When I finished my PhD in March 2019, I was determined to start my own journey as a mentor and laboratory leader. About a year after I graduated, however, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, and all my professional activities moved online. I was invited to give talks at online events and run courses remotely for various universities, attracting PhD and master’s students who asked me to mentor them through their graduate programmes.
When we returned to in-person activities, I found myself mentoring five PhD and three master’s students across Brazil, while holding down a postdoctoral position at the Federal University of Alagoas in Maceió. I decided to connect us all through a virtual lab, which I named the Laboratory of (Bio)Diversity in the Anthropocene (shortened to the BioDivA Lab). There, we research the positive and negative impacts of society–nature relationships on biodiversity, ecological and human systems.
The lab has no fixed address, because I move between different institutions as a visiting professor or postdoc. Still, for now, some lab members and I use a room borrowed from another lab at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) in Salvador, Brazil. The BioDivA Lab has grown, and now has 24 students working with dedicated grant funding, some of whom are supervised by me and some by scientists at other institutions. Twenty further students, mostly undergraduates at the UFBA, volunteer at the lab, and there are also 10 affiliated researchers with their own grant funding and research lines.
A virtual lab format has enabled me to break from institutional constraints, allowing for greater flexibility and inclusivity. Being part of a virtual lab allows BioDivers, as members refer to each other, to advance their careers and gain academic experience, develop mentorship and leadership skills and expand their networks.
Of course, managing a virtual lab is full of practical challenges. Here, I highlight how I created a lab culture in a virtual environment.
A guide to the process
For me, a lab is more than just a physical space; it is a collaborative environment in which individuals with common scientific interests come together, under the guidance of a leader, to pursue research goals. The BioDivA Lab operates under a decentralized organizational structure whereby lab members are affiliated with different academic institutions and funded by various federal and state agencies. Some members are also associated with other labs. They work remotely from a range of locations, using digital tools and online platforms to collaborate and communicate effectively. We foster community and connection through weekly hybrid meetings — a blend of in-person and online participation — in which we discuss ongoing projects.
Workshops are occasionally conducted during these sessions, and we host specialized discussion groups to delve into specific topics, including ethnoecology and conservation, scientific governance and biostatistics. We’ve also established a study group on ecological-niche modelling, in which we explore research that can contribute to biodiversity conservation strategies and inform policy decisions.
The weekly meetings are scheduled at the beginning of each academic semester, depending on people’s availability. In addition to these meetings, we use WhatsApp as a communication channel, enabling BioDivers to engage in casual conversations, share experiences and seek advice. One-to-one meetings are also regularly in the calendar. These can be in-person or remote, and their frequency and duration depend on each member. We use this time to discuss research progress, define action plans and set tangible goals.
The lab goals also include stimulating the development of collaborative projects among members and providing shared resources, such as databases, software subscriptions and bibliographic literature. The flexibility of a virtual workspace allows us to engage with members from diverse geographic locations, promoting inclusivity and accessibility. Our group is spread across more than 3 million square kilometres.
Our grant funding
Much like a conventional lab, the BioDivA Lab gets funding through grants from government agencies, private foundations and international organizations. These grants cover salaries, research materials, equipment and administrative costs. However, some funding agencies require a principal investigator (PI) with tenure, so we are not eligible to apply. We overcome this challenge by establishing collaborations with permanent professors from different institutions. Even if it means that I won’t be a project’s PI, such collaborations are crucial for acquiring resources for the project.
To facilitate equitable access to lab equipment, we operate a system whereby equipment is loaned to students as needed. Most of the BioDivA Lab’s equipment consists of fieldwork tools and instruments for ecophysiological studies, such as temperature and precipitation data loggers, infrared thermometers, lamps and cameras, so we can ship them directly to students by mail or courier services. This ensures that students across different regions can access the equipment without being physically present in the lab space in Bahia.
We also seek partnerships with other research institutions, non-governmental organizations and community groups, so that we can share expertise and resources. For example, we partner with the Brazilian Association of Ecological Sciences and Conservation, and are responsible for organizing the association’s biannual conference in September 2024.
Publications
In the BioDivA Lab, we publish collaboratively, and authorship order depends on the level of contribution to a project. Senior authorship is assigned to the person who originated the project idea or served as principal mentor, which is not necessarily me. For example, we have published two collaborative papers this year1,2, and have three other papers accepted for publication, with at least two BioDivers involved in each case.
One of our projects involves two undergraduate students, a master’s student, two PhD students, a postdoctoral researcher and myself. This project began with discussions about academic interests among undergraduates, in which they were encouraged to formulate scientific questions. Recognizing thematic proximity among their proposed topics, and aligning these with the background research of other BioDivers, we proposed the collaborative project during a lab meeting, and those interested joined the project. Three manuscripts are being developed from this project, two led by undergraduate students and one by a master’s student. Although I am the last author of two of these manuscripts, the postdoc is the last author of the third manuscript.
We rely on project-management tools such as Slack and Trello to share progress on each project, and on online workspaces such as Whimsical and Canva to create mind maps for thinking and collaboration. We also use Google Docs and Drive to share manuscripts in development, allowing for better co-writing and revising with authors who are spread across various locations. We have established guidelines for the responsible use of these shared documents, so that collaborators can contribute in suggestion mode but only the project leader can make final edits. This approach ensures a well-organized and productive publication process.
In summary, the BioDivA Lab represents a dynamic and inclusive scientific collaboration and mentorship model in a virtual environment. By addressing the practicalities described above, we ensure our virtual lab’s smooth functioning and success, fostering a dynamic environment.
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