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The race to the bottom and the route to the top

Nature Chemistry volume 12, pages 101–103 (2020)Cite this article

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Academic labs can be difficult places to work — but why is that the case and what can be done to address the issues that lead to harmful working environments?

Increasingly, however, scientists do not work as individuals — they manage, or are part of, ever larger teams1. In academic research, these teams are based in research institutes and universities, which act as the employer, but in reality, scientists are often just left to get on with managing their team. In this way, the senior scientist sets the culture of their lab.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, UK

    David K. Smith

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  1. David K. Smith
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Correspondence to David K. Smith.

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Twitter: @professor_dave

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Smith, D.K. The race to the bottom and the route to the top. Nat. Chem. 12, 101–103 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-019-0410-y

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