Northwestern University’s Researcher To Receive International Education Award
The World Cultural Council (WCC) announced on June 15 that esteemed IPR statistician and methodology researcher Larry Hedges will receive the José Vasconcelos World Award of Education on November 3 at the University of Helsinki.
His award will be presented alongside the Albert Einstein World Award of Science that will go to prominent University of Basel physicist Christoph Gerber for his achievements in nanoscale science.
The WCC, an international nonprofit founded in Mexico, confers these awards “on eminent pioneers honoring their tireless efforts and the inspiration they bring as role models, encouraging young generations to join forces to overcome the challenges of our society.”
The prize acknowledges Hedges’ “groundbreaking and systematic application of research and his development of methods for meta-analysis over the past four decades, which have contributed to more accurate assessment of evidence across disciplines,” according to the World Cultural Council press release.
Meta-analysis is a statistical method that combines findings from multiple studies to produce a combined, single estimate, or “effect size.” It serves as a foundation for much of the rigorous, evidenced-based policy research in education and other fields that takes place around the world.
Hedges, a first-generation college student, has won many awards and honors across his career for his innovative research in statistics, psychology, education, and other fields. They include the 2018 Yidan Prize, the world’s largest prize for education research. He is Board of Trustees Professor of Statistics and Education and Social Policy and a professor of psychology and medical social sciences at Northwestern University, where he is also an IPR fellow and co-directs the Statistics for Evidence-Based Policy and Practice, or STEPP, Center, housed at IPR.
“Larry is not only a groundbreaking researcher, but also an award-winning teacher and mentor,” said economist and IPR Director Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach regarding the announcement. “This latest award acknowledges the exceptional breadth and depth of his pioneering work in meta-analysis and its impact in how we rigorously evaluate, understand, and deploy interventions in education and other fields.”
The education award is named for José Vasconcelos, a Mexican educator, lawyer, writer, and politician, who served as rector of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and as Mexico’s first Minister of Public Education from 1921–24. He died in 1959. Previous winners include McGill University Professor Claudia Mitchell in 2022, Princeton University and Mellon Foundation President Emeritus William Bowen in 2008, and U.K. broadcaster Sir David Attenborough in 2004, among others.
Hedges and Gerber will deliver their laureate lectures on November 2 in Helsinki. Northwestern Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart, winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and WCC president, will be part of the committee that will present the Vasconcelos prize to Hedges during the 38th Annual World Cultural Council Award Ceremony on November 3.