SAFE Labs

PALMLab_2026:

Full-time research is essentially equivalent to a full-time job (i.e. ~40 hours/week, 5 days per week). A rough guideline for the PALM Lab is a ‘hybrid model’ where lab members are expected to spend at least three days of the week working on campus/in lab, and have the option to work either from home or in lab on the remaining days. The work hours themselves are largely flexible and dependent on the available spaces – to ensure overlap between members in lab for collaboration and discussions, lab members are asked to have 10am to 3pm as part of their in-person hours. Ultimately, all lab members are responsible for managing and organizing their time to ensure research goals are met. You are not expected to work during evenings, weekends or public holidays. (The one possible exception may be during critical deadlines, such as for conferences or grants. William will be as mindful as he can be of this, and if he does ask for something, you can be upfront and say it is not possible.)

BraemLabGhent_2026:

Our job does not require many nine-to-five responsibilities, but we do encourage attending the department more than half the week during working hours. Other than our (lab) meetings and seminars, you should feel free to work when and where you please. However, we live in a society where most people work from nine to five, Monday to Friday. Outside those hours, many of us often prefer taking time for friends, family, hobbies, entertainment, or simply ourselves. As a lab, we will respect those hours when it comes to communicating and collaborating with others! We do this by trying to refrain from mailing over the weekend, or setting deadlines right after weekends or vacation days. Obviously, there is no shame in trying to reach a deadline over the weekend, or preferring to work during unusual hours, but it should definitely not be expected.

IRIBHMComputationalLabs_2026:

Working hours are 9am to 5pm, but are flexible within reasonable limits. Some of the secretary work starts earlier. Some meetings (e.g. with North-American collaborators) might end later. Lab members should not expect replies to non-urgent emails/messages outside of work hours.

Since individual preferences vary, we do expect lab members to be flexible with these hours when scheduling their own time.  The “core” hours, around which flexibility is accepted, are 10am to 4pm. We expect lab members to be considerate of the core hours when scheduling meetings, or training, while maintaining flexibility when possible.

Full lab members should be onsite during the core working hours from Tuesday to Friday (also see next section on remote working). This helps to ensure we regularly interact in-person and benefit from the expertise and community provided by working in a research group. This is a requirement for every week and it should be the norm.

Anonymous lab:

Graduate students may take 15 weekdays of vacation, as per [university] policy. You are highly encouraged to take your vacation time, and are not expected to be engaged in research or in communication with the lab while you are on vacation. Please ensure that you set up out-of-office notifications on e-mail.

There is no formal system for tracking vacation, but you should let [the PI] know when you will be out of the office for longer than 1 day, and record these absences in the lab Days Away spreadsheet.

ErnstGroup_2026:

You are entitled to vacation, unless you are part-time or co-op staff, in which case you may be paid extra in lieu of vacation as per the BC labour regulations. UVic (and NSERC) suggests three weeks off a year. I also shut down the lab on Christmas Eve and between Christmas and New Year (these days do not count as part of your three weeks). You should tell me about planned vacations well in advance, and add them to the calendar. Also, remind me of vacations approximately one week before you leave. You should keep track of the days you have taken for vacation.

LRCNLab_2026:

Normal working hours in our lab are M-F 9am to 4pm, although you may expect some commitments on evenings and weekends depending on the type of research participants you are working with, and teaching schedules. Working from home is always an option on days when you don’ t need to be physically present (e.g., for meetings, teaching, data collection). I recognize there are circumstances where it’s necessary to work from home and there are other times when working from home is more productive for you. We try to be as accommodating as possible including using technology like teleconferencing.

MayorLab_2026:

Work-From-Home Policy: Our lab is first and foremost a place of daily interaction — asking questions, exchanging ideas, and giving each other feedback are central to how we work and grow as a team. Wet lab projects require in-person presence by nature, and for safety reasons it is strongly preferred that more than one person be present in the lab at all times. That said, we recognize that some phases of a project are more computational in nature, or require focused, uninterrupted time for writing, data analysis, scholarship applications, or manuscript preparation. In those cases, lab members may elect to work from home, provided they indicate their absence in the shared lab calendar using the “WFH” label. Anyone working from home is expected to remain reachable on Microsoft Teams throughout the day to respond to questions from other lab members. Hybrid participation in lab meetings can be accommodated, but the presenter must be notified in advance. Lab members who need to work from home more than one day per week, or on a recurring basis, should first discuss this arrangement with Thibault. Finally, work-from-home days are not a substitute for personal time off — unplanned absences should be recorded as such (see below).

