UWI researchers win 2026 Yidan Prize for pioneering early childhood program
2026 Laureates for the Yidan Prize for Education Development (l-r) Professor Susan P. Walker, Emeritus Professor of Nutrition, Caribbean Institute for Health Research (CAIHR), UWI; Professor Sally Grantham-McGregor, University College London; and Dr Susan M. Chang-Lopez, Senior Lecturer at CAIHR, UWI.
Key Points(5)
- Two University of the West Indies researchers have been named 2026 Yidan Prize laureates for Education Development for their pioneering work on an early childhood programme that began in Jamaica and has since expanded to 21 countries.
- Walker, emeritus professor of nutrition at The UWI’s Caribbean Institute for Health Research (CAIHR), and Dr.
- Chang-Lopez, senior lecturer at CAIHR, share the award with longtime collaborator Sally Grantham-McGregor, emeritus professor at University College London.
- The programme grew out of research conducted in Jamaica and now reaches hundreds of thousands of children across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
- It is currently being scaled to reach 1.5 million children in Brazil.
Two University of the West Indies researchers have been named 2026 Yidan Prize laureates for Education Development for their pioneering work on an early childhood programme that began in Jamaica and has since expanded to 21 countries.
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 award with longtime collaborator Sally Grantham-McGregor, emeritus professor at University College London.
The Yidan Prize, widely regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious education awards, recognizes the researchers for more than three decades of work advancing understanding of early childhood development and creating Reach Up, an evidence-based intervention designed to support children growing up in vulnerable households.
The programme grew out of research conducted in Jamaica and now reaches hundreds of thousands of children across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It is currently being scaled to reach 1.5 million children in Brazil.
Grantham-McGregor also has longstanding ties to Jamaica and The UWI. She worked at the University Hospital of the West Indies from 1967 before joining the university’s Tropical Metabolism Research Unit. She left as a professor in 1995.
Dorothy K. Gordon, head of the Yidan Prize judging panel for Education Development, said the three researchers “have reshaped global education” by producing strong empirical evidence demonstrating the relationship between early stimulation, learning before formal schooling and outcomes later in life.
Gordon said the researchers had also been generous in sharing their findings and intervention methods, allowing their work to be adapted and expanded internationally.
She described Reach Up as a “practical innovation” and said the network of institutions supporting the programme demonstrates “how lasting change can be achieved through a combination of evidence, partnership and local leadership.”
Reach Up provides low-cost and culturally adaptable methods to help caregivers support the development of children from birth to age 4.
Its activities are incorporated into everyday routines and are designed to help caregivers develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to talk, play and respond to children in ways that support cognitive development.
The programme is implemented through existing health, social protection, education and humanitarian systems, while its curriculum and resources are provided free of charge and continuously evaluated and adapted.
Walker, who served as CAIHR director from 2012 to 2020, said the work is intended to ensure children have supportive environments during the earliest stages of their lives.
“Our vision is to ensure children have early environments that support their development, the foundation for success at school and across the life course,” Walker said.
“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.”
Walker said researchers continued tracking participants into adulthood and found significant long-term benefits.
“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,” she said.
“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.”
Chang-Lopez said the award recognizes decades of research conducted in Jamaica and in collaboration with international partners.
“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,” she said.
“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.”
The 2026 Yidan Prize comes with HK$30 million, approximately US$3.8 million, comprising a cash award and an unrestricted project fund to support future research.
The laureates are expected to be honored at the Yidan Prize Summit in Hong Kong from Dec. 3 to 5.
CAIHR Director Professor Marshall Tulloch-Reid congratulated the researchers, saying the recognition demonstrates the broader impact of the institute’s work.
“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,” he said.
