Effective Date: July 2026 · Last reviewed: July 2026

Purpose and Status of This Document

This document sets out how the Dutton Lab works: what members can expect from the laboratory, what the laboratory expects from members, and what happens when something goes wrong. It covers everyone in the laboratory: the Principal Investigator and any other faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, undergraduate researchers, staff, visiting scholars, and field team members.

This document is drafted with the whole group, revised on a schedule, and kept consistent with institutional policy.9,5

Each role-specific section below states what the mentee owes and what the mentor owes.5

Mentoring Philosophy

Mentorship improves retention, including for women, first-generation students, and students from historically underrepresented groups. Fewer than half of undergraduate faculty believe their institution considers mentoring in promotion review, and only about a fifth of undergraduate science and engineering majors strongly agree that they had a mentor.1

The Principal Investigator commits to every member: scheduled meetings that are not cancelled by default; feedback on written work; assessment of progress, including when it is not going well; advocacy in the form of letters, introductions, and nominations; support for career paths outside academia without penalty; and mentor training on the PI’s own part, including cultural humility and implicit bias.1,8

Expectations by Role

Postdoctoral researchers

Development is structured against the six National Postdoctoral Association Core Competencies: discipline-specific conceptual knowledge, research skill development, communication skills, professionalism, leadership and management, and responsible conduct of research.7

Postdocs maintain an Individual Development Plan, reviewed annually. UF’s IDP requirement is written for PhD students, so for postdocs this is a lab expectation rather than a university one; the UF Graduate School templates are used.32 Postdocs are expected to develop independent research directions, mentor junior members, and lead manuscripts. The laboratory commits to protected time for independent work, support for fellowship and faculty applications, and discussion of job market conditions. UF’s Office of Postdoctoral Affairs coordinates appointment, benefits, visa policy, and professional development, and supports the UF Postdoctoral Association.7,23

Graduate students

Doctoral and master’s students are expected to know their programme’s regulations, which are their responsibility under UF Graduate School rules including supervisory committee requirements and the 3.00 GPA standard.22

UF requires an Individual Development Plan for every PhD student, and has since 2017. It must be revised every year. Use the UF Graduate School templates: there is a Year 1 template and a separate one for Year 2 onwards. We review yours annually together. Master’s students are not covered by the UF requirement but may use the same templates.32

UF points STEM students to myIDP as a supplementary tool. Separately, NIH encourages but does not require IDPs; what NIH requires is that the Research Performance Progress Report describe whether and how they are used, and the plans themselves are not submitted.2,3,4

Undergraduate researchers

Weekly hours, expected duration of involvement, and dissemination goals are set in writing at the start. Duties progress from supporting an existing project to leading one. Every undergraduate completes responsible conduct of research instruction.8

Field team members

Field operations in Kenya are run by Soiyou Adventures, whose staff are employed by that company under Kenyan law rather than by UF. Their credit is governed by the Collaboration and Authorship Policy on the same terms as anyone else, and the conduct expectations in this document govern how we work with them. Because UF’s formal complaint channels are not open to non-UF personnel, the binding no-retaliation and conduct terms sit in our contract with Soiyou.

Meetings and Communication

The laboratory holds a standing lab meeting and a journal club, and the PI holds individual meetings with each member. Cadence is set at the start of each semester and posted. Scheduled meetings are not displaced by travel.

There is no expectation of after-hours or weekend response. Messages sent outside working hours do not carry an implied deadline. During field seasons, coverage and response expectations are set explicitly in the pre-departure meeting. Those expectations include a guaranteed rest day each week and uninterrupted sleep hours. Where a season would necessarily exceed an appointment’s FTE cap, the reconciliation (comp time on return, a temporary FTE increase, or supplemental pay) is agreed with UF HR before departure.

