Exciting quantum industry appointments for Walton Institute interns.
At Walton Institute at South East Technological University, we offer exciting research positions as well as varied postgraduate opportunities, with hands-on experience across cutting-edge, international projects and access to learn from world-class leaders across various STEM fields.
Jimí Ó Baoille De Faoite and Dillon Broaders recently spent time as interns, working as part of the quantum communication technologies team within the Emerging Networks Lab (ENL) at Walton Institute, SETU. Both had completed their Masters in Physics at Trinity College Dublin, and being from local towns in the south east of Ireland, applied to Walton with interest in being part of an innovative and pioneering Research Institute located in their region.
Jimí and Dillon joined Walton Institute as early career researchers supporting Dr Deirdre Kilbane, Director of Research at Walton, and the team working on the IrelandQCI project – the €10 M project that focuses on building a national ground-based quantum communication network for Ireland, co-funded by the European Commission and the Irish government’s Department of Culture, Communication and Sport.
During their time at Walton, they gained hands-on research experience within the Quantum Facility, procuring cutting edge quantum technology, understanding processes for high-end equipment functionality, liaising with suppliers, learning about laboratory protocol, set up and management. They contributed to the establishment of the Walton Quantum Facility including working on many of the ongoing experiments and deployments such as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and quantum entanglement networks.
As part of their remit, Jimí and Dillon took part in public-facing engagements on-board the IrelandQCI Quantum & Answers Trailer, an innovative mobile engagement unit designed to bring quantum technologies to life for the Irish public. They traveled to exhibitions and events across the country, taking part in demonstrating quantum communication experiments and promoting the benefits that quantum communication technology will bring to Irish society, engaging stakeholders spanning academia and government, to general public and vitally, industry end-users.
Pictured with the IrelandQCI Quantum & Answers Trailer during The Valencia Lecture in July 2025. From l-r: Pat Kelly, Executive Director CONNECT Centre, Michael Healy-Rae, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Dillon Broaders and Jimí O’Baoill de Faoite.
Benefiting from all they experienced at Walton Institute, with exposure to working within research and with industry, Jimí and Dillon have both recently obtained excellent corporate positions within the field of quantum communication.
Jimí moved on from Walton to take up a fantastic international opportunity as Technical Service Engineer at Single Quantum based in Delft, The Netherlands. As part of his new role, Jimí recently traveled back to Dublin to provide installation support for a Single Quantum single-photon detection system at Trinity College Dublin Quantum Facililty as part of the IrelandQCI project, a full circle moment for Jimí having both studied at TCD and worked as part of the IrelandQCI team.
Pictured: Jimí recently travelled back to Dublin to provide installation support for a Single Quantum single-photon detection system at Trinity College Dublin Quantum Facililty as part of the IrelandQCI project.
Dillon recently departed Walton Institute to join Mastercard Ireland, as a Quantum Scientist. As part of his new role Dillon recently hopped back on-board the IrelandQCI Quantum & Answers Trailer held at the Mastercard head office in Dublin, where IrelandQCI were invited to collaborate during a ‘Discovering Quantum’ event – another full circle moment, this time for Dillon!
Of his early career experience at Walton Institute, Jimí said: ‘’During my time at Walton, I was able to learn many valuable skills and develop a thorough understanding of quantum communications networks that has enabled me to advance my career. Working on the IrelandQCI project allowed me to gain a great insight into the work being done not only in Ireland, but across Europe, in the area of quantum communication as well as the enthusiasm behind this emerging industry. Walton allowed me to develop into a better scientist and opened many new opportunities to me.’’
Reflecting on his time as an intern at Walton Institute, Dillon said: ‘’I thoroughly enjoyed my time working on the IrelandQCI project at the Walton Institute in Waterford. Over the course of my time there, I gained a deep understanding of quantum communication, not only from a theoretical perspective but also through hands-on experience with quantum technologies in the lab, which helped shape me into a more well-rounded scientist. Walton was a warm and supportive environment, home to many exciting projects and consistently at the cutting edge of quantum research.’’
Dr. Deirdre Kilbane, Director of Research at Walton Institute, and Project Lead for IrelandQCI, commented ‘’We are extremely proud of both Jimí and Dillon for progressing to excellent appointments in industry after their time spent with us at Walton. Both brought a strong foundation of knowledge in physics following their studies, however they displayed a good work-ethic, were keen to learn and willing to be team-players, which are attributes we welcome at Walton Institute. We look forward to continuing to cross paths with both Jimí at Single Quantum and Dillon at Mastercard in the future, and to seeing where their careers take them. We are delighted that Walton Institute played a part in developing their skillsets at this fundamental stage at the outset of their careers.’’
Walton Institute at SETU is excited to welcome talented individuals from diverse backgrounds to work within the challenging world of ICT research and innovation.
We are currently recruiting for several postdoctoral positions in Quantum:
This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode
Improves website's visuals
This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode
Helps to focus on specific content
This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode
Reduces distractions and improve focus
This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode
Allows using the site with your screen-reader
This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
Online Dictionary
Readable Experience
Content Scaling
Default
Text Magnifier
Readable Font
Dyslexia Friendly
Highlight Titles
Highlight Links
Font Sizing
Default
Line Height
Default
Letter Spacing
Default
Left Aligned
Center Aligned
Right Aligned
Visually Pleasing Experience
Dark Contrast
Light Contrast
Monochrome
High Contrast
High Saturation
Low Saturation
Adjust Text Colors
Adjust Title Colors
Adjust Background Colors
Easy Orientation
Mute Sounds
Hide Images
Hide Emoji
Reading Guide
Stop Animations
Reading Mask
Highlight Hover
Highlight Focus
Big Dark Cursor
Big Light Cursor
Cognitive Reading
Virtual Keyboard
Navigation Keys
Voice Navigation
Accessibility Statement
irelandqci.ie
October 23, 2026
Compliance status
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience,
regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level.
These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible
to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific
disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML,
adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Screen-reader and keyboard navigation
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with
screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive
a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements,
alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website.
In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels;
descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups),
and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag
for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology.
To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on
as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Disability profiles supported in our website
Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments
Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over seven different coloring options.
Animations – person with epilepsy can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.
Browser and assistive technology compatibility
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers).
Notes, comments, and feedback
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to
