The community is invited to this year’s free 2026 Grawemeyer Awards Lecture Series:

• PsychologyÌę–ÌęSir Simon Baron-Cohen Stanford, founder and director of theÌęAutism Research CentreÌęat the University of Cambridge, will speak on Tuesday, April 14, 12 p.m., Middleton Auditorium – Room 101, Strickler Hall, about his pioneering scientific research into the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism. In 2021, he received a knighthood for his services to autism, and in 2023 he was awarded the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) Millennium Medal, for his work on the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism and his contributions to autism research and the public understanding of neurodiversity.
• World OrderÌę– Joshua W. Busby, a professor of public affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, will speak on Tuesday, April 14, 1 p.m., Chao Auditorium, Ekstrom Library. In his book, “States and Nature: The Effects of Climate Change on Security,” Busby explains how the combination of state capacity, political exclusion and international assistance determine the degree to which the impacts of climate change affect security for a country’s citizens.
• Music CompositionÌę–ÌęLiza Lim, an Australian composer will give a lecture onÌęThursday, April 16, 3 p.m., Bird Hall, School of Music. Lim is recognized for her visionary work,Ìę“A Sutured World.” The piece was commissioned by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO)/Musica Viva, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam Cello Biennale, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Casa da MĂșsica Porto for the world-renowned cellist Nicolas Altstaedt.
• ReligionÌę–ÌęCandida Moss, a biblical scholar at the University of Birmingham, UK, will speak onÌęThursday, April 16, 7 p.m., Caldwell Chapel, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Throughout the history of Christianity, the authorship of the New Testament was credited mostly to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul. But hidden behind these men are unnamed coauthors and collaborators. Their work is at the center of Moss’ influential book, “God’s Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible.”

There was no education award given in 2026.Ìę

Charles Grawemeyer, a UofL alumnus and philanthropist, created the Grawemeyer Awards in 1984. An initial endowment of $9 million funded the awards, which have drawn nominations from around the world. Grawemeyer distinguished the awards by honoring ideas rather than life-long or publicized personal achievement, advocating that great ideas should be understandable to someone with general knowledge and not be the private treasure of academics.

Learn more about the lectures on the .

Watch segment on UofL’s and .

Baron-Cohen is founder and director of theÌę at the University of Cambridge, and is a professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, and fellow at Trinity College in Cambridge. He has published more than 750 peer reviewed scientific articles and has made significant contributions to many aspects of autism research.

In 2021, he received a knighthood for his services to autism, and in 2023 he was awarded the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) Millennium Medal, the highest personal award made by the MRC, for his work on the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism and his contributions to autism research and the public understanding of neurodiversity.

The prenatal sex steroid theory considers the potential non-genetic causes of autism that might interact with genetic predisposition. Autism is a form of neurodiversity, and the brains of autistic individuals develop differently, starting prenatally. Autism is partly but not completely genetic. For decades, it was unclear what other factors might contribute to the cause of autism but over the past 20 years, Baron-Cohen made two important discoveries that helped fill this gap in knowledge.

First, his team found elevated levels of prenatal androgens (sex hormones such as testosterone) in pregnancies that later resulted in autism. Second, they found that levels of prenatal oestrogens (sex hormones that are synthesized from androgens) were also elevated in pregnancies resulting in autism.Ìę

Baron-Cohen and his group thus provided ground-breaking evidence that prenatal sex steroid hormones, interacting with genetic predisposition, contribute to autism, a finding that independent research groups subsequently confirmed.

Baron-Cohen’s team also discovered that women with polycystic ovary syndrome – itself caused by elevated prenatal androgens – have an elevated likelihood of having an autistic child. This finding demonstrates that the source of the elevated prenatal sex steroid hormones in autism is partly maternal. This observation has now been replicated in several different countries using electronic health records.

In 2017, Baron-Cohen was invited by the United Nations to giveÌęa keynote lectureÌęon Autism Acceptance Day. He described how autistic people are excluded from many basic human rights. These include the right to education, health, dignity and employment.

Brendan Depue, associate professor in the University of Louisville Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and director of the Grawemeyer AwardÌęin Psychology, said Baron-CohenÌęhas had a profound influence on autism research over his 40-year career. These contributions include developing widely used assessment tools, advocating for the rights and well-being of autistic people and uncovering key areas of vulnerability such as higher suicide rates and failures to make reasonable accommodations for autistic people within the criminal justice system.

“His achievements directly align with Charles Grawemeyer’s vision to give an award that reaches beyond the scientific community to society at large,” Depue said.

“I am delighted to have been selected for this prestigious award. It recognizes the work of the talented team with whom I work in Cambridge, including outstanding PhD and early career postdocs who have worked on these projects. I am also pleased that the Grawemeyer Award will shine a light on our research which highlights both the disabilities and the strengths of autistic people, and the urgent need for greater support services for this vulnerable group in our society,” Baron-Cohen said.

