Looking back on 2025, the Yidan Prize Foundation remained committed to our mission of creating a better world through education — spotlighting changemakers who move between the worlds of research and policy, theory and practice, and individuals and the systems that serve them. In a time shaped by rapid advances in technology and growing global interdependence, we championed cross-disciplinary innovation and cross-sectoral collaboration as the building blocks of a brighter future.

A defining year for the Yidan Prize Foundation — and for education worldwide

January 2025: An invitation to learn, unlearn, and relearn on International Day of Education

On 2025 International Day of Education, Dr Charles CHEN Yidan — Founder of the Yidan Prize — published an open letter to the global learning community in the Financial Times. He boldly called for a renewed focus on the core purpose of education amid the wave of AI and automation: cultivating resilient, future-shaping, lifelong learners who integrate knowledge with action and theory with practice.

March 2025: The future of teaching and learning takes center stage at ASU 

On 26 – 27 March, the 2025 Yidan Prize Conference convened at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation, bringing together global voices in education during a year that called for deeply strategic thinking. Professor Michelene Chi, 2023 Yidan Prize laureate and a leading scholar in cognitive and learning sciences, shared how her ICAP framework of active learning can be applied to shape more meaningful learning experiences for the future.

Across two days of dialogue, more than 200 education leaders, researchers, and practitioners examined how learning science and teaching strategy can evolve in the age of artificial intelligence — setting a distinctively future-oriented tone for the months that followed.

April 2025: Educate a girl, educate the world

In April, Angeline Murimirwa — our 2020 Yidan Prize laureate and CEO of CAMFED — was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025. A powerful reminder of the way girls’ education ripples through communities and systems.

With support from the Yidan Prize, CAMFED continued to expand initiatives such as its Learner Guide Hub, which helps to equip young women in sub-Saharan Africa to return to their communities as mentors for children. These stories of impact reach far and wide across the world, including through a TV series aired on TVB Pearl, which spotlighted locally-driven, community-rooted initiatives supported by the Yidan Prize project funds.

June 2025: Strengthening education partnerships in Latin America

Building on the success of Pratham Education Foundation’s evidence-based approaches in India and over 17 countries in Africa, our 2021 laureate Dr Rukmini Banerji joined KIX LAC 2025 in Antigua, Guatemala, an initiative of the Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Information Exchange (GPE KIX).

Education officials from 11 countries, alongside international partners, also jointly advanced the Antigua Declaration. This key move signaled shared regional commitment to strengthening foundational learning through cooperation and evidence.

September 2025: A global call for investment in education at UNGA

In an effort to improve learning outcomes for hundreds of millions of children worldwide, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) ensured education remained high on the agenda during the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Representing private philanthropic foundations, the Yidan Prize Foundation contributed to GPE board discussions and related UNGA convenings, pushing for sustained cross-sector and cross-regional collaboration.

Also in September, our Secretary-General Bruce Au spoke at the AVPN Global Conference. Centered on the conference theme "Asian Leadership for an Inclusive World", he highlighted the unique philanthropic model of the Yidan Prize Foundation: one that is both firmly rooted in Hong Kong and focused on driving educational breakthroughs worldwide. He also elaborated on how the Yidan Prize is designed for laureates to continue their impact at every level through funding, community building, and knowledge exchange.

October 2025: Reconceptualizing the learning crisis in Africa

We supported the book launch of Reconceptualizing the Learning Crisis in Africa: Multi-dimensional Pedagogies of Accelerated Learning Programs”, alongside T-TEL Ghana, Luminos Fund, Jacobs Foundation, IDP Foundation, and mc2h Foundation, in Accra, Ghana.

Co-authored by Yidan Prize advisor Professor Kwame Akyeampong and Dr Sean Higgins, the book calls for a mindset shift from borrowed solutions to homegrown wisdom, drawing on case studies in Ethiopia, Liberia, and Ghana that reconnect with children’s lived experiences, leverage local languages, and empower communities to transform learning.

Dorothy Gordon, Head of the Yidan Prize for Education Development Judging Panel, also attended the event.

November 2025: Facilitating cross-sectoral dialogue at WISE 

In collaboration with the Qatar Foundation, we co-hosted a cross-sectoral roundtable at WISE that brought together international organizations in edtech, human capital development, and research, doubling down on the goal to make education a priority in the global agenda. 

We also saw Bassem Saad, CEO of the Queen Rania Foundation, taking home the WISE Prize for Education. He later traveled to Hong Kong for the 2025 Yidan Prize Summit, where he joined a panel on cultivating leaders of change.

December 2025: Education at a crossroads in the age of AI

On 5 – 6 December, the 2025 Yidan Prize Summit and Awards Ceremony took place in Hong Kong, bringing together a global community of educators, researchers, policymakers, youth leaders, and philanthropists. We welcomed more than 700 participants from over 50 countries across six continents to our home base.

Our 2022 Yidan Prize laureate Professor Yongxin Zhu shared promising outcomes from his Yidan Prize-funded projects and insights based on the philosophy and practice of the New Education Initiative, which he founded.

To embrace the challenges of an increasingly complex world, Professor Uri Wilensky, our 2025 Education Research laureate, emphasized the importance of equipping learners with computational thinking skills. These skills, he noted, are essential for building both the confidence and agency needed to address real-world problems.

Mamadou Amadou Ly, our 2025 Education Development laureate, highlighted a parallel urgency: despite advances in AI, millions of children remain excluded from education due to language barriers. By centering learning on the needs and contexts of learners and advancing systemic innovation, education can unlock the potential of children and their communities alike.

We also worked with partner organizations — including the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the University of Hong Kong, and the Our Hong Kong Foundation — to host a series of parallel events, driving dialogue and collaboration beyond the Summit.

Looking ahead: Connecting global wisdom and local expertise in Africa

2026 marks an important milestone in our work. The Yidan Prize will turn ten. And, for the first time, the Yidan Prize Conference series will be held in Africa: a region home to the world’s youngest population.

As we look ahead, our commitment remains clear: to move forward with the world, learn from one another across regions and disciplines, and work collectively toward creating a more equitable and resilient world through education.