Dedicated to advancing sustainable laboratories globally.
Agenda
Education Week 2025
I2SL is co-hosting our third annual virtual, international Education Week April 7 to 11, 2025, in conjunction with Sustainable Labs Canada (SLCan), our Australia I2SL chapter, the I2SL chapter forming in the UK, and the EGNATON sustainable lab organization of Europe.
See the full agenda below!
Monday, April 7
Opening Plenary: I2SL Outlook, Progress, and Plans
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern
Hear an update on I2SL’s latest initiatives to educate, evaluate, benchmark, and assess laboratories to reduce energy and emissions and how to use I2SL’s network and tools to meet changing priorities and policy challenges. Leadership from I2SL’s new chapter in the United Kingdom (UK) will also share their ambitions and objectives for working with a broad coalition to address priorities for green buildings and sustainable science in the UK.
Evaluating Lab Spaces for Research, Renovation, and Resilience
2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern
Kathryn Ramirez-Aguilar, University of Colorado Boulder/I2SL University Alliance Group
Explore some of the most pressing issues involved in planning tomorrow’s lab facilities: examine ways to optimize space use to maximize research impact in university laboratories and avoid overhead costs for U.S. universities; learn how one university prioritized renovation work to address the “seen and the unseen” aspects of energy-intensive lab space and infrastructure; and understand lab design considerations for reducing the risk to research from extreme weather events caused by climate change by looking at a model climate-resilient lab building.
Tuesday, April 8
European Perspectives on Lab Building Information Management and Digitization
10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Eastern
Hear from EGNATON, the European lab sustainability organization, on the organization’s progress and new activities involving BIM standardization in laboratories, digital models for BIM, and how BIM can be used to reduce energy and operating costs. Highlights include how ISO 19650 supports and standardizes the BIM process and a discussion about how laboratory and clean room ventilation can be optimized without compromising safety or quality using computational fluid dynamics and other approaches.
Sustainable Labs Canada Plenary: Accessibility in Laboratories
1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Eastern
Roman Romanov, Director, Accessibility Advisory Services, Rick Hansen Foundation
As Director of Accessibility Advisory Services for the Rick Hansen Foundation, Roman supports multi-site and large-scale public and private organizations on their journey towards increased accessibility and inclusion in the built environment and beyond. A sessional faculty member at OCAD (Ontario College of Art and Design) University in Toronto, he co-founded the Creative Research Practices Lab as an inclusive practices research center at OCAD.
Behavior Change to Improve Lab Energy Efficiency
4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern
Chuck Blanchette, Boston Children’s Hospital
There are many opportunities to improve energy efficiency in today’s laboratories, but what happens when facility staff and researchers resist change? Learn from U.S. and Canadian sustainable labs leaders how they inspire energy-saving investments and behaviors in three places: the University of California Irvine overcame attitudes to accelerate deep energy efficiency retrofits and launch the Smart Labs movement; Boston Children’s Hospital held a successful sash closure competition and hibernated fume hoods to win the pilot I2SL Shut the Sash Challenge; and McGill University in Montreal is mobilizing staff and students to be positive change agents within and beyond academia thought their engagement and certification programs.
Wednesday, April 9
UK Sustainable Laboratories Panel
10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Eastern
Galvin Tarling, Global Head of Sciences, Gleeds, Panel Moderator
Hear from a UK panel that will explore the demand for wet laboratory space in the UK and how sustainability is going to be influenced by the growing convergence of data platforms, IoT (the internet of things), automation, robotics, augmented reality, AI, and quantum computing.
Adaptive, Efficient, and Resilient Building Projects
1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Eastern
Loyola University: Brian Malone, Elara; Kana Henning, Loyola University
Get inspired by I2SL members’ most innovative and award-winning lab design projects in the United States! Get a glimpse at a new Boston College science building that excelled in energy efficiency, water conservation, and heat recovery; learn how an award-winning retrofit at Loyola University in Illinois added water-to-water heat exchangers, enhanced heat recovery, reduced cooling energy consumption, and optimized chilled water and air handling systems; and hear a case study about an innovative—and sustainable—center for studying energy solutions.
