Résumé
The COVID‐19 pandemic has heavily impacted academics’ professional and personal lives, forcing many research groups (labs) to shift from an academic system primarily based on in‐person work to an almost full‐time remote workforce during lockdowns. Labs are generally characterized by a strong lab culture that underpins all research and social activities of its members. Lab culture traditionally builds on the pillars of in‐person communication, knowledge sharing, and all social and professional activities that promote collaboration, team building, scientific productivity, and well‐being. Here, we use the experience of our research group facing the COVID‐19 pandemic to illustrate how proactively reinforcing lab culture and its positive outcomes have been essential to our lab when transitioning from an in‐person to a remote lab environment, and through its ongoing evolution toward a hybrid remote/in‐person model. We argue that the proactive promotion of lab culture in research groups can foster academic resilience during crises, helping research groups to maintain their capacity to conduct scientific activities while preserving a sustainable life/work balance and a healthy mental condition. The Covid‐19 pandemic crisis has forced many research groups to move from an academic system based on in‐person work and characterized by a strong lab culture to a fully remote workforce. We illustrate how reinforcing lab culture has been essential for our research group when transitioning from an in‐person to a remote lab. We argue that proactively promoting lab culture is essential for supporting academic resilience during crises and to help research groups maintain scientific activity and preserve a sustainable life/work balance.