Our values that we seek to promote in and by means of our research work are best described by the famous phrase of Malcolm Forbes, an American entrepreneur and publisher, that “diversity is the art of thinking independently together”. At the SEARCH group, we are inspired by this art of individualism, intellectual meritocracy, social cohesion and team work to advance energy sciences.

Update from Sep. 2026: I first put the statement above on my web page in early 2016. For over a decade, there has been an occasional temptation to change this statement to fit the short-term goals. Values evolve slowly and tend to endure. Coerced values disappear as quickly as the door closes behind their advocates - just look how quickly Marxism vanished in Eastern Europe as soon as the Berlin Wall or the Iron Curtain collapsed. The value statement above appeared unchanged on this web page during the years of Obama-2, Trump-1, Biden, and Trump-2 and I intend to keep it up in this form because it is apolitical, grounded in science and my beliefs. I’m happy to discuss it - but not to fake it.

P.S. I also suggest to review the Power Up values which were co-developed by fellow Power Up organizers and me. They are also perfect examples of what I expect in and from my research group.