Project Report · Science Communication Partnership
QuanTour
Part of the UNESCO-led IYQ 2025 celebration
Awarded
2025 Institute of Physics Lise Meitner Medal and Prize
"For innovative public engagement across the UK and Europe through the QuanTour project, featuring a travelling quantum light source and offering live insights into the work of physicists."
About
QuanTour Project
The QuanTour project was part of the International Year of Quantum Science & Technology 2025 (IYQ2025), led by UNESCO. Over the course of 12 months (Apr 2024 – Apr 2025), an operational semiconductor single-photon emitter travelled across 12 European countries and subsequently to laboratories across North America, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
What was delivered
Communication strategy and coaching
Built the campaign strategy from scratch with the organisers: audience definition, core narrative, channel and format selection. Coached Doris Reiter and Tobias Heindel on sustainable communication practice and on working with digital platforms they had not used before.
Under the Microscope podcast series
A 12-episode series featuring QuanTour partners, 45 to 60 minutes each, covering the research, the career path behind it, the project each scientist is proudest of, and three wishes for improving the research experience. The organisers described the result as "a kind of lecture series on quantum science, accessible to everyone."
Social media campaign
Instagram-first storytelling following the source itself as the protagonist, from zero to 4,800+ followers over the tour. Video, shorts and stills produced at lab handovers and public events.
Press and media relations
Coordinated press releases, news features, radio and journal coverage across the 12 host institutions — 30+ publications in 9 languages.
Live events and moderation
Kick-off event at PTB Berlin (April 2024) and the World Quantum Day 2025 return event with the DPG at Urania Berlin, plus conference talks presenting the QuanTour model to the scicomm and quantum communities.
Engagement reporting
Five engagement reports issued across the project lifecycle, tracking reach, audience growth and coverage — used by the consortium for internal steering and funder reporting.
QuanTour featured in
- The Travels of a Quantum Light Source
- One Year into QuanTour: Reflections on a Traveling Quantum Light Source
- Quantenlichtquelle beendet Rundreise durch Europa
- World Quantum Day 2025: Return of the QuanTour Light Source, Hands-on Experiments and an Enjoyable Science Slam
- QuanTour Release
- A Suitcase with a Quantum Light Source: QuanTour Visits Leiden
- QuanTour Quantum Light Source Arrives at Tyndall National Institute
- Passing the Torch: The QuanTour Light Source Marks the International Year of Quantum
- Cambridge Welcomes QuanTour: A Quantum Journey Across Europe
- Una "antorcha cuántica" viaja por Europa
- QuanTour Published in Light: Science & Applications
- Insight into the World of Quantum Physics — QuanTour Starts Through Europe
- QuanTour: A European Initiative at the JKU to Showcase Quantum Physics
- QuanTour: JKU macht bei europäischer Initiative Quantenphysik sichtbar
- Quantenlichtquelle auf Rundreise durch Europa
- Quantenlichtquelle auf Rundreise durch Europa
- Quanten auf Tour(en) bringen
- World Quantum Day 2024 — QuanTour Coverage
- Passing the Torch — QuanTour Marks the International Year of Quantum
- QuanTour Arrives at Heriot-Watt Quantum Photonics Laboratory
- After a Tour of 12 Countries, a Unique Quantum Dot Has Arrived at Wrocław Tech
- Europejska podróż kropki kwantowej z przystankiem na PWr
- Quantum Light Source Makes Historic Stop in Poznań as Part of European QuanTour
- QuanTour — Trade Shows & Events
The route
- Doris Reiter — Coordinator
- Tobias Heindel — Coordinator
- Pranoti Kshirsagar — Coordinator
- Linz, Austria — Armando Rastelli Laboratory
- Rome, Italy — Rinaldo Trotta Laboratory
- Basel, Switzerland — Richard Warburton Laboratory
- Madrid, Spain — Carlos Antón-Solanas Laboratory
- Paris, France — Pascale Senellart's Laboratory
- Cambridge, England — Mete Atatüre Laboratory
- Cork, Ireland — Emanuele Pelucchi Laboratory
- Edinburgh, Scotland — Brian Gerardot Laboratory
- Leiden, Netherlands — Wolfgang Löffler Laboratory
- Copenhagen, Denmark — Nika Akopian Laboratory
- Stockholm, Sweden — Ana Predojević Laboratory
- Wrocław, Poland — Anna Musiał Laboratory
The 14 partners
Two organisers and twelve host laboratories — the “QuanTour Heroes” — each hosting the source for several weeks and appearing on the podcast series.
Organisers
Doris Reiter Germany
TU Dortmund University — Theory of solid-state nanostructures for quantum technologies
Project co-organiser. Theoretical physicist, active in the DPG working group AGyouLeaP; organiser of the Semiconductors for Breakfast lecture series.
Tobias Heindel Germany
TU Berlin — Quantum Communication Systems
Project co-organiser. The quantum light source that travelled Europe was developed in his group.
QuanTour Heroes
Armando Rastelli Austria
Johannes Kepler University Linz — Semiconductor Physics Division
First stop on the tour.
Rinaldo Trotta Italy
Sapienza University of Rome — Nanophotonics Group
Entangled photons, sent across the rooftops of Rome.
Pascale Senellart-Mardon France
Quantum computing with quantum dot sources.
Mete Atatüre England
University of Cambridge — Cavendish Laboratory
Quantum sensing, networks and communication.
Emanuele Pelucchi Ireland
Tyndall National Institute, Cork
Site-controlled quantum dots and epitaxial growth.
Brian Gerardot Scotland
Heriot-Watt University — Quantum Photonics Lab
Quantum science in emerging technologies.
Wolfgang Löffler Netherlands
Leiden University — Quantum Photonics Lab
Quantum light, single photons and human vision experiments.
Anna Musiał Poland
Wrocław University of Science and Technology — Laboratory for Optical Spectroscopy of Nanostructures
Telecom O-band quantum dots for quantum communication. Final QuanTour Hero on the podcast.
Measured impact, report by report
Figures as published in the five QuanTour engagement reports issued across the project.
| Report | Views | Milestone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Issue #1 | 25,000+ | 350+ | 60+ countries listening to the podcast |
| Issue #2 | 50,000+ | 500+ | Carlos Antón Solanas on Under the Microscope |
| Issue #3 | 160,000+ | 700+ | QuanTour Heroes series in full swing |
| Issue #4 | 700,000+ | 4,800+ | Nine months since kick-off |
| Issue #5 | 1,000,000+ | — | 12-month close: 30+ press features in 9 languages |
QuanTour on stage
Coverage and further reading
- QuanTour wins the IOP Lise Meitner MedalThe Science Talk
- QuanTour × The Science Talk — the full Heroes hubThe Science Talk
- QuanTour published in Light: Science & ApplicationsNature portfolio
- One year into QuanTour — reflections on a travelling quantum light sourceIYQ 2025
- QuanTour on the DPG Quantum 2025 siteGerman Physical Society
- Foundations of a successful outreach strategy — the QuanTour method, unpackedUnder the Microscope
Let's talk about your portfolio
QuanTour is the model I bring to research consortia and innovation portfolios: one communication partner embedded across many institutions, delivering continuously, and reporting impact in numbers you can put in front of a funder. If you are shaping a dissemination or public-engagement work package — or want an existing one to produce more than a website and a final-report paragraph — I would welcome a conversation about scope and terms.
Start a conversation → Or see the full engagement history →