Reduction in Action: Canadian Case Studies in Health, Learning, and Community
4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern
Vincent Goetz, Diamond Schmitt Architects; Kevin Shea, Introba; Curtis Bagan, Providence Health Care
Inclusive design can support healing, learning, and bringing communities together. Hear two Canadian case studies: one from the owner and designers showing how sustainable features not only reduced energy and emissions, but brought healthcare, academics, and science under one roof at the Scarborough Academy of Medicine; and the new St. Paul’s Clinical Support and Research Centre, which integrates future flexibility, collaboration, and discovery in a center of excellence, while striving to achieve a Net Zero Carbon ready facility.
Health Research and Hospital-Embedded Labs in Australia
6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern (U.S. time; will be 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Thursday in Sydney)
Kiri Collins, Children’s Cancer Institute
Bettina Bartos, Billard Leece Partnership
Robert Danko, Wood Life Sciences
David Keenan, Danbar Consulting, Panel Moderator
Representatives of Australia’s first comprehensive children’s cancer center will explain how a restricted planning envelope drove a sustainable approach across all aspects of design. Due for completion in 2025, Australia's Minderoo Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre will provide technologically advanced BSL-2 laboratory facilities, dedicated high-quality patient clinical spaces, and contemporary workspaces for clinicians and research scientists, creating a co-culture of clinical care and research.
Thursday, April 10
AI in Lab Design and Research: International Perspectives
9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Eastern
Hear perspectives on lab design and operation using artificial intelligence form the United States, Canada, and China, as well as rethinking how research is conducted to leverage AI and improve sustainability.
Canadian Net Zero and Building Modernization Case Studies
1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Eastern
Kevin Humeniuk, Architecture 49; Antoni Paleshi, WSP Canada
Yvon Lachance, YLA Architecture; Pierre-Luc Baril, Pageau Morel
Reducing labs’ carbon footprint can start with closer examination of existing buildings. Explore how the Sidney Centre for Plant Health worked to meet the Canadian federal government’s sustainability goals, including key lessons learned in achieving net zero and reducing embodied carbon. You will also learn about the challenges encountered throughout the modernization of McGill University’s Lyman Duff Hall, a mid-century laboratory complex located within a heritage preservation zone, a project that was executed while the building was occupied.
U.S. Lab Decarbonization in Action
4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern
Alison Farmer, I2SL Labs2Zero Program Director
Rayen Pasten, Gilead Sciences; Kathleen Hetrick, Buro Happold
Session sponsored by Interface
Lab decarbonization is more than just a concept; across the United States, companies and research institutions are realizing energy efficiency and emissions reductions through system retrofits, building renovations, and corporate initiatives. Hear about the new Actionable Insights and Measures (AIM) Report releasing soon through I2SL’s Labs2Zero program, along with Gilead’s decarbonization journey and an award-winning adaptive reuse lab project at Carleton College in Minnesota that features materials with a significantly lower embodied carbon footprint.
Friday, April 11
Global Perspectives on Sustainable Science
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern
Moderators: Star Scott, University of Georgia, Martin Farley, UK Research and Innovation
Marta Rodriguez, European Molecular Biology Lab
Deirdre Black, UK Royal Society of Chemistry
Philipp Weber, European Molecular Biology Organization
André Estevez-Torres, CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique), Labos 1.5
This global panel will share a current snapshot of sustainable science and green lab efforts from the United States, UK, and Europe, with insights into programs, initiatives, policies, and more. Learn about best practices for the future of sustainable science and get inspired by colleagues near and far, as well as provide encouragement for those currently working under policy limitations; be a part of a much larger community of dedicated green lab professionals.