QWorld NYUAD Hackathon QC Certification Course | July 12-21, 2026
QWorld NYUAD Hackathon QC Certification Course 2026 is a ten days quantum workshop series organized by QWorld and NYU Abu Dhabi. Its program is addressed to participants of the 14th Annual NYUAD International Hackathon for Social Good which will focus on Quantum Computing (QC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) supporting Quantum Computing (QC).
Our workshop will take place during the 14th annual NYUAD International Hackathon for Social Good. The event will be held in person from April 24, 2026, to April 26th, 2026.
QWorld NYUAD Hackathon QC Certification Course 2026 | Quantum Workshops
To ensure the NYUAD hackathon participants are equipped with the necessary skills, we are pleased to partner with NYUAD to provide the NYUAD Hackathon participants with a top-quality education covering quantum computing theoretical and applied skills (foundation to advanced skills). This virtual course will offer a high-quality Certification upon finishing the entire course and activities.
Kindly note that all students with little or no knowledge of quantum computing are required to complete a virtual course (ninety minutes per session and ten sessions total) curated by QWorld and tailored specifically to the NYUAD hackathon. The course will be self-paced and will take place from March 22nd, 2026 to March 31st, 2026. You will receive a certification upon completion of this online course.
We invite you to a series of workshops (QBronze, QNickel, QCobalt) in the field of quantum computing and programming! During the workshops, we will use Discord to communicate with each other and conduct the workshop by Zoom meetings. Jupyter notebooks and Zoom lectures will be in English. During all workshops, mentors are provided who will answer questions and consult on the progress in learning.
For our workshops we are inviting high school students, university and graduate students, researchers, professors, and industrial people. During the event, it will be possible to establish also new contacts, take part in an integration meetings and exchange of experiences between participants at various stages of their scientific careers.
We will use Discord to communicate with each other and conduct the workshop by Zoom meetings. Jupyter notebooks and Zoom lectures will be in English, mentoring will be available also in local languages. During all workshops, mentors are provided who will answer questions and consult on the progress in learning.
About the program
Bronze-Qiskit
QBronze-Qiskit is QWorld’s introductory level quantum programming workshop series. It is a collection of Jupyter notebooks, and each notebook has many programming tasks to provide hands-on experiences. Bronze-Qiskit is an active version of Bronze using Qiskit as the quantum programming framework. The course material is designed for everyone who wants to learn the basics of quantum computing and learn how to write simple quantum programs. The only prerequisite is a basic knowledge of programming (e.g., using conditionals and loops) in Python.
Bronze-Qiskit has five main sections, and for each of them, the participant should spend about 3-4 hours. Their scope includes basics of classical systems, basics of quantum systems, quantum operators on a quantum bit, entanglement and basics quantum protocols, and quantum search algorithm.
QNickel (partial)
Nickel is a collection of Jupyter notebooks, and each notebook has many programming tasks to provide hands-on experiences. It is a continuation of Bronze, in which the basics of quantum computing and quantum programming were introduced. We will only cover the application of Grover to solve the Max-Cut problem from QNickel.
– Grover’s Algorithm for Max-Cut Problem (Revision of Grover’s algorithm, adders, Max-Cut problem)
QCobalt
QCobalt is QWorld’s intermediate level workshop series on quantum annealing, focusing on modeling and solving combinatorial optimization problems.
Cobalt is a collection of Jupyter notebooks, and each notebook has many programming tasks to provide hands-on experiences. Besides theoretical background on how to design QUBO formulations for combinatorial optimization problems, Cobalt also introduces the Ocean SDK framework of D-Wave. The workshop covers commonly applied techniques in NISQ algorithms, such as:
- QUBO Formulation
- Modelling problems using penalty method and Ising model
- Simulated Annealing and expressing problems using BQM
- Quantum Annealing
Our Team
Organizers: Jibran Rashid (QWorld), Sana Odeh (NYUAD)
Leader: Jibran Rashid
Mentors: Kenneth Isamade, Maja, Lorraine Tsitsi Majiri, Rumlah Amer, Syed Danial Haseeb, Razeen ud Din
Technical Staff: Kenneth Isamade (Canvas)
Contact: info [at] qworld.net
Schedule of QWorld NYUAD Hackathon QC Certification Course 2026
The workshop will be held during ten days, approximately requiring 30 hours of training. Participants are expected to follow the workshop materials and complete the tasks on their own. The course will be self-paced and will take place from March 22, 2026 to March 31, 2026. You will receive a certification upon completion of this online course.
QBronze + QNickel (partial) + QCobalt (20:00 Gulf time)
July 12 | Sunday (20:00 GST)
Introduction to Quantum Computing
July 13 | Monday
Introduction to Classical Systems
July 14 | Tuesday
Introduction to Quantum Systems
July 15 | Wednesday
Quantum Operations & Qiskit Programming
July 16 | Thursday
Grover’s Algorithm
July 17 | Friday
Grover’s Algorithm for Max-Cut Problem
July 18 | Saturday
Variational Algorithms & Adiabatic Quantum Computation
July 19 | Sunday
Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithms QAOA
July 20 | Monday
QUBO and Ising Formulations
July 21 | Tuesday
Binary Quadratic Model
Quantum workshops | Homework and Certificate
We will use Canvas learning management system for homework tracking. All assessments are due by April 20th. Participants have to earn earn at least 50% on each assessment and have an overall grade > 70% to complete each module.
Code of Conduct
Our event is dedicated to providing a harassment-free workshop experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment of event participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any event venue, including talks, workshops, parties, Twitter and other online media. Event participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the event.
We respect the minors (children under age 18) and we must make every effort to protect their rights. All private relationships, private communications (including social media channels), or sexual contacts with minors are prohibited.
The default communication channel between the organizers and participants is e-mail. Except filing the application form, the contact info of any attendee or participant cannot be requested by any person from organizer side (i.e., mentor, educator, speaker, organizer, sponsor, or volunteer). On the other hand, any person from organizer side may share his or her contact info with a participant who is not a minor, upon request by the participant.
A minor can access the emails of the main organizers on the event’s website. If a minor interested in working with a person from organizer side for scientific or pedagogical purpose, then he or she should read this document before contacting this person:
https://qworld.net/code-of-ethics-and-conduct/#minors
If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact the organizers immediately. You may also contact directly the members of the Ethics Committee of QWorld.
https://qworld.net/code-of-ethics-and-conduct/
Check the above link for more details.
