In July 2026, Stellenbosch University hosted three students as part of the NITheCS Winter Internship Programme.
The internship was supervised by Prof. Francesco Petruccione and Abbas (Omid) Hassasfar from the Quantum Research Group at Stellenbosch University.
From Qiskit to PennyLane
The main objective of the internship was to convert selected material from the QWorld QSilver course from Qiskit to PennyLane.
QSilver introduces more advanced quantum-computing concepts and algorithms, building on the foundational material covered in QBronze. The interns studied the original Qiskit notebooks and developed corresponding implementations in PennyLane.
Their work included topics such as quantum gates, multiqubit operations, the quantum Fourier transform, and quantum phase estimation. They also prepared solution notebooks and reviewed supporting Python functions used in the course material.
The completed notebooks are publicly available in the project repository:
PennyLaneComp, NITheCS Internship 2026
A Three-Week Hybrid Programme
The internship ran from 6 July to 24 July 2026.
During the first two weeks, the students worked online through lectures, coding sessions, technical discussions, and collaborative debugging. The final week took place in person at Stellenbosch University, where the interns completed, tested, and reviewed their notebooks.
Meet the Interns
The three interns participating in the 2026 programme were:
- Esethu Elsie Mbizweni
- Lavhelani Mano
- Aluwani Nemutavhani
The students brought different academic backgrounds and perspectives to the project. Their commitment and willingness to engage with challenging theoretical and computational problems contributed greatly to the successful completion of the internship.
Final Thoughts
The programme gave the interns practical experience in quantum programming and helped them develop a deeper understanding of quantum algorithms across different software frameworks.
By translating QSilver material from Qiskit to PennyLane, their work also contributes to the development of accessible, open-source resources for quantum-computing education.
The project builds on the 2025 NITheCS Winter Internship Programme, during which students converted introductory QBronze material from Qiskit to PennyLane. The 2026 internship extended this work to the more advanced QSilver course.
We congratulate Esethu, Lavhelani, and Aluwani on their work and wish them continued success in their academic and professional journeys.