RollinsonLab_2026:

There is no expectation of responding to messages or emails on weekends or evenings; either on my part, or on yours. Similarly, there is no expectation to respond to fellow lab mates about work-related queries on off hours when in the office, unless unusual circumstances suggest a clear need for a prompt exchange of information, such as during a crucial experiment.

LNN-UCPH_2026:

Our lab is embedded in different institutions and in general we need to follow the rules set by them regarding working remotely. But in general we support working from home a day a week and also when you travel home in order to give you the possibility to avoid e.g. holiday traffic and reduce travel costs for you.

PANLab_2026:

What really matters here is not the specific hours or everyone else’s schedule and habits, but your own productivity. While maintaining this freedom (and the accompanying responsibility), please be in the lab at least during core work hours (roughly 09:00 to 15:00) to facilitate mentorship, meetings and discussions. Please put it on the whiteboard and let Peter and Mie know if you plan to work from home or take time off for a full day or more so we can plan around it. Importantly, while you will need to work hard to be competitive for whatever you chose to do for your future career, you also need to find a consistent balance that goes well with not only your ambitions, but also your health and sanity – it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

BoumendilLab_2026:

• The number of working hours is defined in our contracts. Some flexibility might be necessary to accommodate specific experiments or equipments availabilities. In order to encourage interactions within the lab, please try to be in the lab most weekdays between 10-12am and 1.30-4pm or so (core working hours). Meetings will typically be during these « core » working hours.
• Let me know when you are planning not to come to the lab (holidays, working from home or because of external appointments). In most cases you will have to make an official request.
• Although we are primarily a wet-lab group, I support occasional remote work, in accordance with CNRS and IGH’s internal rules. If you are considering remote work, please let me know in advance and let me know what you will be focusing on during that time. Be prepared to share your progress when you are back. More regular or longer periods of remote work may be permitted under specific circumstances and should be agreed upon with the PI.
• The number of holidays is defined in our contracts. All lab members are encouraged to take their full annual leave. Vacation plans should be communicated in advance and requested through the official CNRS or UM system. If ongoing experiments cannot be stopped during your vacations (for example ongoing establishment of a cell line), please make sure that one of your labmates can pursue these experiments while you are away. I also encourage you to indicate your annual leave in the share calendar so that other lab members know about your holidays.
• I might sometimes send emails outside working hours to help manage my work-life balance, but I do not expect responses during these times. You can contact me via email outside working hours and I will reply when I can. In case of urgent matters, you can call me on my mobile. If I am away during woking hours (conferences, seminars, remote work etc…) you can contact me through text messages (what’s app usually) to get faster responses or emails.

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

BodyBrainBehaviourLab_2026:

Working hours: There is no such thing as expected working hours in the group. In fact, we do not encourage long working hours and the weekend is time off work. Everyone’s life circumstances are different, so all group members should find a schedule and work routine that works best for them. Individual approaches have to be communicated clearly with the PI so that the time spent together in the lab can be fruitful for all group members. This includes group meetings, institute meetings, and project discussions, which should be attended in person if possible. You should not feel obliged to reply to any form of workrelated communication outside your own working hours, and should respect the boundaries set by your colleagues.

CzarkwianiLab_2026:

Working hours - total working hours are generally regulated by contracts in Germany and I expect people to adhere to them. We consider the core working hours to be from 9:00 - 16:00. This means that any mandatory activities like lab meetings, journal clubs, and seminars will only be scheduled within these times. Sometimes there are project-specific demands or responsibilities which require us to be in the lab longer on some days or outside of the core working hours as we work with live animals and some procedures take longer to do. There is no need for overwork and the PI expects people to compensate longer working days by reducing work on other days to balance it out. Please communicate this!

