OUR CULTURE & PROCEDURES

Our lab comprises a diverse team, including postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, MSc students, research assistants, undergraduate and graduate project students, volunteers, and programmers. Our lab members come from various fields, primarily psychology and neuroscience, but we also welcome individuals with backgrounds in education, computer science, engineering, philosophy, and sports sciences.

What Do We Expect From You?

First, think critically. You are always encouraged to ask questions, suggest ideas, and challenge what we say. Thinking is supported by reading and exposure to new ideas, so staying updated on the literature is essential. Share interesting papers with the group. I suggest devoting your first 2-3 months to reading and thinking deeply—find the question or project that excites you most, and explore the tutorials we provide. As you read, always ask, "What do I think about these claims?" and "What remains unknown?" Uri Alon’s paper “How to choose a good scientific paper” (2009, Molecular Cell).

Second, be honest. If you find a bug, don’t understand something, or realise there’s an issue, never hide it. Mistakes are normal and acceptable—hiding them is not. This impacts the integrity of the entire lab. Honesty is central to our scientific practices, so we preregister studies, share our data, and keep everything transparent.

Third, be collaborative. Science thrives on teamwork. Help your lab mates—whether in coding, piloting experiments, or offering feedback in meetings. We have a shared resources folder, and anyone who develops new methods should save their work there with clear explanations. A strong, collaborative group is a goal in itself, which is why we host both social and scientific events. A positive lab atmosphere is key for both the quality of our research and our enjoyment of the process.

Fourth, show dedication. We trust each lab member to take responsibility for their own research. Science often involves setbacks—don’t be discouraged. Perseverance is crucial, and each of us has our own stories of failure. Be responsible for the lab equipment, especially the more delicate systems (eye trackers, motion trackers, EEG, fMRI, VR headsets, etc.), and ask for help when needed. Respect the resources and ensure you use them properly.

Fifth, document everything. The more you write down, the better off you’ll be in the future. Summarise meetings, document decisions, and keep track of your observations and analyses. Always note the reasoning behind your decisions so that you understand your thought process months or years later. Over-documenting is far better than under-documenting.

Finally, we very much encourage people to work in the lab – this promotes collaboration. It is not obligatory, but it is highly recommended. This is not a workplace – no one is counting your hours, but we do expect you to be there and to let us know in advance when you are going abroad (feel free to send pictures when you’re there). It’s important for the long-term planning of the lab. Generally speaking, we want people in the lab to be happy and satisfied – and for that, you need (among other things) to make sure you take care of yourself (do things that make you happy, sleep well, etc.) and to feel good about your work in the lab. These two sometimes seem to collide, and that’s OK – we trust you to find the right balance. If you ever struggle, we are here to help.

What Should You Expect Of Us?

We are here to help you conduct your research within the lab’s themes (as we no expert outside of these areas). Feel free to consult us on any aspect of your research. Of course, if a lab member or Google (a dear friend to us all) can help you, go solve it on your own. But if not, we are always here.

We are happy to discuss theoretical or methodological issues—never hesitate to ask. Mentoring is a key part of our role and one we greatly value. We will also help you connect with other researchers and write recommendation letters for scholarships, awards, or future positions. We promise to write the best letter, but we will always be honest, so bear that in mind. Don’t hesitate to ask for letters and be proactive in seeking awards and research opportunities—they are great for your CV.

We will do our best to reply quickly and not postpone your work. While our schedule doesn’t always allow for immediate responses, feel free to follow up if we’ve missed something. Please don’t expect us to review your draft in two days—if you have a deadline, send it well in advance. The best way to reach Ori is via email (ori.ossmy@bbk.ac.uk). For urgent matters, you can call or text, but we trust you’ll reserve that for emergencies.

You can always expect respectful and constructive feedback from us. If we ever fall short, let us know—we value constructive criticism. We are also happy to offer advice on broader issues, such as balancing work and life.

Our Commitment to Diversity

The lab's commitment to diversity is shapred by Dr. Ossmy's experience. As an international scientist committed to understanding individual differences in human behaviour, Ori places a high premium on diversity and inclusion. Growing up in Israel, differences in ethnicity, religion, and political views made him especially aware of the importance of respect for diversity of background, beliefs, and abilities. His birth language and culture diverge from that of his host countries. Diversity enriches our daily interactions, the ideas that guide his research and teaching in the academic community, and the knowledge he generates for society.

Ori and the other team members work with students from different backgrounds and incorporate diversity into their approach. We make space for students’ diverse perspectives, for instance by describing important concepts in various ways to provide multiple access points. We help students to connect theory and data to real-life situations outside the classroom. We make our standards clear and explicit, and intentionally help students to build the academic skills they need to succeed.

