SciLifeLab Code of Conduct

Words from the SciLifeLab Director: Olli Kallioniemi

This document follows recent release of such guides (ALLEA, 2023), and you may have read such documents also from your home university. You may ask the question as to why SciLifeLab would need to create its own Code of Conduct.

Firstly, this document is not intended to replace any university-specific guides, but rather to serve as a complement and supplement to these.

Secondly, the nature of the SciLifeLab community differs from a typical university department. We bring together individuals from various departments and universities, many of whom are young international recruits with diverse backgrounds. Moreover, our engagement is not confined to research alone but spans infrastructure services and data science. These elements necessitate the consideration of concepts often neglected in traditional codes of conduct, such as best practices for infrastructure and issues surrounding open data and data privacy.

Thirdly, we wish to stand at the forefront in creating a progressive Code of Conduct as a tool for fostering community well-being, while embodying our commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion.

Fourthly, the SciLifeLab community has faced unique challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, raising serious concerns about maintaining the delicate balance between work and personal life. The Code of Conduct may support the efforts to manage such challenges and for discussing them in our community.

Lastly, we are at the edge of rapid technological advancements that present both vast opportunities and significant challenges. Most importantly, artificial intelligence (AI) will impact our daily life and work and will bring many emergent and even yet-to-be-identified concerns for these spaces and the Code of Conduct. Thus, there is a need for strategic planning and regular revisions.

This Code of Conduct is designed to be a living document, continually adapting and evolving to meet the needs of our dynamic community.

I want to thank the authors for their diligent work on this foundational document, and I encourage everyone to regard it as the first of its kind, ready for further development based on your feedback. Your input will help ensure this Code of Conduct truly represents our diverse community, guiding and protecting us towards a productive and responsible future.

General Introduction

A healthy and safe work environment is crucial for the productivity and success of any organization. This Code of Conduct is meant to be a guide for the SciLifeLab community in responsible conduct in their daily work and in ensuring that all activities at SciLifeLab have a positive impact on society.

As a Swedish National Research Infrastructure, SciLifeLab is unique in its character. It has a sui generis role functioning as an umbrella organization providing national wide research infrastructure services, doing life science research and handling life science data in a responsible and ethical manner. It also functions as an international Swedish collaborative organisation. 

This Code of Conduct is built around the notion that every activity conforms to the highest standards of responsible conduct. The code has also a national vision and practical role in the sense that it is beyond and in addition to the codes applied at the respective universities with focus on local teaching, training, and research. 

When people employed at various Swedish universities are assigned to SciLifeLab, they not only represent their own university but the entire country on behalf of SciLifeLab. Therefore, the organization expects the employees to have a wider perspective on ethical considerations and think beyond their own university’s Code of Conduct, and thus follow this code as part of their mission for SciLifeLab. Moreover, as a Swedish National Research Infrastructure, SciLifeLab is committed to leading the way in building a responsible research infrastructure community. The SciLifeLab Code of Conduct, therefore, must cover a broad range of ethical dimensions that are vital to the responsible and sustainable success of the SciLifeLab community.

This Code of Conduct is intended to be a living document, which we will continuously revise and improve upon.

Purpose

The main goals of this code of conduct are to provide guidance:

1. to clarify the core values and principles that SciLifeLab stands for: Contributing positively to both science and society, Excellence; Respect; Reliability; Honesty; Accountability; Objectivity; Diversity, equity and inclusion; and Sustainability
2. to create a healthy and constructive working culture that is inclusive of all identities, backgrounds, and experiences by supporting all persons who work at or use SciLifeLab resources and services, regardless of aspects such as socioeconomic background, race, seniority, rank or title, type of work-contract, area of expertise, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, caring responsibilities, neurodivergence, cultural heritage, age, disability, or religion. 
3. to conduct meaningful and excellent work with integrity.
4. to build an environment where misconduct, disrespect, irresponsible practices are not tolerated.

This code of conduct presents the fundamental principles on which all work and behaviour at SciLifeLab, as a Swedish National Research Infrastructure, should be based. As such, it can be used as the basis for community expectations towards internal and external parties as SciLifeLab carries out its mission.

Ideally, this document will not only raise awareness and provide guidance on ethical standards for responsible action and behaviour at SciLifeLab, but it will also help in decision-making and empower community members faced with difficult situations in the workplace. 

To Whom Does This Code Apply?

The SciLifeLab Code of Conduct is aimed at every person working at or with SciLifeLab, or is in some way affiliated with SciLifeLab. In as far as possible, this Code of Conduct should also be used to help collaborators, contractors, consultants, interns, parties, or universities that have any form of funding from SciLifeLab to understand the expectations from the SciLifeLab community.

This code of conduct applies to all the physical sites of SciLifeLab as well as virtual communities and online spaces managed by SciLifeLab including, among others, online communication tools and forums, courses, and seminars. It also applies to the entire SciLifeLab community, including but not limited to management, fellows, group leaders, support staff, students, infrastructure leaders and users, training and teaching faculty etc. who are all expected to help make sure the Code of Conduct is followed.

SciLifeLab Ethical Principles and Underlying Values

We at SciLifeLab always strive for excellence; excellence in how we offer services, excellence in conducting research, and excellence in how we treat each other and the planet. Our fundamental goal is to ensure that we have a collegial environment where everyone contributes to excellent science and a healthy environment so that everyone has an equal and fair opportunity to reach their full potential. From our point of view, scientific excellence cannot be fully achieved without adhering to aspects of research integrity and the other ethical principles list below. To achieve our mission, we select and define a set of principles that we expect the entire community to follow.

These principles are tightly intertwined and equally important in creating a healthy environment for excellence at SciLifeLab and therefore sorted in alphabetical order. They also encompass other important areas such as AI ethics, open science, and data privacy, which are more detailed than the meta-approach adopted here. Any specific issues that need to be addressed will be done in separate documents, which will then be referenced here in future versions of this document.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mojgan Seraji: mojgan.seraji@scilifelab.uu.se