Professionalism¶

As a member of MItHRIL and Ingenuity Labs, you are expected to demonstrate professionalism as part of your work and conduct with peers, clients, supervisors, and those around you.

Dress and Presentation¶

Professionalism extends into how we carry and present ourselves to our peers, clients, visitors, and fellow lab members. Dress appropriately and present yourself appropriately for the situation. Typically, casual attire is permitted; however, there may be times and events where more formal levels of attire are warranted. If you have questions about proper attire for visits, client meetings, and special events, be sure to consult with your supervisor.

Footwear in robot areas

If you are working with robots in WLH 704/706 or Ingenuity Labs (in the yellow and red zones), you must wear closed-toed shoes. Wearing sandals, flip-flops, or going barefoot is unsafe in such environments. However, if you are working at your desk only, sandals and flip-flops are permitted. Going barefoot is never permitted anywhere in Ingenuity Labs or WLH 704.

Respect for Persons¶

Every person has a right to equal treatment with respect to the occupancy of accommodation, without discrimination because of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, family status, disability or the receipt of public assistance.

— The Ontario Human Rights Code

Respect for persons is a core responsibility (in fact, the most important responsibility) for all members of MItHRIL. Being part of MItHRIL means that you are part of a group of people who are excited about performing research on robots and intelligent systems; as part of this group, your actions and words must set a positive example and avoid behaving disrespectfully, including behaviour that would reasonably offend, intimidate, embarrass, or humiliate others, whether deliberately or unintentionally. Any offensive, harassing, discriminating, threatening, or violent behaviour will not be tolerated. If you know of anyone, including yourself, who is facing a disrespectful environment, please let your supervisor know right away or contact the Queen's Human Rights and Equality Office.

Respect for Time¶

Proper time management is perhaps the most important aspect of professionalism at MItHRIL. We are all under some form of time pressure to complete work; you may need to finish a class project on a certain date, and your supervisors have deadlines to meet in terms of teaching, administrative, grant writing, and research responsibilities. Thus, ensuring timely deliverables, meetings, attendance, and interactions with supervisors and peers are important not only to make work efficient but also to show respect for those in the lab. As an emerging professional in the lab, you are expected to demonstrate respect for people's time.

Submit any deliverables on time. If no date is specified, ask.
Be sure to send an agenda by updating the calendar invite, sending a Teams message, or sending an e-mail of what needs to be discussed at the meeting with your supervisor at least the day before. Doing so will help manage meeting durations and discussion points.
Attend meetings punctually. Do not cancel meetings at the last minute unless necessary; provide clear reasoning for your decision.
Papers and other conference deliverables should be submitted to supervisors and co-authors for review before submission to a conference or journal special issue well before the deadline (at least a week is needed before the submission deadline for a first reading). Plan accordingly.
Send weekly reports on time. Please don't have your supervisor chasing you down every week.
If you require references for scholarship/internship applications, make the request from your supervisor at least two weeks in advance and be sure to provide transcripts. Otherwise, your request will not be entertained.

Proper task scheduling will help you develop and achieve good time management. You may wish to use a daily checklist of tasks to complete or schedule tasks to complete during the day.

Positivity¶

Enthusiasm and eagerness to learn new skills and tackle projects are musts at MItHRIL. If you are feeling overly stressed and/or depressed, please let your supervisor know. The University offers many resources to help.

Mental health support

While life at university is exciting and filled with new experiences, it can also be overwhelming. It is common for students to experience feelings of stress, anxiety, low mood, and depression, all of which may have an impact on day-to-day activities and basic decision-making. If you require help managing your mental health, visit https://www.queensu.ca/studentwellness/mental-health for resources.

Supervisor Interaction¶

Matthew (and any co-supervisors you may have) act similarly to supervisors in industry and the workplace and are expected to maintain subordinate-supervisor relations with students. However, academic supervisors also have duties specific to the academic setting. For example, Matthew has several responsibilities to students in the lab:

Assists students with the selection and planning of suitable and manageable research topics.
Is sufficiently familiar with the field of research to provide guidance and/or has a willingness to gain that familiarity before agreeing to act as a supervisor.
Is accessible to the student for consultation and discussion of the student's academic progress and research. Meeting frequency will vary by discipline, stage of work, nature of the project, student independence, full- or part-time status, etc. For many, weekly meetings are essential; for others, biweekly meetings are appropriate.
Establishes (with input from the student and colleagues where appropriate) a supervisory committee and convenes a meeting, at least annually, to evaluate the student's progress (for PhD students).
Responds promptly and thoroughly to written work submitted by students, with constructive suggestions for improvement and continuation. The turnaround time for comments on written work should not normally exceed three weeks.
Makes arrangements to ensure continuity of supervision when the supervisor will be absent for extended periods, e.g. a month or longer.
When necessary, assists students in gaining access to facilities or research materials.
Ensures the research environment is safe, healthy, and free from harassment, discrimination, and conflict. When there is a conflict in advice or when there are different expectations on the part of co-supervisors or members of the supervisory committee, the supervisor is expected to endeavour to achieve consensus and resolve the differences.
Assists students in being aware of program requirements, deadlines, sources of funding, etc.
Encourages students to make presentations of research results within the University and to outside scholarly or professional bodies as appropriate.
Encourages students to finish up when it would not be in the student's best interests to extend the program of studies.
Acknowledges appropriately the contributions of students in presentations and published material, in many cases via joint authorship.
Assists students in complying with any changes that need to be made to the thesis after the thesis or dissertation defence.

