Projects McLuhan University Program

The International McLuhan Fellowship program is available to selected graduate and post-graduate candidates whose research would contribute to furthering the Program’s objectives.
McLuhan Fellowships are an honorary residency at the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto for a duration of between six weeks and one year. They are granted to Masters and Doctoral candidates, and those doing post-doctoral research, in areas that support, and are complimentary to, the Mandate of the McLuhan Program. In particular, for any given year, we attempt to invite applicants whose work may compliment each other’s, and the current research and projects at the Program.
The McLuhan Fellowship does not include financial support at this time. Fellows are funded by their own means, often through their home university or company, or through various granting agencies. The Fellowships do, nevertheless, include access to office space, to the University of Toronto libraries and internet privileges, auditing access to our graduate level courses (with unofficial certificate granted), and of course the opportunity to work with the Program staff, as well as other instructors, researchers and McLuhan Fellows from around the world.
Credit for courses taken while a Fellow is available. However, you will have to register independently with the University of Toronto and pay the requisite fees. This can be done through most graduate departments at the University, or as a non-degree student via the School of Graduate Studies. The McLuhan Program itself is part of the Faculty of Information Studies.
Once you are awarded a McLuhan Fellowship, you will have a page on the Program’s website that describes your research interest. In addition, you will be expected to contribute at least one paper that will be published on the site pertaining to your work in Toronto. If you have other work published elsewhere on the Internet, you can optionally choose to link to it from the Program website. As well, all McLuhan Fellows are expected to participate in, and, from time to time, co-lead, McLuhan Program Colloquia, to which present and former students, and other participants are invited. The Colloquia occur approximately monthly throughout the academic year.
The research of the Fellows is largely self-directed and always self-proposed. We can assist with suggesting appropriate research resources, directing the Fellows to contacts in other disciplines here at the University of Toronto, and of course, by assisting with the process of McLuhan thinking. As well, we provide an atmosphere in which relatively mature students can engage with like-minded individuals to share their research and collaborate in a way that would not normally be possible.
Generally speaking, the most successful Fellowships are undertaken by those who demonstrate considerable initiative, resourcefulness and an intense curiosity and investigative nature that would help them break free of the usual constraints and confines of their traditional discipline. Those students who are not used to such an unstructured and unconventional environment tend not to realize the full potential of the Fellowship experience.
To apply for a McLuhan Fellowship, please forward your Curriculum Vitae, a description of your research interest and objective, and the proposed program of study and research for your residency.
Residencies typically commence on academic boundaries – September, January and May – but those of shorter duration can be accommodated throughout the year. Your package should be sent to mcluhan.program@utoronto.ca, with a subject of “Application for McLuhan Fellowship.”
Ensuring the sustainability of online cultural and heritage content: from an economic model to an adapted strategy. Commissioned by the Canadian Culture Online Branch of the Department of Canadian Heritage, with a view to improving management of programs supporting the online availability of cultural and heritage content. Read the study (PDF)