The purpose of defining these lab values is to ground and guide our research projects and practices*. These values are expected to evolve as new lab members join and contribute.
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humanity - We approach science as whole people; we each have lived experiences, belong to communities, have different motivations and commitments, and carry our own personal and professional goals. All of these aspects of our humanity are valued by our lab community. humility - If our collective goal as scientists is to learn about the world around us, then humility is essential. Humility means acknowledging that you can’t know everything or do everything perfectly, and that you’ll often need help or support from others. As a lab community, humility helps us work together to achieve our goals by ensuring that we request/give patience, help, etc when needed. intentionality - Building a community that works together takes effort. If we commit to giving our best, upholding lab values, and remaining open and eager to grow from our experiences, then we’ll develop deeper connections as a lab community and be able to do our best work. |
Together, these three values build toward an acknowledgment of our positionality – the different aspects of our identities, communities, motivations, and goals – and that we must continually reflect on how our positionality impacts our work, from the questions we ask to our research practices.
When we acknowledge that science is shaped by our positionality, it follows that:
science isn’t objective
science is political
science has social impact
In the lab we strive to keep these acknowledgments present in our day-to-day, and work together to engage with our positionalities and values in conjunction with our research and other roles as scientists.
* The approach of building a lab community around core values was directly influenced by CLEAR Lab's work, as well as many discussions with friends/colleagues (Drs. Shane DuBay, Natalia Piland, JC Buckner, Yan Wang, and Sama Ahmed), and readings like the ones below.
When we acknowledge that science is shaped by our positionality, it follows that:
science isn’t objective
science is political
science has social impact
In the lab we strive to keep these acknowledgments present in our day-to-day, and work together to engage with our positionalities and values in conjunction with our research and other roles as scientists.
* The approach of building a lab community around core values was directly influenced by CLEAR Lab's work, as well as many discussions with friends/colleagues (Drs. Shane DuBay, Natalia Piland, JC Buckner, Yan Wang, and Sama Ahmed), and readings like the ones below.
The following readings have been central to the development of these ideas, and are highly recommended!
Pollution is Colonialism
by Max Liboiron |
Sex Itself: The Search for Male and Female in the Human Genome
by Sarah S. Richardson |
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