We abide

Group Philosophy

Be Kind, Fun, Productive!

Personal welcome

Welcome to the TEcoEvo Group! My goal as a Principal Investigator (PI) and mentor is to foster an inclusive environment in the group where everyone can reach their full potential as (independent) scientists. This document describes how our group functions in order to ensure that you have everything that you need to be a happy and productive member of our group. We pride ourselves on being an open and collaborative group and would like you to know that we are happy to answer any questions you may have about life in this/our group. The following material is heavily plagiarised from the Lab of Dan Bolnick

About the group

The mission statement of our lab is on the landing page. You will see that we are interested in very broad questions pertaining to living systems. This means that we are a collection of individuals from different academic backgrounds and thus different concepts of how science is done. What unites us is the quest to find the deeper meaning of processes that drive life and how can we use this knowledge for its betterment.

Getting started:

There are a few things that you will need to acquire to get started in the group

  • email address (for all important communications and logins)
  • calendar setup (thats the way we set up meetings and check availability)
  • Mattermost access (for day-to-day communications)
  • a great vibe! (You already have that!)

Basic safety:

TODO: Need to list contacts of local safety officers in Wü

Group culture

In our group, we value honesty, enthusiasm, and a joyful spirit. You are encouraged to bring your curiosity and contribute proactively, both intellectually and operationally. We believe in making the most of the provided training and opportunities. Our group members come from various backgrounds and everyone’s dignity and respect are paramount. Misconduct, harassment, or disrespectful behavior will not be tolerated. Be mindful of shared spaces and communal resources, and replace any used supplies. Mistakes are part of the learning process, but should be communicated if they impact others. Don’t hesitate to ask for help if you face any issues. Let’s foster a respectful, kind, safe, and proactive environment!

Challenge yourself

  • Be self-motivated. You are here to advance your career, not mine.
  • Be ambitious. Identify your personal definition of success, and aspire to exceed that. Discuss your definition of success with me, your mentors and peers.
  • We are here to challenge ourselves to learn new ideas. Be curious.
  • If you don’t understand, ask questions, don’t just be silent!
  • Practice asking questions. Write down > 1 question per seminar talk you see
  • Take intellectual risks, but have a “plan B” that is safe. A really ground-breaking study might fail, so have another study you could do instead for a reliable publication.

Collegiality

  • We value a supportive work environment where everyone is treated with respect and dignity and is able to work towards their aspirations.
  • We value and support diversity in the workplace.
  • We do not tolerate bigotry, abuse, or harassment.
  • Seek out frank but constructive and kind criticism. Return the favor.
  • Communicate openly with your colleagues.
  • Leave the food area, office, cleaner than you found it.
  • You are a member of a community; contribute to it, and draw upon it when needed.
  • Meet visitors. At conferences make a point of introducing yourself to strangers.

Ethics

  • Honesty is essential for correct science
  • We prefer to avoid mistakes, but mistakes do happen. Take a deep breath, acknowledge them and fix it.
  • Conserve, reduce, reuse, recycle.

Productivity

  • Be productive: set clear goals and meet them.
  • A core part of this job is to publish good science in a timely manner. If it’s not published, nobody will know it ever happened except us.

Outreach

  • Outreach is a key part of our job. Find “your” outreach style and pursue it. Education, science communication, art… there are many strategies. Pick one and do it well.
  • Mentoring undergraduates or other kinds of trainees helps you, and helps them.

Health

  • Health and personal challenges, including mental illness, are common hurdles people in academia face, as in any other walk of life. Engaging with the problem by discussing it with your peers and supervisors can go a long way towards getting help and accommodations. We can’t help if we don’t know.
  • Find a work-life balance that works for you, helps fulfil obligations to your work and to you. Find out what level makes you happy. It is different for everyone.
  • Be safe, in the office and in the Institute
  • Seek the training you need to avoid, and respond to, emergencies, including First Aid.
  • Plan carefully to avoid emergencies.
  • Find a work schedule that works for you. I work long & late; that does not mean you are required to do so. Whatever your choices about work schedules, be aware of its costs and benefits. Whatever our schedules, we try to organise our group meetings and core work hours so that we can meet and find each other reliably at certain hours of the day.

