Anila Mjeda

Anila Mjeda is a theoretical physicist turned computer scientist and a tenured Lecturer at Munster Technological University (MTU), Ireland. She holds a PhD in safety-critical systems from the University of Limerick, Ireland.
Her research over the years has spanned safety-critical systems, formal methods, software testing, automotive software, and cybersecurity, with a sustained emphasis on the engineering of reliable and high-assurance software-intensive systems. In recent years, her research has increasingly focused on quantum computing, where she works on Quantum Software Engineering, particularly software quality for quantum and hybrid quantum–classical systems.
She leads the Quantum Information Security pillar within MTU’s cybersecurity hub and is currently PI/CoPi on multiple funded research projects, including QCloud (Ireland’s quantum cloud research infrastructure), QuantumEd, Quantum Explore, and Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Research Ireland–co-funded research at the intersection of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
Her research also includes the development and evaluation of pedagogical frameworks for quantum computing, with a focus on making foundational concepts accessible to computer science students without a background in physics.

Quantum Computing Foundations for Quantum Software Engineering

This lecture begins with an introduction to the key concepts of quantum computing that underpin the development of quantum software, including superposition, entanglement, quantum states, quantum circuits, and measurement. These concepts are presented with a focus on how they shape program behaviour and computational outcomes on quantum devices and simulators.
The lecture then introduces Quantum Software Engineering as a discipline concerned with the systematic design, development, and assurance of quantum and hybrid quantum-classical software systems. It examines how fundamental quantum properties challenge classical software engineering assumptions, particularly in relation to determinism, observability, reproducibility, and correctness.
Finally, the lecture outlines the scope and foundational challenges of Quantum Software Engineering, including abstraction, testing, and validation in noisy, near-term quantum systems. By establishing a shared conceptual foundation, this opening lecture provides the context and vocabulary needed for the more specialised technical topics addressed throughout the PhD school.