Remote working - although the core of research work is laboratory-based and is best done in a team, there are a variety of tasks which can be done remotely and in isolation (such as reading, writing, data analysis on a computer, figure preparation etc). If you feel you can be more productive and carry out these tasks more efficiently at home, in a coffee place or on a beach than in the office then feel free to do that. Again - please communicate this!

Vacations - the PI is a strong believer that time away from the lab is not only crucial for one’s mental health but can also be an important source of inspiration and new ideas! Rest is thus taken very seriously. Everyone is expected to take their allocated vacation days and is not expected to come in on weekends or national holidays unless it is absolutely necessary (for example axolotl duties) or if they chose to work on these days and take a normal day off. Again - you guessed it - please communicate this!

LMUPsychologicalMethods_2026:

No one looks at you askance if you take breaks or have to work longer hours during periods of increased workload. No one has to be available on weekends.

7. We are family-friendly.

We make it possible to combine family and career. This means scheduling joint meetings at family-friendly times (i.e. especially not too late in the afternoon), children can be brought to work. If children/family members are sick or have problems, we are there for each other and, if necessary, stand in for colleagues who are affected. We respect the fact that family has priority over work performance!

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.

PHASELab_2026:

You get 30 days of holiday a year, and I expect you to take it. Also though be mindful that you will in some cases need to plan around experimental work – it’s not reasonable to start growing plants then disappear for several weeks and miss sampling times, for instance. On the other hand in many cases it should be possible to ask someone else to look after your plants or ongoing experiments if necessary for a while, and definitely in emergencies. You can also think about doing a “favour exchange” with other students or postdocs in the group where e.g. you watch their plants and take samples for two weeks while they go on holiday, then they do the same for you. Try and make sure that you give back the same as you take from others though!

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.

KitazakiLab_2026:

実験を中心にする研究室ですので，卒業，修了するためには，平均して平日1日あたり6時間程度の研究（実験含む）が必要です。基本的には，大学にある実験設備で実験を行いますが，文献調査やプログラミング，データ解析は自宅で行っている学生もいます。大学にも机やコンピュータは1人1セット用意しますので，自分の傾向に合わせて大学でも自宅でも研究ができます。ただし、学部生は基本的に研究室で対面で研究してもらいます。

もちろん、休暇は自由に取れます。ただし、安全管理のために休暇中であることは教えてください。

English translation:

As this is an experiment-centred lab, graduating or completing a degree needs, on average, about 6 hours of research (including experiments) per weekday. Experiments are mainly done with the experimental facilities at the university, but some students do literature searches, programming and data analysis at home. Everyone has their own desk and computer at the university, so you can do research at the university or at home, whichever suits you. However, undergraduates mainly do their research in person in the lab.

Of course, you are free to take holidays. However, for safety management, please let us know when you are on holiday.

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).

INSIGHTLab_2026:

Formally, every employee signs a contract for a specific number of hours - 38 hours/week for full time employment. Informally, time management should be guided by predefined performance criteria, not by number of hours made. Some managers explicitly communicate the expectation of overwork to employees. At INSIGHT lab, we do not do this.

Lab members are expected to work on location at least 2 days a week. The most important reason to do so is to nurture connections within the department and university. Therefore, try to prioritize days on which departmental social events (other lab meetings, guest lectures, MTO drinks) take place and attend the lunch meeting if possible.

UraiLab_2026:

I am committed to creating a healthy work environment for all lab members. I encourage all lab members taking a minimum of Leiden University’s prescribed days of vacation, whether or not you are officially employed by the university.

I aim to schedule all meetings within regular work hours, and will refrain from sending, or answering, non-urgent emails/messages outside of work hours.

I expect all lab members to be in the office at least 3 days a week (often Mon/Tues/Thurs), during regular office hours (~10:00-17:00). If you are away or working remotely, please inform me and note this in the lab calendar. 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 - please discuss with me, and make sure we document expectations (e.g. in a mentoring agreement).

AIDOSLab_2026:

As a general rule of thumb, all lab members should be available1 during normal European business hours, say from 10∶00–16∶00. This makes it possible for other groups to interact with us and greatly simplifies any collaborations. I will not blindly enforce this rule, but I expect you to notify me if you are not available during a certain period of time. Moreover, as a token of respect to all other lab members, everyone should usually be present for the lab meetings.

