The Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia’s leading research institution, secured €5.7 million in EU funding for the Slovenian Quantum Science Hub (SQUASH), a postdoctoral fellowship program valued at €12 million in total. The funding was awarded through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND scheme under Horizon Europe, with results announced in July 2024, as reported by the Slovenia Times.
SQUASH will recruit 40 postdoctoral researchers from abroad across two calls, offering three-year fellowships in four multidisciplinary areas: quantum theory, quantum materials, quantum technology, and quantum computing and information. According to the CORDIS project record, the EU grant agreement was signed on September 23, 2024, with a project start date of March 1, 2025, and end date of February 28, 2030.
Co-funded by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of the Republic of Slovenia, the project consortium involves 43 partners, including five Slovenian companies. The Ministry stated that the goal is to develop quantum experts ready to meet the challenges of the second quantum revolution.