Welcome to the Computational Ecology Research Group!

In this lab, we study a variety of habitats, taxa and processes, with the core elements of using data, math and computational techniques to gain better understanding of ecological systems.

We are committed to applying what we learn to making the world a better place — by supporting sustainability and productivity in working ecosystems, by making the work we do accessible to the broader community, and by drawing in diverse viewpoints to enhance mutual understanding of science, scientists, and the needs of the world.

We believe that “science” is one way of learning about the world, alongside art, imagination, intuition, faith, vibes, …. We know there is value in pretending that the world can be simplified to mathematics or code, but we know these constructs are not truths.

We believe that curiosity-driven research can lead to actionable science, if it is used to generate questions, not give answers.

We believe that algorithms cannot be trusted to make decisions on behalf of people. We subscribe to the principles outlined in the Montréal Declaration for a Responsible Development of Artifical Intelligence.

Our commitments to our community

Science is hard, and the work of making sure science isn’t harder than it needs to be is on all of us. We create our culture, and our culture is inclusive. This document serves both as a statement of our values and as our code of conduct; the means and the ends are the same.

We value the participation of every member of our community. We want to ensure an that every lab member and collaborator has a positive, educational experience unhindered by unneccesary challenges caused by non-inclusive behavior. Accordingly, everyone who participates in any group project is expected to show respect and courtesy to other community members at all times.

Timothée Poisot, as head of the research group, and all group members, are dedicated to a harassment and discrimination-free experience for everyone. Unacceptable behavior includes offensive verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of discussions, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention. We do not tolerate harassment or discrimination by and/or of members of our community in any form.

We are particularly motivated to support new and/or anxious collaborators, people who are looking to learn and develop their skills, and anyone who has experienced discrimination in the past, while respecting personal boundaries.

To make clear what is expected, we ask all members of the community to conform to the following Code of Conduct.

• Be kind to yourself. Be mindful of your limits, and do not exhaust yourself. Ask for help.

• Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other contributors.

• Be kind whenever possible.

• Behave professionally. Remember that harassment and sexist, racist, or exclusionary jokes are not appropriate.

• Work towards making an inclusive environment for everyone. Give everyone a chance to talk and an opportunity to contribute.

• All communication - online and in person - should be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds. Sexual or discriminatory language and imagery is not appropriate at any time.

• Watch out for microaggressions. Be aware that your actions can be hurtful to others or contribute to a negative environment even if you had no intent of harm. Listen. Offer a genuine apology. Commit to learning and doing better.

• Your work in this lab may be publicly available and recorded permanently on github. Please conduct yourself accordingly.

• Remember that research developed within the lab, especially when it involves multiple lab members, is a collective good, and that using it for spin-off ideas must have explicit consent of all persons involved.

Our commitments to open science

First and foremost, we are an open science lab. There are several major facets to this, but the core is: the way this lab operates is grounded in Timothée’s personal belief that participation in science is a public act, and done in the public good. Science allows us to be part of something bigger, and to foster a healthy, collaborative and truly inclusive scientific enterprise, it’s essential that we give back at least as much as we take from the community.

We could get down into the weeds about specific tools and techniques that we use in our open science infrastructure here, but those tools are used to support these values, they themselves are not the values.

What we commit to do, as open scientists, is:

• Do no harm.

• Make supporting research data freely available whenever possible, to support future use in meta-analyses, reviews, and revisitations of our work.

• Respect privacy and confidentiality in cases where data or research products contain sensitive information.

• Produce and share reproducible, re-usable data manipulation and analysis code, so people can understand our assumptions and workflows, and so future scientists can learn from our efforts without duplicating them.

• Publish final manuscripts AND intermediate research products in the most accessible formats available to us.

• Seek out expertise from conventional and unconventional stakeholders in our work. Invite comment and participation. Welcome feedback.

• Provide, a minima, the following territorial acknowledgment: “We acknowledge that this study was conducted on land within the traditional unceded territory of the Saint Lawrence Iroquoian, Anishinabewaki, Mohawk, Huron-Wendat, and Omàmiwininiwak nations”.

• Acknowledge contributions to our work, and cite the ideas of others. Don’t pretend we work in a vacuum.

• Act as ambassadors of open science, and science in general, to the broader scientific community and the world. Help people see what we do, but respect the constraints others must work under.

A specific note on apologies

Academia is rife with expectations that one will spend most of their time working on research, stemming from (unjust) power hierarchies. This can give the impression that apologies are required when life happens. Health issues, family obligations, existential dread because of climate change and ongoing pandemic(s), are a handful of factors that will delay the progress of projects.

The truth is, very few of the delays in research projects are due to faults, and therefore do not need apologies. The only questions worth asking when faced with a difficult situation are:

• Do you need access to specific ressources?

• Are there things I, as an advisor, can do to help you?

• Are there things we, as a collective, can do to help you?

Finally, never apologize for being confused: confusion is a state of being, not an act. Confusion is almost always a consequence of inefficient communication, and can be dispelled by better communication.

Flexible working hours

This sentence is stolen from Bastian Greshake’s email footer and forms the basis of our policy on flexible working:

While I may be sending this email outside my normal office hours, I have no expectation to receive a reply outside yours.

The hours that members of the lab choose to work is up to them. We are each welcome to send work-related messages on the various communication platforms we use, or submit pull requests over the weekend or late at night, but no lab members are required to reply to them outside of their typical work hours.

Lab members are welcome to work flexibly for any reason, this includes working remotely. All lab members are encouraged to attend our weekly lab meeting (which can be done remotely) and to participate to any lab activities. Our assumption is that every member is already self-motivated and may choose to deviate from a traditional 9 to 5 day in order to meet our collective goals.