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The City of Innsbruck has awarded Francesca Ferlaino the Ehrenring — the Honorary Ring of the City of Innsbruck, the highest distinction the city bestows upon individuals for exceptional merit.

The award ceremony took place on 5 November 2026 in the Kaisersaal of the Stiftskeller in Innsbruck. Francesca is the youngest woman ever to receive this honour, a milestone that reflects both the depth of her scientific achievements and the remarkable impact she has had on Innsbruck as a place of world-class research. Having built her career and her group here, she has made Innsbruck a global reference point for quantum physics with ultracold atoms.

We warmly congratulate Francesca on this very special recognition!

Read the full article here.

Francesca Ferlaino was among the distinguished speakers at the 4th Global Quantum Strategies Overview, held at the Embassy of Austria in Washington, D.C., on September 22, 2026.

Held by Ambassador Petra Schneebauer as a pre-event to the Quantum World Congress 2026, the gathering brought together leading voices from academia, government, diplomacy, and industry to discuss the latest developments in Quantum Information Science and Technology and explore opportunities for international collaboration.

Francesca shared her expertise and perspective on the rapidly developing field of quantum science, alongside Professor Markus Aspelmeyer from the University of Vienna and IQOQI Vienna. Their participation highlighted the strength and diversity of Austria’s quantum research landscape and its growing international visibility.

Both scientists are members of the Board of Directors of Quantum Science Austria (quantA), Austria’s Cluster of Excellence in Quantum Science. Their contributions to the event reflected Austria’s strong position in quantum research and the importance of connecting scientific excellence with international partnerships to shape the future of quantum technology.

Francesca Ferlaino has taken over as managing director of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) and has started her second period in this role.

Francesca previously served as managing director of the IQOQI from 2019 to 2022. After a few years, she is now returning to the position and will lead the institute for the next two years.

At the same time, we would like to warmly thank Gerhard Kirchmair, whose term as managing director recently came to an end. Over the past two years, Gerhard has done a wonderful job and dedicated a great deal of time and effort to leading the institute. We sincerely thank him for his commitment and valuable work.

During Gerhard’s term, Francesca Ferlaino served as his deputy. In her new term as managing director, Hannes Pichler will take over as deputy managing director and will support Francesca in this role.

We look forward to the next two years and wish Francesca and Hannes every success in their new roles!

On September 29, our group enjoyed an exciting canyoning adventure in Achenkirch. Thanks to the beautiful summer-like temperatures, the day was even more enjoyable and full of fun. After many jumps in the waterfalls of the canyon, we relaxed with a picnic by the stunning Achensee, enjoying the sunshine, great company, and beautiful scenery.

It was a fantastic day that combined adventure, nature, and lots of fun together!

Francesca is one of the organizers of SPARK (Advancing Research and Knowledge), a new format for scientific meetings at DIPC. Each year, one or more events will bring together around 30 scientists for a four-week self-organized program focused on a selected research topic.

Participants will engage in small-group collaborations, informal seminars, tutorials, and lectures. They will, in principle, be hosted at DIPC, facilitating active participation of local researchers and fostering exchanges between scientists with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, potentially leading to new ideas and collaborations.

This format has been designed to provide the ideal setting for the exchange of ideas among researchers from different fields and with diverse perspectives, fostering collaboration and the development of new research approaches.

The program will also include a satellite workshop open to the whole scientific community.

Find more information here.