Memorial is hitting the road over the coming days holding public consultation meetings across the province asking residents to help identify research opportunities of strategic importance to the province.

Meetings are scheduled for Western, Central and Eastern Newfoundland, as well as Labrador.

They began Monday, April 12, in Corner Brook.

The consultations are part of an ongoing process for the development of a new research plan at Memorial.

The meetings are open to the public and the university is encouraging all to attend.

A new research plan will support future growth in research at Memorial.

The public meetings follow a series of workshops held on the St. John's campus, which wrapped up earlier this month, focused on Memorial's research strengths.

More than 300 people took part in 12 meetings, which were co-chaired by a member of the university and the wider community. Each session focused on specific research cluster areas such as energy, the environment, oceans, health and wellbeing and aboriginal peoples.

The aim was to provide overviews of current research strengths, get participants talking about opportunities to build on those strengths, and discuss gaps in research.

Reports from the on-campus sessions will be available on the research plan website in the coming weeks. A feedback e-mail address has also been added to the site, allowing people to submit comments, and a short online survey is also available.

The consultation process will continue in May when sessions will be held with every faculty and school, as well as the Marine Institute and Sir Wilfred Grenfell College. The entire planning process will also be extended into the fall, allowing every unit a chance to submit their input based on findings from all the consultations this spring.

Meanwhile, the public consultation session schedule for the meetings taking place across the province is as follows:

• Monday, April 12, at the Forest Centre Lecture Theatre, room FC-2014, at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook
• Tuesday, April 13, at the Mount Peyton Hotel in Grand Falls-Windsor
• Wednesday, April 14, at the Clarenville Inn
• Monday, April 19, at Hotel North 2 in Happy Valley-Goose Bay
• Tuesday, April 27, at the Fluvarium in St. John’s.

All meetings take place from 7-9 p.m., with coffee/tea being served at 6:30 p.m.