Research & Innovation

By Sara Elliott

Five WE-SPARK Health Institute members are receiving funding from the Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation to advance research focused on cancer prevention, cancer risk, survivorship and youth engagement in cancer care.

The investment, provided through the Dr. Hakam Abu-Zahra Research Fund, is part of a $150,000 commitment to support locally led projects selected through WE-SPARK Health Institute's 2026 Igniting Discovery Grants competition.

By Sara Elliott

This summer, science student Kitti Keller learned a lesson on how melding biology and physics could one day help identify bacterial pathogens that threaten human health.

“We're hoping to develop a technology so one day you can go to the clinic, give a tiny blood or urine sample and get immediate results showing what's making you sick,” says the third-year biology student.

By Lindsay Charlton

At the foot of Mill Street in Windsor’s Sandwich Town, a new pier is giving residents a fresh perspective on the Detroit River.

Within moments after the Bexhigoyaak Pier, also known as the Queen’s Dock Cultural Pier, opened this spring, people were casting lines into the water — something pier and park designer Jason Grossi was happy to see.

By Sara Elliott

In Iqaluit, Nunavut, University of Windsor researchers are helping young people turn the birds around their homes into a gateway to Arctic science, conservation training and community-based wildlife monitoring.

The team received a $172,200 three-year grant for the project through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) PromoScience program.

By Sara Elliott

Catherine Febria’s research begins in the smallest streams, where land, water and people meet. Its impact is now being recognized nationally.

From microbes and mushrooms to watersheds across the Great Lakes Basin, the University of Windsor ecologist uses science to understand and restore freshwater ecosystems while building relationships with the communities that depend on them.

By Sara Elliott

For more than two decades, University of Windsor researcher Dr. Aaron T. Fisk has helped change how scientists understand freshwater ecosystems – from how contaminants move through aquatic food webs to where fish travel, feed and spawn across the Great Lakes and the Arctic.

That body of work has now earned Fisk one of Canada’s highest academic honours.

From tracking fish across the Great Lakes to restoring the streams that connect land, water and communities, University of Windsor researchers Dr. Aaron T. Fisk and Dr. Catherine Febria are advancing understanding of how freshwater ecosystems are understood, managed and protected.

Their work has now earned national recognition from the Royal Society of Canada.

Fisk, professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Changing Great Lakes Ecosystems, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in recognition of his contributions to aquatic research and leadership.

University of Windsor students shared applied research in materials chemistry and engineering with scientists and industry professionals Aug. 13 at the third annual MCEcon Conference.

Hosted by the Master’s in Material Chemistry and Engineering program (MMCE), the conference gave students an opportunity to share their research, connect with industry professionals and build their professional networks.

By Sara Elliott

The glittering gold and red image titled Nanoscale signaling is in striking contrast to the research behind it.

What appears to be a thing of beauty is, in fact, lung cancer cells studded with gold nanoparticles.

The University of Windsor has secured seven Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards across the program’s two competition waves, supporting three postdoctoral researchers and four doctoral students in research areas aligned with Canada’s strategic priorities.

The one-time federal Impact+ initiative is designed to attract outstanding international or returning Canadian doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers to Canada in priority research areas, strengthening the country’s research and innovation ecosystem.