SAFE Labs

OttLab_2025:

• Healthy Practices: High commitment and productivity don’t equate to overwork. Lab members manage their productivity responsibly and are not expected to exceed 39.5 work hours per week regularly.
• Project Requirements: Occasionally, projects require longer work hours such as for completing an experiment. Lab members commit to accommodate these work hours to successfully implement their projects.
• Flexibility: Science’s inherent flexibility allows for personal scheduling outside core work hours (Mon-Fri 10am-4pm). The PI respects work preferences and encourages the full use of vacation days.
• Meetings and events: Meetings will typically be during coure hours only. The PI avoids communication outside these hours unless urgent, respecting personal time. Lab members are not expected to be responsive outside core hours, in particular when using asynchronous media such as slack or email. Participation at social or networking events is encouraged but not mandatory.
• Additional Support Structures: Lab members are referred to HGS mentoring, the institute’s mental health resources, and information on supporting families.

BugeonLab_2025:

• Working hours: they are set in agreement with our institute policy (~38hours / week, from Monday to Friday). There is no strict rule for work schedule, but lab members are expected to be present during ‘core hours’: 10-12am and 2-5pm.
• Remote working : Lab members are expected to be physically present in the lab at least 4 days a week, to ensure interactions between lab members. For some specific periods/situations, remote work can be allowed (i.e. thesis writing).
• Vacation: All lab members are expected to take all their allowed annual leave which is determined by their employer.

CNIDevoLab_2025: According to the type of contract or agreement, rules for working hours, remote working and vacations are set either by CNRS or Sorbonne University. We do not apply a strict working hour policy, but we encourage everybody to be present in the lab in overlapping hours, so to maximize exchanges, interactions and problem solving.

GalupaLab_2025: A full list of expectations is listed in the Lab Guide: Galupa_lab_guide_shared

• The number of working hours is defined in our contracts – this does not mean we cannot be flexible (and sometimes we do have to be flexible, due to experiments). In order to encourage interactions within the lab, please try to be in the lab most weekdays between 10am and 4pm or so
• Our type of work and experiments will sometimes involve working late or in the weekends; in such cases, feel free to take the corresponding time off during the week
• Let me know when you are planning not to come to the lab – whether on holidays, or working from home, or because you have “external” appointments (in most of these cases, you will have to make an official request)
• Remote working is possible, in accordance with CNRS and CBI’s internal rules
• We have a number of holidays defined in our contracts and I expect everyone to enjoy all their holidays
• I might send emails outside of working hours (though teaching myself to avoid this); never feel obliged to reply to my emails outside of your working hours

ReinhardLab_2025: Experimental science rarely fits into a 9-5 schedule. Experiments might take longer, trouble shooting may cause delays, or urgent deadlines require longer working hours.

• Work hours: While individual working days may not follow a standard schedule, the average work week should be 40h and everyone is entitled to 20 days of vacation (if on a fellowship) or to the time and days detailed in their contract (if on a work contract). In practice, this means that there might be days or even weeks where lab members work more than 8h/day or 40h/week, but this should be compensated by lighter schedules in subsequent weeks, days off or longer vacations to ensure well-being. Conference attendance etc. counts as working hours!
• Core work hours: To enable flexibility, we have short core work hours. Team members are expected to be present or available online from 11am to 3pm every workday as well as during scheduled meetings such as lab meetings. This ensures at least a minimal possibility for interactions between lab members. You can expect that, with as few exceptions as possible, seminars and mandatory meetings will be scheduled between 9am and 4pm.
• Working from home: During experimental phases, team members are expected to be at the institute 4 days per week. Changes to this, e.g. during data analysis and writing times, are possible but should be discussed with the PI. Lab meetings are to be attended in person. Exceptions will be granted only for specific situations.

DonaLab_2025: Maintaining a healthy work–life balance is essential for long-term well-being, productivity, and creativity. The lab aims to foster a flexible and respectful environment that supports both professional growth and personal needs.

🕒 Working Hours

Working hours follow institutional policy and are generally flexible. However, lab members are expected to be present during core hours: 10:00–12:00 and 14:00–17:00

These hours ensure overlap for collaboration, meetings, and shared activities.
We recognize that parental responsibilities and other personal needs may require additional flexibility. Exceptions and adjustments to working hours should be discussed in advance with the PI to accommodate these circumstances.

💻 Remote Work Lab members are generally expected to be physically present in the lab at least 4 days per week to maintain an active, interactive research environment.
Remote work may be permitted under specific circumstances (e.g., thesis writing, short-term personal needs) and should be agreed upon with the PI.

🌴 Vacation and Time Off All lab members are encouraged to take their full annual leave, as defined by their employment contract. Taking regular breaks is vital for maintaining mental and physical health.

Vacation plans should be communicated in advance to avoid disruptions to ongoing lab activities.

🕌 Cultural and Religious Observances While the lab follows the national holiday calendar, members are welcome to adapt their time off to accommodate cultural or religious festivities specific to their background.
Such flexibility should be managed in coordination with the PI to ensure proper planning and fairness across the team.

RossiLab_2025: I am committed to creating a healthy work environment for all lab members that prioritizes mental health and wellbeing together with productivity. Neuroscience research should be an exciting, rewarding, and engaging job. Certainly, it can be challenging, and stressful at times, but it should not be depressing, or life-consuming. Let aside the requirement of different contracts, everyone has a different daily schedule, times when they are more productive, and approaches to scientific work. Not all of them will be suited to our lab. With the goal of minimising expectation mismatch, and to increase collegiality and cooperativity within lab member, I try to outline clear policies for working hours, remote working and vacation below.

