Ten simple rules for fostering creativity in research labs

The article addresses concerns about a decline in the disruptiveness of research and argues for championing creativity in scientific work and training. Research labs led by principal investigators are key environments where both group-level and individual creativity can unfold and where graduate and postdoctoral training occurs. Creativity is defined as connecting known components to produce something novel and useful within a domain, and it can enter the scientific process at multiple stages, including idea inception, experimental design, data analysis, presentation, dissemination, and application. Creativity is not solely an innate trait; it can be enhanced and trained and is responsive to the lab setting. The author, a PI leading a large ecology lab, aims to provide a starting point for lab discussions, particularly for early-career researchers and PIs in biology, acknowledging that institutional contexts and fields vary. The central question is how to enhance creativity within a lab group, answered via ten actionable rules.

The paper proposes ten practical rules to enhance creativity in research labs, addressing both group-level and individual creativity:

1. Foster a healthy, open lab culture: Create a safe, respectful environment emphasizing well-being, trust, collaboration, and friendly communication; toxic climates stifle idea sharing.
2. Value creative input: Recognize and reward contributions (e.g., thanks, highlighting creative figures, co-authorship for idea contributions); emphasize that good ideas are valuable.
3. Provide freedom: Allow members, after meeting primary responsibilities, to explore side projects aligned with their curiosity (similar to Google's 80/20 concept), while maintaining communication to avoid side projects overshadowing main tasks.
4. Maintain flat hierarchies: Reduce hierarchical barriers so team members feel comfortable challenging ideas and speaking up, while retaining enough structure to clarify roles and goals.
5. Assemble a diverse team using a range of approaches: Employ diversity across background, culture, gender, experience, and scientific domains, and encourage varied methodologies (theoretical, modeling, experimental, observational; applied and foundational) to spark unusual connections; manage potential conflicts that diversity can bring.
6. Provide resources: Secure discretionary funding to pilot novel ideas, extend contracts for promising lines, and support targeted training (visits, workshops) needed to develop emerging concepts.
7. Ensure broad inspiration and diverse inputs: Seek input beyond the lab’s field (journal clubs, interdisciplinary workshops, external talks, conference debriefs); host visitors such as artists or philosophers-in-residence and sabbatical scholars for weeks to months to enable meaningful exchanges, with broad group buy-in.
8. Apply creativity techniques: Utilize structured techniques beyond brainstorming (e.g., brainwriting, Six Thinking Hats, Zwicky box/morphological analysis, SCAMPER) adapted from corporate resources for individual and group settings.
9. Provide a dedicated space for creativity: Build regular routines (e.g., dedicated time in journal clubs to ideate on papers, discuss creative aspects, and maintain idea drop-boxes) to condition attention and make creativity a predictable part of meetings.
10. Lead by example: PI and senior members should model creative thinking, share processes, engage in learning (e.g., teaching creativity courses), and signal ongoing commitment to creativity to empower the team. The rules collectively emphasize culture-building (rules 1–4), diverse inputs and techniques (rules 5–9), and leadership (rule 10).

The ten rules directly address the central question of how labs can enhance creativity by shaping the environment in which ideas arise and are expressed. Healthy, open cultures and flatter hierarchies reduce social barriers to idea generation and sharing. Valuing creative input and providing freedom incentivize contributors and align personal curiosity with lab goals. Diversity and varied approaches expand the pool of concepts that can be connected into novel, useful outcomes, while structured creativity techniques and dedicated spaces focus attention and practice. Resources enable low-risk exploration and skill acquisition, and leadership by example legitimizes creativity efforts and empowers team members. Together, these practices create conditions where creativity can unfold through routine, collaboration, and supportive structures, acknowledging that creativity cannot be forced but can be cultivated.

Implementing these rules is not simple and requires sustained effort to establish the right lab culture. While the PI plays a key role in setting the stage and modeling behavior, success depends on the cooperation and engagement of all lab members. Enhancing lab creativity is a collective endeavor that takes time and consistent practice. Future work could explore systematic evaluation of these practices across diverse institutional and disciplinary contexts and develop tailored approaches that account for field-specific constraints.

This perspective does not present empirical data or a formal methodology; recommendations may not generalize across institutions, cultures, or disciplines and require tailoring to local contexts. Creativity cannot be forced and depends on a healthy environment and cooperative participation. Resource availability may constrain implementation. Increased diversity, while beneficial, can also introduce conflict if not managed. Allowing freedom for side projects carries the risk of diluting focus if primary responsibilities are not maintained.