Applications Open: National Gallery of Canada Research Fellowship in Photography

Press Release

January 13, 2026

Deadline: February 20, 2026

The National Gallery of Canada (NGC) is now accepting applications for its Research Fellowship in Photography, supporting innovative and interdisciplinary studies on photography and related visual culture. The Fellowship provides CAN$15,000, covering expenses and allowances, for up to three months of full-time residency between May 1, 2026, and April 30, 2027. Aspiring Fellows have until February 20, 2026, 11:59 PM EDT to apply.

The Research Fellowship in Photography welcomes researchers from all cultural and educational backgrounds who are passionate about exploring, researching, and questioning photography’s history and current role in contemporary life. Researchers are encouraged to engage critically with the NGC’s diverse photography collections. Topics may include the role of images in colonization, diaspora, nationalism and globalization.

Eligible applicants

The Fellowship is open to art historians, curators, critics, conservators, graduate students and independent researchers, and other professionals working in the visual arts, museology or in related disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. International applicants are also encouraged to apply. The Fellowship is tenable only at the NGC. Researchers from outside Canada must verify the entry requirements for the Fellowship program on their own.

Previous Fellow Yuta Shimoyama is an M.A. Art History student at the University of Tokyo in Japan, where he is exploring the experiences and works of Japanese-Canadian photographers.  His Fellowship research project examined the photographic practices of Japanese artists who emigrated to Canada following the Second World War.

How to apply

For additional details about the application submission process and assessment criteria, visit gallery.ca/research/fellowships.

Qualified candidates, including Indigenous peoples, women, people of any sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, racialized people and people living with disabilities, are encouraged to apply.

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For media use only – for more information, please contact:

Pénélope Carreau
Officer, Public Relations
National Gallery of Canada
pcarreau@gallery.ca

Josée-Britanie Mallet
Senior Officer, Media and Public Relations
National Gallery of Canada
bmallet@gallery.ca

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