SDG 17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

Find the most recent Gazette stories for this goal here.

Teaching and Learning:

• In 2016, the federal government announced $6 million in funding for the Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI), a partnership between Memorial, DAL, and UPEI. The OFI focuses on research in various areas of ocean sciences, such as sustainable fisheries, sustainable aquaculture, marine safety, and ocean data and technology.
• In 2017, fourteen English as a second language students from South Korea and Qatar travelled to Corner Brook to participate in Grenfell’s Career, Culture and Language Education Experience program. This program aimed to improve the students’s fluency and competence when speaking English, while also improving their knowledge of Newfoundland and Canadian culture.
• The Bonne Bay Aquarium and Research Station, located in Norris Point, is a research, teaching and conference venue that is part of Memorial’s Grenfell Campus. It is open to collaboration with researchers and professors from all disciplines interested in teaching and learning in the Gros Morne/Bonne Bay region.
• The Marine Institute signed a contract with the Indonesian Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education in 2017 which allowed for 22 instructors and managers from Indonesian polytechnic institutions to attend a six week training program in St. John’s. 10 participants took part in the Aquaculture Management Program, while 12 took part in the Maritime Safety Program.
• In 2019, Memorial signed a 10-year agreement with the Nunavut Arctic College to promote northern research opportunities, build administrative capacity and expand post-secondary programs available to learners in Nunavut. The first initiative of the program was the delivery of the Nunavut Teacher Education program, which aims to prepare graduates to teach in Nunavut’s school system.

Research

• Significant investments in infrastructure have been made at Memorial to support world-class research and development including the Atlantic Canada Environmental and Sustainable Chemistry Centre, the Core Research Equipment and Instrument Training Network, the Harsh Environment Research Facility (HERF), the Animal Resource Centre, the Centre for Research and Innovation in Corner Brook, the Launch in Holyrood, and a seafloor observatory in Conception Bay. These investments allow for research collaborations across various disciplines and between universities in Canada.
• In 2020, Memorial signed a 5-year agreement with Nigeria's National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) pledging to increase its research collaborations and attract more high-quality graduate students from West Africa. The agreement includes activities such as the exchange of faculty members, publications and research materials, as well as the development of joint initiatives and collaborative degree programs with partner institutions.
• In 2019, a collaboration between Memorial and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) resulted in the opening of the Karluk Collaboration Space in St. John’s. Projects undertaken by collaborative research teams in the space focus on disciplines such as maritime technology, oceanography, and ocean and naval architectural engineering.
• On Aug. 11, 2021, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster announced the $3.4 million GeoScan Project, a collaboration between Memorial’s Marine Institute, PanGeo Subsea Inc, and Cellula Robotics. The goal of the project is to improve PanGeo’s Acoustic Core, which will allow for increased competitiveness in the global offshore renewable energy sector and support Canada’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050.
• Memorial’s Faculty of Business joined the Responsible Research in Business and Management network in 2021, which includes 64 schools and partners globally. These partners are dedicated to inspiring and encouraging credible and useful research in business management disciplines.
• In 2019, researchers from Memorial joined a team of 96 polar scientists from 50 international organizations, known as the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (IMBIE) team. The team, led by Prof. Andrew Shepherd of the University of Leeds, and Dr. Erik Ivins of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory, aimed to understand the magnitude of ice loss in Greenland to date.

Public Engagement:

• Marine Institute participated in the four year INVEST Co-op Indonesia project, beginning in 2017. The project aimed to help support small scale aquaculture in four regencies in South Sulawesi, and introduce climate change resistant practices to improve yield of production and economic wellbeing in the region. 

Administration:

• Memorial became a certified Fair Trade campus on September 28th, 2016, a status granted by Fairtrade Canada and the Canadian Fair Trade Network. As part of this, Memorial made a commitment to support and educate their campus about fair trade, and to uphold fairtrade standards.