Research threads through CCA’s activity by supporting research-based practice with an open attitude, passion for critical discourse and role as a resource for all.
CCA Research Associates
From 2020–2024, each year five CCA Research Associates were selected through an open call (with at least two from Northern Ireland) for emerging research-based practices. CCA Research Associates have extensive access to our archives and networks with the potential to develop longer-term projects with CCA and our wider Programmes. An annual event brings the associates to CCA to share their practices with each other and our audiences through workshops/performance/lecture. We work with the Associates to secure funding for travel/materials/accommodation and act as critical friends to help them develop their practices.
From 2024–2027, CCA is working with former Research Associate Lucie McLaughlin on her PhD in partnership with Kingston School of Art.
CCA works with its exhibitions, public Programmes and publications as forums for active research. This includes working with artists and curators pursuing a research-based practice, acting as a critical friend and experimenting with different ways to make exhibitions, interpretation and more.
CCA activity is archived online through our website and media channels. You can see documentation of our previous show in our Exhibitions pages and our publications are available in our Library.
CCA is a resource for researchers from school-age to university and post-doctoral. As well as online, CCA’s physical archives contain images, texts and ephemera and institutional histories.
Every Wednesday in February 2026 you can tune into a different talk over lunch with CCA Derry~Londonderry and Ulster University. Over the month different PhD Researchers from UU will be presenting their research via zoom in a bite-sized talk followed by the opportunity for you to ask a question facilitated by CCA and the presentations are later made available on our archive here.
The aim of these short lunchtime talks aim to share with the wider world just some of the research that is taking place at Ulster University with the pilot month including topics ranging from wool to the sublime.
Follow this link to recordings of previous talks: YouTube.com/CCADLD.