On Friday September 29th, the Cooke Lab hosted the first (soon to be annual!) Cooke Lab Retreat at the beautiful Queen’s University Biological Station. 30 people, including current students, lab alumni, and long-time collaborators Julie Claussen and Dave Phillip, attended the retreat.
The day was filled with 4 slide speed presentations by everyone, to share with the group:
- What is your research question?
- What have you learned so far?
- What is a professional or personal goal for 2018?
- What is one lesson you have learned that you want to share with the group?
Each person also had the opportunity to provide feedback, via a Post-It exercise, on the following three questions:
- What does FECPL mean to you?
- What do you want to get out of your university experience?
The results of this exercise were summarized in word clouds.
Steve followed-up the day of presentations by sharing upcoming projects, opportunities and tips on maintaining the always-important work-school-life balance. He highlighted that he believes one of the best measures of success for the lab is not the publication list itself, but is instead the number of people who join the lab and then choose to return as collaborators. Building collaborations, networks, friends and colleagues is, and has always been, a priority in the lab!
The day was followed up by a BBQ dinner, campfire and merriment! A huge thank you to QUBS for providing the perfect surroundings!
