Proposals | Cewil Conference

CEWIL Call for Proposals 2027

CEWIL Canada invites you to share your expertise, innovations, and insights at our 2027 national conference at University of British Columbia, Vancouver campus, where we will explore the transformative journey from work-integrated learning to meaningful careers. This year’s theme, One Canadian WIL, invites us to consider what connects our WIL ecosystem, and recognizes a shared commitment to meaningful learning, strong relationships and quality practice.

UBC Vancouver is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people. The land it is situated on has always been a place of learning for the Musqueam, who for millennia have passed on their culture, history, and traditions from one generation to the next on this site.

Learn more about the Musqueam Territory: Musqueam Territory - Musqueam

As a national community dedicated to work-integrated learning, we reflect on the ways in which learning also happens in relationship - with land, with community, and with each other. We acknowledge the contributions of all First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples who now live in this region, and we commit to ensuring that equity, Indigenous knowledge systems, and decolonization are not peripheral but central to how we learn and work together.

Dates to Remember

Call for proposals opens: October 26, 2026

Proposal Submission Deadline: December 15, 2026

Evaluation of Proposals: December 16, 2026 – January 15, 2027

Notification of Acceptance: January 31, 2027

Deadline to accept invitation to present at the conference: February 28, 2027

Please note: This Call for Proposals is for concurrent conference sessions only and is not a call for paid keynote speakers. Concurrent session presenters do not receive honoraria or other payment for their participation.

Conference Themes

One Canadian WIL: Many Contexts, Shared Purpose

Work-integrated learning across Canada is shaped by different regions, communities, institutions, industries, learners and ways of doing things. The theme One Canadian WIL invites us to consider what connects this diverse ecosystem, and recognizes a shared commitment to meaningful learning, strong relationships and quality practice while creating space for different contexts, capacities and approaches.

The conference streams reflect the breadth of work taking place across the Canadian WIL ecosystem:

WIL Across Canada
Learning, Quality and Practice
Partnerships That Make WIL Possible
Access, Inclusion and Reconciliation
Innovation and Emerging Models of WIL
Leading WIL Forward

These streams are intended to guide proposals rather than create rigid boundaries. Many sessions will connect with more than one stream. Proponents should select the stream that most closely reflects the primary focus of their session and may identify relevant connections to other streams.

Proponents will also be asked to identify the audiences their session is designed to engage, such as WIL practitioners and coordinators, faculty and educators, program managers and administrators, directors and senior leaders, employers and community partners, researchers, or students and recent graduates.

Session tags will provide additional information about the intended focus and level of the presentation:

Foundational: Introduces key concepts, questions or practices and does not assume extensive prior knowledge.
Applied: Shares practical approaches, tools, examples or lessons that participants can adapt within their own contexts.
Strategic: Examines leadership, policy, organizational change, sustainability or system-level considerations.
Research-focused: Presents research findings, evidence, methodology or emerging scholarship.

Together, the streams and tags will help create a conference program that reflects the diversity of Canadian WIL while helping participants find conversations that are relevant to their roles, interests and experience.

Conference Streams

WIL Across Canada

Work-integrated learning takes many forms across Canada's diverse regions, communities, institutions and labour markets. This stream explores how local contexts shape the opportunities, challenges and approaches to delivering WIL, recognizing that effective practice does not look the same everywhere. Sessions may highlight creative solutions, regional perspectives, collaborative approaches and lessons learned from delivering WIL in different environments and with varying resources.

Could include:

Small programs, teams and institutions
Northern, rural, remote and urban contexts
Francophone and bilingual WIL
Regional and sectoral differences
Delivering quality WIL with limited resources
Collaboration across institutions and regions
Geographic, transportation and housing barriers
Approaches responsive to local context
WIL in CEGEPs, colleges, Indigenous institutes, or polytechnics

Partnerships That Make WIL Possible

Meaningful WIL depends on relationships between educational institutions, employers, communities and other partners. This stream explores how these relationships are established, supported and sustained, recognizing that effective partnerships require more than securing opportunities for students. Sessions may examine reciprocal approaches, shared responsibilities, partner capacity and innovative ways of working together to create experiences that benefit learners, organizations and communities.
Could include:

Employer and community engagement
Reciprocal and long-term partnerships
Supporting small and medium-sized employers
Partner preparation and capacity-building
Managing expectations and challenging situations
Cross-sector and multi-institutional collaboration
Moving beyond transactional partnerships

AI And Innovative WIL

As education, work and society evolve, so too do the ways learners connect knowledge with authentic experience. This stream explores new and emerging approaches to WIL, including those shaped by technological change, shifting workforce needs and growing interest in flexible, interdisciplinary and non-traditional experiences. Sessions may showcase innovative models, examine opportunities and limitations, and consider how WIL can evolve while maintaining its educational purpose and commitment to quality.

