Before you meet, spend around 60-90 minutes in total engaging with the resources below. There are some lengthy papers so you do not need to read everything in full. Instead, scan, dip into sections, and focus on what feels most interesting or relevant to you.

Try to engage with at least three resources from the selection below.

As you engage, the aim is not to master everything, but to notice what they prompt you to think about in relation to your own research group or lab.

Resource 1: Build a research group culture that is open, collaborative, and intellectually rigorous

What rules are already running in your group?

As you engage, notice:

• What kind of intellectual and interpersonal environment you are trying to create (or have created) in your group
• What “rules of thumb” (explicit or implicit) seem to shape how your group operates? (e.g. how people collaborate, challenge ideas, make decisions, or share responsibility)
• Where your current culture feels deliberate versus where it may have emerged by default
• What small practices (e.g. meetings, habits, expectations) could be currently shaping your lab more than you realise“Have we actually said the important things out loud?”

Resource 2: Create a group charter or lab handbook

As you reflect, notice:

• Which expectations, values, or ways of working in your group are currently implicit rather than explicit
• Where lack of clarity may be creating inconsistency, hidden work, or misunderstanding
• What it might look like to involve your team in shaping shared expectations

Resource 3: Plan an effective induction to your lab

As you engage, notice:

• What new starters are currently learning about “how things work” in your group (explicitly or implicitly)
• What you assume people will pick up that might need to be made clearer
• How consistent the experience is across different members of your team

Resource 4: Learn from research exemplars: lab management practices

As you reflect, notice:

• Which practices you already use, and how consistently
• Where lack of clarity around roles, responsibilities, or expectations may be creating friction
• Which examples feel most transferable to your own context

Resource 5: Understand your group culture

As you engage, notice:

• How you currently know what it feels like to be part of your group
• What signals or feedback you rely on, and how reliable they are
• What you might learn if you actively sought different perspectives from your team

Resource 6 (optional): Know the landscape: concordats, charters and commitments

This is a light-touch orientation resource.

As you skim, notice:

• Which of these frameworks are most relevant to your role
• How their principles are reflected (or not) in your current group environment
• Where you may need to better align or signpost support for your team

Resource 7 (optional): Overview of leadership and management advice and tools

This is a large resource. If helpful, dip into one section that feels most relevant (e.g. building a team, creating an inclusive environment, or managing performance).

As you engage, notice:

• Which areas feel most developed in your current practice
• Which areas you tend to avoid or feel less confident about

As you review these resources, you may find it helpful to keep your current or planned research group in mind, and to use the tools as prompts to think, rather than templates to implement.

The structure below is held collectively by the group. You may choose to rotate who keeps an eye on time or simply move together through the stages.

1. Arrival and framing (5–10 minutes)

• Brief reminder of purpose: learning from different perspectives
• No pressure to have implemented anything yet
• Agreement on confidentiality and respect
• An explicit intention that everyone will have space to speak

2. Resource reflections and shared learning (30–40 minutes)

A simple round:

• One insight that landed “What stayed with you most in relation to your research group or lab?”
• One insight that challenged or puzzled you

Pay attention to differences in how you engaged with the materials. The aim is collective sense-making, not consensus. Encourage one another to ask: “What did you take from this that I didn’t?”

3. Coaching-style reflection: so what? (20–30 minutes)

Each participant shares:

• One thing I will do differently in how I shape my lab environment
• One thing I am still unsure about
• One thing I might explore next (information, support, or advice)

Peers respond with curiosity rather than solutions:

• “What is important about that?”
• “What would help you to get more clarity?”
• “What would be different in your group in a year’s time if you made this change?”

4. Closing and commitments (5–10 minutes)

Each person is invited to name:

• One small change you will make in how you shape your group environment

Optional:

• Who else they might speak to or involve in this – what can they delegate?
• What conversations they might need to initiate
• What might get in the way, and how they could navigate that

This can be very light-touch and self-directed. Possible options include:

• A personal note to self
• A follow-up peer conversation
• Trying one small change in your group and observing what happens
• Exploring another relevant resource
• Bringing a question to a mentor or senior colleague

No reporting is required unless the wider programme explicitly asks for it.