Xoel Sixto wins Cátedra R
Award for Best PhD Thesis

Xoel Sixto, postdoctoral researcher at the VQCC, has been awarded the prize for the best doctoral thesis by the “Cátedra R en Ciberseguridade”. Each year, the Cátedra R recognises the best bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral theses in cybersecurity within the Galician University System.

The award recognises his thesis, “Security of Quantum Key Distribution with Realistic Sources”, supervised by Marcos Curty. During his PhD, Xoel developed several security analyses of quantum key distribution (QKD) that account for the imperfections of real devices, bringing QKD closer to practical implementations.

The award ceremony took place on 5 November at Cidade da Cultura in Santiago de Compostela, as part of CIBER.gal 2026, the annual event of the Galician cybersecurity node. In the afternoon, Xoel gave a technical talk on his thesis, explaining to an audience from academia, industry and public administration how quantum cryptography can guarantee secure communications against any adversary, including one equipped with a quantum computer.

Congratulations, Xoel!