At the CCA, we see all the work we do as moving towards urgent research questions that generate new horizons for architectural knowledge and practice. Our Research programs are an integral part of this process, questioning and expanding the field of architecture. Since the creation of the Study Centre by Phyllis Lambert in 1989, which positioned the CCA as a site for questioning the relationships between architecture and society at large, researchers have charted new lines of investigation into what it means to undertake public architectural research. Over the decades, and as our forthcoming book on the CCA’s Research programs will present, our programs have responded to ambient social concerns that centre the built environment as a contested space of dialogue, historical research, and future questioning.

To further our questioning, we are launching the CCA Research Network, an entity through which to continue the conversations our Fellows began over the years, as well as to together chart what issues related to the global built environment need to be at the forefront of our work.

Participants in any of our Research programs since the founding of the CCA will be automatically enrolled. Members of the Research Network will be part of an inclusive and engaging community that will periodically come together to listen, learn, and exchange around research questions that matter to them.

Members of the CCA Research Network will benefit from:
- Eligibility to apply for an annual thematic fellowship that will address a topical concern in public architectural research;
- Eligibility to participate in a to-be-formed Steering Committee that will help guide the organization of the CCA Research Network;
- Discounts on bookstore purchases and reproduction requests;
- Invitations to on-location events at annual conferences and workshops.

The CCA Research Network will rely on the active and generous participation of the Steering Committee of the CCA Research Network. This Committee of five members will hold several responsibilities over the course of a two-year term, including:

- Determining the theme for the annual Architecture as Public Concern Fellowship (CAD 3,500);

- Deciding upon an invited speaker who will deliver an annual virtual lecture connected to the fellowship theme;

- Reviewing and selecting an annual fellowship recipient;

- Attending two meetings per year with the CCA’s Curatorial Committee and all members of the Steering Committee with the goal of selecting the Architecture as Public Concern fellowship recipient and planning the theme and speaker for the annual virtual lecture;

- Reviewing and selecting new members of the CCA Research Network Steering Committee at the conclusion of their two-year term.

For 2022-2024, the Steering Committee members include Arièle Dionne-Krosnick (DRRP 2022), Georgios Eftaxiopoulos (DRRP 2016), Nokubekezela Mchunu (VFP 2022), Sara Stevens (RFP 2019), and Huda Tayob (MRP-Centring Africa 2019-2023).

We hope that this is an opportunity for all our researchers to help shape where the CCA is going and what research we should be undertaking. In addition to fulfilling formal “service” requirements in relation to university work, active participation on the Steering Committee and in the Network at large will demonstrate the extent to which social exchange and mutual aid are crucial in furthering work on the built environment that matters.

The call for applications is now closed. However, in future years, the Steering Committee will review and select new members.

The selection of the inaugural Steering Committee members was made by the CCA (Giovanna Borasi, Director; Phyllis Lambert, Founder; and Rafico Ruiz, Associate Director, Research).

Please send questions related to the CCA Research Network to the Associate Director of Research, Rafico Ruiz at studium@cca.qc.ca