Hours, Leave, and Wellbeing

Graduate assistant workload is governed by the collective bargaining agreement between the UF Board of Trustees and Graduate Assistants United. A 0.50 FTE appointment means an average of no more than 20 hours per week; 0.33 FTE means no more than 13.3 hours; 0.25 FTE means no more than 10 hours. The agreement also provides five days of paid personal leave per semester appointment and six weeks of unpaid parental or medical leave per twelve months, with continued University health premium contributions and the right to return to the same or a similar position.27,28

The most recent agreement posted by UF Human Resources is the 2021 to 2023 contract and is nominally expired, with no successor posted. The laboratory treats those workload and leave terms as the operative floor. Confirm current entitlements with UF HR or GAU.27

Beyond the contractual floor, standard working hours, weekends, and vacation are respected, and schedule autonomy is preferred over mandated hours, against the background of a documented mental health crisis in graduate education.6,26

Working in person

Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers are expected to work in the laboratory rather than from home. UF directed a full return to in-person work for employees on remote or hybrid arrangements in July 2025, with a deadline of 25 August 2025, and any exception requires written approval from the Vice President of Human Resources rather than an informal understanding with the PI.30,31

The laboratory’s own reason is that in-person work supports collaboration, informal review of results before they reach a manuscript, and training of junior members.

Fieldwork, conferences, teaching, illness, and travel are not working from home. Remote arrangements are approved through UF’s process. Where remote or hybrid work is sought as a disability accommodation, it goes to the UF ADA office, never through the PI’s discretion. See Accommodations below.30

Undergraduate researchers: terms

Undergraduate involvement is on one of three bases, stated in writing before starting: paid hourly, course credit, or volunteer. Whichever applies, a maximum weekly hours figure is agreed at the outset, hours above it are neither expected nor a condition of a letter of recommendation, exam periods and illness reduce hours without penalty, and no undergraduate is asked to incur an unreimbursed cost.

Accommodations

Any member may request an adjustment to laboratory or field work. Requests go through UF’s Disability Resource Center or ADA coordinator rather than being decided informally in the laboratory, and may be raised with the Department Chair rather than the PI. Where a physical requirement exists, such as the swim-competency check in the Field Safety and Travel Policy, field roles are redesigned around the requirement rather than the member being excluded. Non-water field roles are available in every season.

Routes Outside the Laboratory

Several policies route a decision or a contact to the Department Chair because the Principal Investigator cannot fairly decide a matter in which they are a party. The PI is responsible for confirming with the Chair, annually, that these routes are accepted, and for naming the current Chair and an alternate in the laboratory onboarding pack. Where the Chair declines or does not respond within ten working days, the matter goes to the College Dean. Harassment matters go to the Title IX Office rather than to the Ombuds, for the reason given below.

Culture and Psychological Safety

Psychological safety is a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. It is a measured construct that predicts team learning behaviour and, through it, performance.11

Mistakes and failed experiments are reported early and without penalty; rejection and failure are discussed at lab meeting; and disagreement with the PI is expected and protected. If you think an analysis is wrong, say so, including when it is the PI’s analysis.6,10

Members hold named roles in maintaining this culture: onboarding help for new members, skill-sharing sessions, and peer mentoring.10

We follow the Ecological Society of America Code of Ethics, whose provisions on general conduct, professional practice, and publication apply, including the obligations to minimise harm to ecosystems and to engage with local communities.12

Harassment, Discrimination, and Reporting

Organizational climate is the strongest predictor of sexual harassment, and legal-compliance-driven training does not reduce it.13

Fewer than half of surveyed researchers recalled ever encountering a code of conduct at a field site. The evidence and the resulting controls are set out in the Field Safety and Travel Policy, which requires a signed field code of conduct before every deployment.15

Protected categories. UF Regulation 1.006 prohibits discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, creed, colour, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations, genetic information, and veteran status.19

