Leadership

Increasing breadth and depth of research leadership and management expertise.

Example Promising Practices

• Consider undertaking formal training in research team management and research project management.
• Supervisors should work on developing inclusive leadership skills, to ensure research team members feel valued for their unique perspectives, skills, and backgrounds
• Supervisors can consider undertaking training in the fundamentals of management and leadership and skills available via the Centre for Learning, Leadership & Culture and LinkedIn Learning (for staff and faculty).
• Supervisors and their research teams should consider developing a structured onboarding process for new team members. Consider using the SGS Checklists for students and supervisors as a starting point.
• Consider creating a “handbook” that details your supervisory or mentorship philosophy, information about the ways your team works, and links to other relevant policies, Standard Operating Procedures, and required reading. Consider making public the content that would be relevant to prospective team members. Examples and further reading are linked from the Royal Society of Biology and in this eLife article.
• Supervisors and trainees should discuss available funding, including the amount, duration, and how funding is allocated equitably among projects and team members.
• Supervisors should discuss contracts with team members to ensure they are familiar with the details of their contract and the implications for duties, hours of work, and work conditions.
• All team members should be aware of and adhere to the guidelines, policies, and procedures in place in their home unit, SGS, VPRI, and the broader University.

Equity and Belonging

Fostering a welcoming, respectful, and fair research community.

Example Promising Practices

• Explicitly state your commitment to equitable practices (for example, in your handbook, onboarding process, website) to help ensure trainees are given equitable attention and opportunities
• Consider using group meeting time to discuss how the team can engage in more equitable and inclusive working practices at least once annually
• Read and use meeting time to discuss existing EDI recommendations and resources (for example, from U of T, from funders)
• All team members should undertake required AODA training and adhere to accessibility requirements. More information about accessibility at U of T is available here. If working in a lab environment, consider implementing best practices for accessible science labs from NEADS.
• All team members can undertake training on unconscious bias, for example, U of T’s online modules, CIHR’s online module.
• All team members can complete the online sexual violence education and prevention module, and consider additional training from the Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Office.
• All team members should be encouraged to undertake other training related to EDI, including training from the Sexual & Gender Diversity Office, the Anti-Racism & Cultural Diversity Office, the Family Care Office, and the Office of Indigenous Initiatives.  
• Consider developing and maintaining a public team EDI statement, lab values statement, statement of community, social contract, or mission statement.
• Engage in good practices when recruiting and hiring diverse trainees (see more from SSHRC and the CRC program)
• When planning meetings, events, or conferences, consider accessibility and inclusivity at every stage. Resources and checklists to use as a starting point are available with a focus on accessibility from UTM Accessibility Services, the Council of Ontario Universities, and with additional inclusion considerations and usefultools from other institutions. Information on the Land Acknowledgment protocol for use at University events is available here.

Group Collaboration

Enhancing the collaborative spirit of our research environments.

Example Promising Practices

• Encourage collaboration rather than competition within the research team and with members of other research teams
• Hold regular team meetings and encourage team members to discuss their projects with one another. Discuss the overall objectives of the team and how each person’s work contributes to these objectives.
• Research teams should celebrate joint achievements such as collaborative applications for funding and joint publications, as well as any individual achievements.
• Prospective research team members should have a chance to meet current lab members or alumni during interview processes.
• Supervisors should play an active role in conflict resolution and ensure trainees are aware of the various pathways to resolve disputes, including the SGS Conflict Resolution in Graduate Studies Guide and the Centre for Graduate Mentorship and Supervision
• Supervisors should model and promote collegial behaviour such as nominating trainees and collaborators for awards, including trainees as co-applicants on grant proposals where appropriate, and using the CRediT taxonomy to fairly assign credit in publications. If someone has contributed but does not meet the standards for authorship, make use of the acknowledgment section to credit their contribution.
• All team members should ensure they are familiar with the University’s civility guideline.

Professional Development

Increasing capacity to meet trainee professional development needs for diverse careers. 

