Canadian War Museum Research Fellowship:
Call for Applications, 2026-2027
The Canadian War Museum (CWM) is dedicated to the creation and dissemination of knowledge. Original research supports the public’s experience, understanding, and appreciation of the Museum’s central role: exploring Canada’s military past in its personal, national, and international dimensions.
Call
In support of this commitment, the Museum was pleased to announce, in 2023, the creation of a Research Fellowship program. The program funds on-site work by a postgraduate scholar to conduct research based on the Museum’s extensive national collection. The Research Fellow will have unique access to the collection and to material culture and historical experts. Fellows’ projects will enhance the Museum’s standing as a center for leading scholarly research and public history.
Requirements
A CWM Research Fellowship is open to any postgraduate scholar conducting original research into the broad field of Canadian military history, including material culture and intangible cultural heritage. Applicants should be recent graduates of a master's or doctoral program, having received their degree within the previous three years before the application deadline. Applicants with degrees relevant to the study of Canadian military history will be strongly preferred. In addition to their vitae and covering letter, applicants must provide a 250-word description of their proposed research program. The description must state the project’s connections to Museum collections, how the researcher will draw on and enhance knowledge of the museum’s collections, and its anticipated methods of knowledge mobilization or dissemination. The proposal will be enhanced by identifying specific parts of the collection that will be used in the research program.
Conditions
The Research Fellow will be partnered with two Museum professionals to help facilitate their work: normally, one historian and one collections specialist. The Museum will provide office space, a computer, technical support, and relevant access to the Military History Research Centre, and collections. A research and travel budget will facilitate relevant activities outside of the Museum. Fellows will be encouraged to publish in the CWM section of Canadian Military History, as well as to publish or present in appropriate scholarly, social media, and popular history forums.
The Fellowship is a one-year, non-renewable appointment, typically starting in September of each award year. To the Fellowship’s annual stipend of $50,000 may be added up to $5,000 in project-dependent research or travel funds. The Fellowship carries a residency requirement of at least six non-consecutive months in Ottawa during its 12-month tenure. The Fellowship is a non-employee appointment, the work of which will not infringe on that of any unionized positions at the Museum.
This is a funded program sustained by generous public donations and administered in trust.
The Museum will be pleased to accept applications, in either official language, until July 26, 2026.
Contacts
Dr. Andrew Burtch
Acting Director, Research, CWM, Canadian War Museum
ABurtch@warmuseum.ca
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