Mandatory reporting. Under UF Policy 5-003, every UF employee who receives information about, observes, or suspects prohibited conduct must promptly report it to the Title IX Office. UF operates no “responsible employee” tier, so the Principal Investigator, laboratory staff, and graduate assistants are all covered. This obligation is set by UF and cannot be waived by the laboratory. You are not required to report conduct you experienced yourself.29

The Ombuds is not a confidential route for harassment. UF’s Ombuds holds communications in confidence except where there is imminent risk of serious harm or in cases involving sexual harassment. The Ombuds is available for supervision disputes, workload, and interpersonal conflict.18,14

Confidential support comes from UF’s designated Confidential Resources, defined in Policy 5-003 as employees whose official responsibilities include providing mental health counselling and who are not obliged to report to the Title IX Coordinator.29

Formal routes, none of which require you to raise the matter with the PI first: the UF Title IX Office (titleix@ufl.edu, 352-273-1400, report.ufl.edu); UF Regulation 1.0063 for academic personnel and staff; UF Regulation 4.012 for student grievances, which carries appeal deadlines; and, for graduate assistants, the grievance article of the collective bargaining agreement.17,20,21,27

Retaliation against anyone who raises a concern, in any of these channels or informally within the laboratory, is itself a violation of this policy.

Research Integrity

UF defines research misconduct as fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results, requiring a significant departure from accepted practices and proved by a preponderance of the evidence.24

All faculty, staff, and students must promptly report observed or suspected research misconduct. The named route is the UF Research Integrity Officer, Cassandra C. Farley, or Deputy Research Integrity Officer, Amber Moore, at RIO@research.ufl.edu or 352-392-9174. An anonymous alternative is the UF Compliance Hotline at 877-556-5356.24,25

Notebook discipline, version control, and data retention are governed by the Data and Code Management Policy.

Authorship and Credit

Authorship is governed by the Collaboration and Authorship Policy and awarded on contribution. Consistent with ESA publication standards: authorship requires substantial contribution; the author list is not changed without the consent of those affected; all coauthors approve the final manuscript; work is not submitted to more than one journal at a time; and post-submission errors are corrected promptly.12,6

Instrument use in this laboratory is logged through the equipment scheduling application. Those records are one input among several and are never the sole basis for a contribution determination, since they record only bench time on Gainesville instruments and do not record analysis, writing, study design, or fieldwork. They are not used for employment, hours, or performance purposes.

International Collaboration

Members working on the Kenya programme are expected to follow equitable partnership practice: co-developed research agendas, authorship for local intellectual contributions, use of local infrastructure and local sample processing where feasible, local specimen deposition, compliance with local law and permitting, an explicit capacity-building component, and dissemination back to local audiences in open access. These are set out in full in the International Research Partnership Policy.16,12

Onboarding and Departure

New members receive this document, the other laboratory policies, a safety orientation, and an assigned peer contact in their first week. Departing members complete the offboarding checklist in the Data and Code Management Policy, covering data custody, repository transfer, and notebook disposition, and the authorship provisions for departing authors in the Collaboration and Authorship Policy.

Review

This document is reviewed annually with the whole laboratory, and amended by agreement rather than by unilateral revision.

Policy Acknowledgment

Please print and sign if hard copy is required, or confirm via email.

Member Name (print): _______________

Member Signature: _____________
**Date:** ________

Principal Investigator Signature: _____________
**Date:** ________

Member Acknowledgment: All laboratory members must read and acknowledge this document upon joining the laboratory and annually thereafter.

