Charter of the Restoration Ecology Group

Draft Group Charter

Welcome to the Restoration Ecology Research Group!

As the group leader, I aim to provide mentorship, training, and a supportive environment to help you grow into an independent scientist. Clear communication and aligned expectations are essential. This document outlines what you can expect from me and what I expect from you, as well as practical day-to-day guidelines for working in the lab and the field.

What you can expect from me

Scientific guidance: I will help set the main research directions and provide support to pursue it, including helping define your research topic, securing funding, maintaining field and lab protocols, and connecting you with collaborators.
Mentorship and career support: I am committed to your education, training, and career development. For PhD students, guidance will be more intensive during the first 1–2 years, gradually shifting toward independence.
Communication and feedback: I will hold regular meetings and provide timely feedback on research. For drafts of papers or theses, please allow at least two weeks for full review. Using Google Docs is preferred for collaborative editing and faster feedback. I will do my best to provide an open-door policy and respond quickly to quick questions via e-mail.
Conference participation: I will encourage and support your attendance at scientific meetings, either through lab funding or by helping you secure grants. You should never need to self-fund participation.
Safe and supportive environment: I strive to maintain a welcoming atmosphere free from harassment or toxic behavior. Please inform me immediately of any conflicts, whether in the lab, university, or at meetings, so we can resolve them together.

What I expect from you

Take ownership of your education

You are responsible for understanding and meeting the requirements of your program or scholarship. I can advise on courses, if you ask or I feel it necessary for your progress, but you must take the lead.
Maintain regular communication and keep me informed about research progress, promptly reporting any challenges, delays, or changes that may affect the progress of your work.
Meet deadlines and allow enough time for me to provide feedback before you need to submit your work.
Work toward independence: your degree depends on the quality of your work, not just time spent.
Seek professional development: communication, mentoring, teaching, and ethical standards are all part of building a successful scientific career, but research progress remains the priority.

Develop your research skills

Read scientific literature: Follow suggested papers, run literature searches, and track new publications in relevant journals (e.g., Restoration Ecology, Applied Vegetation Science). Spend time each week updating your literature, explore important references from papers you read, and follow Early View alerts and leading researchers in your field.
Keep detailed research notebooks: Record all experimental details clearly and in English to ensure your work can be reproduced by others. Include protocols, observations, measurements, and any unexpected results. Well-maintained notebooks are essential for writing papers, preparing your thesis, and they also help you track progress, avoid repeating mistakes, and develop professional habits that are valued in research careers.
Research integrity: Adhere to the principles of responsible research conduct, including accurate data recording, transparent reporting of results, proper citation of sources, and avoidance of plagiarism or data manipulation.
Improve writing and presentation skills: Draft figures before text and revise thoroughly based on discussions. Expect multiple rounds of revisions before submitting abstracts or papers. Attend at least one conference per year if possible, and participate in seminars to practice presentation and communication skills.
Accept feedback and handle failure: Feedback from reviewers, colleagues, committee members, instructors, and me is intended to improve your work. Rejections and criticism are part of scientific life and do not reflect your value. Use feedback constructively and develop resilience, viewing it as a path to growth.
Plan experiments and research carefully: Design experiments that address key questions, include appropriate controls, and manage your time efficiently. Set short-, medium-, and long-term goals, and gradually generate your own scientific ideas.
Gain international experience: Take advantage of opportunities for internships or research stays abroad where possible, provided they are professionally aligned with the group's research, your thesis, or your PhD project.
Pursue funding: Apply for fellowships, traineeships, and travel grants to support research and professional growth. Beyond financial support, proposal writing helps you reflect critically on your project.
Mentor and develop management skills: During later stages of your PhD and as a postdoc, mentor undergraduate or junior students. Mentoring helps your research progress and supports your professional development as a supervisor.

Contribute to the group

Pay it forward: Senior students are expected to help train new students in research procedures, literature searching, software use, and group practices. Science is a community — share your knowledge and support others as you were supported.
Teamwork: Help colleagues voluntarily with fieldwork or demanding experiments when possible, without compromising your own deadlines. Mutual support strengthens the lab and encourages collaboration.
Data and protocols: Research data belongs to the group. Store and leave organized copies of all original data, scripts, and updated protocols in shared location and ensure that all materials remain accessible and well documented, particularly when completing your thesis or leaving the group. Maintain protocols on Google Drive and keep them current.
Professional conduct and communication: When using other labs, follow their rules, leave spaces clean, and report any incidents. The working language in the lab is primarily English when international colleagues are present; use Hungarian or other languages only when necessary and politely.
Respect and collegiality: Treat all group members with respect, value differences in personalities and work styles, and contribute to a positive and supportive lab environment.
Working environment and safety: Maintain clean shared spaces (offices, field station, labs), ensure supplies are stocked, and follow all safety rules. Report any accidents, equipment issues, or serious mistakes promptly to me or a technician.

Practical guidelines

Hours and Vacation

I do not track hours; productivity matters more than clock time. For planned absences of a week or more, notify me at least 1–2 weeks in advance. Please also use the vacation tracker to indicate your planned absences. Make sure that all assigned duties are completed before your departure or ensure a substitute person for your work.

One-on-one Meetings

Come prepared to discuss/present your recent research and next steps. I prefer to receive written material with enough time provided me for checking before a personal meeting. Present to me what you have done and what you propose to do in the next week.

Lab and Other Meetings

Attend biweekly group meetings and institute events (ÖBI seminars, R clubs, journal clubs). Occasional absences are acceptable with prior notice, but it is not acceptable to make a habit of missing them out.

Annual Evaluations

We will review your progress each calendar year to discuss achievements, challenges, and plans for the upcoming year. You will provide an annual plan to help coordinate manuscripts, conferences, and fieldwork and an annual report to see progress. Institute-wide evaluations will also be discussed in person.

Authorship

Authorship reflects a significant intellectual or experimental contribution to papers and presentations. In ecology, first authorship generally goes to the student/postdoc who led the work, last to the PI, and others in order of contribution. Papers must be completed before leaving the lab; otherwise, authorship may be reassigned. Working with others also results in co-authorships, and I expect you to understand and defend all aspects of such papers.

Arriving for a longer stay in the Group

Group buddies: I will assign a group buddy for each new member to help you with getting settled and practicalities in and outside the group.

Keys: The secretary (Marcsi) will add you to the list where they keep track of eligibilities. Me and your lab buddy will help you arrange it.

Intro email: Should be sent out to the institute's mailing list. We have a form for this and it will be sent out by the secretary.

Homepages: Please provide a picture and a short intro for the institue's and the group's page (https://www.restoration-ecology.hu/). The secretary will help with technicalities.

Official mailing lists and email account: Me and the secretary will help with it.

Affiliations: Please keep your affiliation(s) updated. I expect you to have a profile on Google Scholar, and highly recommend an own Researchgate. The domestic MTMT account is also a must, our librarian will help you set up a profile. Please ask your lab buddy for details.

Acknowledgements: The current version of this document is based on the sample document provided by: Masters, K.S. and Kreeger, P.K., 2017. Ten simple rules for developing a mentor–mentee expectations document. PLoS computational biology, 13(9), p.e1005709. and Zsófia Horváth https://metacomlab.com/mentor-mentee-agreement/