For research ecologists and evolutionary biologists, mid-March is a time when the dark winter hibernation of data analysis and lab work gives way to new growth: travel plans are made, sampling kits are assembled, and hiking gear is once again brought back into rotation. But just as ecologists were getting ready to spring into action, Ontario went into lockdown—and university research went down with it. While some research labs working on time-sensitive projects were granted exemptions to keep operations going, most in-person research, whether in laboratories or field sites, halted almost completely. Three researchers from UofT’s Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Rafael Iwama, Sophia Fan, and Emma Walker, shared their experiences of adapting to these new conditions.
Rafael Iwama, a graduate student studying the evolution of leech anticoagulants at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), was preparing for a research trip to Brazil to collect leech specimens for DNA sequencing. Due to the pandemic, though, only the lab’s supervisor was able to travel to collect the leeches. While the ROM has reopened for visitors, most of the research labs housed within the museum remain closed, which has thrown the leech samples into a state of limbo. “We still do not know when and how these samples will be sequenced,” says Iwama. Luckily, much of his other work is computational and can be done remotely. “I focused on data that I already had available,” he says, and he’s hopeful that he can complete most of the original plans for his thesis “with a few adaptations.”
Undergraduate research has also been affected by lab shutdowns. Students planning to enroll in research courses this academic year were warned that projects should be planned with the possibility of being conducted completely remotely, and undergraduate students who had already secured summer research positions had to adapt their plans. Sophia Fan is an undergraduate student who received an NSERC USRA to study bumblebee pollination in Colorado this summer. When this plan was cancelled due to research restrictions, Fan and her lab devised a novel research idea to address an ecological question that had never been studied before. Now, her work consists of extracting data from published literature and running analyses, which, says Fan, “can be done entirely remotely.” While she would rather be catching bees in Colorado right now, she’s hopeful that her original plans can be fulfilled next summer, and she feels “super lucky” to now be working on “an important and relevant question that’s answerable remotely.”
For other researchers, like PhD student Emma Walker, remote work isn’t new. Walker’s research centres around theoretical modelling of ecological disturbance, for which she only needs her “computer and brain.” However, she notes that “while theory doesn’t have many physical demands, it has high mental and creative demands. I feel zapped of energy these days and my usual ways of coping and rebooting my creative flow (i.e. changing up my workspace or chatting with colleagues) aren’t really feasible anymore.” The result of this, says Walker, is that her research has slowed down significantly, and some days it’s difficult to get any work done at all. Importantly, she notes that even though physical barriers to research have hindered many, the “unseen mental repercussions and limitations can be equally or more limiting” to researchers trying to work under lockdown.
Research at UofT has persisted, but now lives at a distance—in the home—where it’s intermixed with other stressors and responsibilities. And while the adaptability of researchers in the face of unprecedented change is admirable, universities have, in many ways, fallen short in their efforts to prioritize the physical and mental health of the researchers whose labour is their source of prestige. This is where strong communities have been key, as exemplified by the team of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology professors and students who took the time to sew dozens of reusable masks for researchers returning to campus labs. Emma Walker was one of them. “When something is asked of you and you have the skills to do something,” says Walker, “I believe it’s your duty to do what you can. I enjoyed picking out what patterned fabrics to put together for the masks and the sense of accomplishment that came from the final result. This, and feeling I was helping out, made the work worth it.”
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