The world is changing faster than we ever imagined — and education must transform to keep up. Every year, we’re proud to recognize exceptional people whose work is equipping the next generations to meet challenges and grasp opportunities. And we’re delighted to introduce you to this year’s laureates.

Professor Wolfgang Lutz — 2024 Yidan Prize for Education Research

Professor Mark Jordans, Marwa Zahr, and Luke Stannard — 2024 Yidan Prize for Education Development

In times of rapid advances in technology and complex global challenges, our independent Judging Committee has been drawn to the work of people who use the power of information and technology to move us closer to a brighter, fairer world through education.

Wolfgang’s work has fundamentally shaped how we connect the dots between education and human progress. As a statistician and demographer, his analysis points to education as the key to all aspects of global sustainable development, including health, well-being, economic growth, and equity. His work has placed education at the center of conversations in tackling one of the most critical challenges of our time: climate change. All while making vast banks of data openly accessible to researchers and policymakers who can further their own explorations.

Mark, Marwa, and Luke are the team behind War Child Alliance’s ‘Can’t Wait to Learn’ intervention. Delivered on tablets, laptops, and mobile phones, ‘Can’t Wait to Learn’ offers children in conflict-affected or resource-constrained contexts an engaging, culturally relevant, and effective way to build foundational skills in reading and mathematics. Our second-ever laureate team, they’ve helped ‘Can’t Wait to Learn’ grow from a pilot project to an evidence-based intervention reaching over 205,000 marginalized children in eight countries.

Hear from the Chairman of our Judging Committee, Dr Koichiro Matsuura

And learn more from our press release here.