About

PhD program in Critical Studies in Improvisation

The University of Guelph’s new interdisciplinary graduate program in the field of Critical Studies in Improvisation (IMPR) offers PhD Degrees incorporating foundations in critical inquiry, multidisciplinary improvisatory practices, performative agency, and community engagement, built on years of award-winning, arts-based research and training by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation. Through study and experiential learning opportunities, students will gain broadly applicable practical skills in research and project development, management and implementation, leadership, and collaboration.

The program features four core courses.

IMPR*6010: Core Concepts in Critical Studies in Improvisation

IMPR*6020: Arts-Based Community-Making

IMPR*6030: Research Practices

IMPR*6410: Pedagogy Lab

The high standard of scholarship fostered by the IMPR program is exemplified through student awards and academic contributions. Recent examples include:

• PhD Candidate and SSHRC Storytellers finalist Lucy Bilson’s video “Improvising Design: Decolonising Everyday Visual Language
  
• Student-authored chapters in the book The Improviser’s Classroom (edited by Daniel Fischlin and Mark Lomanno, 2025) by Carey West (“Community Crossings: An Autoethnography from the Bandstand to the Classroom”), Joe Sorbara (“Attending to the Social Space of The Music: Self-Expression as a Site of Pedagogy”), and Judit Csobod (“manifest(o): for the advancement of extra-institutional improvised learning(s)”)
• Dr. Erwan Noblet (PhD program graduate, 2026) featured on CBC’s Ideas program discussing the “vocal improv cure”
• Student-author articles published in our Institute’s academic, bilingual, peer-reviewed journal, Critical Studies in Improvisation / Études critiques en improvisation, including annais linares (“Co-creative Accompaniment: Building Renewed Relationships through Arts-Based Kin Making”), Carey West (“book review: Voices Found: Free Jazz and Singing by Chris Tonelli”), Erin Felepchuk/Ben Finley (“Playing the Changes: Improvisation, Metaphor, and COVID-19”), Joe Sorbara (“The Creative Commons is Starving: Calling for a Universal Basic Income”), David Lane (“book review: Tele-Improvisation : Intercultural Interaction in the Online Global Music Jam Session, Spring Series on Cultural Computing by Roger Mills”), Bob Wiseman (“The TRANZAC and Social Problems re: COVID 19 and Performing Musicians”), and Brent Rowan (“Socializing from a Distance in a Community Music Ensemble During the COVID-19 Pandemic”)
• Dr. Brent Rowan (PhD program graduate, 2025) discusses his research into “The Evolution of Telematic Musicking During the Covid-19 Pandemic” in this video
• PhD Candidate Ben Finley’s chapter “Improvising Ecoculturally Regenerative Futures through Music Festivals: A Musician/Organizer Perspective” included in the book Ripple Effects: The Work That Music Festivals Do in the World (edited by Eric Fillion and Ajay Heble), Temple University Press, 2026.

Funding opportunities include research and teaching assistantship packages, and in some select cases, internships with community organizations. The PHD.IMPR provides opportunities for students to learn, grow, and develop their practice in their field in a rigorous, energetic, and creative environment. PhD students will also complete a qualifying exam and have multiple opportunities to develop independent projects.

More details about the program and application requirements can be found on the University of Guelph website.