Mercer International Inc. has established a $1-million partnership with The University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and The Pulp and Paper Centre, in the creation of an industrial research chair in Advanced Forest Bio-Products Engineering.

“Mercer's five year commitment to support this new research chair at UBC underscores our belief in the future of the forest products industry and the opportunities and resulting value potentially available to the industry in the emerging bio-economy,” said Jimmy Lee, president and CEO of Mercer.

Lee also noted that, “Mercer is committed to being a global leader in sustainable forest practices, which includes maximizing the value of our forest resources through sound forestry management and investing in research and development that will generate tomorrow’s transformative technologies. Partnering with UBC is a natural extension of our desire to be at the forefront of the industry’s transformation.”

The chairholder will focus specifically on establishing the scientific and engineering breakthroughs needed to create commercially viable opportunities for sustainably converting forest fibre resources into new high-value bio-products.

The university is currently recruiting for this position.

Mercer International Inc. is a global pulp manufacturing company. It owns Zellstoff Celgar in Castlegar, B.C., plus two European NBSK mills, for a consolidated annual production capacity of approximately 1.5 million tonnes.