We are excited to have you on board.
The following document has been adapted from the Freeman Lab Manifesto, the Klassen Lab Mentoring Expectations for Graduate Students, and the Kirstie Withaker Lab Code of Conduct.
We value the participation of every member of our community and want to ensure that every member has enjoyable and fulfilling learning and working experience. Accordingly, everyone who participates in any Bioinformatics Group project is expected to show respect and courtesy to other members at all time.
To make clear what is expected, all members of the Bioinformatics Unit(including myself) must conform to the following Code of Conduct: The MBBU leadership and all Bioinformatics group members are dedicated to a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, race, national origin, age or religion. We do not tolerate harassment by and/or of members of our community in any form.
In summary:
- All communication – online and in-person – should be appropriate for a professional audience, including people of many different backgrounds.
- Sexual language and imagery are not necessary at any time.
- Be kind and respectful to others and their opinions.
- Do not insult or put down other lab members. Your ideas are not more valuable than others'.
- Behave professionally.
- Remember that harassment and sexist, racist, or exclusionary jokes will not be tolerated in this space.
Participants asked to stop any harassing, or disrespectful behaviour is expected to comply immediately. Members of the Bioinformatics Group who violate these rules – no matter how much they have contributed to the group, or how specialized their skill set – will be approached by Caleb Kibet. If inappropriate behaviour persists after a discussion with Caleb Kibet, the perpetrator will be asked to discontinue their participation in Bioinformatics unit projects.
To report a violation, you can do any of the following:
- Please feel free to talk to me if the abuse is perpetrated by any other laboratory member that is not myself
- XX Office at XX institution for anonymous reporting
- XX Office at XX Institution for ...
- XX person (this person could be the program director, another advisor, or HR appointed person) appointed specifically for any violation of this policy perpetuated by myself or another individual of the laboratory whose misconduct you are not comfortable discussing directly with me.
- |add more here|
- Complete your studentship. This includes classroom and laboratory work, which have to be conducted with professionalism, self-motivation, engagement, scientific curiosity, and high ethical standards.
- Be knowledgeable of the policies, deadlines, and requirements of the graduate program, the graduate school, and the University and discuss them with your supervisor
- Comply with all institutional policies, including academic program milestones, laboratory practices, and rules related to chemical safety, biosafety, and fieldwork.
- Work with your supervisors to develop a thesis project for your degree. Your degree requires that you produce a coherent body of research representing a contribution to your scientific field. Ensure that your study is ultimately proceeding towards this goal.
- Be responsive to advise and constructive criticism. The feedback you get from your supervisors, your colleagues, and your course instructors are intended to improve you. Respect the wisdom of those who have gone before you. Provide feedback on our mentoring to you. Not everyone has the same mentoring needs and personalities, so there will inevitably be places where our efforts do not line up with your preferences. We are not infallible, but can only make adjustments when we know that they are needed.
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Provide everyone under our supervision an environment that is safe and free of harassment, intellectually stimulating, and emotionally supportive. We will enforce a culture governed by collegiality that values differences in personalities and opinions.
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Be committed to your research project. We will help you design an independent project within the scope of the lab's research for your internship thesis or post-doctoral work. We will be intellectually committed to your research. This includes helping you to generate experimental and theoretical ideas, interpreting and constructively criticizing your data and contextualizing it within a broader context, and supporting you in presenting your ideas and results to the scientific community.
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Ensure that you receive appropriate training. We will provide resources and mentorship from both your supervisors and senior lab members so that you have the technical skills that you need to accomplish your research. If the training you need does not fall within the lab's expertise, we shall discuss opportunities for you to receive that training elsewhere, either through collaborations with other laboratories or by attending workshops and classes outside of this Institution.
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Lead by example and facilitate your training in complementary skills needed to be a successful scientist, such as oral and written communication, applying for grants, lab management, mentoring, and scientific ethics and professionalism. We will encourage you to seek teaching opportunities, even if not required for your degree, include you where appropriate in grant writing and manuscript reviews, and provide opportunities for you to mentor junior researchers. We will enforce high standards of scientific ethics and professionalism.
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Provide financial resources to you as appropriate and according to this Institution's guidelines. To the best of our ability, we will provide the resources that you need to conduct your research.
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Help you navigate your graduate program of study. You are responsible for keeping up with deadlines and being knowledgeable about the requirements for your specific program.
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Help you build your professional social networks, including presenting at scientific meetings. We will attempt, as funding allows, to send you to a major conference every year when you have material to present. we will also help you to identify and apply for travel fellowships to help pay for attending these conferences
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Provide career advice and assist you in finding a position following your graduation. We will give advice and feedback on your career goals, and encourage you to explore opportunities both outside and within academia as suits your interests and progress. We will promptly provide honest letters of recommendation whenever they are requested of us.
Lab meetings will occur every two weeks unless interrupted by a research meting or a holiday. Attendance is required, and you must come prepared when it is your turn to share. We will notify you of changes to the schedule at least a day in advance. Also, your supervisors will meet individually with graduate students weekly or as agreed to discuss progress and help when needed. The timing of these meetings may change depending on projects, pending publications, and your graduate defence. We will address this as needed.
It is your responsibility to maintain a detailed, organized, and accurate record of your research. You will maintain a GitHub repo to keep meeting notes, set meeting agenda, and document your progress. Research notebooks, virtual or physical, must be kept to a standard where others can interpret them. Any computer code that you generate must be adequately documented to ensure its reproducibility not only by others but also by yourself when time passes.
All of your code will be published alongside manuscripts. All raw data, metadata, analyzed data, manuscripts, figures, and coding developed in the group are required to be available on a shared drive and/or cloud.
Under our guidance, you are expected to be able to present your work in department seminars and external meetings as soon as you begin generating data. You will engage fully in the scientific program of the conferences that you attend. These do not count as vacations or deduct from your time off.
We expect you to be productive in your research and the other elements of your graduate program (teaching, etc.). How you achieve, this is ultimately up to you and should be customized to fit your working style. If we feel like you are not progressing adequately, we should discuss the situation and work together to find a more suitable and productive working schedule. Vacations and work-life balance are essential for creative thinking and good health. However, please consult before making plans, and understand that some activities are time-sensitive (e.g., sampling, preparing for grants, manuscripts, exams, or conferences). You should not plan for more than two weeks of personal vacation time per year, not inclusive of national holidays.
It is your responsibility as a graduate student or intern to actively cultivate your professional development in non-research contexts. Becoming a successful scientist requires more than just academic research. You are expected to continually develop as a teacher, as a scientific ambassador to the general public, and your scientific network. This may include taking advantage of professional programs offered through the Center, active participation in external seminars, attending training without direct applications to your research, conferences, workshops, and membership in professional societies. If your participation in a career-building course, program, or event requires you to reduce your time spent by the lab, we will discuss it on a case-by-case basis.
At the beginning of your studentship, we will discuss what success means to you, as it aligns with ours. You are expected, within the first month, to define what success means to you, including a clear career plan and vision. Your vision should include skills that you aim to acquire during your studentship or internship.