1 This means either being present in your office or being responsive to messages or calls when you are working from home. It does not mean that you are glued to your screen at all times.

Neurolinguistics-UZH_2026:

Single-day absences (personal days, long weekends): At least 2 weeks’ advance notice

Multi-day absences (holidays, conferences, extended leave): At least 4 weeks’ advance notice.

For complex projects that involve collaborators (or assistants, technicians, physicists) in data collection and time-bound processes, coordination for holidays should begin as soon as possible and 2 months’ notice would be desirable.

Before submitting a request, please discuss with your team collaborators and direct supervisors to clarify:

Whether your absence affects any deliverables or deadlines

Who will cover ongoing responsibilities during your absence

What needs to be handed off, paused, or delegated

Once you’ve coordinated with your team, please send an email to Alexis with:

Subject line: Time Off Request – [Your Name] – [Dates] Include:

Dates of absence

Your availability (fully offline or partially reachable)

Outcome of team discussion (e.g., “Task XY coverage confirmed by XX”)

Reason for absence (conference, medical, holiday, etc.)

Anonymous lab:

We encourage all [lab] members to set boundaries on their work – typical working hours are 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday. You may have a preference for different working hours, which can usually be agreed with your PI as appropriate. There is no particular dress code, beyond an expectation to be well presented (in particular if testing participants).

[The university] has adopted a blended working model, with staff dividing their time between home and office working. Remote working options may be limited for some roles (e.g., where on-site data collection or teaching is required). We encourage staff to work from the office at least one day per week, as face-to-face interaction, and the relationships that grow from this, are central to developing and maintaining our cohesiveness. We encourage all members of [the lab] to work from the office on Wednesdays which is when we hold our lab group meeting.

EnvironmentalModellingResearchGroup_2026:

The exact hours that members of the lab choose to work is up to them, but each lab member should be on campus between the hours of 10am and 4pm most days to facilitate collaborative working. Meetings and events will not be arranged outside these hours. Exceptions for these core hours can be arranged in line with University and Departmental policy.

Avoid sending work-related email outside of 08:00 and 18:00. The University Google Mail comes with “scheduled emails” to facilitate this and most email clients have the same capability (in-built or via add-ons) or simply write the email and save as a draft, then send later. Please give consideration to the timing of the email with respect to what the recipient needs to do, i.e. don’t send an email at 17:59 which is needed for a 10:00 meeting the next day.

GallianoLab_2026:

We work hard, but in a smart way. While we try to spend the majority of our working hours in the lab/office, because we believe that is how a team is built and how one learns from one’s colleagues, presentism for the sake of it is a big no. Everyone works with a schedule that suits their experiments, the animals, the shared equipment rota, and their personal life. There is implicit trust in the fact that we are all adults who WANT to be here and do science, so there is no micromanagement on hours. Annual holidays are mandatory, because burnt-out people do shoddy science and we really do not want that. Also, holidays are very nice.

GrangeLab_2026:

I do not respond to (and I try not to read) emails or Teams messages out of office hours (9am to 5pm Monday–Friday). Please factor this in if you are wanting me to do something (e.g., don’t send me a draft report to read for our Monday meeting at 4pm on a Friday!).

• I would encourage you to keep a work–life balance and switch your emails/Teams off over the weekend too if you are able.
• Sometimes I might deviate from this advice.
• I do sometimes work odd hours, so if on the rare occasion you receive a message from me outside of your normal working hours, PLEASE NOTE that I do not expect you to respond immediately. Just get to it when you are next in work mode.
• The School’s Communication Policy asks that I respond within 4 working days.
• Please factor this into the timing of your communications.
• (I usually respond MUCH faster than this.)

MarshallLab_2026:

Holidays: we all get the same amount of holiday, 27 days, plus university closure days. I don’t need advance notice of this, just make sure you fill in the holiday request form through myPGR. If you’re going on holiday, make sure you have arranged for someone to take care of any animal cultures you have running – this is your responsibility. I will try to give you advanced notice of my holidays, but I also sometimes just decide to take days off last minute, it’s fine for you to do this too.

MetaLab_2026:

We DO NOT expect you to… …respond immediately to emails, especially if sent at unusual times. Email is an asynchronous medium, so set your own boundaries.

