Cancan Wang wins the 2025 ITU Teaching Award
Associate Professor Cancan Wang from the Digitalization, Democracy, and Governance (DDG) section at ITU is this year’s Teaching Award recipient. We spoke with Cancan about her teaching practices and what the award means to her.
Cancan WangAbout ITUEducation
Written 29 September, 2025 07:43 by Theis Duelund Jensen
Associate Professor Cancan Wang has been awarded this year’s ITU Teaching Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to education and her deep commitment to student growth. Cancan joined the IT University of Copenhagen in 2019 and is currently teaching the course IT, Globalisation, and Culture and IT Governance and Quality Management in the Global Business Informatics programme – courses that combine theoretical reflection with practical application.
For Cancan, it’s precisely this interplay between theory and practice that creates space for meaningful learning.
Cancan demonstrates exceptional skill in fostering student engagement, critical reflection, and academic excellence. She introduces contrasting case studies that challenge assumptions, encouraging debate and exploration of alternative perspectives.
Head of Education, Luís Cruz-Filipe
“I see teaching as a way to help students develop the ability to learn continuously and to shape their own ways of being,” she explains. “Because our education is centered on IT, teaching at ITU also means supporting students in finding both a philosophy and a set of analytical tools that enable them to think for themselves.”
Head of Education Luís Cruz-Filipe highlights Cancan’s ability to foster student engagement and critical reflection, noting that her teaching bridges foundational knowledge with emerging digital phenomena. “Cancan demonstrates exceptional skill in fostering student engagement, critical reflection, and academic excellence,” he says. “She introduces contrasting case studies that challenge assumptions, encouraging debate and exploration of alternative perspectives.”
For Cancan, receiving the award is more than a personal honor – it’s a validation of her pedagogical approach.
“This award means a lot to me because I see it as a recognition of the critical and practice-oriented approach to teaching IT that I seek to cultivate in our students,” she says. “I wanted to use strategic decision-making around IT as a bridge: a way of encouraging students to think independently, critically, and with vision, while grounding their ideas in practical realities.”
Her teaching is deeply intertwined with her research, which focuses on digital governance in contexts such as sustainability and public welfare. She sees the classroom as a space for mutual learning, where students challenge her to refine her own thinking.
“Teaching has pushed me to pay closer attention to the marriage of critical thinking, strategic decision-making, and political sensitivity in my work,” she reflects. “Students are a vital part of that exchange.”
What sets ITU students apart, according to Cancan, is their ability to blend pragmatism with personal engagement. Whether discussing favorite games, experimenting with ChatGPT, or reflecting on workplace dilemmas, students bring their lived experiences into the classroom.
“I find that combination very exciting,” she says. “They approach IT not just in a strictly practical way but through emotion and experience. In a programme like GBI, our education encourages them to balance these perspectives and use the tension between them as a source of meaning.”
Congratulations to Cancan for winning the award!
Cancan Wang was nominated by Heads of Programmes and ultimately chosen by ITU's Rector and Head of Education based on criteria outlined by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science.
Theis Duelund Jensen, Press Officer, phone +45 2555 0447, email thej@itu.dk