UWI Researchers Win World’s Largest Education Prize for Transforming Early Childhood Development

The UWI Regional Headquarters, Jamaica, W.I., Friday, September 11, 2026 — Two University of the West Indies (The UWI) researchers have been named 2026 Yidan Prize laureates for Education Development. Widely regarded as the world’s highest accolade in education, the award recognises over three decades of work that has transformed how we understand and support early childhood development globally.

Professor Susan P. Walker, Emeritus Professor of Nutrition at The UWI’s Caribbean Institute for Health Research (CAIHR), and Dr Susan M. Chang-Lopez, Senior Lecturer at CAIHR, share the 2026 award with long-time collaborator Sally Grantham-McGregor, Emeritus Professor University College London. Professor Grantham-McGregor worked at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) from 1967 and subsequently joined the Tropical Metabolism Research Unit, UWI. She left as professor in 1995. The trio were recognised for creating Reach Up, an evidence-based, scalable, early childhood intervention that has grown from a 1986 research study in Jamaica to a programme reaching hundreds of thousands of children from vulnerable homes across 21 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, and is currently scaling to reach 1.5 million in Brazil.

Announcing the laureates, Dorothy K. Gordon, Head of the Yidan Prize Judging Panel for Education Development, said the winners “have reshaped global education” with some of the strongest empirical evidence demonstrating the connection between early stimulation and pre-formal school learning and lifelong attainment. Acknowledging that one major cause of lower development in children growing up in poverty is a lack of early learning opportunities at home and limited access to pre-primary education, she commended the laureates’ generosity in sharing their findings and intervention techniques. According to Gordon, the resulting “practical innovation” in the Reach Up programme and the strong, international network of partner institutions around it demonstrate “how lasting change can be achieved through a combination of evidence, partnership and local leadership.”

Reach Up provides low-cost, practical, culturally adaptable solutions to expand caregivers’ capacity to provide stimulation for children ages 0-4. The activities, built around everyday routines, help caregivers build the knowledge, skills and confidence to talk, play and respond in ways that support cognitive development. Implemented through a network of existing health, social protection, education and humanitarian systems, Reach Up’s curriculum and resources are free and continuously evaluated and adapted to keep the programme effective.

Awardee Professor Susan P. Walker, who led CAIHR as Director from 2012 to 2020, celebrated the impact of the research, saying, “Our vision is to ensure children have early environments that support their development, the foundation for success at school and across the life course. Reach Up started in 1991 as the Jamaica Home Visit programme, testing the idea that regular, low-cost stimulation from their caregiver, delivered through play, conversation, and homemade toys, could change a child’s development trajectory as powerfully as good nutrition. We followed the participants as adults and showed those who participated in the programme earned 25-40 per cent more than their peers, with better cognitive skills and improved mental health outcomes. We are very grateful to the Yidan Foundation for highlighting our work and the importance of investment in the early development of our most vulnerable to reduce inequality.”

Co-laureate Dr Chang-Lopez also expressed deep gratitude for the award. “The Yidan award is a public recognition of over 40 years of research conducted here in Jamaica and with partners worldwide. It is an acknowledgement of our life’s work. We are deeply grateful to our many colleagues who have contributed to this work currently and in the past. We also thank the many parents and children who have participated in our studies and to our Reach Up global community who are committed to the programme.”

With the 2026 Yidan Prize, the laureates receive HK$ 30 million (approximately US$ 3.8 million) as an award and an unrestricted project fund to advance their future research. Laureates will be honoured at the Yidan Prize Summit in Hong Kong from December 3 to 5, 2026.

Offering his congratulations to the researchers, current CAIHR Director, Professor Marshall Tulloch-Reid said, “This achievement underscores the real-world impact of our research and aligns with the mission of CAIHR to enhance the health and well-being of Caribbean and global populations, through innovative research and strategic partnerships.”

Learn more about Reach Up and access resources at https://reachupandlearn.com/.  For more on CAIHR, whose primary role is the conduct of high-quality research that can inform health policy, programmes and health care delivery for regional populations, visit https://uwi.edu/caihr/.