…work over weekends and holidays. There are rare exceptions where we are facing a deadline for a conference, talk, or paper revision, or need to collect imaging data, but even then you should feel free to discuss what is feasible and appropriate.

MoreyLab_2026:

I shut my work email off when I’m not working and sometimes also when I am concentrating on writing. I do not receive any auto-notifications to my personal devices about email or Teams messages, ever. I advise everyone to do the same. My assumption is that you will receive messages at some time on every work day when you have explicitly planned to attend to them, not that you will be always on-call. You should not imagine that receiving an email from me means that I expect you to instantly answer it. You are never obliged to answer me at night or on weekends even if you receive something from me after hours.

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.

SuperLab_2026:

I am happy for lab members to keep flexible, hybrid working hours. If I am your primary supervisor, you should generally be reachable by email or Teams between 10am and 4pm on working days. If you need an alternative work plan, I am happy to work something out with you, but please discuss it with me first.

The lab currently supports a hybrid working policy, meaning you may work remotely on some days during the week. However, I do encourage lab members to be physically present in the department for weekly lab meetings, to support a collegiate working environment.

Lab members working at the University of Liverpool are provided 30 days of annual leave, not including unscheduled sick days or other forms of leave. I will generally honor requests, but please try to be mindful of upcoming deadlines when scheduling annual leave.

If you’re sick, stay home and take care of yourself. Because you need it, and also because others don’t need to get sick. If you have meetings scheduled at the time you are sick, let Reshanne know and reschedule your meetings as soon as you can.

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.

AlyLab_2026:

I will sometimes (rarely, I hope!) send emails or Slack messages outside of normal working hours. For the most part, I try to schedule emails and Slack messages to appear during your normal working hours. But sometimes I mess up – I hit send rather than schedule, or I forget to consider time zones or times of day. If I contact you outside of your working hours, I do not expect you to respond until you are back at work (ignore me!). I do not expect there to be cases when I suddenly and urgently need something from you over the weekend (e.g., for a grant deadline), but should I anticipate that happening, I will bring it up in advance so we can plan accordingly. All this said, I realize that being told you can ignore my messages might not take away the stress of seeing my messages if you check work email or Slack in the evenings or on weekends. If my off-hours messages are unwelcome and cause distress, please talk to me, and I will be better at not bothering you during your time off.

AneGroup_2026:

• As a TA or RA, your are an employee, see GAPP for policies and procedures. Your 40 hours of work per week should be divided between: taking courses (prior to being a dissertator), teaching (if TA), reading papers directly closely related to your research project, reading papers on broader topics less close to your topic, attending seminars, and working on your own research projects. Every workday, you should give priority to the latter: save the best 2 hours of your day (whenever your brain works best) to work on your own research projects. Schedule these research hours in your calendar and turn off notifications.

• Graduate Assistants earn paid vacation, with scheduling “subject to the approval of the supervisor” (from GAPP). I expect you to discuss your vacation schedule in advance.

BIRDLab_2026:

You’re encouraged to take vacation throughout the year. Most members take three to four weeks a year, cumulatively. Your formal leave accrual follows your UC Davis appointment and any applicable union contract (see HR). The lab’s stance is simple: use your time. If you’re not using your time off, we’ll probably encourage you to schedule at least a staycation to recharge.

ChiangLab_2026:

In general, every member of the team (particularly members who are not bound by class schedules anymore) should be actively at work for a duration that includes 11am to 3pm on weekdays, so that each of us will be able to overlap for a significant chunk of the workday while accommodating for individual schedules. (This is not to say you should only work 4 hours a day! And obviously, exceptions apply.) Your consistent presence during those times will lead to interactions and team-building, for the benefit of you and your labmates.

Vacations: Along with the perks of a flexible work schedule is also the flexible vacation schedule, particularly for those who are not bound by coursework anymore. There are official policies from the University for paid vacation for staff and postdocs. For students, I would recommend taking at least 3-4 weeks of vacation a year to re-energize yourself for the long journey (but please ensure the vacation is not interfering with your required coursework). In all cases, please plan early and inform me when you are leaving, so we can plan your projects and deadlines around your time off and make sure you are progressing towards your research goals.