Could include:

Emerging industries and occupations
Artificial intelligence and technological change
Applied research and innovation projects
Entrepreneurial and innovation-based WIL
Virtual, hybrid and technology-enabled WIL
Micro-WIL and short-cycle experiences
Interdisciplinary and team-based projects
Simulation and practice-based learning
International and global WIL

Learning, Quality and Practice

This stream focuses on the principles, practices and professional judgement that contribute to high-quality WIL, from intentional learning design and student preparation, to reflection, assessment and ongoing support. Sessions may explore established approaches, emerging challenges or the everyday decisions practitioners, educators and partners make to support student learning and success.

Could include:

Curriculum integration and learning design
Student preparation and engagement
Reflection and assessment
Quality frameworks and standards
Practitioner judgement and ethical practice
Student wellbeing, belonging and psychological safety
Faculty engagement
Supervisors as co-educators
Supporting students across the WIL journey

Access, Inclusion and Reconciliation

Access to meaningful WIL opportunities is not experienced equally, and traditional approaches do not always reflect the diversity of learners, communities and ways of knowing. This stream examines how WIL policies, structures and practices can address systemic barriers, advance reconciliation and create more inclusive and culturally responsive experiences. Sessions may explore practical approaches to improving access and belonging, alongside the institutional responsibilities and broader changes needed to ensure that equity and inclusion are embedded throughout WIL.
Could include:

Indigenous learners and decolonizing WIL
Accessibility and disability inclusion
International students and newcomers
Black, racialized and 2SLGBTQIA+ learners
Financial and geographic barriers
Cultural safety and culturally responsive practice
Flexible participation and assessment
Belonging and equitable access to opportunity
Institutional responsibility for inclusion
Reconciliation in policy, partnerships and practice
Trauma-informed practices

Leading WIL Forward

The future of WIL is shaped not only by individual programs and practitioners, but also by institutional priorities, public policy, research, leadership and broader changes in post-secondary education and the workforce. This stream takes a strategic and systems-level perspective, exploring how WIL is positioned, resourced, evaluated and advanced within institutions and across Canada. Sessions may examine the decisions, evidence, collaborations and leadership approaches needed to strengthen WIL's sustainability, relevance and contribution to learners, communities and society.

Could include:

Institutional WIL strategy
Governance, policy and accountability
Leading organizational change
Sustainable staffing and funding
Developing and retaining WIL teams
Risk and institutional responsibility
Data, evidence and demonstrating impact
Technology and operational systems
Senior-level partnerships
National collaboration and shared direction
Positioning WIL within institutional and workforce strategies

Presentation Formats

Proponents are invited to select the format that best supports their topic, intended audience and approach to participant engagement.

Focused Presentation

20 minutes

A concise presentation sharing research, a program or initiative, an emerging idea, a practical approach, or lessons from experience. Presentations should identify the context, highlight key insights and leave participants with clear implications for WIL practice, research or leadership.

Focused presentations may be grouped with another presentation addressing a related topic.

Presenters should plan for approximately 15 minutes of presentation and five minutes for questions or discussion.

Interactive Workshop

45 minutes

A participatory session designed to help attendees explore, apply or practise an approach. Workshops should actively involve participants through activities, discussion, collaborative problem-solving, resource development or guided application.

Proposals should clearly describe what participants will do during the session and what they will take away from it.

Story Circle

45 minutes

A facilitated gathering in which participants share experiences, perspectives and lessons connected to a common question or theme. Story circles emphasize listening, relationship-building and learning with and from one another rather than formal presentation.

Proposals should identify the guiding question, describe how the circle will be facilitated and explain how respectful participation and sharing will be supported. Participants should never be expected to disclose personal or cultural knowledge they do not wish to share.

