2026 Yidan Prize laureates announced in Hong Kong

The 2026 Yidan Prize laureates were announced in Hong Kong on Wednesday, with Professor Paul W. Glewwe receiving the Yidan Prize for Education Research and Professors Susan P. Walker and Sally Grantham-McGregor and Dr. Susan M. Chang-Lopez receiving the Yidan Prize for Education Development.

The independent Judging Committee, chaired by Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, recognized Glewwe for using rigorous research to inform education policies and interventions, while Walker, Grantham-McGregor and Chang-Lopez were recognized for developing an evidence-based early childhood development model for low-resource, displaced and indigenous communities.

"The work and collective impact of our laureates over the past decade have made the Yidan Prize a lighthouse to illuminate pathways forward in global education," said Charles Chen Yidan, founder of the Yidan Prize, which is in its 10th year.

Each laureate will receive HK$30 million ($3.8 million), comprising a HK$15 million cash award and HK$15 million in unrestricted project funding. Since 2017, the prize has awarded HK$600 million to 25 laureates, supporting work in nearly 60 countries and regions.

Among this year's laureates, Glewwe, regents professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota, has studied how factors beyond the school environment, including socioeconomic conditions, health and nutrition, affect children's learning outcomes.

He helped introduce indicators of literacy, numeracy and abstract reasoning for both children and parents into World Bank household surveys, providing policymakers with evidence on the links between poverty, inequality and education.

He also pioneered the use of randomized controlled trials to evaluate education programs and policies, helping governments and development organizations direct resources toward interventions shown to be effective. He was among the first economists to incorporate social-emotional skills into economic analyses of education and development.

His research has been conducted in more than 15 developing countries and has influenced education policy and practice internationally.