#Hong Kong #Yidan Prize #Uri Wilensky #Mamadou Ly

Yidan Prize 2025: Elevating Innovators in Education

On September 29, 2025, the Yidan Prize Foundation, a global philanthropic organization, proudly announced the recipients of the prestigious 2025 Yidan Prize. This annual award seeks to recognize individuals who have significantly contributed to the enhancement of education. This year, the ultimate accolade was awarded to Professor Uri Wilensky for his groundbreaking work in improving skills related to computational thinking, and Mamadou Amadou Ly for his dedication to removing barriers to basic education.

Both Uri and Mamadou are now part of the esteemed Yidan Prize laureate community, a collective of brilliant minds engaged in educational research and practice. This community strives to collaborate and share opportunities in order to create a better world through education.

A Commitment to Education

Dr. Charles CHEN Yidan, the founder of the Yidan Prize, emphasized the transformative potential of education, stating, "Education unveils potential. It equips individuals and societies with the necessary skills for sustained learning, navigating uncertainty, and thriving in an ever-evolving world. In the realm of global development, we remain steadfast in our commitment to education." He reaffirmed that the Yidan Prize is meant to shine a light on opportunities and forge a brighter future through education.

Recognizing Change Agents in Education

The independent selection committee for the Yidan Prize chose these two laureates from a pool of extraordinary scholars and practitioners around the globe. Their work reflects the importance of recognizing innovative and scalable ideas amidst a landscape of underinvestment in education. The 2025 laureates significantly contribute to both foundational and scientific literacy, encouraging students to be fully engaged in teaching and participate in society as global citizens.

Both Uri Wilensky and Mamadou Amadou Ly will each receive 30 million Hong Kong Dollars, approximately 3.8 million US Dollars. Half of this amount will be an unrestricted project fund of 15 million Hong Kong Dollars to expand and scale their educational initiatives. Since its inception, the Yidan Prize Foundation has distributed a total of 540 million Hong Kong Dollars to celebrate outstanding achievements and foster innovative work across more than 50 countries.

Exploring Complexity Through Practical Research

Professor Uri Wilensky, the 2025 Yidan Prize laureate in education research, serves as the Lorraine H. Morton Professor in the Departments of Education, Computer Science, and Complex Systems at Northwestern University. He is renowned for his pioneering work on agent-based modeling (ABM), which supports literacy in complex systems and bridges knowledge across various disciplines. He developed a free open-source tool called NetLogo, which facilitates a deeper understanding of complex phenomena—from climate change and pandemics to economic instability. This versatile tool allows users, whether young children or researchers, to explore and create models demonstrating how interactions among many individual 'agents' produce large-scale patterns.

Empowering Students Through Enhanced Literacy

Mamadou Amadou Ly, the 2025 Yidan Prize laureate for education development, is the executive director of the organization Associates in Research and Education for Development (ARED). Under his guidance, ARED has developed bilingual educational models that have significantly improved children's foundational literacy and numeracy skills, both in and out of school. His transformative approach highlights the value of teaching in languages that children are familiar with, alongside the languages they need to learn, promoting scalable bilingual education pathways in West and Central Africa.

Through open-licensed instructional resources, ARED aligns with the Early Learning Resource Network, providing accessible teaching materials. Mamadou's community-focused approach, which respects cultural specifics, has influenced national education policies in Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia, and beyond.

A Vision for Inclusive Education

Dorothy Gordon, chairing the education development committee for the Yidan Prize, underscored the global significance of Mamadou’s accomplishments in advocating for equality and inclusion in education. She emphasized that "Mamadou Amadou Ly, through his visionary work in multilingual education, provides avenues that open doors to literacy and opportunities for students worldwide, while safeguarding linguistic and cultural identities. This approach to an inclusive and equitable educational environment inspires educational reform across Africa and beyond."

The laureates will be honored at the 2025 Yidan Prize Award Ceremony on December 6 in Hong Kong. In conjunction, the annual Yidan Prize Summit will take place on December 5 and 6. Nominations for the 2026 Yidan Prize will be open from October 2025 to March 2026.

About the Yidan Prize Foundation

The Yidan Prize Foundation is a global philanthropic foundation dedicated to creating a better world through education. The foundation supports innovative ideas and practices in education—specifically those that have the potential to transform lives and society positively. The Yidan Prize, considered the highest global accolade in education, is awarded to individuals or teams who make significant contributions to the theory and practice of education. It includes two complementary awards: the Yidan Prize for Education Research and the Yidan Prize for Education Development, both providing a substantial project fund to help laureates expand their initiatives, ensuring meaningful impact in the field of education.