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Learn about new sessions, opportunities and reports in the May edition of the Regional. 
Latest News and Events
Ready and able: Temporary foreign workers can help solve the labour gap in aging NL: Report

New research from the Harris Centre’s Population Project examines the labour market situation in Labrador through the lens of the federal Temporary Foreign Worker program (TFWP).

The findings shared in the report, The Temporary Foreign Worker Program and Employers in Labrador, suggest that changes to the current program and related policy actions are needed to help mitigate impending labour shortages.

The research was undertaken by members of Memorial’s Department of Economics and led by Dr. Tony Fang, the Stephen Jarislowsky Chair in Cultural and Economic Transformation.

The report, The Temporary Foreign Worker Program and Employers in Labrador, and the Population Project’s population projections for the Northern Peninsula and Labrador can be viewed here.

David Curran Award winner announced for 2016-2017

Petr Kocourek is a third-year economics and pure math student at Memorial and the winner of the 2016-2017 David Curran Award for Memorial University Undergraduate Students.

From the Czech Republic and having already earned BA and MA degrees in philosophy, Kocourek is particularly interested in issues of regionalism, community development, and the quality of public services, particularly in rural NL. 

This scholarship was established by the Harris Centre, Newfoundland and Labrador Regional Economic Development Association, and Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador in recognition of David Curran, a passionate advocate and tireless champion of rural Newfoundland.

The award recognizes one Memorial University undergraduate student who embodies that same spirit of community development innovation.

Learn more about the David Curran Award here.

What's the buzz? NL Beekeeping Association seeking research collaborators

Yaffle.ca is Memorial’s online connecting tool.

One of its most significant jobs is to provide a way for people from outside Memorial to ask for research help. With hundreds of community-suggested opportunities to choose from, your next project is just a click away. 

Newfoundland and Labrador is one of a few places on Earth still unaffected by many of the diseases and other problems affecting honey bee populations elsewhere. The province has a small but growing group of beekeepers, who organized to form the Newfoundland and Labrador Beekeeping Association (NLBKA) in 2014. 

The NLBKA has an internal Research Committee that has identified several research priorities concerning honey bees and wild pollinator species in NL.

"We would like to work with researchers at Memorial University to fill in knowledge gaps and help address our current apiculture challenges" Peter Armitage, NLBKA Research Committee

Read more about this opportunity here.

For more information, contact:
Amy Jones
Knowledge Mobilization Coordinator
[email protected] |  864-6115

Register to attend the International Small Island Cultures Conference, June 15-19

The Harris Centre is hosting the 13th International Small Island Cultures conference June 15–19, 2017 at Memorial University St. John’s campus.

The conference theme is “Stories, Ballads and Island Narratives.” Presentations will span everything from island identity, migration, narratives, music, legends, mythology, literature, gender, fisheries, tourism, creative industries, geographies, health, and wellness.

Presenters have already been selected but any members of the university community or public can register to attend the conference as a delegate. The regular registration fee is $250 CAD and the student registration fee is $125 CAD.


The deadline to register to attend the conference is June 1, 2017. 

For more information and to register click here.

New episode: Community development with Wendy Keats

In this episode, host Bojan Fürst speaks to Wendy Keats, executive director of the Co-operative Enterprise Council of New Brunswick. She speaks about the ground level view of co-ops and social enterprises in rural areas and the need for good legislative support to help them grow and prosper.

Listen here.

New Reports 
Marine Spatial Planning: Lessons Learned from British Columbia
With support from the World Wildlife Fund and the Harris Centre, t he Marine Institute of Memorial University organized a day-long workshop on Marine Spatial Planning with a focus on learning from the experience of a marine spatial planning initiative in the province of British Columbia and preparing the first steps for a marine spatial planning pilot in Newfoundland and Labrador.

This report summarizes the morning proceedings, and interprets the results of an interactive workshop that took place in the afternoon.

Composting of Municipal Sludge - Riverhead Wastewater Treatment Facility
The Riverhead Wastewater Treatment Facility generates a significant amount of biosolids every year. Although biosolids have the potential to be transformed into compost through the composting process, the usual practice is to dispose them into landfills. 

This study aims to investigate the potential application of locally available carbon-enriched fly ash from the Corner Brook Pulp and Paper mill in improving the quality of biosolids generated by the  Riverhead Wastewater Treatment Facility which serves the City of St. John’s, Mount Pearl, and Paradise.

Missed the session? Watch the video! 
Synergy Session: Barriers to Gender Equity

The participation of women in STEM occupations (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) remains low, despite several decades of attention from policy makers, industry, and educational institutions.

This session with Dana Feltham, MBA candidate at Memorial, highlighted some of the reasons why this lack of participation has persisted. 


For more information and to watch the video, click here.
Synergy Session: Most Roads Lead to Rome, But Some Roads Lead to Lab City

Economists remain focused on understanding economic growth, but the current approach relies on rigorous mathematical models that impose rigid assumptions about prices and markets in order to have solutions. These models fail to address regional differences in economic performance.

This session with David Freshwater, professor at the University of Kentucky, looks at broader approaches to understanding the pathways to growth that are appropriate for different types of region.  



For more information and to watch the video, click here.
The Harris Centre | (709) 864-3143 | [email protected] | www.mun.ca/harriscentre