Thank you for your interest in presenting at the 2027 Women in Leadership Conference (WILC) Conference. The Call for Submissions for the 2027 Women in Leadership Conference (WILC) is now open. The deadline for submissions is December 31, 2026. The 2027 WILC Annual Conference will be held virtually on February 28, 2027. This year’s theme is “Lead Boldly: Confidence, Courage, and Change.”
The form at the bottom of this page must be used for all proposal session submissions. Please review the Proposal Submissions information below as it contains important information about this year's Annual Conference theme and submission requirements. [email protected].
Deadline for Submissions: December 31, 2026 at 11:59 pm PT
Proposal Submission
I. Theme
At a time of rapid social, institutional, and global change, leadership requires more than expertise; it demands confidence to step forward, courage to challenge what no longer serves our communities, and a commitment to create meaningful change. Lead Boldly: Confidence, Courage, and Change invites women leaders, scholars, practitioners, and advocates to examine how bold leadership can transform organizations, strengthen communities, and shape a more equitable and promising future. We invite conference participants to submit proposals that explore, challenge, and reimagine what it means to lead boldly and advance meaningful change across diverse contexts.
II. General Information and Policies
The Call for Submissions for the 2027 WILC Annual Conference offers important opportunities for those wishing to participate in the most major education research conference worldwide. The 2027 Conference is planned as a virtual conference.
WILC invites two types of submissions: an individual paper and a session submission. An individual paper submission is one paper with one or more authors. A session submission is a fully planned session, involving multiple presentations and participants and a chair. All paper and session submissions will be anonymized for review. Submitters or those invited to participate at the WILC Conference acknowledge that their work complies and is in accord with the WILC Code of Ethics. They also acknowledge that they adhere to the highest standards of professional conduct, including with respect to inclusivity and respect for others as well as nondiscrimination, nonexploitation, and nonharassment.
III. Submission Procedures and Policies
The following procedures and policies must be adhered to. Failure to follow these policies will result in submissions being removed from consideration. Submission is open to WILC members and non-members. No late submissions will be accepted. Authors are strongly encouraged to only submit complete papers or papers close to being completed. Only paper and session submissions that have not been previously published or presented at another professional meeting are eligible.
For paper submissions, all paper abstracts and paper uploads must be submitted without author identification. All paper submissions are reviewed anonymized. All presenting authors of accepted papers and all participants in accepted sessions are expected to register for and attend the virtual conference and be present at the scheduled session. The preliminary program will be released by February 1, 2027; presenting authors must register by or before February 1, 2027 (the Early Bird registration deadline) to be retained as presenting authors. Submission is a commitment to do so.
IV. Requirements for Paper Submission
A paper submission is an individual paper with one or more co-authors whether it is submitted for live virtual presentation at the WILC Conference. Papers must be in the form of a complete narrative paper and have all of the elements of a final paper, whether still in progress or in final form for presentation.
Word limits:
Paper must contain no author identification. References, tables, charts, graphs, images, and figures should be added at the end of the document (Appendix) and are not included in the word count.
Paper must address and will be reviewed on the following seven elements:
How to Submit:
The form below must be used for all paper and session submissions for consideration by a division, special interest group, or committee. Please review the Call for Submissions, as it contains important information about this year’s Annual Conference theme and submission requirements.
V. Conference Presentation
In paper sessions, authors present abbreviated versions of their papers, followed by comments/critique if there is a discussant, and audience discussion. Paper sessions are in 90-minute time slots and have a chair; discussant(s) are optional.
A typical structure for a session with four or five papers allows approximately 5 minutes for the chair’s introduction to the session, 15 minutes per presentation, 15 minutes of critique and discussion. Session chairs may adjust the timing based on the number of presentations and discussants (where applicable) scheduled for the session.
Individuals must be attentive to the time allocation for presenting their work in paper sessions. In the case of multiple-authored papers, more than one person may present, but multiple presenters must divide among the presenters the total time available to them. They should take steps to ensure that including more than one speaker does not detract from the overall presentation of the work or infringe on the time allotments for other presentations.
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