Regardless of what is required specifically for research, any workplace should be a happy place. It is our responsibility to maintain a friendly, happy environment in the lab conducive for research and productivity. This includes treating your colleagues with respect, listening to others’ viewpoints and ideas, and ensuring the lab is a place where everybody feels welcome and appreciated. There maybe moments where not all lab members agree on the same viewpoint, however, it’s our duty to conduct ourselves in the utmost professional manner. Racist, sexist, or other inappropriate comments or behavior will not be tolerated under any circumstance.
Productivity
Our goal is the advancements in understanding of life chemistry through the development of new techniques and theories. Therefore, our goal is to move projects towards publication, patent disclosure or fully-implemented scientific platforms efficiently to both contribute to the growing knowledge in the field but also to support trainee career goals. Everyone has different levels of efficiency and experience, thus we are all in the lab to support and help each other. Each individual person goes through phases of more and less intense work based on deadlines and commitments. Productivity is always valued over the number of hours worked.
Diversity
Our lab values diversity because we believe that diverse viewpoints and opinions bring with them new perspectives and ultimately better, more creative, more innovative, science. We acknowledge that each of us brings perspectives shaped by our experiences, as well as challenges and obstacles. By valuing and celebrating our differences (gender, religious, cultural and so on) and supporting each other to overcome our personal obstacles, we believe that our science will be the best it can be and that our trainees will get the support, validation and encouragement they need to be successful and increase the diversity of the scientific community as a whole.
Collaboration
We have a wide range of expertise and experience. We must foster an environment in which everyone can freely discuss and learn from each other while also driving their own individual projects. We are always open to collaborations and encourage innovative thinking that brings in new tools and perspectives to our research. Our projects may be different ranging from collaborations with clinical or applied biomedical scientists to work hand-in hand with quantum chemists or material scientists, but by supporting each of our individual quests to achieve these values we further the lab’s work as a whole. Similarly, by setting ambitious and innovative goals for us to achieve as a team, we can answer big questions that no single person or project could do alone. The goal of our lab is to advance science as a whole and train next generation of well-rounded scientists and educators. Part of advancing science means that we should work with other researchers and not let individual egos stand in the way of progress. As such, we will always try to be as open and collaborative as possible. We treat these collaborations with respect, transparency and try our best to teach and learn and to help our colleagues reach their goals.
Mentorship
Doing good science means being a good teacher. This can mean formal teaching, but maybe even more importantly means mentoring new scientists in the lab, teaching other researchers what you have learned with your papers, and teaching the public about what you do and why it is important. Your stay in the lab allows you with an excellent opportunity for mentorship. However, you, as the mentee must take responsibility to be proactive in establishing this mentorship relationship.
Career Development
There are a plethora of opportunities available to help you develop into a stronger and more well-connected scientist as well as to prepare for a career path outside of academia. We do believe that graduate training is to provide with in-depth understanding of the chosen academic field, but also with a flexibility and skills to take on an advanced challenge in industrial settings. These opportunities include practicing in scientific and professional communication with opportunities to practice writing grants or scholarship submissions, writing review articles, speaking at conferences, participating in training courses, going to career development seminars, mentoring less experienced trainees. We encourage our trainees to participate in course offering from other Faculties such as Haskayne School of Business Entrepreneurship courses, Cumming School of Medicine courses in genomics, pharmacology, etc. as well as access to professional training available through partners such as Innovate Calgary.
Ambition
Ambitious labs need ambitious people. To encourage this, we set concrete goals that are challenging but not impossible to obtain and support one another as we work towards them. We encourage one another to ‘dream big’ and to make the transition from calling oneself a student to calling oneself a scientist, colleague and mentor. We acknowledge that a graduate degree is not a ticket to a faculty position or a life in academia but rather a degree in leadership that can be used in government, industry, teaching, law, medicine, and on occasion, academia. As such everyone in the lab must reflect on what they want from their career and actively work to obtain the skills they need to get there.
Scientific Integrity
We maintain the highest professional values and practices when conducting and reporting our scientific activities to ensure objectivity, clarity, and reproducible, free from bias. We take our ethical obligations to our research seriously.
