Now Open: 2026 Open Education Conference Call for Proposals

The Open Education Conference has opened its call for proposals for OpenEd26, its annual gathering of educators and open education advocates. This year's conference will be held in a fully virtual format from October 27–29, 2026. The deadline to submit a proposal is Friday, April 3 at 11:59pm Pacific.

The conference welcomes proposals from anyone with an interest in open education, regardless of country, educational background, or professional role. Students are especially encouraged to submit.

This Year's Theme: The Space Between

OpenEd26 invites presenters to examine the possibilities that exist in spaces often overlooked. Recognizing that openness is fundamentally relational, the theme focuses on the gaps that remain in open education work and how the community might work together to bridge them. Proposal topics include strategic open education work, the implications of emerging technologies, expanding open education's reach, and international perspectives, among others.

A New Option: Contributed Papers

This year the conference is introducing a contributed papers track in collaboration with the Journal for Open Educational Resources in Higher Education (JOERHE). Papers may report completed research, describe work in progress, or present a position on a relevant issue. Accepted papers will go through open peer review and be published as conference proceedings in March 2027.

Session Formats

Proposals are accepted for short presentations (20 min), full presentations (40 min), panels (55 min), and lightning talks (10 min, pre-recorded). All sessions are virtual.

Proposals must be submitted through Oxford Abstracts by April 3, 2026. Submit and view the full call for proposals at openeducationconference.org.