Students from low-income backgrounds and first-generation college students are more likely to follow non-traditional academic paths, and they often grapple with obstacles to their academic success like financial pressure to work their way through university or responsibilities to care for children, siblings, or parents. We create a safe learning environment where students—regardless of social identity—feel comfortable discussing their ideas, often rooted in their cultural heritage and lived experiences. In addition, we make a conscious effort to incorporate research from a variety of scholars into our teaching to appeal to as many students as possible and to portray the diversity within science. Respecting diversity also means being sensitive and responsive to students’ needs (e.g., different learning styles) in addition to the students formally identified for accommodation.

We work diligently to include students from all backgrounds by promoting the academic success of diverse students, engaging and mentoring diverse students in the lab, and incorporating issues of diversity and individual differences directly into our research. We take concrete steps to recruit, support, and advance underrepresented minority scientists, for example, tight collaboration with the In2Research initiative, and avoiding stereotyping in our search for lab members, ensuring that our colleagues prioritise diversity in faculty and administrator searches, and inviting colleagues and students from diverse backgrounds to give talks to our lab meetings.

Cultural change requires community effort. We believe that our experiences, knowledge, and values enable us to engage in various opportunities through teaching, research, and service that help to sustain and advance Birkbeck’s mission to be a world-class model of diversity and inclusion, defined by inclusive excellence and an environment that allows everyone to flourish.

Our Procedures

During the first months in the lab, you will build required skills to complete your research. To achieve this, you will have to acquire technical and professional skills and follow guidelines from Dr Ossmy (and other supervisors in some cases) on a routine basis.

Aside from the ongoing reading and your familiarity with the literature (which is built over time… don’t be alarmed!), we highly recommend programming. We work mainly with Python, R, and Matlab, and there are various online tutorials which can help you get started. Here are a few recommendations:

Python

Matlab

Our raw data, processed data, and analysis codes are shared via our GitHub or Databrary In Databrary, we also share videos of our experiments according to participants' permissions.

During your time in the lab, you will read papers and be updated with the literature review. In the shared folder of your project, you will have a “references” folder with relevant papers. We will regularly add papers that relate to your project. Occasionally, we will discuss some of the papers in the routine project meetings, and we will ask you to summarise some of them for the next meeting (see how to below). In these summaries, you will write a clear summary of all papers that will serve as the basis for a review paper in the peer-reviewed journal.

Recommendation for summarising paper for weekly project meetings: when you are asked to summarise a paper for discussion in a weekly project meeting, please focus on the following:

Authors: Who are the authors? What is the expertise of each one? Are they students or senior lecturers? Are they experts in the topic of the research?
Methods: What was done in the study? Who were the participants? What was the task? What was the design? What was the procedure? To answer these, please focus on the methods section and not the intro/discussion.
Results: What was the empirical evidence? What was found? Please focus on the actual findings and not the authors’ interpretation of the findings. What were the outcome measures?
Criticism: What is wrong with the study? What can the researchers do better?
Strengths: What was done well? What was novel?
Relevance: Why is this paper relevant to us? What can we learn from it in our project?

Lab meetings are held on Wednesdays 10:30-13:00. We also highly recommend attending the CBCD seminars on Tuesdays 1pm.

A critical part of collecting data is writing study protocols and pre-registering your study.

Regarding the pre-registration process:

Please read the paper on the pre-registration revolution: https://www.pnas.org/content/115/11/2600.
It will provide more information about why this process is needed and why we insist on doing this in all projects under my supervision.
Types of pre-registration form: https://help.osf.io/hc/en-us/articles/360019738794-Understand-Registration-Forms. What we will often use is the “OSF Preregistration” form. However, learn about the various options for pre-registration.
The pre-registration will be submitted by either you or Dr. Ossmy, but we want you to learn to fill out the form. It will also help you think about analyses, and how we will run the study, and basically will be a document for our study design.
You should make an account in OSF, and proceed with the pre-registration. Let me know if you have any more questions. We can also meet whenever necessary.

Regarding protocols – protocols include ALL information about how to conduct the study, how to set up, what to say to the participant, what forms they need to sign, what exactly to do during the study, and information about clean-up and potential risks. We will work on writing the protocol during our weekly meetings.

There are no projects that can function without the help of many researchers, for some of whom it is not their primary project. As a lab member, you can be involved in some way with other lab projects, depending on you and your research programme. Please use the opportunity to discuss and think about other projects as a way to expand your knowledge, and your vitae, and further your own work. What you learn in helping others will serve you and your issues.

During your time in the lab, we will encourage you to participate in public engagement activities. We place a high premium on teaching—both to students and the public. We believe that research must be publicly accessible. All too often, misconceptions about the nature of scientific research serve as additional barriers and prevent underrepresented groups from gaining access to educational opportunities. We are strongly committed to fostering broader inclusion of those underrepresented in science through both educational outreach and direct mentorship activities. We encourage you to pursue projects geared toward making science accessible to students, educators, families, and the broader community. Let us know if you are going to or wish to participate in such projects.