Research Partners
The CRMR brings together researchers from various disciplines to develop new products made from solid wood, wood-based composites, wood fibers, or other lignocellulosic fibers and value-added co-products. The primary goal of CRMR is to support research and the training of highly qualified personnel for the responsible use of forest and lignocellulosic resources while considering increasingly stringent environmental and economic constraints.
The SEREX was founded in 1998 and became a College Centre for the Transfer of Technology (CCTT) affiliated with Cégep de Rimouski in 2007. It is located in Amqui, within the La Matapédia Regional County Municipality in Bas-Saint-Laurent, an area characterized by forests and an economy deeply influenced by the forestry industry. SEREX offers customized services to businesses for training, information dissemination, applied research, and technical assistance.
Its areas of expertise include:
- Wood processing: engineering products, composite materials, and mycomaterials
- Eco-construction: bio-based buildings, eco-materials, and envelope performance
- Sustainable chemistry: bio-based chemical products and clean technologies
- Forest bioenergy: pyrolysis and pyrogasification, second-generation biofuels, and energy densification.
In 2009, UQAT inaugurated the Biomaterials Laboratory, an investment of over two million dollars in Abitibi-West. Located in Tembec's administrative offices, the laboratory provided three researchers and around fifteen master's and doctoral students with the necessary equipment to continue research on using natural fibers such as bark, foliage, agricultural fibers, and recycled products for producing wood plastics.
In 2012, UQAT divided the Unit of Teaching and Research in Applied Sciences into three separate units to better address the specific needs of research and teaching teams. Thus, the School of Engineering, the Institute for Forest Research (IRF), and the Institute for Research in Mines and Environment (IRME) were created.
The IRF, which also focuses on research and offers graduate and postgraduate programs, aims to contribute to the maintenance of services provided by forest ecosystems through an interdisciplinary approach in research and education, as well as in the dissemination and integration of new knowledge for various stakeholders in the territory.
