Trying to reflect on what constitutes a successful research lab. I came up with these 11 ingredients: any other suggestions? 1/12

A diverse set of experienced staff. Experienced post-docs and techs bring with them novel experiences. Having at least a few staff members with a long-term perspective in the lab is incredible - it means the institutional knowledge is shared across multiple staff. 2/12

A dynamic and supportive lab culture. A successful lab has high morale. The lab culture should be interactive and supportive. A community feeling, where everyone will jump in to get a project over the line. A place where everyone feels open to speak up and take criticism. 3/12

Output spread across the lab. If the output is concentrated in a handful of people it is suggestive of wasted potential, and puts the lab at risk when the productive people move on. Ideally, every researcher should be getting a first author paper every 3 years. 4/12

A healthy portfolio of funding. Ideally this includes a mixture of small and large grants, with a long horizon. The reason why I specify a portfolio is that having all of your funding via one large grant creates a difficult problem when that grant is ending. 5/12

A pipeline of research projects across the incubation, development, review and completed stages. The advantage is that there is always something cooking, so it doesn't create the problem of synchronised publication and then a long research gap while you start from scratch. 6/12

Balance of diversity in research projects. Focus on a topic gives synergy between projects at both the technical and intellectual level. Diversity of topics brings opportunity and reduces risk. Finding the sweet-spot between focus and diversity brings advantages. 7/12

Creativity and innovation. A successful lab does research that isn't being done somewhere else. This can come in different forms: developing new tools, coming up with creative approaches, or simply asking different questions. 8/12

A reserve of soft money. "Soft money", not tied to a project or time-limited, is precious and difficult to obtain. Being available to buffer long-term senior staff between grants gives them the sense of security they need to stay, even if th funding gap never occurs. 9/12

Quality collaborations. A balance between working in isolation and acting as an academic CRO for other labs. Quality collaborations are usually reflected through bidirectional help, where they contribute to your work and you contribute to their work. 10/12

Access to high-end equipment and facilities. High level science is increasingly dependent on high level equipment and specialist staff, beyond what can be built and maintained in a single lab. 11/12

Supportive institutional and administrative staff. All the ingredients can be there, but if the departmental head is against you or admin work against you, the lab can be crippled. 12/12

http://www.liston.babraham.ac.uk/blog/2020/10/10/the-ingredients-for-a-successful-lab.html

What am I missing?