CobeyLab_2026:

I will not judge your progress based on the hours you keep in the lab: what matters most is that you make substantive progress on the lab’s goals. I encourage you to figure out how you work best. You thus have broad freedom to choose how you work, provided you communicate your plans to others and see the projects through. But because we’re human, and it’s nice to see other, non-digitized human faces regularly, aim to spend at least three days a week (for most of the workday) in lab. You don’t have to communicate your schedule with me in advance, as long as you’re around roughly this much and show up for meetings. Undergrads and out-of-state lab members will have different arrangements, of course.

CognAcLab_2026:

Lab members should notify Ivry of extended (minimum of 1 week) vacation plans, preferably providing one month’s notice. This is not required for vacations/personal leaves of less than a week. C. When relevant, lab members are required to log their vacation/personal leave time on their timecards and are expected to use all of their official vacation/personal leave each calendar year. They should inform Ivry if they anticipate any carryforward since this may impact lab budgeting. D. Ivry will be responsible for reaching out to any lab member if there are concerns about absenteeism. E. Ivry will keep the lab informed of his vacation plans and what availability he will be able to provide when on vacation.

ContextualDynamicsLab_2026:

We generally expect full-time employees to be in the lab during “standard” working hours—roughly 9 AM to 5 PM. The precise hours you work are less important than helping form a cohesive lab culture where lab members interact in person to share ideas, leverage expertise, and solve problems. Even if you shift your hours, we’d like you to be physically present in the lab between 1 and 4 PM (prior arrangements notwithstanding; e.g., if you have a long commute and we’ve agreed you won’t come in every day, or if you occasionally need to schedule an appointment during the 1–4 PM window). Similarly, if you are a part-time employee, try to put in your in-lab hours during the 1–4 PM window when possible.

DenmanLab_2026:

The lab does not have hours. Science does not sleep. But you, lab member, do need to sleep.

You are also encouraged and expected to take time away from the lab - vacation, personal, mental health days. The reasons for a short (one day) absence need not be made public, but any absence should be on the Denman Lab shared calendar as soon as it is scheduled. Planned longer absences should be discussed with Dan at least two weeks beforehand, and again added to the shared calendar.

GNlab_2026:

In general, we expect you to be working Monday through Friday for 9 hours per day (including a lunch break).

• Usually we do a daily stand-up at 8:40AM where everyone discusses what they are working on and asks questions.
• We typically have three in-person days per week. Arrive by standup (or 9am if standup is late) and stay until 4PM.
• There is some flexibility in work hours based on your needs or work needs (e.g. nursing a build). Please let us know in advance if you need to adjust your schedule.
• Occasionally, we will ask you to work longer than normal hours (evenings and weekends). However, longer hours are the exception rather than the norm in our lab and we will try to communicate clearly ahead of time when extra effort will be useful. We won’t expect you to be on-site outside of normal business hours.
• You are welcome to attend a seminar once or twice a week or audit a class, and usually can take a class for credit as well.
• Dates
  • Everyone working in our lab follows the Booth leave policy, which gives four weeks of vacation/personal leave per year (in addition to the 13 university holidays), regardless of whether you are employed through Booth or BFI. We encourage you to use this leave. You also have two weeks of sick leave.

HollandGroup_2026:

Policies on vacation days are set by Yale (up to 30 days/year including University holidays). I ask that you be clear to me (and your labmates) when you will be away, by telling me ahead of time, by leaving an easy-to-interpret note on your desk, and by making sure that your group jobs will be covered in your absence.

JiangLab_2026:

It is okay to take a day off to decompress from time to time. However, if you will be out of town or take a longer break, please let me know so I won’t be worried about not having seen you in a while. Each lab member can usually take up to 3 weeks of vacation time each year. In addition, I don’t expect lab members to work between 12/15 and the first week of January. Please inform me your vacation plans before booking your trip.

KindsvaterLab_2026:

We can’t succeed scientifically and professionally without hard work, but this does not mean we must have a culture of overwork, where personal time and wellbeing are not valued.

