Rules of Engagement

The following rules outline how the CEL Community of Practice will govern communications, webinars, engagement, and participation in the community both in virtual/in-person meetings and online discussion forums. Participants will be asked to review and accept the following engagement requirements before participating in any online conversations, submissions, webinar presentations, and other Community of Practice activities:

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• Engage as an ally. Bring your expertise to bear on community members’ endeavors and present your opinions without judgement. There are no bad ideas, but lessons learned by others afford opportunities for improvement and reconsideration of direction.

• Focus on facts. When presenting, responding, or sharing ideas, stick to experiences and results and avoid marketing products, selling services, or disparaging materials or organizations. Sharing factual information and outcomes regarding a particular product, program, or system is acceptable, as long as it is not overtly promotional or disparaging. Greenwashing will not be tolerated, nor will blatant promotion or bashing the competition.

• Proceed with permission. Before sharing data, experiences, or videos regarding your organization’s efforts, make sure you have all the required permissions to post, publish, or provide them to the public. Also, if you access any references, forum, discussions, or other intellectual property shared by other users, you must have their written permission to use or share it elsewhere.

• Uplift others. If you know of a good example of circular economy in action in the laboratory community, encourage a representative of that activity or effort to share their experience with the group. Share and amplify presentations, videos, and materials that help spread the word!

• Challenge the status quo. Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it can’t be. Bring your hardest challenges to the group; you may be surprised to find solutions have already been found, or that great minds working together can come up with new approaches.

• R-E-S-P-E-C-T. While it’s ok to ask questions and request factual information to back up claims, keep your comments and interactions civil and supportive—we’re all working toward the same goal of promoting a circular economy in labs!

 

The CEL Community of Practice website and communications will be administered by a third party (ERG), with oversight by the CEL Community of Practice Steering Committee. While I2SL may accept support from vendors or companies to administer this Community of Practice, it will maintain oversight and integrity of all tools, content, and events of the community, to ensure that members participating in the group and its forums avoid any conflict of interest with their institutional policies regarding suppliers.