As a shared, multi-user facility, the foundation of the philosophy behind the creation of the FEMR is to provide open access to the research infrastructure and expertise in electron microscopy to a wide range of users, including principal investigators and their research groups, from academia, industry/commercial and government sectors, at an affordable cost under both collaborative and purchased access arrangements, for public domain dissemination and proprietary agreements.

As a regional facility, the dedicated staff of research scientists and technical support delivers services and training on state-of-the-art infrastructure, ancillary equipment for sample preparation, and imaging software and analysis tools to obtain the highest possible quality data to give researchers in Québec, Canada and beyond the competitive edge to carry out world-class, transformative research.

Access to the research infrastructure at the FEMR begins with a one-to-one consultation with staff who will guide and advise on applying electron microscopy to your research project. The FEMR staff performs training. Principal investigators or students cannot provide initial training to other users. Users must follow the instructions of the FEMR staff at all times. Operating the instruments of the FEMR is a complex procedure and must be practiced regularly. After training, if more than three months elapse between sessions, the user will be made inactive on that instrument and denied access. The proficiency of the user will be assessed, and refresher training may be necessary. See the sections on Getting Started and Training for more information.