January 2026

AERA member Uri Wilensky (Northwestern University) was honored with the 2025 Yidan Prize for Education Research this past December. The Yidan Prize is one of the most prestigious awards worldwide in the field. The news was announced in September by the Yidan Prize Foundation in Hong Kong, with a ceremony in December.

In its announcement, the foundation lauded Wilensky for “reshaping how we understand, engage with, and make decisions within the complex, interconnected systems of our world.”

Wilensky is the Lorrain H. Morton Professor of Learning Sciences, Computer Science and Complex Systems at Northwestern University, as well as the founding director of the Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling and co-founder of the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems. His research focuses on learning complexity and the use of computation to help learners make sense of complexity. 

In his citation, Andreas Schleicher, head of the Yidan Prize for Education Research judging panel, and director of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Directorate of Education and Skills, noted that Wilensky “explores how computational representations can recast knowledge across scientific and social domains. By equipping students with tools to understand nonlinear, complex systems, he fosters their confidence and agency to navigate today’s interconnected world.”

The winner of the 2025 Yidan Prize for Education Development, Mamadou Amadou Ly, Executive Director of Associates in Research and Education for Development, was also honored in December. The foundation praised his work in multilingual education, stating that he “provides methods that open the door to literacy and opportunity for learners globally while safeguarding linguistic and cultural identities.”