Something that isn’t really talked about or taught along the way to a Phd, is how to put together a lab wishlist when starting a new (academic) lab. It’s likely more difficult the more specialized the field – say in our lovely field of bioacoustics.
I realize the acoustic equipment people use will differ, but I am curious to hear what your recommendations would be for a lab start-up wish list? What are must-haves vs nice-to-haves? (An giant supply of re-chargeable batteries comes to mind!) Anyone care to share their actual list and cost breakdowns?
Ecoevo jobs has a tab where people share their start-up amount requests vs received. While these vary greatly, some are up to US $1.5 mill! And I wonder what would be reasonable for our field, especially for early career researchers.
Some broad categories I am thinking about:
- Salary/stipend assistance
- Computational needs
- Instruments
- Field gear
- Conference/publication funds
- Space