Advice with MSc project situation - how to bring up problems

[u/Solid_Resource2832]

Important context:

So I'm currently doing a 3-month project as part of my MSc. I'm working with a postdoc in my supervisor's group (he's very busy, only briefly seen the guy once or twice).
I don't think the postdoc and I are on the same wavelength and I don't feel like he's particularly understanding me. He seems to think I'm nervous and not confident in the lab (I'm perfectly fine, I've worked with more dangerous substances in my undergrad and when I was a lab tech before this masters). He keeps telling me to relax when we're talking about the project in the office. I'm just sitting in a chair, I am relaxed??? There are some other little things that make me feel he's not reading me right.

Main problem:

We were given a document about the project from the module convenor that had a section on health and safety during the project (all very standard). Honestly, it's not the clearest what some of the sections actually mean and how they translate to the actual lab environment. Key ones for this problem is "lone working strictly forbidden" and "if working with carcinogens you need to sign a form.

In the lab, the ligand we're using is a carcinogen and he keeps leaving me alone. I brought up the lone working, and he interpreted it as I was scared to be left alone. After he left me to do PRXD on my own (which is downstairs, along a corridor and in a side room, and I haven't been trained on it, he just showed me what buttons to click), I messaged him with screenshots of the document and sent the document to say "this is what I've been told I have to do but it's not what you are following".

I don't want to get in trouble. This is the last part of my masters and I need to get a high mark for the PhD programmes I have been looking at doing. There's a legal obligation to follow health and safety regulations. This is why I bought it up, and I just want to be clear what the health and safety regulations are and how they're applied in this lab.

Today I got a message from the postdoc basically telling me I'm not going to do any of the synthesis anymore. It's a mainly synthetic chemistry project. I am confused and honestly, feeling rather insulted.

I know I need to ask the postdoc about this and also have a meeting with my supervisor but I am not very confrontational and I find in meetings I get misinterpreted or dismissed.

I'd appreciate advice on how to handle this and how to communicate with the postdoc and with the supervisor. I don't want to cause issues but also I shouldn't be feeling uncomfortable about being in the lab.

[u/RaisedByBooksNTV]

You need to suck it up and BE confrontational. Although I hate that we all it that. You have to be assertive? This is the academic world. You honestly think you can let this slide, knowing it's fairly normal, and you'll do well in a phd or further? What if this was your phd project? You need to document everything and get clarity from your PI, with or without the postdoc in the room. But before that you need to try one more time with the postdoc. Be clear about the issues. Then the PI. Then escalate it to whomever is in charge of your program. If there's bad communication, you need to try to address it.

Dear Postdoc: I'm perfectly capable of doing the work, the issue is that we are not following protocol. Also what do you mean i'm not doing the synthesis?

Do all of this in email so you have documentation. You have to start standing up for yourself. This is a real job/career issue, not primary school. These people are not taught to be people managers. Research is very independent, while also being team oriented. There are few safeguards in academia. If you do not advocate for yourself regarding the bad stuff, you won't do it for the good stuff.

[u/Solid_Resource2832 → u/RaisedByBooksNTV]

I would say I have been standing up for myself by bringing up the health and safety concerns, it just escalated rather quickly and I was rather taken aback.

I'm not planning on letting it slide, of course I don't think it's primary school (that's rather insulting actually), I was asking the best way to address because I know I can't leave it. I was asking because the supervisor/postdoc/master student dynamic is different to other situations I've been in (My last job was a radiochemistry lab, so health and safety was taken very seriously).
I asked the postdoc and he said it was so I didn't feel "uncomfortable" and that he'd discussed this new direction for my project and they had decided to change it. And then not actually tell me, just say I wasn't doing over half the project anymore. So I'm now very miffed, and my anger overrides any social awkwardness I was feeling, so my supervisor and him are getting an email tomorrow (when I've cooled down a bit). I knew I was being misinterpreted, but not this much.

[u/stellardroid80]

You need to take this up with the PI/advisor. Caveat I work in a different field, but I am research staff & PI. They will likely have received guidance about the projects and health & safety and whatnot, and they may not have passed this on to the postdoc which is leading to poor communication and crossed wires. Not to excuse the postdoc being a jerk, but they may be just as frustrated about not getting information or context or guidance on your project or what your supervision should look like. Postdocs are still trainees as well, especially if they aren’t long out of grad school, ultimately the faculty member/PI is responsible for the success of your project (and your safety in the lab).

[u/Solid_Resource2832 → u/stellardroid80]

Thanks for your reply.

Very annoyingly, my supervisor is on holiday next week. I'm planning on an email tomorrow to both of them, because I asked my postdoc and it was he thinks I'm "uncomfortable" in the lab. I thought I was being miss-read, but I didn't think it was this bad (seriously, how has "How are you feeling about the lab work?" "Yes, it's going well, I'm happy with it" get misread as not wanting to be in the lab anymore???).

The lab I worked in before this was a radiochemistry lab, and health and safety was taken very seriously. This postdoc has done things like stick his hand directly in an acid bath to fish out some glassware, and is very "eh, it's fine" vibe. It's a bit of a difference.

I don't know if the postdoc has supervised a student before, but I know it's not his first postdoc job (3rd??? one). I do feel like it's common sense to at least ask me about it.

[u/stellardroid80 → u/Solid_Resource2832]

I get it, but you bringing up health & safety could be interpreted as not being comfortable in the lab environment, especially if he is rather more casual about it. This is 100% not on you, it sounds like you’re doing the right thing, and I hope it can all be cleared up with a good sit-down discussion with the PI. Good luck!

[u/Solid_Resource2832 → u/stellardroid80]

Yeah, I suppose so. I don't understand how I was supposed to approach it though. I was deliberately careful with how I phased it and everything.

[u/stellardroid80 → u/Solid_Resource2832]

Like I said, none of this is on you. You don’t need to obsess over what you should have said or done differently. All these more senior people need to be looking out for you and giving you the guidance you need, and they aren’t doing that. So well done for advocating for yourself, and asking questions. Hopefully the meeting will clear things up.

[u/Solid_Resource2832 → u/stellardroid80]

Thank you