Expectations

We intend to foster a healthy and collegial lab atmosphere, with opportunities for spontaneous discussions, creativity, close collaboration, and career progression.

Expectations of lab members

A large part of fostering a healthy work environment is taking care of our mental well-being:

Lab members are not expected to sacrifice personal or leisure time in service of projects.
Working long hours without interruption can lead to burnout, exhaustion, and overall impedes the type of atmosphere we are trying to develop.
Lab members are encouraged to take anual breaks and vacation time. This is particularly important after periods of high stress (exams, thesis defense, qualifying exams, workshops, etc). Please let Leo know when you will be away.

Time as a graduate students and as a postdoc is known to cause undue stress, resulting in consequences ranging from mild to extremely severe. Please reach out and use the resources in Health and well-being if you ever need help.

We strive to be a part of the intellectual community at our host universities. As such, lab members should endeavor to be good university “citizens”, including:

Participating in department seminars, meetings, and other academic activities.
Collaborating with individuals from other groups/departments around campus.
Fostering new collaborations, both internally and externally.

As lab members, Leo expects you to:

Be proactive in communicating your needs and desires (guidance, equipment, personal time, career plans, chance of project/mentorship, etc).
Be present and working regularly during term time. Please let Leo know if you are busy with other commitments (personal or academic) and won’t be working on your project for a time.
Follow the lab Code of conduct and general Open science guidelines.
Keep on top of your own deadlines (assignments, reports, conferences, etc). Remember to give Leo at least 1 week (but preferably more) to give feedback on any piece of work.
Care for the physical environment of the lab, including lab computers.

What you can expect from Leo

Lead and set directions for the group’s research efforts.
Prioritize and support your career progression and well-being, providing the required training and resources for your praticular needs.
Be willing to listen to critism and suggestions for improvement.
Adjust the style of mentorship to what works best for you (please let me know if something isn’t working well).
Respond to your messages and requests within a reasonable time, which is around 1 day to 1 week depending on urgency and Leo’s schedule.
Respect your personal time and not ask for things to be done during evenings, weekends, holidays, and vacation time. You may get a message at these times due to Leo’s own working hours but you have no obligation to respond.
Seek funding to support lab activities, purchase equipment, scholarships, and conference attendance.

Credit and terms of reuse: This manual is based on the excellent Lab Carpentry blueprints, with material adapted from the Data Intensive Biology Lab and the Data Exploration Lab. The manual contents are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

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