Working hours: IIT contracts are very flexible in terms of allocation of working hours, and many of them are milestone based, rather than hour based. Despite this, I prefer the lab members to be onsite during the following core hours: 10am to 4pm. This in-person time ensures regular interaction and allows us to benefit from the expertise and community that comes with working in a research group. Everyone should be mindful of these ours when scheduling meetings and training sessions, or emailing urgent requests. While this isn’t always possible - experimental work and life commitments aren’t always flexible—it should be the standard practice.

Remote working: I believe that some regular onsite presence is important to maintain the lab community. Thus, I expect all full-time lab members should aim to work onsite at least four days a week. However, I am happy to support intermittent periods of remote working when, for example, traveling/visiting family abroad or writing up a thesis/grant. Different arrangements can be negotiated depending on position, project requirement (e.g. experiments vs data analysis) or personal circumstances.

Vacation: I anticipate all lab members taking a minimum of 30 days of annual leave. “Minimum” because if experiments necessitate working on a weekend, or you attend a conference that’s scheduled on a weekend, I support lab members taking time off to compensate for this.

TreurLab_2025:

Working days: All team members are expected to be physically present at the department on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays (unless you are on leave or there is a symposium / conference you need to attend). On Wednesdays and Fridays everyone is free to choose whether they want to work from home (which most of us do) or at the department. Note that some team members work 4 (instead of 5) days a week.

Working hours: There is some flexibility in working hours, as we realize that people may have different preferences for which hours of the day they can be the most productive. However, given that we are physically present at the department on only 3 days, we would also like to make sure that we make optimal use of those days and have plenty of opportunity for interactions and meetings. As such, the preferred starting time is between 08:00 – 10:00.

Remote working: Remote working for a longer period of times (e.g. a couple of months) is occasionally possible, in consultation.

Communication: We don’t encourage working outside of your normal working hours (in the evenings and weekends). At the same time, we realize that everyone’s schedule looks different and that sometimes (e.g. a very important deadline coming up) or for some people (e.g. (unexpected) childcare responsibilities during the day) this is inevitable. We don’t have any specific rules around sending e-mails or messages (through slack) outside of working hours. If one of the team members does send an e-mail or message outside of normal working hours, there is no expectation whatsoever that the other person needs to answer that message (until their next working day).

RadzisheuskayaLab_2025: All lab members are required to follow the ICR’s annual leave and sickness policy (LINK NOT PUBLIC) and to document any leave taken in the ICR’s dedicated leave and absence system (LINK NOT PUBLIC). I also encourage you to indicate your annual leave in the shared Outlook calendar so that other lab members know about your holidays. For short leave, I do not require very advanced notice; however, if you will not be coming to the lab for the day, please inform me in the morning. If possible, please notify me several weeks in advance for leaves longer than one week.

Due to the flexible nature of research, I do not require strict working hours. However, you are expected to be present in the lab during core hours from 10 am to 4 pm to ensure we can support one another and foster a sense of community in the team.

I occasionally send emails or Teams messages outside of normal working hours to help manage my work-life balance, but I do not expect responses during these times. You can contact me via email or Teams outside of working hours, and I will reply when I can. In case of urgent matters, you can call me on my mobile.

Although we are primarily a wet-lab group, I support occasional remote work to prepare presentations, write manuscripts, attend online courses, or analyse data. If you are considering working remotely, please let me know what you’ll be focusing on during that time, and be prepared to share the progress you’ve made once you are back on site.

CoenLab_2025: I am committed to creating a healthy work environment for all lab members that prioritises mental health and wellbeing. Academic research should be an exciting, rewarding, and engaging job. Certainly, it can be challenging, and stressful at times, but it should not be depressing, or life-consuming. I anticipate all lab members taking a minimum of UCL’s prescribed 41 days of annual leave. “Minimum” because if experiments necessitate working on a weekend, or you attend a conference that’s scheduled on a weekend, I support lab members taking time off to compensate for this. I hope to schedule all meetings within UCL’s “core” work hours of 10am to 4pm. And I will refrain from sending, or answering, non-urgent emails/messages outside of work hours.

All full-time lab members should aim to work onsite at least four days a week. I expect this number to reduce (probably to “three”) once the lab is operational and more time is being spent analysing data rather than building rigs/training mice. In general, I believe that some regular onsite presence is important to maintain the lab community. However, I am happy to support intermittent periods of fully-remote working when, for example, traveling/visiting family abroad or writing up a thesis/grant.

AeryJonesLab_2026: Each project and person will work at their own pace, and that pace will change as your life changes. My goal is for you to feel you are meeting your own expectations. During our weekly meetings, share with me what you planned to do last week, what you did, and how you’re adjusting your expectations to meet your pace. We will evaluate how your project is progressing together and create a plan to adjust expectations if necessary. During our annual meetings, we will plan your goals, align them with your career path, and discuss what you can realistically achieve during the next year. Projects in this lab often take multiple years, may continue into your next career stage, and can sometimes require weekend and evening work. I expect that you will have many other commitments besides your lab work; please keep me in the loop about them so we can keep our expectations realistic.

There are many reasons why you may not meet your own expectations, but I am an ardent advocate against the “just work harder” mindset. Your work pace may feel like the only thing you have control over, but working longer hours almost never gets to the root of the problem. It’s important to set boundaries so you don’t just work all the time. You cannot pour from an empty cup.