References

  1. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM. Dahlberg ML, Byars-Winston A, editors. The National Academies Press, Washington DC, 2019. DOI: 10.17226/25568.
  2. National Institutes of Health. Revised Policy: Descriptions on the Use of Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Researchers Required in Annual Progress Reports (NOT-OD-14-113). 2014.
  3. National Institutes of Health. NIH Encourages Institutions to Develop Individual Development Plans for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Researchers (NOT-OD-13-093). 2013.
  4. AAAS and Science Careers. myIDP: Individual Development Plan. Built on the framework proposed by FASEB in 2003.
  5. Masters KS, Kreeger PK. Ten simple rules for developing a mentor-mentee expectations document. PLOS Computational Biology. 2017;13(9):e1005709.
  6. Maestre FT. Ten simple rules towards healthier research labs. PLOS Computational Biology. 2019;15(4):e1006914.
  7. National Postdoctoral Association. NPA Core Competencies (PDF). September 2022 revision.
  8. Council on Undergraduate Research. Characteristics of Excellence in Undergraduate Research (COEUR) 2.0 (PDF). 2nd edition, 2024.
  9. Tendler BC, Welland M, Miller KL, The WIN Handbook Team. Research Culture: Why every lab needs a handbook. eLife. 2023;12:e88853.
  10. Rillig MC. Ten simple rules for how you can help make your lab a better place as a graduate student or postdoc. PLOS Computational Biology. 2022;18(12):e1010673.
  11. Edmondson A. Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly. 1999;44(2):350-383.
  12. Ecological Society of America. Code of Ethics for the Ecological Society of America (PDF). As amended May 2021.
  13. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Benya FF, Widnall SE, Johnson PA, editors. The National Academies Press, Washington DC, 2018. DOI: 10.17226/24994.
  14. International Ombuds Association. IOA Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics. Standards of Practice, 2022 revision.
  15. Clancy KBH, Nelson RG, Rutherford JN, Hinde K. Survey of Academic Field Experiences (SAFE): Trainees Report Harassment and Assault. PLOS ONE. 2014;9(7):e102172.
  16. Haelewaters D, Hofmann TA, Romero-Olivares AL. Ten simple rules for Global North researchers to stop perpetuating helicopter research in the Global South. PLOS Computational Biology. 2021;17(8):e1009277.
  17. University of Florida. Title IX Office. titleix@ufl.edu, 352-273-1400.
  18. University of Florida. Office of the Ombuds. 352-392-1308.
  19. University of Florida. Regulation 1.006: Non-Discrimination, Harassment, and Invasion of Privacy Policies. Amended 28 March 2025.
  20. University of Florida. Regulation 1.0063: Affirmative Action; Complaints and Appeal Procedures for Academic Personnel and TEAMS Staff Members. Amended 28 March 2025.
  21. University of Florida. Regulation 4.012: Student Grievance Procedure.
  22. University of Florida Graduate School. Graduate Academic Regulations. 2025-2026 Graduate Catalog.
  23. University of Florida. Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. postdoc-affairs@ufl.edu.
  24. University of Florida. UF Research Integrity Policy (Policy 14-004). Effective 27 August 2020; substantively amended 24 March 2026.
  25. University of Florida Research Integrity, Security and Compliance. Research Misconduct. RIO@research.ufl.edu, 352-392-9174; UF Compliance Hotline 877-556-5356.
  26. Evans TM, Bira L, Beltran Gastelum J, Weiss LT, Vanderford NL. Evidence for a mental health crisis in graduate education. Nature Biotechnology. 2018;36(3):282-284.
  27. University of Florida Human Resources. Agreement Between University of Florida Board of Trustees and Graduate Assistants United / United Faculty of Florida, 2021-2023. See Articles 7.1, 8.2, 8.3 and 22.
  28. University of Florida Graduate School. Graduate Assistants.
  29. University of Florida. Title IX Policy (Policy 5-003). See Sections 5.5, 5.8 and 6.1.
  30. University of Florida Human Resources. Return to Workplace. Full in-person work required by 25 August 2025 unless an extension or exception is approved in writing by the Vice President of Human Resources; disability accommodation requests route to the UF ADA office.
  31. University of Florida. Full Return to Workplace. Statement of 24 July 2025 directing a full return to in-person work over the following 30 days.
  32. University of Florida Graduate School. Individual Development Plans. Required of all PhD students since 2017 and revised annually; Year 1 and Years 2+ templates provided.