Headshot of Heather Pratt

Message from Executive Director Heather Pratt

The University of Windsor is a place of promise. We are home to a diverse, vibrant, and growing body of scholars recognized nationally and internationally for the importance and impact of their research contributions to their discipline and society. Every day across our campus, our nation, and globally, University of Windsor faculty, students, and staff are making a difference. We are advancing our collective understanding of the world, maximizing benefit to society, and enhancing the quality of life today and tomorrow.

The purpose of the Office of Research and Innovation Services is to provide all University of Windsor researchers with support to access and apply for research funding. Our aim is to disseminate a variety of information to our research community, including identification of funding opportunities, assistance in developing and refining research proposals, and support in establishing grant accounts and managing the accountability framework required by research funding agencies.  The Office of Research and Innovation Services also supports the sharing of researchers’ work with their peers, industry, and the world through our research partnership and technology transfer office, which assists with the disclosure of inventions, manages intellectual property files, develops partnership agreements, and provides avenues for our research community to engage and collaborate with potential new partners.

As a part of the Office of the Vice President, Research and Innovation, we are proud to support the diverse and fascinating work that is happening at the University of Windsor. From law to neuroscience, history to electric cars, molecular biology to performance art, research at the University of Windsor is as varied and exciting as the people who make up the university research community. If you are looking for funding for a project, please reach out to us at oris@uwindsor.ca to get the process started!

Office of Research and Innovation Services

With close to 20 years of experience in progressive research administration, Heather Pratt has played a leading role in the development of the University of Windsor’s research enterprise and expansion. During her tenure, the University’s research funding levels have nearly doubled, and its research mandate has broadened significantly to sustain increasing support for technology transfer, research partnerships, knowledge mobilization and entrepreneurship. Heather is a founding Director of the University of Windsor’s EPICentre. Heather recently was on secondment at the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority in the role of Director, Project Delivery where she engaged with a wide variety of stakeholders in the planning and development of the Gordie Howe International Bridge project. Previous to joining the University of Windsor, Heather worked in the local automotive manufacturing industry with a focus on the Plastics and Tool & Die sector, with a focus on financial administration and operations management.