If you are struggling with your workload, or frustrated with your progress toward your goals, then you are in an unsustainable position. I can’t solve every problem for you, but I can help you identify strategies for sustainable work habits to prevent or rectify these situations. The whole point of mentoring is that no one has to do it alone.

MaLab_2026:

Lab holidays will be a superset of federal and NYU holidays.

What does it mean for the lab to be on holiday?

1. All lab events are cancelled.
2. All individual meetings are cancelled.
3. I do not have any expectations that you will do work. Work includes replying to emails or Slack messages. Of course, you are not forbidden to do work.
4. I might still send you emails or Slack messages when I have thoughts or questions, but you should feel free to ignore those.
5. If you send me an email, Slack message, or text message, I will generally be delayed in responding.

MemoLab_2026:

It is expected that lab members will do most of their work from the lab. Full-time lab members can choose to work remotely 1-2 days a week, as long as this does not interfere with their research progress. Undergraduates are not eligible for remote work unless otherwise approved, and must be present in the lab for their work shifts. Anyone working remotely should plan to be available over Slack or for Zoom meetings during their working hours. Extended periods of working remotely should be approved ahead of time, and you’ll be expected to maintain regular hours if not taking PTO.

NicholGroup_2026:

You may take up to 4 weeks of vacation every year, i.e., 20 business days. This includes but is not limited to federal holidays, university holidays, or scheduled university recesses, such as winter break, spring break, etc. Please inform your teammates and me in advance of days you will be gone. I understand that emergencies will arise. In this case, please notify my as soon as possible. Updating your status on Slack is a good way to let your teammates know if you cannot come to the lab.

PeelleLab_2026:

Work hours in the lab are 8:30–5:00 (or 9:00–5:30), with 30 minutes for lunch. If you are testing participants outside of this time, we will adjust accordingly for those weeks. You are responsible for keeping your hours at the agreed amount (8 hours per day, 40 hours per week for full-time employees). To maintain full-time benefits eligibility your hours cannot drop (much) below 40; if on a given week you work substantially less than 40 hours, vacation time will be used to make up the difference (per HR policy).

Time off should be requested at least 2 weeks in advance, via email. Once approved (via email) please add to the lab calendar. You are responsible for making sure you have sufficient vacation hours to cover any time off; otherwise, you will not be paid.

Sick time should also be requested over email. Per HR policy, full-time employees are allowed up to 5 unverified sick instances per fiscal year (beyond this medical verification is required).

(Note that graduate students, postdocs, and staff scientists are given more flexibility in their hours, provided they make sufficient progress on their projects. This flexibility does not extend to other paid positions because we need to maintain a consistent lab presence for scheduling, supporting undergrads, interacting with other staff, and so on.)

Even if you speak with me in person, it is important to document these requests (and my approval) over email so that we have a record. It is your responsibility to make sure this happens.

POISLab_2026:

You don’t need to ask permission for time-off. However, it is your responsibility to get coverage for any time-bound tasks (e.g., participant tracking). Do this as far in advance as possible as a courtesy to whoever will be covering for you and at least 1 week in advance.

RichardsonLab_2026:

Take some vacation time now and then to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Some time off around Christmas and the New Year, and in the summer, is totally reasonable. If things are going well, and you’re making good progress on your projects, then you should reward yourself with additional vacation time. Generally I will leave it up to you to decide how much vacation is appropriate, but I will let you know if I think you are taking too much time off—I do expect both students and postdocs to treat their positions as fulltime jobs (2 months of vacation and no publications in a year = too much time off). If you’re going to be gone for more than a long weekend, please let me know (a calendar invite with the dates you are gone is ideal).

RossIbarraLab_2026:

We are lucky enough to work in an area where flexible working hours are the norm. In order to be able to interact with the rest of the persons in the lab, we generally expect lab members to be present the majority of normal business hours (9-5pm) during the work week, since this is when most academic activities occur. There may be times when your project requires work late at night or on the weekends, but you are not expected to regularly work more than a normal 40-hour work week. It is important that you take time off for personal life, vacations, etc. I do ask, however, that you notify me if you will be absent for ≥1 day, and let me know in advance of any extended leave.

