Behavioural & Sensory Ecology

Lab Ethos

Be Kind to yourself

Academia can be great fun and hugely intellectually rewarding but many unhealthy practices have unfortunately become normalised. We all have a role, however small, in improving this culture.

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I think change starts with being kind.

Be kind to your colleagues, be kind to your students, but don't forget to be kind to yourself.

Take your holidays, take your weekends, and take your evenings - if something goes right take time to celebrate, if something goes wrong take time to process it.

Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion

Workspace

Fieldwork

Learning

Systematic bias and discrimination, both conscious and unconscious 

Decolonising fieldwork

I have much to learn

Data Integrity

Manuscript

Data Files
Analysis Code

An open, transparent, and reproducible research project consists of three final products:

i) the written manuscript, ii) the raw data, and iii) the analysis code.

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Raw data should be collected in a verifiable format that can be stored digitally in perpetuity, e.g. digital scans of lab/field books or photographs of experimental outcomes.

Open Science

Publishing

Outreach

Community

Why do we do science?

The question has many many answers; curiosity, altruism, ...

We are often entrusted with public money 

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Universal open access publishing (free to all readers) is undoubtedly the future we should be working towards.

However, the current model of high publishing fees punishes researchers with limited funds, draining resources away from students and research priorities. An issue that will disproportionally affect those from less affluent backgrounds, at small institutions, and in less economically developed countries.

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Publications in academic journals are aimed at those also working in academia, not the tax payers or donors who fund our research. We therefore need to take opportunities to communicate our findings with diverse audiences in accessible and engaging ways.