Jane Goodall Institute USA and FormationQ Launch First-of-its-kind Quantum Computing Research Programme to Explore the Ecological Roots of War and Peace

Jane Goodall Institute USA and FormationQ Launch First-of-its-kind Quantum Computing Research Programme to Explore the Ecological Roots of War and Peace

The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) USA and FormationQ today announced a landmark research partnership that will apply trapped-ions quantum computing by IonQ to one of the most enduring questions in behavioral ecology: why do some species engage in lethal intergroup violence while others live peacefully alongside their neighbours?

Launching on World Chimpanzee Day, which marks the 66 th anniversary of Dr. Jane Goodall's arrival at Gombe, Tanzania to begin her wild chimpanzee study, the two-year programme builds on more than six decades of pioneering field research, bringing together advanced computational modelling, hybrid quantum-classical computing and behavioural ecology into a new state-of-the-art collaborative research framework.

The programme, Ecology of War and Peace: Using Quantum-Enhanced Agent-Based Modelling to Explain Contrasting Intergroup Behaviour in Chimpanzees and Bonobos, will mark a first-of-its-kind application of quantum-enhanced computation to the study of ecology, evolution and behaviour, representing a bold new chapter in the Jane Goodall Institute USA's decades-long legacy of using innovative technologies to support long-term research, conservation and education.

The programme will bring together JGI's unparalleled scientific legacy, behavioural modelling developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota, FormationQ's expertise in designing and operating applied programmes and IonQ's quantum computing platform.

At the centre of the programme is B3GET (Behaviour, Ecology, Genetics, Evolution and Tradeoffs), a sophisticated agent-based model in which virtual primates live, move, forage, reproduce and interact across artificial landscapes.

Researchers can systematically vary ecological conditions including food distribution, home range size and group cohesion rules, to investigate how environmental factors influence patterns of cooperation and conflict over time.