Call for Abstracts

The past two years have brought significant changes to how laboratories are designed, built and managed. From technology to people to the environment, the term “normal” doesn’t always reflect everyone’s normal. Creativity and innovation are pushing solutions out of their boxes and the 2022 Sustainable Laboratory Conference is your opportunity to share, and showcase, your “New Normal” with the Canadian laboratory community.

Sustainable Labs Canada (SLCan) and Conference Organizing Committee invite you to submit presentations on your involvement, your expertise and the current and future challenges you anticipate with respect to the development and management of laboratories.

Here are examples of questions that we would like to see answered, from multiple perspectives (designer, operator, owner), as part of the conference program:

Has lab planning changed moving forward?
Has lab planning evolved based on new client expectations?
Has IOT become common place in Laboratories? Should it?
What does integrated design mean today?
How are we building reconciliation in developing new facilities?
Are supply-chain issues the new normal and how can you mitigate their risks?
How will the ‘remote workplace’ be built into the laboratory working environment?
How can facility design support the recruitment and retention of talent?
How are companies attracting and retaining the talents?
How can industry and universities support each other to grow the research sector?
How are you engaging local communities and tapping into their region-specific expertise?
What are the new design challenges associated with project resilience?
How can lab facilities respond to environmental disasters?
How can the facility protect the staff, research and building during emergency events?
What is a resilient lab of the future?

ABSTRACTS

Abstracts should be submitted for consideration as oral presentations in a virtual environment. Oral presentations are to be 45 minutes in length. Abstracts should be no more than 500 words and must include biographies for all presenters. The abstracts may be submitted in English or French and must be submitted using the form to info@slcan.ca. Note that all sections of the form must be completed to be considered. The abstract submission deadline is now May 11, 2022.

Special attention will be given to abstracts that:
• Focus on new developments and technologies;
• Evaluate a completed project's performance by presenting documented results over a period of time; and,
• Are presented by the facility owner.

OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

Initial abstracts may be submitted in English or French. All final abstracts and presentations crediting federal government employee authors must be submitted in English and French. Any organizations with translation capabilities are encouraged to provide their abstracts and presentations in English and French. The translation may follow the revised final version.

FINAL PRESENTATIONS

PowerPoint (PPT) presentations must be submitted for review by subject experts. Authors of accepted presentations must revise their PPT presentations as required by the reviewers. Revised PPTs are to be submitted by e-mail. The presentations will be made available on the SLCan website (www.slcan.ca) following the Conference in the members only section.

Abstract Deadline – May 11, 2022
Author Notification – May 18, 2022
Revised/Translated Abstract Due – May 25, 2022
Program Published – June 1, 2022
Speaker Registration Deadline – September 7, 2022
Draft PPT Due – September 7, 2022
Final (Revised) PPT Due – October 3, 2022
Translated PPT Due – October 17, 2022

PRESENTER REGISTRATION
All presenters are required to register for the Conference by September 7, 2022. One discounted registration ($550 + GST) for will be made available for each accepted presentation. Additional presenters will be required to register at the full rate. The discounted registration can only be claimed by filling out the PDF registration form provided with the presentation confirmation notice and returning it to info@slcan.ca.

TIPS FOR PRESENTERS (selected abstracts)

• Communicate sustainability in a way that makes it relevant and useful to the particular audience you are speaking to.
• Provide a balance between negative and positive with a focus on the positive.
• Provide a balance between theory, examples and stories, with a focus on the stories.
• Empower the audience with information that will enable them to move forward to do something rather than get frustrated.
• Communicate all sides of the story as effectively as possible.
• Base the presentation on actual experience (own or that of others), not on speculation and wishful thinking.
• Address challenges and trade-offs around sustainability.
• Be engaging and interactive, breaking conventions in presentation style as sustainability requires breaking conventions in the “real world”.