Code of Conduct in Teaching Laboratories and Project Work

Our aim is to provide a safe and enjoyable learning and working experience for all students and staff (including student demonstrators). Whilst staff should be doing everything possible to achieve this, students also have an important role to play. We would specifically like to highlight the following points:

  1. This is a professional working and studying environment. We therefore expect everyone to behave in a professional manner towards one another, whether they be students or staff.
  2. Follow all safety instructions, both of general good practice, and of experiment-specific points. This is critical both for your own health and for that of student and staff you are working with. Specifically, safety instructions given by technical staff or the lab demonstrators must be adhered to.
  3. We value the diversity of our students and staff and recognise that this contributes to our work by allowing people to bring together a full range of skills and viewpoints into their collective achievements. We therefore expect that all will work productively and professionally together in an atmosphere of mutual respect.
    1. Any form of harassment, bullying or discriminatory behaviour is unacceptable. This includes: physical acts or assault, spoken comments, social media or other electronic forms of communication, or graffiti or other written comments. This could be on the basis of any personal characteristic (including, but not limited to nationality, race, sex, disability, gender or gender identity, religion [or proxies for this, e.g. football team allegiance], sexuality, appearance, or age, including all the protected characteristics of the Equality Act, 2010). Any reports of such will be taken very seriously by the School of Physics and Astronomy and the University.
    2. “Banter” is not an excuse for offensive behaviour and will not be considered a defence.
  4. If you encounter or witness any untoward behaviour, speech or written communication from any person or group of people in the laboratory, please report the incident. There are a number of ways to do this:
    1. to the class or lab head or their deputy
    2. to the School Equality and Diversity officers (currently Mrs Angela Eden, Mrs Fiona Grant and Dr Jonathan Taylor), or the School’s Student Support Officer, Mara Dougall, who is a trained GBV (gender based violence) first responder
    3. to a trade union representative (currently Mx T. Queen, UNITE, Dr I. MacLaren, UCU)
    4. official reports (including anonymous reports) may be made to:
      1. Student: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/students/safetyhealth/report/
      2. Staff: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/equalitydiversity/dignityworkstudyover/reportharassmentbullyingorsexualviolencestaff/
    5. In all cases, the report will be treated in confidence, the procedure for official reports is detailed at the web addresses given.
  5. Your agreement to this policy is required for all participation in laboratory and group work in the School of Physics and Astronomy and participation will be understood as involving your agreement to abide by the terms herein.
  6. This policy is consistent with University policies, which cover these topics in more detail. It is recommended you familiarise yourself with them in detail:
    1. Dignity at Work and Study Policy (covering all members of the university) - https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/equalitydiversity/policy/dignityatwork/
    2. Code of Student Conduct (students in particular) -
      1. https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/apg/policies/uniregs/regulations2023-24/feesandgeneral/studentsupportandconductmatters/reg33/
      2. and specifically, the Code of Practice on Unacceptable Behaviour (both students and staff) - https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/apg/policies/uniregs/regulations2023-24/feesandgeneral/studentsupportandconductmatters/reg37/
    3. Equality and Diversity Policy (covering all members of the university)- https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/equalitydiversity/policy/equalitypolicy/
    4. Code of Professional Conduct (specifically for staff and all in positions of responsibility) - https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/all/codeofprofessionalconduct/

Further notes:

The SRC provides a helpful module (mainly intended for students, although relevant to staff too) on:

The Equality and Diversity unit has also produced helpful training on the following topics (among many other helpful courses, mainly intended for staff):

Correct as at November 2023