NLWIC-Funded Research Projects

The NL Workforce Innovation Centre (NLWIC) provides proposal-based funding for applied research projects that test innovative approaches to address labour market challenges and opportunities and improve outcomes in Newfoundland and Labrador.

NLWIC’s goal is to promote the research, testing and sharing of ideas and models of innovation in workforce development that will positively impact employability, employment and entrepreneurship within the province’s workforce and particularly underrepresented groups. Funding is provided by the Department of Immigration, Population Growth and Skills (IPGS) under the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Labour Market Development Agreement.

There are 20 research projects funded to date by NLWIC following two Calls for Proposals in 2017 and 2018 and totaling $7,663,736. Ten projects are regional in scope and ten are provincial in scope.

Twenty projects have been completed to date (November 15, 2023).

NL Workforce Innovators

Social Enterprise

Applied Research on Supportive Training, Social Enterprise and Employment First Practices for the Future of NL – Completed ✔

Workforce Innovation Through Social Enterprise – Completed ✔

A Community-Minded Social Enterprise: An Inquiry for Viability – Completed ✔

Immigration

Bridging the Divide – Connecting and Preparing Refugees for Work in the Province’s Agriculture Industry – Completed ✔

Exploring Ways to Foster Innovation in Technology Entrepreneurship through Increased Female
Participation and Immigration Initiatives – Completed ✔

Employer Perceptions to Hiring Newcomers and International Students in Newfoundland and Labrador – Completed ✔

Technology

Evidence for Community Employment Services: A Collaborative Regional Approach – Completed ✔

Improving Psychological Health and Safety in Health Care Workers through Technology-Based Support – Completed ✔

Going the Distance: Equipping Rural Newfoundlanders and Labradorians with the Abilities and Skills to Succeed in Online Learning – Completed ✔

Exploring the Use of and Impact on Mobile Technology in a Work-Based Employment Program for Adults Who Face Barriers to Employment – Completed ✔

Enhancing the Women in SETT Leadership Program in NL – Completed ✔

Sectors

Tourism Reskilling for Non-Tourism Sector Workers – Completed ✔

Forest-based Bioeconomy
Development in Newfoundland – Completed ✔

Development and Pilot Testing of an Innovative Demand-led Training Model to Support Entry and Retention in the Aquaculture Sector – Completed ✔

Specific Underrepresented Group Focus

Enhancing Employability Through Soft Skills Development – Completed ✔

Alternate Admissions Academic Readiness Assessment Processes and Tools for Indigenous Peoples – Completed ✔

Pathways to Work: Co-designing Improved Employment Pathways for Inuit Youth in Nunatsiavut, Labrador – Completed ✔

Research on Barriers and Opportunities to Workforce Participation for Older Workers in Newfoundland and Labrador – Completed ✔

Evaluating the Short and Long Term Impacts of WRDC’s Employment Assistance Services and Career Development Programming – Completed ✔

YMCA Employment Services –
YES! Pilot Project – Completed ✔

NL Workforce Innovators Roundtable 2021

The NL Workforce Innovators Roundtable 2021 was a virtual event held on October 5, 2021 to give Research Proponents the opportunity to provide updates on their NLWIC-funded Research Projects.

Research Funding/Collaborations and Innovation Dissemination are two of NLWIC’s six core activities. The NL Workforce Innovators Roundtables – past, present and future – are at the core of both activities. NLWIC looks forward to sharing the evidence of what works and what doesn’t, both now and in the future, through the projects’ Final Reports and Deliverables.

The overarching goals are:

  1. To have this evidence inform workforce development policy, practice, programs and/or service delivery models by the provincial government and other labour market stakeholders;
  2. To encourage adoption, replication where possible and scale-up by employers and other labour market stakeholders of the workforce development models and tools tested in the research projects; and
  3. To develop an equitable, diverse, inclusive and innovative workforce in Newfoundland and Labrador with the right skills at the right time in the right place.