Professor Andrew Dzurak of UNSW Sydney has been awarded the 2026 AIP Walter Boas Medal for Excellence in Research for pioneering advances in silicon-based quantum computing,  demonstrating new methods to control, scale, and manufacture high-fidelity spin qubits in semiconductor devices compatible with conventional chip-fabrication technology 

Professor Dzurak’s research focuses on building quantum computers using the same semiconductor technologies that produce today’s microchips, potentially enabling millions of quantum bits, or qubits, to be integrated onto a single silicon chip.

In recent years, his team has addressed several major barriers to making this technology practical.

In 2024, Professor Dzurak’s team reported in Nature that silicon qubits could operate reliably above 1 kelvin, potentially reducing the cryogenic cooling required for large-scale quantum computers.

His team has also tackled the challenge of controlling millions of qubits. Research published in Nature in 2025 demonstrated that classical electronics operating at cryogenic temperatures could control silicon qubits without compromising their performance, offering a pathway towards scalable control systems.

In further research published in Nature in 2025, the team demonstrated that silicon qubits manufactured using standard semiconductor foundry tooling could operate with fidelities above 99 per cent, an important threshold for quantum error correction.

Together, these advances are helping move silicon quantum computing from laboratory research towards practical, scalable machines.

Andrew is one of 11 members recognised with 2026 AIP Awards for outstanding accomplishments in research, leadership, education and communication. Read more about the 2026 AIP Award recipients.

The 2026 AIP Awards will be presented at AIP Congress 2026 in Sydney this December.