Group Philosophy & Values

“Science is a collaborative effort. The combined results of several people working together is often much more effective than could be that of an individual scientist working alone.” [J. Bardeen]

We aspire to be creative, innovative, and inspirational, aiming to positively impact society by improving existing technologies and conceiving new ones, while fostering the self-realization and growth of all members. Our core values are:

  • Meaning and purpose in the workplace. As mentioned before, our research has the twofold ambition of advancing knowledge in fundamental physics, and then translating these advancements into next-generation quantum technologies. We see this as a mission greater than ourselves, which will potentially have long-lasting impacts on society, and bring meaning and purpose to the lives of each team member. [1]
  • Growth mindset: [2] enjoying the journey to excellence. We tackle scientific and technological challenges, seeing them as opportunities to make tangible and useful contributions, and push each team member towards becoming the best version of themselves. We want to enjoy the journey, celebrating eureka moments and milestones.
  • Scientific integrity and fair crediting of contributions. We conduct research with unwavering scientific integrity, never performing data manipulation or plagiarism. Proper credit is given to all contributors to a scientific work.
  • Open access & data reproducibility. Every publication of the team will be open access, and accompanied by a data release compliant with the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) guiding principles for scientific data management and stewardship. [3]
  • Broad scientific dissemination & real-world impact. We disseminate our findings within the scientific community, to companies, and to the large public; in each case we use proper language and visualization techniques.
  • Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). Research shows that DEIB fosters original solutions leading to radical innovation [4,5]. We embrace these values and contribute to their realisation. We work on removing any barriers or hostility, starting from communicating in a direct and unambiguous way, taming our tempers, remembering to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, and apologizing when necessary.

 

References

  1. These considerations are supported by findings discussed in the book “Man’s Search for Meaning” by V. Frankl.
  2. L. B. Limeri et al., International Journal of STEM Education 7, 35 (2020).
  3. M. D. Wilkinson et al., Scientific Data 3, 160018 (2016).
  4. C. Díaz-García, A. González-Moreno, and F. Jose Sáez-Martínez, Innovation 15, 149 (2013).
  5. O. Dewidar, N. Elmestekawy, and V. Welch, Research Integrity and Peer Review 7, 4 (2022).
Simoncelli group, end-of-the-year dinner, 2025