The effects of COVID-19 on lab-based research programs and future graduate work in Canada
In early 2020, the spread of the new SARS-CoV-2 virus — and the COVID-19 disease it causes — set off a global pandemic, where governments around the world reacted by implementing social distancing and quarantining measures as well as a mass shutdown of all services deemed nonessential.
In Canada, hospitals, research institutes, and universities reduced ongoing research projects to a minimum and sent most of their students and staff home.
The impact of such measures on graduate students throughout Canada, with an emphasis on those in lab-based research programs, has the potential of being monumental, and it may have an effect longer than just the confinement period.
This discussion addresses the potential long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on those graduate students, with a focus on students’ mental health, finances, education, research results, and overall career.
Read this open access paper on the FACETS website
Many students expressed significant concern regarding motivation with the shift to online courses; financial stress in terms of personal debt, bills, and tuition fees; as well as disrupted education and career plans.
As the mental well-being of students takes a hit, several Canadian universities have responded by publishing online resources (videos and articles on learning remotely, financial aid, health and well-being) and providing online services for their students (real-time chat and telephone consultations as well as tele-counselling).
Uncertainty over the current economic situation and potential research material shortages lead to worry related to the quality and quantity of results and the impact these may have on funding. Graduate students in these cases may fall back on older techniques that require fewer specialized reagents or pivot experimentation towards other techniques.
As COVID-19 makes very few exceptions regarding who it affects worldwide, it is anticipated universities, funding agencies, governments, and employers will be lenient and adapt their programs and processes for such unprecedented circumstances.
We have already noted many programs and resources available to target students’ difficulties surrounding their mental health, finances, education, research results, and overall career. Assuring the continuation of such measures is critical, and graduate students’ drive to succeed will manifest in novel ways to tackle the challenges that the COVID-19 lockdown has imposed.
Read the paper — The biomedical lab after COVID-19: cascading effects of the lockdown on lab-based research programs and graduate students in Canada by Vincent Maranda and Edward Yakubovich.
