QiskitFall Fest2026
10 – 13 October 2026 MN Saha & G06, IISER Kolkata
- LecturesThe physics, then the point of it
- Hands-on labsQiskit on your own laptop
- ChallengeWith swag for the winners
- PanelAn IBM Quantum industry insider
01 About the fest IISER Kolkata
A quantum computing crash course, run by students who remember being beginners.
The Qiskit Fall Fest is a global, student-run celebration of quantum computing. The IISER Kolkata edition is organised by SlashDot, the campus coding and design club, and it is built for two audiences at once: people who have never seen a state vector, and people who already write circuits and want to push further.
02 Schedule All times IST
Four days, start to finish.
Days 0–2 meet at MN Saha: kick-off and installation, the primer and Labs 1–2, then advanced topics. Day 3 closes with the expert talk and panel in G06. The invited speaker and panellists will be announced closer to the date.
The schedule on this page is generated from a single data file in the repository, so it is always the current version.
03 The challenge To be announced
Announced closer to the date
There is a challenge.
There is swag.
A problem set to take away and actually solve, run across the fest. The brief is still being written — but the prizes are not hypothetical: winners take home Qiskit Fall Fest swag, and the leaderboard goes up on this page.
- Open to everyone who registers, whatever your level
- Worked on across the hands-on days, submitted as a notebook
- Swag for the winners, and a mention on the certificate
Day 3 · Invited talk
The IBM Industry Insider is still in superposition.
We close the fest on 13 October, 6–8 PM in G06 with an invited expert from the IBM Quantum ecosystem — someone who builds and ships this technology for a living — followed by a panel with the IBM guest and faculty. The names are sealed until the announcement. Register now and you are measured into it first, by email.
04 Certification Three tiers
Nobody walks away empty-handed.
Certificates are issued on attendance and submitted lab work, and they stack — each tier includes everything below it. If the advanced day turns out to be beyond you this year, the Intermediate certificate is still fully within reach.
Certificates are emailed after the fest to the address you register with — which is why that field matters more than any other on the form.
05 Before you arrive All public
Documentation, notebooks and prep
As in 2025, everything is published in advance and stays public afterwards. Come with the environment already working and you will spend Day 1 learning instead of debugging pip.
Installation guide
Python, virtual environments and Qiskit, on Linux, macOS and Windows — including the failures we saw most often last year.
02Lab notebooks
Day 1 Labs 1–2 and the Day 2 advanced challenge notebook, published before each session and kept in the repository afterwards.
03Pre-reading
A short, honest reading list. None of it is compulsory; all of it makes Day 1 easier.
04The 2025 archive
Last year's site, sessions and material, preserved exactly as it was. The best preview of what to expect.
06 Getting there Mohanpur campus
MN Saha & G06, IISER Kolkata
Sessions run in the MN Saha lecture hall on the Mohanpur campus, and the closing day's talk and panel are in G06. Bring a laptop and a charger; power and Wi-Fi are available in the hall.
- AddressMohanpur Campus, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal 741246
- TimingKick-off on Day 0 evening; Day 1 runs 10 AM – 5 PM; Day 2 sessions are late evening; the finale is 6 – 8 PM on Day 3
- FeeFree for IISER Kolkata students. External participants pay a ₹200 registration fee; optional hostel accommodation is ₹200 per day, requested on the form.
- Travelling in?Non-IISER-K participants can request campus accommodation on the registration form
07 Who is running it SlashDot
The people behind it.
Students of IISER Kolkata, organising this alongside their own coursework. Most of them were sitting in the audience at a fest like this one not long ago — which is exactly why the first two days assume you have never seen a state vector.
Several of them are also teaching — who takes which session is just below, and the invited closing speaker will be announced closer to the date.
08 Who is teaching Talks and labs
And who is teaching it.
Every session is taught by someone who will still be in the room afterwards. The Day 1 morning primer is run with Gluon, the physics society; the rest is SlashDot. The closing expert talk is followed by a panel with the IBM guest and faculty; their names are still to be announced.
Sessions and times are on the schedule. The Day 3 invited speaker and panellists are still being finalised.
Presented with
Registration is open
Bring a laptop.
We will handle the rest.
Registering takes about ninety seconds. Participation is free for IISER Kolkata students; external participants pay a ₹200 registration fee, with optional hostel accommodation at ₹200 per day. Registering is how you get the notebooks, the announcements and — eventually — your certificate.
Register for Fall Fest 2026