantum technologies and AI could affect Canada’s security, innovation ecosystem and broader society.

As quantum technologies advance and increasingly converge with AI, policy makers face complex questions about how to support scientific discovery and innovation while protecting sensitive technologies, intellectual assets, critical infrastructure and national security interests.

Throughout the four-month program, each scholar will receive one-on-one mentorship from CIGI Senior Fellow and Principal Investigator Mauritz Kop, founder of Stanford RQT (Responsible Quantum Technology), participate in the international expert workshop and closed-door roundtable with researchers and practitioners on October 21, 2026, and attend a masterclass on emerging technology governance and publication development on November 4, 2026. Each scholar will author an analytical note on an assigned subtopic, to be published in an Emerging Scholars annex to the project’s final CIGI report. The workshop’s opening expert panel, The Quantum Nexus: A Framework for Canadian Strategic Advantage in a Contested Domain, is open to the public.

The 2026 emerging scholars:

Phone Min Thant, a fourth-year undergraduate honours student at Simon Fraser University’s School for International Studies, will examine quantum sensing in maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and how procurement systems can assess experimental capabilities without mistaking technological promise for operational readiness.Natalie Frigon, a master of arts student specializing in intelligence and international affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, will explore research security and allied cooperation surrounding dual-use and emerging technologies.Katlego Khoza, a student in applied disaster and emergency studies at Brandon University, will draw on lessons from nuclear verification and Arctic governance to examine quantum-AI doctrine and procurement through the least trade-restrictive, security-sufficient, innovation-preserving (LSI) framework.Dr. Angela Dong, a physician in the University of Toronto’s Occupational and Environmental Medicine fellowship program, will investigate the legal, ethical, social and policy implications of quantum-AI in clinical practice and health infrastructure, including questions of liability, platform dependence and lock-in.Tyler Stevenson, a master of global affairs student at the University of Toronto specializing in innovation policy and global security, will examine allied standards and procurement as a case study for applying the LSI framework.Matya Stavnitzky, a master of mathematics student in computer science, specializing in human-computer interaction, at the University of Waterloo, will explore accountability by design in human-in-the-loop quantum-AI systems.

The Emerging Scholars Program forms part of a broader research project examining governance challenges raised by quantum technologies and their convergence with AI. Research areas include post-quantum cryptography migration, dual-use technologies and export controls, critical materials and quantum supply chains, quantum-AI convergence, standards and allied interoperability, and approaches to balancing national security with open scientific collaboration and innovation. The project builds on Kop’s article The Nexus of Quantum Technology, Intellectual Property, and National Security and the CIGI policy brief Global Quantum Governance: From Principles to Practice, co-authored by Mauritz Kop and Tracey Forrest, CIGI Research Director, Transformative Technologies.

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