Animal Care and Veterinary Resources

Animal Care and Veterinary Resources (ACVR) is responsible for the oversight of all animal care and use in research and teaching at the university and its affiliated institutes. This encompasses four facilities on the St John’s campus, in addition to the Marine Institute, Grenfell Campus and the Bonne Bay Marine Station. The unit is also actively involved in teaching labs for medical residents in the disciplines of Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Emergency Medicine and advanced post-graduate trauma operative management.

A new research facility, the Animal Resource Centre (the ARC), will open at the Health Sciences Centre site.

ACVR works hand in hand with the Animal Care Committee to ensure protocol approval and ongoing compliance for with the federally mandated guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) and maintenance of institutional accreditation by that body. Memorial University holds a Certificate of Good Animal Practice (GAP certificate) from the CCAC.

Research Initiatives and Services

Research Initiatives and Services (RIS) is the primary point of contact for all research funding applications, performs pre- and post-award administration in a “one-stop shop” approach. RIS also manages the Core Research Equipment and Instrument Training (CREAIT) Network, and coordinates Memorial’s awards & honours and internal research award programs.

The pre-award component focuses on the review and approval of research grants and contracts, while the post-award component provides research project management and administrative support for large-scale research programs.

The Strategic Initiatives group supports development of strategic research initiatives for highly innovative and ground-breaking research through larger-scale Tri-Agency programs and other major funding opportunities. The Strategic Initiatives group also manages Memorial’s Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs programs.

The CREAIT Network maintains and operates thematic clusters of multi-user research equipment, providing research support and analytical services to Memorial’s students, staff, and faculty, and external users.

RIS also co-ordinates with other units around Memorial to nominate faculty for prestigious awards and honours and to co-ordinate Memorial’s internal research award programs.

Research Innovation Office

The Research Innovation Office (RIO) supports faculty, students and staff with their research industrial liaison, technology transfer and commercialization activities. The RIO is committed to foster a progressive culture of technology transfer and commercialization that will promote social and economic benefits for Newfoundland and Labrador. We encourage an environment in which Memorial students, faculty, and staff work with the business community to bring research ideas to market.

Department of Technical Services

The Department of Technical Services is responsible for developing and maintaining specialized equipment to support research activities. This unit services laboratory equipment, specialized machinery and scientific instruments. With highly trained staff and modern facilities, this group offers expertise in electronics, circuit board development, networking, computer repairs, glassblowing, CNC machining, scale model making, mechanical fabrication and selective laser sintering. The employees of Technical Services work closely with researchers to develop and build custom apparatus and prototypes. The department focuses on developing services that are beneficial to Memorial's researchers but not otherwise available in the local community. This removes geographic roadblocks and creates a competitive advantage for Memorial.