This is a living document and subject to modifications. This document was last modified December 2019.
We value the participation of every member of our community and want to ensure everyone has an enjoyable and fulfilling experience, both professionally and personally. Accordingly, all the lab members are expected to show respect and courtesy to others at all times. We create our culture and our culture is inclusive.
Please note that this code of conduct supplements University level policies for your level of employ or study.
We value an inclusive and diverse research environment to support each individuals development and research, and to promote robust decision making and high quality research. All group members are thus dedicated to a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, and/or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of members of our group in any form and we also support each other in upholding the following principals:
Jakub will discuss the code of conduct with lab members who violate these rules. If inappropriate behaviour persists after this initial discussion, formal processes, in line with Gdansk Medical University’s work practice policies, will commence.
To report an issue, please contact Jakub; all communication will be treated as confidential.
There is increasing evidence that certain attributes of research may challenge your mental health. Specific factors driving this include:
All researchers (Students, PhD, Post Doctoral, and Academic Staff) come across most of these issues at some level. I strongly encourage everyone in the group to take an active and preemptive approach towards the maintenance of their mental health. I assure you that you have the time and resources needed for successful research. If there is anything that is placing undue stress, or preventing you from performing at your potential, please do not hesitate to let Jakub or any of the postgraduate tutors in the department know. Sharing these issues can reduce stress and help others be accommodating towards your needs, and we may be able to assist.
The exact hours members of the lab choose to work is up to them. We believe in each lab member’s ability to best manage their own schedules in a manner that enables them to efficiently and effectively meet their research goals and advance their careers. However, being on campus between 8:00 and 16:00 most days will help facilitate collaborative working and lead to a more fulfilling research experience.
We do expect all lab members to attend and contribute to group meeting and journal club discussions if they are not otherwise engaged in research business (e.g. at conference, attending training or a lecture, or using a core facility).
Please inform Jakub of holidays or notable absences in advance. Permission for holiday is rarely required, but please respect key deadlines within the calendar year and respect that we work as a research team. It is important to take holidays, respect weekends and establish a sustainable work-life balance. But it is also important to respect the time and efforts of others, including collaborators, publishing editors, funders, and so forth, and to note that effective working will improve the quality of your research and career potential. If you struggle with establishing a sustainable work life balance, please discuss this with Jakub at an early stage.
Authorship on any manuscript or presentation will be openly discussed in lab meetings and we aim to be inclusive of everyone who has made a significant contribution to the work being presented. A “significant contribution” can include but is not limited to, interpretations of primary data and development of ideas presented in the work; it need not include data curation or financial contribution to the work undertaken.
The order list of authors will typically follow the Physical Sciences conventions of the lead author (who will often lead writing of the document) who takes the first position, and significant up-front positions are dictated by the approximate percentage contribution made by each author. Latter author positions are often held by supervisors of the work. Where conflict arises, Jakub will facilitate discussion to help resolve this.
As a group, we will endeavour to encourage an open dialogue about this, and ideally authorship check-ins will occur several times over the lifetime of the study. We will include an author contribution statement as part of a paper.
You must request permission before submitting a paper for peer review, and have all author’s acknowledgement that they are content for the paper to be submitted (even after re-review). If you have need assistance on this process, please speak to Jakub.
It is encourage for each PhD student in the group to attend at least one major international conference during their studies. If funds permit, students will be encouraged to attend one local meeting for each year during the first three years of their PhD. Group members are encouraged to apply for research grants to supplement their conference and workshop attendance.
If you wish to attend an international conference, please discuss this with Jakub in the first instance. If the conference is topical and reasonable, then attendance is usually encouraged but not all conferences have equal value.
If preparing an abstract, you should send this for review by all the co-authors usually greater than two weeks before the abstract deadline. If this is a repeat submission of a prior abstract, then exceptions can be made. Abstracts that are not submitted within this time are unlikely to be agreed upon by the group.
Once you obtain notification of the abstract decision, please inform the co-authors. Please discuss with Jakub in person as well.
For poster presentations: it is required that you submit a draft poster for review at least two weeks before you are due to leave for the conference. This provides enough time for review and printing of the poster.
For oral presentations: it is suggested that you please share a complete slide deck two week before the conference, preferably three weeks. You should aim to have a practice talk with group members (often at a Groups meeting) in the week before you leave for the conference. For repeat presentations, please share slides in advance.
We strive to respect the ability of fellow lab members to engage in distraction-free deep thinking and long periods of uninterrupted work.
For all communication methods, please respect people’s working patterns, and remember that other people will have different priorities and focus. Please give consideration to the timing of your correspondence with respect to what the recipient needs to do. No lab members are required nor should feel obliged to reply to messages outside of their typical work hours. Seeking out in-person discussions is strongly encouraged for urgent matters requiring immediate attention.
If you experience any challenges related to communication within the lab, please do not hesitate to contact Jakub.
Thanks for being a part of the team!
This Code of Conduct (CoC) borrows heavily and is modified from other open source CoCs courtesy of MicroMicEng (Ben Britton), JEFworks (Jean Fan) and others.
This CoC is released as CC-BY 4.0