SantiagoTiradoLab_2026:

Our policy: It is flexible, but in the absence of extraordinary situations, it is 15 business day, in addition to major university holidays (Good Friday; Memorial Day; Independence Day; Labor Day; Thanksgiving Break; and Winter Break). Regadless, anytime that you plan to take an extended time, please tell me in advance, specially in the Summer and the Winter when there are no classes, and add it to the Calendar of Freedom. Important: even if you let me know verbally, it is critical to add the time away to the Calendar of Freedom for various reasons, including that I will forget, but also to make sure there is always somebody present to keep the liquid nitrogen tank filled and receive deliveries.

Schloss_2026:

Eligible for 22 days of paid vacation per year in addition to holidays and season days

• Please let me know in advance, I’d rather not find out that you are in some exotic destination from a colleague or via social media. I have some responsibility for your safety and that’s hard to do if I don’t know where you are
• Don’t tell me you are going on vacation, ask me if it’s ok. Invariably, I will say, “yes”. But if vacations become too frequent given your work commitments and progress, we may need to have a longer discussion
• Please put when you will be away on the lab Google calendar

SilvermanLab_2026:

I ask that when a graduate student is planning to be away from lab for several days or more, especially on days when the graduate student would otherwise ordinarily be present in lab, whenever possible please notify me in advance. It is most helpful to do so in the form of notifying me, “For my time off, I’m planning that my last full day in lab will be <date 1>, and my first full day back in lab will be <date 2>”. Among other considerations, such advance notice is helpful for (a) ensuring continuity in your research plans, and (b) informing our subsequent discussions about how other lab members, e.g., undergraduates, will be mentored during your absence.

SnyderGroup_2026:

Ben will not track the hours you work. He expects that you will know when to work hard. He also expects that there will be times for decompressing, where the pace of things slows down a bit. In the end, you may have some fantastically productive 30-hour weeks, and some frustratingly unproductive 80-hour weeks. A minimum expectation is that you are present in lab during most of the regular working hours (9:00 AM – 5:00 PM). This will maximize your chance of having insightful discussions with your colleagues and helps ensure a safe working environment (working late into the night in lab and working alone in lab that have safety risks associated with them are both strongly discouraged). What you do beyond that is up to you. Do not overextend yourself, however. Ben is of the firm belief that working 65+ hour weeks is unsustainable.

SweedlerLab_2026:

Everyone needs time off. I follow the Chemistry PTO policy but also do not track time off. For those on TA or taking courses, you need to arrange the time off considering those jobs / duties. Within the group, a good rule of thumb is an average of two days per month of vacation, plus sick leave and university staff holidays. However, please follow your own departments / programs rules. After all, the Chemistry PTO policy is not the same as MCB or NSP policy. The group does have one hard rule: if you will not be reachable / in the lab for two or more days, please send me an email with details (when you will be gone, and if possible, an emergency contact). We have had issues in the past where we needed to contact someone on vacation because of important paperwork, safety or other issues, but this has been really rare. In terms of leaving for health, doctor’s appointments, or taking off early because of a visitor, I do not track these events nor do I need to know such details.

UofSCExerciseOncologyLab_2026:

At minimum, we need a 10-day notice for planned trips. This is so a) we can get coverage if necessary and b) we know when team members are out, so we don’t plan important meetings in their absence. Considering a last minute trip? These are the BEST. The only thing I ask is that you chat to me and we can decide together if/how we can make this work.

VuraWeisLab_2026:

Before taking vacation, the student should notify the PI of their absence a reasonable time beforehand. 2.5 times the duration of the vacation is a good rule of thumb (e.g. if taking a month off, give at least two 2.5 months’ notice; if taking 2 days off, give at least a week’s notice). This helps the group with long-term planning and lets Josh plan ahead if there is a grant renewal due while you are gone.

WebbGroup_2026:

A reasonable baseline number might be averaging ~50 hours/week; this requires pretty consistent effort throughout the week but also affords quality time for other activities. Ideally, this is not a slog for you because you like what you are working on! If it is, then we may want to discuss what we can do about that situation. Some people can work more; some can manage with less. It is important to have some time for rest/leisure/extracurricular activities/hobbies/relationships, and so, generally, it is not advisable to work significantly more than 60 hours/week. You should also be cognizant of burnout and whether you are really being productive during the time that you are investing.