President's Awards

Individual Award
(Early Career Research Excellence Award)

Dr YANG Weipeng
楊偉鵬博士
Assistant Professor, Department of Early Childhood Education

Dr Weipeng Yang’s interdisciplinary research in Early Childhood Learning Sciences spans education, psychology and computer science and focuses on redesigning early learning environments and experiences to optimize young children’s development in our rapidly evolving society. He brings expertise in conducting quasi-experiments, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and in-depth case studies, with a recent focus on equitable educational robotics and sustainable STEAM education for young children.

As Principal Investigator, Dr Yang secured an Early Career Scheme and a General Research Fund grant from the Research Grants Council in 2022 and 2023 respectively. His research has important implications for computational thinking and computer science education in the early years and contributes to the development of equitable and sustainable educational programs that prioritize the needs and abilities of young children while preparing them for lifelong wellbeing in a fast-changing technological landscape. His research also contributes to the design, implementation and evaluation of early childhood curricula, technology integration, teacher learning and leadership programs, and explores the use of artificial intelligence applications to benefit children and society as a whole.

Dr Yang is a productive researcher with an impressive publishing track record. He has been published in the British Journal of Educational Technology, the Journal of Educational Computing Research, the Teaching and Teacher Education, the Early Childhood Research Quarterly, the Journal of Curriculum Studies and many other prestigious journals. He has also published seven books, including a monograph. He was named among the World’s Top 2% Most-cited Scientists in 2023 by Stanford University and Elsevier.

Currently, Dr Yang is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Research in Childhood Education, Associate Editor of the Journal for the Study of Education and Development, a Steering Group member of the British Curriculum Forum, and Convenor of the Curriculum, Assessment and Pedagogy SIG at the British Educational Research Association. He also serves on the editorial boards of the British Journal of Educational Technology, the Early Childhood Research Quarterly, the Early Education and Development, the Curriculum Journal, the ECNU Review of Education and the SN Social Sciences.

Dr Yang has been actively involved in numerous knowledge-transfer events, such as the Oxford University Press (OUP) Education Leadership Forum (2021), Jockey Club School Transition and Readiness Project Public Lectures 2022/23, Learning & Teaching Expo 2023, and the China Education Innovation Achievements Charity Exhibition (2023).