Rate My Professor Jacqui Romero

Associate Professor Jacqui Romero is an expert in experimental quantum information in the School of Mathematics and Physics, Faculty of Science, at the University of Queensland. She earned a BS in Applied Physics magna cum laude and an MS in Physics from the University of the Philippines, followed by a PhD from the University of Glasgow. After completing her doctorate, she served as a researcher at the University of Glasgow for seven years. In 2015, she joined the Quantum Technology group at the University of Queensland, where she secured an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) fellowship in 2016. In 2019, she was awarded a Westpac Research Fellowship, enabling her to establish and lead the Qudits@UQ research team. She currently holds the position of Associate Professor and Westpac Research Fellow and serves as a Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS).

Romero's research centers on higher-dimensional quantum systems, known as qudits, to investigate quantum phenomena and advance quantum technologies. Her work encompasses generating high-dimensional quantum states for enhanced information capacity and noise robustness, high-dimensional quantum information processing including efficient device design, scalable characterization methods for high-dimensional quantum states, higher-order quantum maps such as those enabling indefinite causal order, and quantum error correction leveraging high dimensions. She is acclaimed for integrating photon orbital angular momentum states into mainstream quantum information science. Key publications include the book chapter 'Photonic quantum computing' (Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Physics, 2025); 'Randomness-free test of nonclassicality: a proof of concept' (Physical Review Letters, 2023); 'Robust and efficient high-dimensional quantum state tomography' (Physical Review Letters, 2021); 'Hiding ignorance using high dimensions' (Physical Review Letters, 2020); and 'Guest Editorial: The quantum internet: Principles, protocols and architectures' (IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 2024). Her contributions have earned her the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award (Australia, 2017), the Ruby Payne-Scott Medal from the Australian Institute of Physics (2018), the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Rising Talent Award (2019), and election as a 2026 Optica Fellow for seminal contributions to quantum-structured light. She has also obtained major grants including ARC Discovery Projects and contributions to ARC Centres of Excellence.