Research Fellowship Program
As an international research institution, the CCA operates in the spaces between architectural culture at large and academic discourse through exhibitions, publications, public events, and research programs. The CCA’s Research Fellowship Program supports innovative, advanced research to foster new kinds of intellectual exchange that spark long-term dialogue and debate.
At the CCA, we are addressing a range of topics relevant to architectural discourse. Current topics of particular interest include: the infrastructural dimensions of built and natural environments; land management practices across geographical contexts and time periods; the relationships between architecture and new media, particularly through generative AI; as well as historical and contemporary approaches to spaces of political dissent.
Fellowships are open to researchers, architects, and curators pursuing early stage, interdisciplinary research on architecture, urbanism, landscape, and/or design at the CCA. We welcome applications from individuals who hold a PhD, or with equivalent professional experience. We value interdisciplinary approaches to the built environment from anthropology to Indigenous studies and beyond. Although proposed research projects may rely extensively on the CCA Collection as a primary source, we are interested above all in original and emerging projects that develop both critical readings and creative research, media, and/or designs.
To apply and consult detailed guidelines and terms, visit https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/64843/cca-research-fellowship-program. The application deadline is October 10, 2025.
For questions regarding the program, contact studium@cca.qc.ca
Photography Research Fellowship Program
A new initiative for 2026, the CCA’s Photography Research Fellowship Program supports advanced research to reexamine the spectrum of interactions between photography and architecture and our photographic holdings.
The CCA holds one of the most significant photography collections in North America. Founded in 1974, before the formal establishment of the CCA, the collection has been integral to the development of new understandings of the relationship between photography and architecture and to establishing this relationship as a distinct field of visual and historical scholarship.
For the CCA Photography Research Fellowship’s inaugural year, we seek applications from researchers investigating any aspect of nineteenth-century photography—the most substantive part of the collection—as it intersects with the natural and built environment. We are particularly interested in the role of photography in visual and architectural culture, especially in relation to evolving technologies; the relationship between photography and the environment; and the functions of photographs in imperialist frameworks. Proposals may address materials held in our archives and library as well as our photography collection. Photographs in a variety of formats can be found across all three of these collection areas.
We welcome applications from photographers and artists with a research-driven practice, researchers from all disciplines whose current projects are oriented specifically toward photography, and historians of photography and image making. This program builds on The Lives of Documents—Photography as Project, which was the first of a projected trilogy of research and exhibition projects exploring the medium of photography as a means to investigate the built environment.
To apply and consult detailed guidelines and terms, visit https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/100679/cca-photography-research-fellowship-program. The application deadline is October 10, 2025.
For questions regarding the program, contact studium@cca.qc.ca