Getting started
Welcome to the lab! These pages should give you all the information you need to get started. It's also a wiki - the expectation is that you should add to our collective knowledge, and make changes to these pages, so get stuck in! - If you have a google account invite yourself now and use that account rather than the general miwgroup account.
What's it like to work in our lab?
Make no mistake, to be internationally competitive as a research group is hard work, and you should treat it as the full time job that it is. At heart though, our lab runs on trust. You are expected to be responsible for your own time management, for keeping an up to date record of your work in a lab book, and also in they way you interact with other group members. We all must pitch in to keep the lab running smoothly. We've put a lot of effort into making the lab a hard working and happy place to do science. Do the same and you'll get along great!
Working hours
You are responsible for your own working hours. Aim to work at least the equivalent of a 9-5 working day. Science often is not that predictable though, there are times where you will need to do more to meet deadlines. Everyone should be at Britannia House (or reachable) during a set of core working hours (10-4). If you are working away from the lab you should: (1) send a short email every day to Mark to update him on your progress; and (2) check you are signed into the wallacelab Slack account.
Leave and Absence
If you're going to be away fill out the leave form here and add your absence to the calendar.
Lab books
You must keep a lab book of all your work. Often if you wish to patent something it is a dated lab book that is the key piece of evidence so keep it up to date.
We keep electronic lab books on evernote using the miwgroup account. Set yourself up with a notebook. You are welcome to record all of your work here, but a weekly summary is compulsory. More details are on the computing page of this wiki.
Attendance is compulsory.
Safety
It is your responsibility to work safely and tidily in the lab. Make sure you have completed and signed off all Laser Safety training (and watch the video), COSHH, and Risk Assessments before you start work. follow the instructions in the Working Safely section.
General Responsibilities & Chores
Everyone in the lab has a specific item to deal with on the chores list.
Getting Further Training
First steps Checklist
New to KCL?
Find out your K-number.
Go to security desk (e.g. ground floor, New Hunts House) to get a staff/student card.
Go to the library (upstairs in NHH) to get email set up.
Go to main desk in Hodgkin Building (opposite NHH) to get card activated.
Take card to reception at Britannia House to get access to building. Be sure to ask them to add room 309 (laser lab) to your card as it won't be automatically added.
New to Chemistry?
Attend Day 1 induction (see Vicky Snowden).
Attend Lab Safety induction (see Mark Withers).
Complete H&S e-compliance training.
Get on the King’s electronic procurement system and attend an induction (under ‘ Support’ you will find the form to fill in for new users and information about user guide etc.).
Get on the departmental stores ordering system Quartzy (anyone in the lab can send you an invitation link)
Get on the Chemistry instrument booking system.
New to the Wallace Lab?
Read ALL the info on this page.
Complete laser safety training.
Sign risk assessments + CoBRA if necessary.
Complete chemical storage induction.
Add your emergency contact details here.
Request access to our mailing list by sending an email to wallacelab-join@kcl.ac.uk
Join our slack (twitter for teams) channel.
Sign yourself up to the meetings rota.
Volunteer for some chores.
Mailing Lists
The group mailing list (wallacelab@kcl.ac.uk) is our primary means of keeping in touch. Join it by sending an email to wallacelab-join@kcl.ac.uk
Slack
For more informal communication - especially for when we're not all in the same place, sign up for the group's Slack account. Please stay signed in.
File storage
Ensure your office PC is backed up. For example, All staff and students at King’s have access to 1TB of space on OneDrive for Business which can be accessed via Outlook 365.
No data should be stored on experimental PCs. Be warned, this could be deleted at any time.
Data should be kept on our NAS.
More info on computing is here.
Lab Inventory
All new reagents must be added to the lab inventory list. Please keep up to date as you order things in and as they are used up. Ask Jo or Daisy to show you how to use the Google form.