Facilitated Dialogue or Roundtable

45 minutes

A structured conversation that brings participants together to examine a question, tension, challenge or emerging area of WIL. The facilitator introduces the topic, offers prompts and supports an exchange of perspectives among participants.

This format is well suited to topics where there may not be one answer and where the knowledge and experience in the room are central to the session.

Panel Conversation

45 minutes

A moderated conversation bringing together up to three panelists with different perspectives on a shared issue. Panels should prioritize discussion among panelists and engagement with the audience rather than a series of individual presentations.

Proposals should explain the perspectives represented, the questions the panel will explore and how audience participation will be incorporated.

Submit Proposal

Audience identification

Proposal submitters should identify a primary audience and up to two secondary audiences:

WIL practitioners and coordinators
Faculty and educators
Program managers and administrators
Directors and senior leaders
Employers and community partners
Researchers and graduate students

Conference Proposal Q&A

Have questions about the call for proposals or presenting at CEWIL 2027? Join our upcoming Q&A session to get the answers and guidance you need to submit a strong proposal. Click here to lean more.

cewil credit taylor westbury - founder of stalight snaps (24 of 24).jpg

Additional Information

Only electronic submissions will be accepted via our online submission portal. Proposals will be accepted October 26, 2026 – Decenbre 15, 2026. Late submissions may not be accepted.
If you would like to see the full call for presentations and/or prepare the answers in advance, see a pdf of the proposal questions here.
If you are submitting proposals for several sessions, you must complete one form for each session. *Please note: in an effort to amplify many voices, individuals can normally be a presenter, co-presenter or panelist in a maximum of two sessions.

All speakers must agree to the Terms of Reference for Conference Speakers to be considered as a conference speaker.

Proposal Review and Selection Process:

Review Committee: All proposals will be reviewed by at least two (2) reviewers.

Proposals will be scored without speaker identifying information, to promote fairness and objectivity.  To assist with this, please limit the use of your organization’s and speaker’s identifying information in the body of your proposal.

Specifically, reviewers will be scoring proposals based on the following criteria:

Interactivity and accessibility to a diverse audience

Relevance to field of Work-Integrated Learning

Clear description of outcomes of the session for attendees

Innovative or novel concept or initiative that would be of interest to WIL audience

Alignment with CEWIL 2027 themes and streams

Contribution to access, inclusion, diversity, equity, and belonging in the field of WIL

Download a copy of the submission form.

Terms of Reference for Conference Speakers:

Should your submission be accepted, you, and each of your co-presenters, agree to the following:

Speaker Terms: One speaker must be identified as the Speaker Contact for the proposal and all session speakers must be included as co-presenters. If there is a change in the speaker line-up or session description, it is the Speaker Contact’s responsibility to inform CEWIL Canada as soon as possible by emailing the program committee chair. Conference presenters can normally participate in a maximum of two sessions. This is to ensure a diverse cross-representation of speakers over the course of the conference. Any additional speakers that are already speaking at two other sessions, cannot be added as a co-presenter.
Register and Pay the Registration Fee: Upon your acceptance, you will be required to register by April 15, 2027 at a special discounted speaker registration rate. No other speaker compensation will be provided. Any co-presenters that have not registered for the conference will not be listed in the final conference program. CEWIL Canada’s registration rates and cancellation policy are available on the registration home page.
Presentation Content Terms: The selling of goods and/or services during sessions is NOT PERMITTED at CEWIL 2027. In cases where we receive multiple complaints about selling in a session, you risk your proposal being declined in future years. If you wish to promote your goods and/or services, materials or products during the conference, please contact the sponsorship committee about partnership, advertising and exhibitor opportunities.
Accessibility of Session Requirements: It is our expectation that all conference sessions are accessible to delegates attending CEWIL 2027. All speakers must use the microphone provided in the rooms, use digital tools during their sessions to ensure delegates can follow presentations, and adhere to the guidelines on accessibility that will be provided to all speakers ahead of the conference.
Notification of Acceptance: All Speaker Contacts will be notified regarding the status of their application for the CEWIL 2025 conference by January 31,2027. Speakers who have been accepted will be required to confirm their acceptance by replying to the invitation email by the deadline included in that email. Waitlisted speakers will be updated as spots become available. If you are no longer able to present at any point, please send notification to the program committee chair as soon as possible so that others on the wait list can be notified and have the chance to prepare.

Download a copy of the terms of reference.