Obligations

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The PI’s obligations to everyone in the group

  • My job is to help you achieve your career and life goals, to the best of my ability.
  • Rapid feedback on ideas, manuscripts, etc.
  • Financial support for salary and research and travel to the extent I am able
  • Regular meeting to discuss science, and careers.
  • I write your recommendation letters. You can take this for granted, but please give me enough advanced warning.
  • I help you network with other scientists
  • We should discuss your aspirations, and realistic ways of realizing your goals.
  • Frank and constructive feedback on your science and career advancement.
  • Conflict resolution is my job. If people aren’t getting along, or something is wrong, talk to me. Should you have concerns about my own conduct, I encourage you to consult another Principal Investigator in the Institute or University or bring the matter up with Human Resources.
  • I never ask about personal problems, because I don’t want to intrude. But, if there are issues at home, or especially with health (mental or otherwise) that are affecting your work, you are always free to talk to me.

Your obligations to the PI

Tell me when there is a problem, in the group, with your data, or with other people.

  • Be independent to the extent you can, teaching yourself skills, solving problems. But, don’t get stuck doing this: talk to me before you are in a rut.
  • Find a happy balance between independence and the preceding point.
  • Be creative and productive. That involves working efficiently, rather than super-long hours.

Obligations to yourself

Mental and Physical Health Concerns

We are all here to grow as scientists. However, that should never come at the cost of your well-being. Your mental and physical health are an important consideration in all that you do while in the group. Moreover, success should not come at the cost of maintaining your health. You are more likely to be successful if you take care of yourself and balance time with the things outside of work that matter to you. Below are some general guidelines on well-being, but every situation is unique, and I am always open to discussion on this topic, so do not hesitate to ask. If you are not feeling well, either physically or mentally, take the time that you need to seek help and take care of yourself. Specifically,

  • if you are contagious, please do not come in, but stay at home to rest and take care of yourself until you are better.
  • if you are struggling with depression or anxiety and wondering what to prioritize – your health is most important.
  • if you have an acute situation that requires help, take the day off with no questions asked.
  • if you are going to be out for an extended time or miss a group meeting/event, just give me and your collaborators a notice so that they know you are okay – no need to give details if you don’t want to, it is sufficient to email.
  • if you need to take more substantial time off, you can discuss with me to facilitate this.

Being an undergraduate, technician, graduate student, or postdoc is stressful. We all care about you and are here to support you – just let us know how we can help. If any situation requires you to take time off but there is are small essential chores/resposibilities in the group then ask if others can take over for a while.

self-education

  • Attend seminars to learn what others are doing
  • Read science papers or books (almost) every day. If you don’t want to read extensively and intensively, then examine whether you are doing the kind of science that really engages you.
  • Keep a notebook with ideas, observations, and data.
  • Go to a conference & practice public speaking
  • Read about scientific ethics, philosophy of science, and history of science.
  • Learn to keep a budget of research expenses
  • Take time to read about personnel management
  • Set up literature auto-alerts

Data

  • Back up your data!!!!!!!
  • Everyone generating/analyzing data and papers should have a GitHub account or equivalent to share data, code, and text.
  • Write up Standard Operating Protocols (SOPs) for any commonly-used method so people who follow after you can replicate your methods exactly.

Expectations

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Expectations of Postdocs

  • Typically you are in the final stages of training to be a professor. What do you need to do/learn to succeed?
  • Have a website
  • Write a mock job application, and go over it with other people to both improve the text and identify weaknesses you need to fill before you go on the market.
  • Teach something
  • Get a grant
  • Learn about personnel management and budgeting.
  • I’m not so concerned about WHEN you work, as I am with output.
  • Go to conferences & network more than you feel comfortable doing.
  • I encourage external collaboration. Talk to me about it first, though.
  • Papers!!!!

