Philosophy
The philosophy of the Tan lab is to enable and support good science by creating a harassment and discrimination-free experience for everyone. Safe, inclusive, and harassment-free environments don’t just happen. They are created by the day-to-day interactions we all have with each other. Thus, it is the responsibility of all members of the lab to help create and maintain a safe, inclusive, harassment-free environment so that we may all benefit from it. Discrimination or harassment based on racial or ethnic background, citizenship status, religion (or lack thereof), political affiliation, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, dis/ability status, appearance or body size will not be tolerated. We do not tolerate harassment or discrimination by and/or of members of our community in any form.
We are also committed to supporting and training a diverse scientific workforce. We recognize and acknowledge that members bring their whole selves to the lab, and we respect that some aspects of our lives may or may not be disclosed. Current and former group members encompass a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds from the U.S. and other countries, members of the LGBTQ+ community, military veterans, people with chronic illnesses and disabilities, and first-generation college students.
Code of Conduct
- Be kind to yourself. Be mindful of your limits, and do not exhaust yourself. Your limitations may vary over time.
- Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other contributors.
- Behave professionally. Remember that harassment and sexist, racist, or exclusionary jokes are not appropriate.
- Please make an effort to make an inclusive environment for everyone. Give everyone a chance to talk and an opportunity to contribute.
- All communication - online and in person - should be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds. Sexual or discriminatory language and imagery is not appropriate at any time.
- Watch out for microaggressions. Be aware that your actions can be hurtful to others or contribute to a negative environment even if you had no intent of harm. Listen. Offer a genuine apology. Commit to learning and doing better.
- Keep up with lab safety requirements. You are responsible for your own safety, and for the safety of others.
- Speak up if you observe unacceptable behavior, especially on behalf of those around you.
Unacceptable behavior includes, but is not limited to, offensive verbal comments related to race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, religion, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of discussions, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.
If you are comfortable speaking with us we will take what you say seriously. We will pursue the appropriate processes carefully and thoughtfully.
Flexible working hours
This sentence is stolen from Bastian Greshake’s email footer and forms the basis of the Tan lab’s policy on flexible working:
While I may be sending this email outside my normal office hours, I have no expectation to receive a reply outside yours.
The hours that members of the lab choose to work is up to them. We are each welcome to send work-related emails, pull requests or slack messages over the weekend or late at night, but no lab members are required to reply to them outside of their typical work hours.
Lab members are welcome to work flexibly for any reason, this includes working remotely. All lab members are encouraged to attend our weekly lab meeting (which can be done remotely) and to participate in any lab activities. It is the policy of the Tan lab that every member is already self-motivated and may choose to deviate from a traditional 9 to 5 day in order to meet our collective goals.
License & Acknowledgements
This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Material in this code of conduct derives from the Whitaker Lab Code of Conduct (used under the MIT License), the Bahlai Lab Code of Conduct (used under the CC BY 4.0 License), and the Poisot Lab (used under the CC BY 4.0 License).