Abstract:
The negative effects of extremely competitive academic and research environments on the performance and health of researchers are well known and common worldwide. The prevalence of these effects, particularly among early career researchers, calls for a more humane and people-centered way of working within research labs. Although there is growing concern about the urgent need for a better life–work balance when doing science, there are not many examples about how this could be achieved in practice. In this workshop, I introduce 10 simple rules to make the working environment of research labs more nurturing, collaborative, and people-centered. These rules are directed towards existing and future principal investigators (PIs) but will be of interest to anyone working in a research lab and/or dealing with how to improve working conditions for scientists.
Register here: https://forms.gle/b9aiHoJvzpYcjTqg8

Bio:
Fernando T. Maestre (Sax, 1976), received his BsC. and PhD. in Biology from the University of Alicante, Spain, in 1998 and 2002, respectively, with the maximum qualification in both cases. He is within the 1% of most cited authors worldwide (“Highly Cited Researcher”) since 2018. He received the Academic Performance Award by Generalitat Valenciana in 1999. After his PhD. he spent two years at Duke University (USA) as a Fulbright postdoctoral fellow. In 2005 he returned to Rey Juan Carlos University, where he is now a Full Professor (on leave). In May 2019, he joined University of Alicante as a Distinguished Scientists, where he leads the Dryland Ecology and Global Change Lab and is a Professor of Ecology (currently in a leave of absence). In February 2024 he moved to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), in Saudi Arabia, where he is now a Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering.