Carleton researchers affected by construction delays

Despite three years of delays and displacements, Carleton University researchers have managed to keep their projects on track in the midst of the Health Sciences Building’s continued construction.

Intended to provide additional lab space for the growing health sciences and neuroscience and mental health programs, plans for the new building were announced in December 2015, with occupancy set for June 2017. However, there are still rooms and floors left unfinished in 2019.

As the $52-million project saw increased delays, and Carleton received a time-sensitive $25-million grant to renovate the existing Life Sciences Research Building within the same year, many researchers feared a sudden relocation would impact their research, said Kim Hellemans, chair of the neuroscience department.

“To say that our faculty and department members were devastated would be a gross understatement,” she said.

“The university was supportive in financially contributing to us being able to be viable in our new location, and the current senior administration have been phenomenal—but at the time of the dispersion, it was nowhere near as supportive as they are today.”

The department’s graduate students were the most affected by the move, though they’ve gradually been able to overcome the disruption to their research, Hellemans added.

“For graduate students, getting a publication early in their career is crucial to their success, and when they experience a six-month to two-year delay, that has far greater consequences on their career than someone who is a full professor with tenure.” — Kim Hellemans, chair of the neuroscience deparment.

“However, I do hear less and less of the frustration, so I think it’s getting better.”

Sam Petrie, a health sciences graduate student, said the delays to the computer lab spaces in the Health Sciences Building made ensuring the ethics of his research more difficult—though only on a minor scale.

“Whenever you’re doing a research project that requires ethics, one of the things that [subjects] ask about is, ‘Where are you storing this data?’” he said. 

“So we had to be very specific about the fact that we’re storing data in one spot for now, but it’s going to be moved with all the ethical [standards] met.”

“But again, I mostly work using computers, so I wouldn’t say it’s delayed my research—it’s been an inconvenience, but that’s about it,” Petrie added. 

The disruptions Petrie experienced have been outweighed by the benefits of the new lab space, he said.

“Before, when there wasn’t a space for all the graduate students in health sciences to hang out, I was feeling pretty isolated. Ever since there’s been a lab for us to congregate, it’s gone a long way to create a sense of community,” Petrie added. 

Paul Peters, a health sciences professor at Carleton, said the year-and-a-half delay to his department’s new computer labs has affected his students’ research focuses, as well as the program’s enrolment, though not necessarily the quality of his cohort’s research.

“Some of my students have had to scale back their projects a bit, and it has limited how we’re able to recruit students since we don’t have anywhere to put them,” he said.

“They’ve had to change their research projects, or arrange for [lab] access elsewhere, but it’s been going—and going well, for many of them.”

However, for those whose research is conducted in wet laboratories—spaces that require specific regulations due to the handling of “wet” hazards—as well as animal facilities, the displacement caused by the delays was more detrimental, said neuroscience professor Alfonso Abizaid. 

“At the time, they didn’t know where to put us, but they ended up putting us at the University of Ottawa,” he said. “It was very traumatic, and there were lots of concerns and emotional responses about it.”

“The lab we were placed in was smaller than what we had before, and there were limitations, and that was disruptive for the students involved,” Abizaid added.

Despite the consequences of what Abizaid described as “the misfortune of being fortunate” to receive additional grants for renovations and extensions, many of his students benefited from having to adapt to the challenges presented by the displacement.

 “We are a freaking good group of resilient students and faculty, and nothing has been invented without a little bit of hardship.” — Alfonso Abizaid, neuroscience professor. 

“Students really learned to manage their time a little better. They made new friendships and connections with people at the University of Ottawa, resulting in fruitful collaborations—papers and grants that would have never happened had these people not met.”