Faculty/Staff Search

OR

Department/Unit Search

  1. Home
  2. Programming
  3. Graduate Students
  4. Own Your Future: Conference on Teaching

Own Your Future: Conference on Teaching

Program Description

The Own Your Future (OYF): Conference on Teaching is a one-day, fully virtual conference designed to celebrate and learn from graduate educators at Western University who are contributing valuable insights, care, creativity, and innovation in their unique teaching contexts. Graduate educators are currently teaching in and through a world marked by rapid change, including new technologies, shifting student needs, evolving learning environments, and expanding possibilities of what teaching can be.

OYF 2027

The theme of the 2026 Conference was “Future-Ready Teaching: Creativity, Confidence, and Community Care in a Changing Landscape.” The 2027 theme will be shared on this page by January, 2027. This Conference generally takes place in the month of May, and information on the theme and the call for proposals is generally released by the beginning of the winter semester. The Own Your Future Conference is offered by the Centre for Teaching in collaboration with the School of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies.

By coming together to learn more about the unique teaching practices, approaches, and relationships that graduate educators are modeling and embodying in their work, we hope to celebrate the many ways that they are shaping the future of teaching through their curiosity, expertise, and commitment to their values.

Each year, through our call for proposals, as well as invited panels, we welcome presentations that highlight practical strategies, creative experiments, and reflective insights that help us all teach with confidence and care—whether in classrooms, labs, tutorials, community settings, or digital spaces.

Please note: Up to two Future Prof credits are available to those who participate in this conference (as presenter or audience)

The Own Your Future Graduate Conference on Teaching is offered by the Centre for Teaching and Learning in Collaboration with the Own Your Future Graduate Development Program at the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. For questions about conference proposal submission, please reach out to CTL via email: ctl@uwo.ca  

Great Ideas for Teaching (GIFT) Award 

The Great Ideas for Teaching (GIFT) Award recognizes and rewards outstanding graduate educators for their commitment to teaching and learning. The winner(s), selected by members of the CTL team and SGPS, with input from Conference attendees, is selected from graduate presenters at the annual Own Your Future (OYF): Conference on Teaching.  

In order to be eligible for this award, you must 

  • Be accepted to present during one of the Grad Innovations in Teaching sessions of the OYF Conference 
  • Attend a required mentorship session that helps you to prepare for your upcoming presentation 
  • Participate fully in your assigned session 

The criteria through which the presentations are evaluated include the following: 

  • Clear context for the shared strategy, approach, or activity 
  • Identified goals or learning objectives for the session that align with the purpose and theme of the Conference 
  • Engaging and accessible overview of approach and / or learning materials 
  • Reflection on practice and applicability across various teaching and learning contexts 
  • Feedback from Conference attendees on the session(s) they found most engaging and helpful 

Some benefits of winning the GIFT Award include the following 

  • A teaching award looks great in a CV and Teaching Dossier, especially when applying for future teaching positions 
  • By presenting their "Great Idea" as part of CTL programming, winner(s) have the chance to share successful teaching methods with the broader Western community 
  • Winner(s) receive a $100 gift certificate to Western Bookstore or Hospitality Services 
     

The winning presentation will be announced approximately 3 – 4 weeks after the end of the OYF Conference. The presenters of the winning presentation are awarded a $100 gift card to Western Bookstore or Hospitality Services. Please note that if a winning presentation has more than one presenter, the $100 gift card is shared evenly amongst the presenters. 

Recent Winners

2026: Gabriela Martinez Loyola, Hispanic Studies 
Promoting English Accent Awareness Through Film and Television: Challenging Prestige and Stigma in Contemporary Classrooms 

2025: Sari Heru and Richard Martinez Loyola, Department of Languages and Cultures 
Students as Partners in Higher Education and Beyond 

2022: Percy Sherwood, Information and Media Studies 
Storytelling in the Digital Age 

2021: Joseph Rovetti, Psychology 
Registered Reports for Psychological Science