Hans Ng, a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Goriely Lab, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, reflects on the process of writing a lab handbook
It is the first day in a new lab and you have a few orientation and induction programmes to attend. Your PI, or a senior lab member, shows you around the building and the lab space. Very quickly, you are settled into the lab and start working on your project and getting to know your lab mates. However, you feel overwhelmed by the wealth of new information, and you wonder why things are done in a particular way in the lab.
It's likely that everyone feels something like this when joining a new lab, where there are unspoken rules and it can be confusing for new members. However, a written lab handbook can provide clarity regarding rules and expectations.
Back in July 2024, some members of the Goriely Lab attended a lab handbook workshop delivered by Maddie Welland at the MRC WIMM. (Maddie is one of the authors of a paper about 'Why every lab needs a handbook' – and she will be presenting on this at RDM Day on 17 March 2025.) After the workshop, we were inspired to write a lab handbook that is tailored for our lab.
Using the template provided by Maddie, we were able to get the discussion going and then start to write up the key points in a lab handbook. At the start of our lab meetings we would have 30-minute discussions focusing on one or two themes, where everyone has an opportunity to voice their opinions. Themes that lab members brought up included: roles and expectations; organisational structure within the lab; how members of the lab interact with each other; new starter information (i.e. where is the cafe and the bathrooms); research culture and conduct within and outside the lab; working hours; career development and collaborations; social interactions.
Through these discussions, everyone came to a consensus that we would like to create a pleasant lab environment, where we treat each other with respect, and enjoy coming into the lab with a smile.
We felt that the lab handbook would help new starters feel welcomed into the lab and that it would be useful for them to be able to refer back to the document when required. We agreed that new starters should read through the document at least once in the first month of joining the lab. We also decided to add a "Too long; didn't read (TL;DR)" summary of key points at the end of each section.
As one of the drivers of this initiative, I have taken notes from these discussions and am currently drafting a handbook for the lab. Through the writing process, I have drawn inspiration from resources provided by Maddie, as well as a digital lab handbook written by the Laskowski lab. The Laskowski lab handbook is written in a friendly, but firm tone that does not sound too dominating. I highly recommend that anyone writing a lab handbook should read this document.
As the lab handbook is a team effort, once a draft is pieced together, everyone will provide their feedback and refine the document. Once the lab handbook is completed, it will go through iterations through the years with new lab members tailoring it to suit their requirements.
We hope that this blog post inspires you to write a lab handbook suited to your lab and importantly, have open discussions to create a conducive research environment.
