Building maintenance and construction work
ILS labs move – timeline and process – updated February 11, 2026
Building maintenance and construction work
ILS labs will be moving from Janskerkhof 13/13A to Drift 10, providing great opportunities – as well as some challenges – for lab users and lab support. This post will keep lab users up to date about the process. Please let lab support know ASAP if you have research plans involving lab support, lab space, or loan equipment in the coming 15 months (that is any time between now and May 2027) so that we can minimize the impact of the move on your experimental research.
What we are working toward
At Drift 10, ILS labs will occupy the basement, half the ground floor (Studiepunt will stay where it is) and the first floor. We will be moving 8 of our current 11 setups: 2 biolabs, 2 eye-tracking labs, 3 phonetics/general-purpose labs, 1 head-turn lab. These setups will all be situated in sound-proof booths. In time (well after the move), we will also set up an interaction lab, in the basement. Of course the terminal/analysis room (aka K.06) will be moved as well.
How we’re going to get there
We’ll be moving one setup at a time, and each setup will take several weeks to build in the new location. This whole process will take about a year to complete. New experiments will start in Drift 10 as soon as the relevant setup has been built there, while current experiments wrap up at Janskerkhof. This period of experiments being conducted at both locations will last 43 weeks.
During the year of the move, preparations for the renovation of Janskerkhof will start. This will involve noisy demolition activities that will be ramping up over time. No schedule has been set yet, but it is likely that starting from the summer of 2026, there will still be four days a week available for wrapping up experiments at Janskerkhof, gradually tapering off to only one day a week by the start of 2027.
When is this going to be happening – timeline
This is the current, provisional (!!!!) timeline, – subject to change:
- Lab support staff is, of course, preparing for the move right now (specifying dimensions, outlets, light switches, cable lengths, furniture, …).
- January – April 2026: construction work in Drift 10:
- Ceilings are being reinforced now (to make them strong enough to carry the sound-attenuated booths). Here are some pictures showing the progress.
- The sound-attenuated booths will be constructed started February 16 and hopefully be done (including ventilation, fire alarm and electricity) by Easter (April 6).
- In March, ventilation shafts will be widened.
- A bunch of maintenance will be done on the windows.
- Between April 2026 and November 2026 we will be physically moving the experimental setups, one at a time.
- It will be possible to some extent to wrap up current experiments at Janskerkhof, until early 2027. Starting in the summer though, noisy building activities in Janskerkhof will be ramping up over time.
What does this mean for you as a lab user
Moving the labs is a ton of extra work, so lab support has less time to devote to supporting experiments than usual. We are fully committed to letting all experiments proceed as planned, but we also have to be realistic: we will have to work very efficiently to do it all. This means that starting now, we will be enforcing two existing rules about undergraduate student work:
- BA and (R)MA student research can only involve existing paradigms. We have dozens of experimental tasks ready to go for you! Come talk to us and see what’s possible.
- To promote efficiency, all communication with lab support about undergraduate student work has to be done by the supervisor.
Furthermore, it is vitally important that all lab users come and talk to us ASAP about their plans, so we can plan which setup to move when. Please note that alternative solutions such as postponing experiments, or conducting them online rather than in the lab, or conducting them elsewhere using portable equipment rather than in the lab, may actually generate more work and are therefore not necessarily helpful for lab support. Come talk to us so we can find the best solution for you.
Contact Iris Mulders if you haven’t, already – and keep us updated about any change in your plans.