Philippe Despoix is an expert on 18^th-century literature and takes an interest in European scientific voyages of the Enlightenment and, in particular, as a member of the Gestes admirables research group, in the role and dissemination of engravings. He is also a specialist in 20^th-century Germanic thought, and a member of the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies, where he co-directs the PUM collection. He is also a member of the trans-Atlantic doctoral academy "Diversity: Mediating Difference in Transcultural Space."

As a member of the scientific committee of the Centre de recherche sur l'intermédialité, he collaborates with the team working on "archiving in a digital age" and directs the Intermédialités journal on the history and theory of arts and letters and techniques. His current research concerns the function of the media in memory and intercultural processes. He is preparing a book that examines the relationship between photography, anthropology and history from an intermedial perspective.