Example Promising Practices

• Supervisors should promote professional development opportunities to research team members for a variety of career paths. This can include offerings from the Centre for Learning, Leadership, and Culture for staff, and the Centre for Graduate Professional Development and the Graduate Centre for Academic Communication for graduate students, as well as the Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation, and the Centre for Research Support and Innovation. Support team members taking time for professional development activities.
• Team members can create an Individual Development Plan or Career Development Plan with their supervisor, and update this plan annually. Example templates, processes, and other resources are available from CIHR, Vitae, and AAAS, from ImaginePhD for humanities and social sciences, and from several other educational institutions.
• Supervisors should encourage trainees to discuss their career goals with more than one mentor, for example, a supervisory committee member other than the primary supervisor, a collaborator, or someone who works outside academia.
• Supervisors can consider adding a team alumni section to their website, including alumni destinations within and beyond academia; alumni can help trainees network and prepare for diverse careers.
• Teams should engage in open discussions about a range of academic and non-academic careers. Supervisors should consider stating that they are happy to discuss diverse career paths in their handbook, mentorship philosophy, or website. Explore the 10,000 PhDs Project at SGS, The Humanities PhD Project, and be aware of resources for non-academic career searches, for example from UTM and CAGS.
• Supervisors should encourage trainees with teaching responsibility to take the University’s TA Training Program and other training through the Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation.
• Supervisors should encourage formal and informal teaching, mentorship (see also here as well as resources for U of T programs for staff), networking, and supervision opportunities for eligible team members.
• Encourage good citizenship, such as committee service, outreach activities, public engagement, policy engagement, knowledge exchange, and service to the broader University and community. Celebrate achievements in these areas in the same way research achievements are celebrated.
• Commit to fostering the career development of all team members, including research staff and technicians. Although designed in the UK research context, the principles of the Technician Commitment and the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers may be helpful in considering professional development needs of research and technical staff.
• Team members may wish to take part in the workshops and webinars available from the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity to support their own professional development.

Research Innovation and Integrity

Promoting research curiosity, creativity, innovation, openness, honesty, rigour, and professionalism.

Example Promising Practices

• Value and celebrate all research outputs, including journal articles, books/chapters, monographs, patents, datasets, software, code, conference publications, translations, exhibitions, performances, media, as well as knowledge exchange, impact, and engagement activities. This may also mean taking time to learn about and valuing Indigenous research methods and ways of knowing (see also the guidance from funders).
• Encourage opportunities for trainees to engage in interdisciplinary research, entrepreneurship activities, and to develop innovative research methods and new partnerships.
• Supervisors and research teams should consider ways to encourage creativity in research activities and output.
• Consider using team meeting time to discuss ways to encourage innovation in your discipline, how to approach risk-taking in scholarship and grant writing, and how to foster successful interdisciplinary initiatives.
• Research team members should be encouraged to present their work at conferences and supported to apply for funding to support conference attendance (for example, from SGS). Supervisors should ensure trainees have access to funds for at least one conference per year.
• Supervisors should create opportunities for trainees to network at conferences. This can include discussing discipline-specific norms and advice on how to network effectively, as well as introducing trainees to other researchers during conference events.
• Consider which elements of open science or open scholarship might benefit your team. Consult resources on open access publishing (including pre-print servers such as arXiv) and data repositories. Consider an open data approach where appropriate, honouring FAIR, CARE, and OCAP principles.
• All team members should engage in good data management practices. This may include creating a data management plan. Information on requirements, University policy, and supports is available via the Digital Research Infrastructure Portal.
• Discuss how to employ research metrics and evaluations responsibly, including the principles of the Declaration on Research Assessment, the Leiden Manifesto, the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment, the Hong Kong Principles for assessing researchers, and the use of Altmetrics.
• Academic rigour and research integrity should be central to research activities and celebrated by the team. This includes a positive attitude towards regulatory requirements, collaborative working with compliance bodies (e.g., Research Ethics Boards, Animal Care Committees) and completing responsible conduct of research training (see also the Tri-Agency Framework, and NIH RCR requirements).
• Team members should make their raw data available to their supervisor (or the whole team if appropriate) for review and discussion.
• The supervisor should make clear that there is no expectation of specific experimental results where relevant, and experiments should be replicated (where applicable and possible). Consider whether pre-registration of research plans might be suitable (more resources on pre-registration from U of T, OSF, and SPIRIT/SEPTRE).
• The team should establish and maintain Standard Operating Procedures that are made available to new team members when they start.
• All team members should read U of T’s resources on citation in academic writing. Take time to reflect on citation practices in your discipline and potential bias in these practices. Consider the use of ORCID iDs (more info from U of T) in publication.
• All team members should proactively disclose any potential perceived or actual conflicts of interest (e.g., industry affiliations, consulting relationships, private spinout companies, personal relationships) and put in place a management plan when needed.
• All team members should read the University’s Publication Policy, Copyright Policy and Inventions Policy. Discuss expectations and any group policies for authorship and intellectual property assignment (see also from SGS). All team members can consider completing training on intellectual property.
• Supervisors should create opportunities for trainees to be lead author on publications arising from their work, and promote fair authorship attribution, for example using the CRediT taxonomy. Encourage trainees to become familiar with authorship guidelines in their discipline (further reading available from COPE, Council of Science Editors, and ICMJE.

Supervision and Mentorship

Supporting positive supervisory and mentoring relationships that foster empowered learners. 