In essence, your supervisor is invested in developing your skills and abilities as a researcher and helps guide your research. They make suggestions as to how to conduct your work and assist in achieving progress in your academic career in preparation for your future. However, there are things that your supervisor will not do:

Be immediately available at any time of the day (supervisors have to balance responsibilities such as teaching, admin, and family in addition to research; availability is scheduled).
Make decisions for you concerning your research and career.
Conduct your research for you (this is your responsibility as a researcher).
Troubleshoot specific technical problems you may have (your supervisor simply doesn't have the bandwidth).
Micromanage your work (again, your supervisor simply doesn't have enough time).
Provide solutions, support, and advice regarding life situations outside of the workplace unless it affects your research (there are resources on campus much better suited to helping you through life events).
Be responsible for your work ethic, work practices, and motivation, or accommodate poor performance (if there is an issue that is affecting your quality of work output, you should discuss this with your supervisor to come up with plans for improvement; however, you are ultimately responsible for successes and poor performance and their consequences).

Conflict Management¶

If a conflict arises within the lab, the best policy is to demonstrate calmness and maturity toward your peers and co-workers.

Whether you are a party or bystander in a conflict situation, you can use these five steps to help resolve the conflict.

1. Don't Ignore Conflict

If you're someone who dislikes dealing with conflict, it might seem tempting to just put your head in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist, hoping it will resolve itself on its own. While this sometimes can happen, the truth is that the vast majority of the time, this will only cause the situation to get worse. Ignored conflicts have a tendency to fester over time and reappear at inopportune moments, so do your team a favour and address conflicts when they occur, nipping a potentially toxic situation in the bud as soon as you recognize it.

2. Clarify What the Issue Is

If you're dealing with a conflict between two members of your team, it's important that you get all the facts. Sit down with each individual involved and find out exactly what the issue is. How is each individual perceiving the situation? What needs are not being met? What does each party see as an appropriate resolution? Make sure that all parties involved understand that you are acting as an impartial mediator, and let them know they can feel comfortable sharing sensitive information.

3. Bring Involved Parties Together to Talk

Once you've had a chance to talk to all involved parties separately, bring them together in a meeting so that they can hash out their differences in a neutral environment. This is a time for brainstorming, active listening, and being open to different perspectives; the goal is to come to a common understanding of what the problem is, what role each individual is playing in the conflict, and what some possible solutions might be.

4. Identify a Solution

After both parties have had a chance to discuss the situation at hand, it's time to identify what a satisfactory resolution might be, and how to get there. Ideally, by this point, both parties will understand the other's side, and oftentimes the conflict will be resolved just through facilitated open dialogue. However, if the situation requires further resolution, you will need to step in and help them negotiate a reasonable solution. This phase can require some time and effort, as it requires both parties to set aside their differences and preferences and find some common ground to work towards (which may involve not getting everything they want out of the situation). Then, work with both individuals to come up with a concrete list of steps that will result in the solution being achieved.

5. Continue to Monitor and Follow Up on the Conflict

Just because a solution has been identified and addressed doesn't mean it will just go away. It's important to check in with both parties to ensure that the conflict has truly been dealt with, and that the steps identified to reach a solution are being followed. If all seems to be going well, simply remember to stop and observe from time to time, just to see if things really are going smoothly or if there are still lingering tensions under the surface that need to be handled. If it's clear that the solution didn't work, or wasn't the right resolution for the situation, make sure to be proactive in working with both parties to readjust expectations, identify alternative solutions, and continue their dialogue to create a positive and healthy work environment.

Be a Team Player¶

Help out your colleagues. Be someone who takes the time to invest in others and demonstrate your dedication to the research group and not just your own personal gain. We are better and stronger together.

Communication¶

Good communication is the basis for any successful team and workplace relationships. Relationships within the lab are no exception. To have successful and healthy relationships with co-workers, clients, customers, and supervisors, you have to understand how to communicate effectively.

Communication in both written and verbal forms should be honest, truthful, and direct but also delivered with sensitivity to other parties.
When someone has the floor, show them some respect and let them speak. If you have something valid or helpful to add, wait for an appropriate time and speak up.
When you need information or resources from someone, give them plenty of time to gather what is needed and respond. As soon as you realize you need information, let the contact know and give them an idea of when you would like to receive their response, so that they can check their schedule and deliver the necessary information when it is convenient for them within the time frame you need it.
When e-mailing, be clear about what you need, be respectful, and don't blow up inboxes. Also, try to communicate with email promptly (respond within 24 hours). If you are out of the office on vacation or otherwise, you can use an auto-responder to indicate this.
Although engineers are known to swear like sailors at times, particularly when coding or working on hardware, try to limit profanity-laden outbursts in the labs and in workspaces.
Do not gossip. As emerging professionals, we don't deal with half-truths and spread rumours. This is not a high school. Do not spread rumours or begin spreading your assumptions and opinions about everyone to your peers and colleagues. It creates a toxic environment and distrust between your peers and colleagues.
Keep confidential matters confidential. In some instances, projects may be covered under a non-disclosure agreement, or you may be handling personal information that necessitates sensitive handling. Disclosure of such information to third parties may be unlawful and could result in legal and professional repercussions. If you are trusted with confidential information, do not share or disseminate such information with anyone, including your roommates, parents, siblings, friends, etc.