QWorld OQI Hackathon QC Certification Courses | May 15-24, 2026 (assessments due June ??) or August (TSA)

To ensure participants of Open Quantum Institute (OQI) supported hackathons are equipped with the necessary skills, OQI and QWorld offer an education programme covering the following:

• An introduction to responsible quantum and to building quantum computing use cases for the SDGs (lead by OQI)
• Quantum computing theoretical and applied skills (foundation to advanced skills). Upon finishing the entire Qworld course and activities, students get an OQI-Qworld certificate (lead by QWorld)
• A workshop on pitching to make sure the students are confident about presenting their projects on stage at the end of their hackathon (lead by QAI ventures).

Participants are also invited to follow this online module: https://oqi.qplaylearn.com/. Initially established for Open Quantum Institute (OQI) use case teams (professionals submitting a Use case to the OQI) to establish the core expectations required when scoping and developing a OQI use case, we encourage everyone involved with the hackathon to complete it since a hackathon submission can be viewed as a highly compact use case.

Please note however that hackathon participants will never be requested to develop in such a short time frame something as mature as an OQI Use case, this is simply an inspiration to support you in the process.

1. Introduction session (12th or 11th May)

• Responsible Quantum OQI webinar (1h)  live and recorded.
  Introduction to responsible research and innovation applied to quantum computing. 
  
• Online OQI-Qplaylearn module (1,5h)  online at their own speed.
  The Open Quantum Institute (OQI) and QPlayLearn designed this training module to guide you through best practices for identifying meaningful quantum computing use cases and to prepare you to apply for the Use Case Teams.

The course explores what “impact” and “responsible” mean for quantum computing in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and introduces core concepts and practical foundations needed to develop relevant and impactful applications using today’s quantum approaches. Beyond the Use Case Teams application process, these shared guidelines aim to foster credibility and alignment across the quantum community.

2. QWorld Programme 

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 quantum hackathons. The course will be self-paced. Successful participants 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.

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

Schedule of QWorld OQI Hackathon QC Certification Courses

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. You will receive a certification upon completion of this online course. The course will be self-paced and will take place:
1. May 15th to May 24th, 2025
and 
2. August 4th to August 13th, 2025

QBronze + QNickel (partial) + QCobalt

May 15 [and] August (TBD)
Introduction to Quantum Computing

May 16 [and] August (TBD)
Introduction to Classical Systems

May 17 [and] August (TBD)
Introduction to Quantum Systems

May 18 [and] August (TBD)
Quantum Operations & Qiskit Programming

May 19 [and] August (TBD)
Grover’s Algorithm

May 20 [and] August (TBD)
Grover’s Algorithm for Max-Cut Problem

May 21 [and] August (TBD)
Variational Algorithms & Adiabatic Quantum Computation

May 22 [and] August (TBD)
Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithms QAOA

May 23 [and] August (TBD)
QUBO and Ising Formulations

May 24 [and] August (TBD)
Binary Quadratic Model

Quantum workshops | Homework and Certificate

We will use Canvas learning management system for homework tracking. All assessments are due by April 23. Participants have to earn earn at least 50% on each assessment and have an overall grade > 70% to complete each module.

Our Team

Organizers: Jibran Rashid (QWorld), Sana Odeh (NYUAD), Audrey Himmer (OQI/CERN)
Leader: Jibran Rashid (QBronze & QNickel & QCobalt)
Mentors: Kenneth Isamade, Maja, Lorraine Tsitsi Majiri, Rumlah Amer, Razeen ud Din, Amrit Chhetri
Team-Section: Audrey Himmer (OQI/CERN) and Marianne Schoerling (OQI/GESDA)
Technical Staff: Kenneth Isamade (Canvas)

Contact: jibran.rashid@qworld.net

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.