Sweke completed his doctoral studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2017, where he focused on developing quantum algorithms for simulating open quantum systems. He subsequently joined Freie Universität Berlin as a Humboldt postdoctoral fellow and later as a senior postdoc, conducting research there until 2022. After a two-year research stay at IBM Quantum in California, Sweke assumed the German Research Chair at the AIMS center in Cape Town in January 2025.

Sweke’s research focuses on quantum computing, quantum information, and quantum machine learning (QML) – including the development of new quantum algorithmic methods, especially for QML and the simulation of quantum systems. This basic research will play an important part in advancing the technology that will shape the digital era. In this context, Sweke is developing and analyzing algorithms for performing machine learning with quantum computers. His work is connected to several strategically significant projects for Freie Universität Berlin and the Berlin University Alliance, including the MATH+ Cluster of Excellence, the BERLIN QUANTUM initiative, the DFG Collaborative Research Center CRC 183, and the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space’s quantum technologies programs.

Return to Berlin Thanks to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the DAAD

Dr. Ryan Sweke, who first joined Freie Universität Berlin as a Humboldt postdoctoral fellow in 2018, will once again be returning to Berlin as part of his prestigious Humboldt Research Chair. Though the position is based in South Africa, it requires Sweke to carry out several extended research stays at Freie Universität’s campus in the Dahlem district of Berlin. The funding provided by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation aims to attract top researchers with global connections to Germany while also promoting long-term research collaborations with AIMS centers in Africa.

As German Research Chair at AIMS, Sweke will lead research projects on quantum algorithms and QML in close collaboration with quantum physicist Professor Jens Eisert at the Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems. Based at Freie Universität Berlin, this research collaboration will receive funding from both the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the DAAD.

A Boon for Quantum Research

In his dual role, Dr. Ryan Sweke will be strengthening the link between European and African research institutions while also enhancing the international profile of the German Research Chairs initiative. “Researchers value Sweke’s interdisciplinary approach, which combines quantum physics, machine learning, and applied mathematics – all core areas of future-oriented technologies. Our close collaboration and the establishment of a German Research Chair in Cape Town strengthen quantum research excellence in Berlin while serving as a model for modern, globally networked science – a benefit to both the German and international quantum community,” says Jens Eisert.