Michael is Director of the UTS Centre for Quantum Software and Information and a Professor of Computer Science. He also leads the UTS node of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology. Michael represents UTS on the Executive Advisory Board of the Sydney Quantum Academy, a $35M joint venture between UTS, the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales, Macquarie University and the New South Wales Government. He is also serving as co-Editor in Chief of the Nature Partner Journal Quantum Information.

Michael heads a team researching theoretical aspects of quantum computation; specialising in the capabilities of quantum software in near-term devices, and the design of quantum computers. His research program is focused on identifying quantum computing applications that outperform classical computers in the easiest, and cheapest, way possible. This involves theoretically identifying applications and experimental benchmarks, designing architectures capable of achieving them, and working with experimental teams to bring them to reality.

As the UTS node leader for the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology Michael coordinates the Centre’s research on quantum architectures and algorithms. This program’s goal is to develop interesting computational tasks that are experimentally viable in the near-term and clearly on the pathway to scaling-up to more ambitious long-term quantum computing architectures. This involves working with the Centre’s experimental teams to optimize their architectures informed by the latest developments in the theory of quantum algorithms, complexity, and error correction.

Michael joined UTS in 2012 as an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. He completed his PhD at the University of Queensland in 2005 under Dr Michael Nielsen on the role entanglement plays in the design of quantum computers. Between 2005–2012 he held postdoctoral appointments with quantum computing teams at the Universities of Innsbruck, Bristol, and Hannover.