Interviewing for postdoc position (2)

So here are some of the questions that I think are important and often missed (special thanks to my colleague Kelly who gave me lots of advice):

1. (To the PI) Will I be able to work on what I have been doing in your lab when I start my new lab? Need to ask this because some PIs are not as generous as you have thought, esp. for the new ones because they are usually more insecure. That's why working for a really big/famous lab could be great in this sense, because usually the PI doesn't really care if you take away some of his/her stuff.

2. (To the people working in the lab) What kind of adjectives would you describe your PI/lab environment? Would you say collegial, competitive, supportive, fun, serious, generous, ... ? The trick is to give them some adjectives to choose, and throw in some negative ones among the good ones, so they won't feel alarmed when they give you the bad ones. If you don't give them any words, more likely they won't say much, or will give you the standard empty phrases like "it is okay, it is good..etc"

3. (To the PI) Will I get maternity/paternity leave? Obviously this doesn't apply to everyone (not me for sure!) but believe it or not in this age there are still assholes out there who is totally against female scientists who want to have a family/babies!

4. (To the PI) Do you support people going to conferences? For this, it is not just about monetary support (chances are you will have your own travel allowance), but also whether he/she will let you take some time off to go to a conference. I know some PIs are not really keen on sending the trainees out to a conference, but would rather go him or herself!