QuantumNLP 20262nd Workshop · co-located with ICON 2026
Workshop · 2nd edition

Second Workshop on QuantumNLP: Integrating Quantum Computing with Natural Language Processing

Co-located with the 22nd International Conference on Natural Language Processing (ICON 2026).

A single-track, in-person gathering for researchers exploring where quantum computing and computational linguistics meet — from quantum-native language models to hybrid quantum–classical NLP pipelines.

Dates20–23 December 2026
VenueDept. of Information Technology, Gauhati University, Assam
FormatIn-person, physical sessions
Submission deadline30 August 2026
Read the Call for Papers Important Dates
|ψ⟩ token ⊗ qubit
About the workshop

Where language meets the quantum

Quantum computing offers new mathematical machinery — superposition, entanglement, tensor networks — that maps surprisingly well onto the compositional, distributional, and structural questions at the heart of NLP. Following a well-received first edition, QuantumNLP returns as a full-day workshop bringing together linguists, quantum information scientists, and NLP practitioners to share methods, open problems, and early results.

Theory

Compositional & categorical models

DisCoCat-style pipelines, tensor-network grammars, and quantum-native representations of syntax and meaning.

Systems

Hybrid quantum–classical NLP

Variational quantum circuits for embeddings, classification, and attention, benchmarked against classical baselines.

Applications

Language technology at scale

Quantum-inspired retrieval, low-resource language modelling, and near-term hardware feasibility studies.

Call for papers

Topics of interest

We invite original, unpublished papers reporting theoretical, empirical, or applied work at the intersection of quantum computing and NLP — both full research papers and short/position papers are welcome.

Submission

Paper types & format

Long paper

Full research paper

Substantial original research with clear methodology, experiments or formal analysis, and discussion of results. Submitted anonymously for double-blind review.

Short paper

Position / work-in-progress paper

Early-stage work, position statements, or system/tool demonstrations relevant to quantum NLP. Reviewed for relevance and clarity rather than completeness.

FormatACL-style template (to be confirmed on final call), PDF only
Review processDouble-blind peer review by the program committee
Submission systemManaged by the organizing committee — link to be circulated closer to the deadline
LanguageEnglish
PresentationAccepted papers are presented in person during the workshop

Ready to submit?

Submission portal details will be published on this page ahead of the 30 August 2026 deadline. Contact the organizing committee for early questions.

Contact the organizers
Important dates

A short path from submission to the podium

Each stage below runs like a gate on a single circuit — submissions flow through review, notification, and finally into the in-person workshop. All times are Anywhere on Earth (AoE) unless stated otherwise.

30 Aug 2026 Paper submission deadline
30 Oct 2026 Acceptance notification
TBA Camera-ready deadline
20–23 Dec 2026 Workshop & ICON 2026
MilestoneDate
Paper submission deadline30 August 2026
Notification of acceptance30 October 2026
Camera-ready submissionTo be announced
ICON 2026 & QuantumNLP workshop20–23 December 2026
Organizing team

Led by researchers across NLP and quantum information

QuantumNLP 2026 is organized by a team spanning academic NLP research, industry AI labs, and national computing institutes across India.

PP

Dr. Partha Pakray

National Institute of Technology Silchar, India

Organizing co-chair, coordinating programme design and academic outreach.

SP

Dr. Santanu Pal

Technische Universität München, Germany

Organizing co-chair, bringing an industry-research perspective on applied language technology.

SB

Prof. Sivaji Bandyopadhyay

Jadavpur University, India

Organizing co-chair and senior advisor on the workshop's technical direction.

PJ

Priyanka Jain

Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) Delhi, India

Organizing committee member, coordinating with national computing initiatives.

RM

Dr. Riyanka Manna

ICFAI University Tripura, India

Organizing committee member, coordinating with national computing initiatives.

DD

Dr. Dipankar Das

Jadavpur University, India

Organizing committee member, coordinating with national computing initiatives.

AE

Prof. Asif Ekbal

Indian Institute of Technology Patna, India

Organizing co-chair, overseeing review coordination and academic quality.

Keynote

Keynote speaker

We are delighted to welcome the following keynote speaker to QuantumNLP 2026.

Professor Bob Coecke

Professor Bob Coecke

Associate Member & Emeritus Fellow, Wolfson College
Talk title

From Quantum Picturalism to Quantum Music

Over some 20 years we have developed a diagrammatic quantum formalism, referred to as quantum picturalism [1, 2]. We showed that this formalism enabled secondary school students to perform exceptionally well on an Oxford University post-grad quantum exam [3]. This quest started when in 1935 John von Neumann denounced 'his own' Hilbert space based quantum formalism. Quantum picturalism on the other hand, is now widespread in quantum technology research.

A remarkable fact is that in its pictorial form, composition of quantum systems shares the same structure as natural language. This resulted in the birth of Quantum NLP [4]. In more recent work, we demonstrated exponential advantage, interpretability, and scalability of Quantum NLP [5]. In fact, interpretability and scalability can also be achieved when adopting a quantum-inspired approach on classical hardware.

The same formalism has also been used to generate the 1st piece of music with a quantum computer [6].

References

  1. Bob Coecke and Aleks Kissinger (2017) Picturing Quantum Processes. Cambridge University Press.
  2. Bob Coecke and Stefano Gogioso (2022) Quantum in Pictures. Quantinuum.
  3. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/dec/16/physicist-bob-coecke-its-easier-to-convince-kids-than-adults-about-quantum-mechanics
  4. https://www.forbes.com/sites/moorinsights/2021/10/13/cambridge-quantum-makes-quantum-natural-language-processing-a-reality/
  5. https://thequantuminsider.com/2024/09/18/quantinuum-unveils-first-contribution-toward-responsible-ai-uniting-power-of-its-quantum-processors-with-experimental-work-on-integrating-classical-quantum-computing/
  6. https://qspace.fqxi.org/articles/264/quanthovens-fifth
Venue & format

Held in person in Guwahati, Assam

QuantumNLP 2026 runs as a physical, in-person workshop, held alongside ICON 2026 at Gauhati University.

Location

Department of Information Technology

Gauhati University
Post Office: Gauhati University
Guwahati, Kamrup (M)
Assam, India — PIN 781014

Format

In-person sessions only

All workshop sessions — paper presentations, discussion, and the keynote — take place physically on campus. There is no remote/virtual track for this edition.

Map

Getting to the venue

The Department of Information Technology is located on the Gauhati University campus in Guwahati, Assam. Detailed travel and accommodation guidance will be shared alongside the main ICON 2026 conference information.

Contact

Get in touch

For questions about submissions, the programme, or logistics, reach out to the organizing committee below.

PP

Dr. Partha Pakray

NIT Silchar
Email: partha@cse.nits.ac.in
SB

Prof. Sivaji Bandyopadhyay

Jadavpur University
Email: sivaji.cse.ju@gmail.com
AE

Prof. Asif Ekbal

IIT Patna
Email: asif@iitp.ac.in

See the full organizing committee above for the complete list of organizers, including Dr. Santanu Pal (Wipro AI Lab) and Priyanka Jain (CDAC Delhi).