Ethics

AIMLab. Values and Expectations

This page clarifies the AIMLab. Values and Expectations related to the undertaking of a research project within the lab. It is a moral contract between the lab principal investigator and the student.

A PDF verion of AIMLab. Values and Expectations can be downloaded here.

AIMLab. Values

Excellence:

The student will work on an ambitious research project and is expected to perform his/her work at the highest scientific standard.

Dedication:

The student is fully dedicated to conducting and moving forward his/her research project to its completion.

Initiatives:

Initiatives, creativity and independence are welcome and encouraged within the scope of the research project.

Punctuality:

You are responsible to arrive at your meetings on time and arrange your calendar to reach your deadlines.

Plagiarism:

Any type of plagiarism is not allowed and is your responsibility to adhere to academic guidelines in that matter.

Authorship:

Authorship on publications follows the following rules (here).

Communication:

good communication between teammates and with your supervisor is critical. Talk and support each other and come to your supervisor if there is an issue where you need support.

Collaboration:

Collaboration between lab members is encouraged. It is healthy and recommended.

AIMLab. Expectations

Commitments:

You agree to work on your research project within the period of time that was agreed with your supervisor. Typically, two years for an MSc and 3.5 years for a PhD position. Following the end of the research project you may be requested to support the submission and handling of a publication on your research. You commit to support the handling of such paper while it is understood that this should not impair any new responsibility you have taken in your next job.

Type of works:

Working on your thesis is somewhat similar to working in a startup: you will have to work on different aspect of your project. This may include data collection, data curation, coding and writing reports/papers. You are expected to work on these different tasks as much as needed to move your project forward.

Non-disclosure:

You commit not to share, email or publicly present any of your work or lab related work, documents and data without the agreement of your supervisor. Your source code should be stored on private GIT repository during the research period. Whether to release it as open source or license it will be decided by your supervisor at the point where milestones have been reached and the code is in a mature state.

Responsiveness:

It is required that you respond to your supervisor emails within a descent amount of time. Failure to keep your supervisor updated for too long may results in decision being made without your approval such as publishing your work or the project being aborted.

Data protection:

The AIMLab. is working with anonymized medical data. Despite these data being anonymized it is forbidden to share them with anyone outside the laboratory or keep a copy on a private computer. These data should be solely stored on the faculty servers and be accessed and processed via secured connection to the lab servers.

AIMLab. Commitment

Environment:

The aim lab will provide an adequate working environment to the research student. This includes a desk, access the necessary computing equipment and other lab professional and social activities.

Research guidance:

The principal investigator provides research guidance to the student along his/her research journey to the point of completion.

AIMLab. Minimal Viable lab. Rules (MVP)

You are mostly free to arrange your time as you wish and work in the way that is most comfortable and enjoyable for you. However, there are a few lab rules that need to be stated front and you are expected to obey by them if you want to join the team:

Be in the lab between 9am-3pm at least two days per week. Whether you prefer to start your day earlier or finish it late at night is your choice. To ensure the lab has core hours with people working together you must be in during these hours on a normal day.
Use source control for your code. A lab private GITHUB repository will be available and you are requested to work with it. This is for your own benefit! It will avoid losing months because you lost or broke your code.
The laboratory is closed on Shabbat.

Data protection

The AIMLab. works with anonymized medical data. Although these data are anonymized, they remain sensitive and must be handled with the highest level of care. By joining the lab, you commit to the following rules:

GCP certification: You must complete Good Clinical Practice (GCP) certification within one month of starting work at the lab.
Need-to-know access: You will be granted access only to the data banks used for your degree. Access to data not related to your research project is not permitted.
Data storage: Medical data must be stored only on the faculty servers and must be accessed and processed through a secured connection to the lab servers. No copy of medical data may be kept on lab desktops or on personal computers or laptops. The data stay on the servers.
No sharing: It is forbidden to share medical data with anyone outside the laboratory.
Data transfer: Any transfer of data between a medical institution and the lab must use a secured transfer method approved by that medical institution's Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).
Personal credentials: Your access credentials are personal. They must not be shared with any other lab member or with anyone outside the laboratory.
Incident reporting: Any data protection incident must be reported to the lab manager within 24 hours. This includes suspected or actual data leaks, loss of a device, and unauthorized access.
Ethics approval: Medical data may be used only within the scope of an approved Helsinki (IRB) approval and any data use agreement with the providing institution. Using data for a purpose outside that approval is not permitted.
No re-identification: You must never try to re-identify patients, including by linking lab datasets with each other or with outside sources. If you find information that could identify a patient, stop and report it to the lab manager.
External tools and cloud services: Medical data must not be uploaded to external services without prior approval by the lab director. This includes cloud storage, online AI tools such as chatbots and code assistants, and public code repositories. Code that you push to GitHub must not contain data, data samples, or patient-level outputs.
Account security: Use multi-factor authentication wherever it is available, and lock your screen whenever you step away from a computer that is connected to the lab servers.
Publications and presentations: Results shared outside the lab, including papers, posters, and talks, must be aggregated and must not include any patient-level data, identifiers, or images that could identify a patient, unless the ethics approval explicitly allows it.
Leaving the lab: When you finish your degree or leave the lab, your access to data and servers will be revoked. You must confirm to the lab manager that you hold no copy of any lab data.
Consequences: Breaking these rules may lead to immediate loss of data access and may be reported to the relevant Technion and medical-institution authorities.

In case of doubt: If you are unsure how to handle medical data or whether an action complies with these rules, consult the lab manager, Ms Alexandra Alexandrovich, before going ahead.