Lab morale got you down? Try a handbook

"It quickly became apparent that their duties as principal investigators far exceeded the bench skills that they'd learnt as postdocs."

"You could never predict when something would happen that you'd never had to think about before," Mariotti says."

"The group collectively recognized that labs need a document that, rather than simply laying out methods and bench protocols, focused on culture and ethos: everything from where to access on-campus resources to intangibles such as a group's shared mission and codes of conduct."

"The resulting SAFE Labs handbook, now freely available online, is one of a growing number of resources dedicated to producing lab handbooks and making academia a more-supportive space."

A core group of early-career principal investigators encountered unexpected administrative, cultural and managerial challenges beyond their bench training. Practical hurdles included international hiring paperwork and differing national academic conventions. The group identified a need for a lab manual that prioritizes culture and ethos as well as practical procedures, covering topics from accessing campus resources to shared mission statements and codes of conduct. Workshops launched the Starting Aware Fair & Equitable (SAFE) Labs initiative, producing a freely available handbook. Lab handbooks are increasingly adopted as tools to promote cohesion, transparency, support and healthier expectations within academic research environments.

Read at Nature