Expectations of Graduate students

  • Your PhD and career goals are yours, not mine. That means you should be self-motivated, and are responsible for your own research ideas.
  • Always ask yourself, “why is this interesting and important?” Be prepared to answer that.
  • Read more than you think you can. Your success is proportional to your mastery of the literature. You are a scholar training to be a world expert on a specific topic. I used to remember papers off the top of my head and this proved extremely useful in my PhD and postdoc.. alas now I am too old!
  • Know the history of the ideas you are studying. This includes reading the old classic papers, and reading philosophy. Become comfortable with the biology in theory papers.
  • Study the natural history of some habitat or group of organisms.
  • Read some history & philosophy of science
  • Develop a thick skin. Your papers and grants will be rejected, and it will not always be kindly phrased. It happens to everyone, its not personal. The sooner you learn coping strategies, the happier you will be. Do not pay the harshness forward when you review.
  • Just because someone says it won’t work doesn’t make them right. Undersand the full context
  • Write regularly
  • Learn to code, and learn principles of reproducible code, data management and scientific computing.
  • Make a website
  • Meet with visiting speakers. It does not matter if they are not working on exactly what you do. Hopefully they are actually not! Learn about their work, their journey, explain yours!
  • Publish early and often, don’t wait till the end of your PhD Master statistics
  • Start writing your PhD thesis from the early days. Make a folder, open a tex file and start putting ideas together. There is no point waiting till the end for this. Will remove any build-up of stress in the end.
  • I encourage external collaboration. Talk to me about it first, though.

Expectations of rotation students / undergraduates

  • We will start you with a basic task to evaluate your reliability and dedication, then as we get a feel for your skills and interests we will start to talk with you about independent project ideas.
  • You should aspire to get co-authorship or even first authorship from your time in the group.
  • Be punctual and reliable
  • Attend group meetings to learn the gory details
  • Do some independent reading on the topic you are studying
  • Ask questions
  • Ask more questions
  • Keep copious notes in meetings.
  • Start to learn statistics, computation, and to embrace applied math and basic biology

General guidelines

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Work-life Integration

Being ambitious and hard-working are part of our group culture, and science in general. But it should come from a perspective of driving yourself for the fun of pushing your limits and exploring what you are capable of, while answering the scientific questions. The key is to know your limitations. Managing your motivation and work habits while integrating your interests and commitments outside of work is critical to success.

Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome, the persistent self-doubt and fear of being seen as inadequate, can hinder us from valuing our own abilities and achievements. It’s essential to remember that everyone’s journey is unique and not to compare ourselves with others’ cumulative successes. Channel any lingering self-doubt into productivity by viewing it as a motivator to excel beyond mediocrity, to gain fresh perspectives, and to constantly seek improvements. Maintain a record of your victories, however minor, for reinforcement during tough times. Although we’ll face rejections, our group is committed to offering challenging opportunities and support that foster constructive growth.

Intragroup/Institute Events

In our group, fostering a sense of camaraderie and cohesion is important to us. To this end, we organize various social events on a periodic basis. These events offer a relaxed and informal environment that allows members to interact beyond the professional sphere. The aim is to cultivate a stronger bond among group members, encourage open communication, and build a more supportive and collaborative environment. While participation in these events is not obligatory, we strongly endorse everyone to be part of these activities whenever possible. These occasions are a great way to get to know each other better and they can significantly contribute to the overall group morale and productivity. When appropriate, we also welcome the participation of group members’ significant others or families, further deepening our sense of community. We also highly encourage all group members to take an active role in organizing these events, as this can enhance leadership skills, promote a sense of ownership, and contribute to the overall diversity and richness of our group’s social experiences.