Dr. Pawel Hawrylak is a Professor of Physics and University Research Chair in Quantum Theory of Materials, Nanostructures and Devices at the University of Ottawa. His interests focus on the roles of interacting electrons, the topology of nanostructures — made from 2D materials — with applications in synthetic quantum matter, quantum information, quantum sensing, and energy transfer.

When working at the Institute for Microstructural Sciences (IMS) at the National Research Council Canada (NRC), he led the Quantum Information program. His work has been recognized with several awards, for instance, Dr. Hawrylak is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2006), the American Physical Society (1996), and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (2006-2013). He is the recipient of the Humboldt Research Award (1999, 2023), the Canadian Association of Physicists Brockhouse Medal (2002) and is a Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Crete (2014).