Example Promising Practices

• Prospective students should be provided with the SGS Graduate Supervision Guidelines, Student Edition before joining the research team, and encouraged to go through the Checklist for Students.
• Trainees should reflect on what qualities they most need or value in a prospective supervisor and mentor and have early conversations with prospective supervisors about this. There are a variety of resources on things to consider and questions to ask. Trainees can consider attending Student Life’s Mentorship & Peer Programs training such as Maximizing Mentorship, or Finding Your Own Mentor. Trainees should also be supported in their own development as mentors.
• Supervisors should adhere to the SGS Graduate Supervision Guidelines, Faculty Edition, including the Checklist for Supervisors. Take time to reflect on what good mentorship looks like, your own mentorship style, and what you expect of trainees. Further readings about different aspects of mentorship are available from the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research.
• Regular meetings (timing will vary by discipline), should be scheduled between each research team member and their supervisor. Use meeting time to discuss mutual expectations and be aware of additional considerations involved when mentoring across different cultures.
• Supervisory committee meetings should be held once a year at minimum. Between meetings there should be open communication channels between students and their supervisory committee members.
• Supervisors and trainees should mutually agree timelines for the review of and response to important documents, and any expected delays should be communicated ahead of time.
• All eligible team members can consider undertaking training on giving feedback on or responding to student writing. The Centre for Learning, Leadership & Culture also offers training on giving and receiving feedback (LLC-1094 and LLC-1047).
• Trainees and supervisors should consider attending the Developing and Maintaining a Productive Supervisory Relationship workshop at the Centre for Graduate Academic Communication, as well as Understanding Conflict & Conflict Resolution, or Having Difficult Conversations (in an Academic Context) from the Centre for Graduate Mentorship & Supervision.
• Supervisors should engage in open discussions about a range of possible careers. Consider stating that you are happy to discuss non-traditional career paths in your handbook, mentorship philosophy, or website. Explore the 10,000 PhDs Project at SGS, The Humanities PhD Project, and be aware of resources for varied career searches, for example from UTM and CAGS.
• Support trainees in job searches, for example by reviewing materials, assisting with networking, mock interviews, or job talks. Be aware of good practices for avoiding bias in reference letters (more resources here) or writing anti-racist letters of support.   
• Supervisors should support trainees spending time on training or experiences that enhance a variety of skills, including academic writing, scientific communication, teaching, leadership, and supervisory skills.
• Supervisors should consider facilitating trainee access to faculty mentors other than themselves for mentorship purposes, or encouraging additional mentorship outside of academia. Trainees may also be interested in Alumni offerings such as U of T’s hub on Ten Thousand Coffees, and other mentorship opportunities.  
• Team members should be welcome to communicate any concerns to their supervisor, and supervisors should be responsive when concerns are raised. Supervisors and students should be aware of the supports available through the SGS Centre for Graduate Mentorship and Supervision and the UTGSU.

Well-being

Prioritizing work-life balance, health and safety in the research environment, sense of belonging, and welfare.

Example Promising Practices

• Research teams should work together to establish clear and reasonable expectations regarding work-life balance, considering the diverse needs of team members.
• Supervisors should consider setting core working hours for meetings, to help accommodate people with caregiving responsibilities and other commitments. Consider the use of ‘scheduled send’ email functions or text in your email signature indicating that responses are not expected outside core working hours. Ensure you are familiar with the disconnecting from work policy, and information on working remotely.
• Supervisors should encourage team members to use vacation days (for staff) or personal time off (for graduate students).
• Aim to avoid scheduling key meetings on days that fall during important cultural celebrations or religious observations, even if they are not statutory holidays. A list of potentially relevant dates is available here.
• Supervisors should using meeting time to discuss experiences such as unfunded grants, experiments that produced unexpected results, paper rejections, and burnout, to help normalize rejection for trainees and frame ‘failures’ as opportunities for learning.
• Researchers should be aware of imposter syndrome and highlight resources and learning opportunities available to trainees.
• Supervisors should highlight University services and training related to well-being to all team members, for example from the Division of People Strategy, Equity & Culture, Student Life, and the Family Care Office.
• Supervisors and research teams should all commit to ensuring safe research practices for the group and anyone working in shared space, including maintaining up to date safety training.
• Team members can undertake the University’s Identify, Assist and Refer (IAR) training module and should be aware of other mental health resources available from the University, including Navi.
• Research team members should complete the Online Sexual Violence Prevention Education Module, and supervisors should consider attending Skills for Responding to Disclosures of Sexual Violence: Using a Trauma-Informed Approach or the online Responding to Disclosures on Campus.
• Research teams can consider planning regular group social activities or a team retreat, being mindful to choose activities that allow all team members to feel comfortable and included.
• Research teams should attend to and address sustainability concerns within the lab or research environment. Consider taking part as a team in one of the Sustainable Change Programs such as Sustainable Labs or Sustainable Offices.

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