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.

Research Fellows are offered a residency at the CCA between June and August for a period of one to two months, with the goal of creating a community of researchers on site, particularly alongside our Doctoral Research Residency Program. Each Fellow will have access to a private office and receive a monthly stipend of CAD 5,000, as well as additional financial support for travel expenses. Based on the scope of the proposed research project, the CCA’s curatorial committee will determine the duration of the residency in discussion with each candidate to best support their project. In addition to a public presentation of their work in progress, Research Fellows are expected to participate in discussions, seminars, and workshops organized at the CCA, exchange with CCA staff, and engage with the local academic and architectural community.

Four fellowships are available for 2026. Applications (in English or French) must include:

• a proposal (750-1,000 words) addressing how the research project relates to key lines of investigation at the CCA. We strongly encourage applicants with research projects based on recent acquisitions to check and confirm availability with ref@cca.qc.ca before submitting their project proposals.
• an abstract of the research proposal (250 words)
• a brief project schedule (300 words) for a one- or two-month period of research, describing key milestones
• a curriculum vitae
• a short biography (80-100 words)
• one representative research outcome (article, exhibition, etc)
• the names of two potential referees. Letters of recommendation are not required at the time of application and will only be requested in the case of shortlisted applicants.

Candidates for the 2026 Research Fellowship Program are invited to submit an application online through the CCA application portal.

Deadline: 10 October 2025 at midnight (12am EST)

You can consult the application Guidelines and Terms for more details on the requirements.

Research Fellows are selected by an international Consultative Committee made up of eight members who will be announced by September 2025.

The Consultative Committee will meet in October 2025 to select candidates. The results will be communicated in November-December 2025. Once granted for a specific year, the Research Fellowship is non-renewable or transferable.

For questions regarding the program, please contact studium@cca.qc.ca.

For updates on the CCA Research Fellowship Program, please subscribe to the CCA newsletter.

Sarah Hearne
University of Colorado Denver
“Stabilizing an Eroding Image”

Ksenia Litvinenko
Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space
“Accommodating Extractivism: Soviet Mobile Architecture and Fly-in Flyout Urbanism in Western Siberia, 1968–1992”

Olga Touloumi
Bard College
“Building Worlds: An(other) History of Modern Architecture”

Megan Wiessner
University of Virginia
“Visualizing Mass Timber: Resource Aesthetics from the Industrial Past to the Digital Future”

2024 Research Fellows
2023 Research Fellows
2022 Research Fellows
2020-2021 Research Fellows
2019 Research Fellows

Visiting Scholars Program, 1997–2018