Yidan Prize

We’re a global foundation committed to creating a better world through education. We established the Yidan Prize in 2016 to champion the changemakers making that possible. We know from decades of research that education leads to people living safer, healthier, longer lives. Every intervention that improves access to quality education builds a better world. To meet our goals then, we need to find the most effective ideas, and spread them far and wide.

Our theory of change

A theory of change explains the methods we use, and how we expect them to meet our vision.

We believe that by recognizing the most innovative minds in educational research and practice, and building a global learning community around them, we will accelerate adoption of the best ideas and practices. This will improve the quality of education around the world and promote wider access to educational opportunity.

Our founder Dr Charles CHEN Yidan knows the difference education can make to a person’s life. After all, it certainly changed his. After he’d passed China’s highly competitive gaokao university entrance exam, he went on to earn two degrees: a bachelor’s in applied chemistry from Shenzhen University and a master’s in economic law from Nanjing University.