LINC Lab

Lab Handbook

LINC Lab (Language, Intelligence, Neuroscience & Cognition)

I. Introduction and Lab Culture

We hope to build a positive, warm, and creative research environment together. Here, we address problems candidly and transparently. On the relationship between “freedom and order,” our stance is unwavering: the lab needs space for free exploration, but it also depends on clear and predictable systems to safeguard the collective good. May our time in Hong Kong be spent exploring what we truly love, while also building a healthy, mutually supportive social network.

A. Lab Mission

In this lab, we are committed to creating an enthusiastic, collaborative, and intellectually stimulating environment for all members, continuously pushing the frontiers of science and engineering. Our dual mission is:

  1. Using computable and verifiable models to analyze how human language comprehension is implemented in the brain;
  2. Developing more reliable and useful language intelligence systems—guided by brain inspiration and interpretability—to serve real-world scenarios such as education, healthcare, and accessibility.

We strive to balance “high-freedom creativity” with “bounded order”: clear rules to ensure basic order and fairness, and generous space to spark exploration and innovation. This dynamic balance is maintained collectively by all members. We also pursue results that stand the test of replication and time, emphasizing openness, sharing, and academic integrity, and making sustainable contributions to human health and well-being.

B. Core Values

  • Curiosity and truth-seeking: Be problem-centered, embrace the unknown and challenges, and let data and evidence speak.
  • Integrity and responsibility: Hold yourself to the highest standards in experimentation, analysis, and writing; mistakes can be understood, concealment cannot be accepted.
  • Openness and reproducibility: Prioritize reproducible workflows; where privacy/compliance allows, encourage open data, code, and preprints.
  • Transparency and sincerity: Be open on important issues and make decisions with symmetric information; being able to explain “why” makes consensus easier.
  • Warmth and connection: In a highly fragmented social world, the lab is a “safe testing ground”—to practice communication, resolve conflicts, strengthen relationships, and give each other a sense of safety and belonging.

II. Overall Expectations

A. Professional Conduct

  • Be punctual and keep commitments; external communications represent the lab’s professional image.
  • Zero tolerance for academic misconduct: strictly prohibit data fabrication/beautification, selective reporting, plagiarism, and inappropriate authorship.

B. Working Hours, Scholarly Effort, and Degree Progress

  • Email/IM responsiveness: on working days, reply with key points within 24 hours; if you cannot respond in time, send one sentence with the expected timeframe.
  • Experiment records: for both training and formal experiments, record procedures, hyperparameters, failed attempts, and reflections.
  • Weekly reports: proactively submit progress and next week’s plan each week; attach a one-page figure/table when needed. [Each person has a folder on Teams for weekly reports, project logs, presentations, etc.]
  • Mainline/side-project allocation: devote ~80% to 1–2 mainline projects (target: top venues in the field, e.g., CNS [Cell/Nature/Science], Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, PNAS; ACL/NeurIPS/ICLR/TACL, etc.); 20% to high-risk/high-reward side ideas to foster innovation and avoid fragmented output.
  • Post-project reproducibility: provide code (clearly annotated notebooks or script pipelines) + environment + minimal data sample + one-click script + README to ensure reproducibility.
  • Collaboration norms: while studying/working full-time in the lab, any new collaboration with external groups should be discussed with and filed by the advisor in advance, with data and authorship expectations clarified.

C. Leave/Time-Off Policy

  • Process: all members use the [Lab Leave/Travel Submission Form] to report single-day or extended leave, business travel, and remote-work arrangements.
  • Lead time: ordinary leave ≥ 3 working days in advance; inter-state/international travel ≥ 10 working days; in emergencies, report as soon as safely possible.

III. Communication and Meetings

A. Channels

  • WeChat / email / Teams

B. Meeting Structure

  • Group meeting: once per week, attend on time; it’s recommended to set aside phones/unrelated apps to stay focused. A moderator is responsible for the agenda, room booking, and timekeeping; encourage thorough discussion while controlling duration.
  • Co-working: lab members co-work in the lab 2–3 days per week.
  • One-on-ones: biweekly work check-ins with the advisor.
  • Preparation checklist: problem definition; method/data updates; results and failures; next week’s milestones; support needed.

IV. Author Contributions and Authorship Policy

  • Author order: based on an overall assessment of conception, execution, writing, and ongoing maintenance/evaluation.
  • Co–first authorship requires a written agreement and must be indicated on the cover page or in a footnote.

V. Joining and Exiting

Entry criteria (for PhD/Master’s/RA/Interns)

  • Passion for research and long-term motivation.
  • Strong self-learning ability and skill in decomposing problems.
  • Good interpersonal communication and collaboration skills; willing to give feedback and seek help.
  • Honesty, trustworthiness, punctuality; respect for others and diverse perspectives.

Exit mechanism

  • Hard requirement before the Year-2 (Y2) thesis proposal:
    • Before the proposal (typically by the end of the second academic year, per the university calendar), complete “at least one basically complete piece of work directly related to the PhD dissertation,” including:
      • Reproducible code and data-processing/experimental scripts;
      • A mature experimental design and main results (acceptance is not the criterion; technical soundness and sufficient evidence are);
      • A full paper draft or technical report (with submission feasibility).
    • If unmet: deemed misaligned with the lab’s pace; under advisor discussion and school procedures, arrange a transition to exit the lab or change advisor.
  • Graduation requirement (PhD)
    • At least 2 papers in top-tier journals or conferences as the graduation standard.