Baron-Cohen will accept his award during a ceremony at the University of Louisville on April 14, 2026.Ìę

ÌęAbout the Grawemeyer Awards

Each year the Grawemeyer Awards honor the power of creative ideas to improve our culture via music composition, world order, education, religion and psychology. Business executive and philanthropist H. Charles Grawemeyer established the awards in 1984 at the University of Louisville.Ìę

Academics and community members choose among nominees from around the world to ensure that each winning idea is both innovative and accessible. The University of Louisville and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary announce the winners in December and present the awards at a ceremony the following April. The five award winners receive $100,000 each, which they may use, if they choose, to develop and accelerate the spread of their powerful ideas. Learn more atÌę

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“’God’s Ghostwriters’ argues that the arduous work of scribes, secretaries and copyists in ancient Roman society was the undervalued work of enslaved people. These enslaved collaborators helped produce some of the early manuscripts of the Bible, yet their work has been overlooked through the centuries,” said Grawemeyer Religion Award Director and Associate Dean of the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary Tyler Mayfield. “’God’s Ghostwriters’ and its author are worthy additions to our revered list of Grawemeyer winners.”

The Edward Cadbury professor of theology at the University of Birmingham, UK, Moss brings to light the labor of unnamed individuals who are integral to the content of the New Testament. Her scholarship encourages believers and scholars alike to find new meaning by acknowledging the fingerprints of those who have been marginalized.

“I am profoundly honored and deeply moved to receive the Grawemeyer Award in Religion for ‘God’s Ghostwriters’,” said Moss. “To be counted among such an extraordinary and visionary group of previous recipients – scholars whose work has shaped the field and broadened public understanding – is both humbling and inspiring. This honor affirms the importance of telling fuller, more honest stories about the people whose labor created the texts that have shaped our world, and I am grateful beyond words.”

Moss, who previously won the John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, is a frequent contributor to major media outlets like CBS News, National Geographic and The New York Times.

The Grawemeyer Award for Religion is given annually to honor significant contributions to religious and spiritual understanding. Moss will present a public lecture on her work at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary on Thursday, April 16, 2026, where she will formally receive the award from the seminary and the University of Louisville.

About the Grawemeyer Awards

Each year the Grawemeyer Awards honor the power of creative ideas to improve our culture via music composition, world order, education, religion and psychology. Business executive and philanthropist H. Charles Grawemeyer established the awards in 1984 at the University of Louisville.

Academics and community members choose among nominees from around the world to ensure that each winning idea is both innovative and accessible. The University of Louisville and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary announce the winners in December and present the awards at a ceremony the following April. The five award winners receive $100,000 each, which they may use, if they choose, to develop and accelerate the spread of their powerful ideas. Learn more atÌę

In the book, Busby explains how the combination of state capacity, political exclusion and international assistance determine the degree to which the impacts of climate change affect security for a country’s citizens.

“The effects of pollution from burning fossil fuels have fundamentally altered our climate and will get worse until we move to cleaner energy,” Busby said. “Even as we transition away from fossil fuels, we have to prepare for climate impacts, some of which are inevitable at this point.

“Countries with weak government capacity, where political institutions exclude some people from power and where foreign assistance is blocked or delivered to some groups and not others are likely to have the worst outcomes, including humanitarian emergencies and violent conflict,” he said.

“But the hopeful story of my book is that the worst consequences of climate change are not inevitable. Governments, even very poor ones, can take steps to protect their populations from climate harms and prevent large-scale loss of life from exposure to climate-related extreme weather, including cyclones and droughts. With a little bit of outside help, governments have been able to reduce their vulnerability to climate disasters and concerted action can prevent climate shocks from escalating to violence.”

Charles E. Ziegler, University of Louisville professor of political science, University Scholar and director of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order, said Busby’s book examines the crucial global governance topic of confronting the negative implications of climate change in the realm of security.

“Busby’s carefully conducted case studies allow for comparison of neighboring states that are confronted with similar climate hazards, yet experience very different outcomes,” Ziegler said. “The policy implications for confronting the security costs of climate change are clear and particularly timely given controversy about how to deal with the global climate crisis.”

The Grawemeyer Award for World Order has been given annually since 1988.

“I am thrilled and humbled to have the book recognized this way and to join the august company of previous winners of this award,” Busby said.

Busby will visit Louisville in April 2026 to give a free talk on his winning ideas and accept his award.

About the Grawemeyer Awards

Each year the Grawemeyer Awards honor the power of creative ideas to improve our culture via music composition, world order, education, religion and psychology. Business executive and philanthropist H. Charles Grawemeyer established the awards in 1984 at the University of Louisville.

Academics and community members choose among nominees from around the world to ensure that each winning idea is both innovative and accessible. The University of Louisville and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary announce the winners in December and present the awards at a ceremony the following April. The five award winners receive $100,000 each, which they may use, if they choose, to develop and accelerate the spread of their powerful ideas. Learn more atÌę

The piece was commissioned by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO)/Musica Viva, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam Cello Biennale, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Casa da MĂșsica Porto for the world-renowned cellist Nicolas Altstaedt.

“A Sutured World” premiered in October 2024 by Altstaedt and the BRSO as part of the Musica Viva Munich concert series.

“I love playing this piece more and more
I believe this will be one of the great cello concertos in the future for our repertoire,” Altstaedt said.

Lim is the second Australian (following 2009 laureate Brett Dean) and the sixth woman to receive the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, which has been presented annually since 1985.

“Lim’s work explores themes of unity and healing,” said Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition Director Matthew Ertz, music librarian and associate professor at the University of Louisville’s Anderson Music Library. “Lim’s ability to convey these ideas into the cellist’s intricate and virtuosic passages is astounding and deeply moving.”

“A Sutured World” draws on the beauty of imperfection, with Lim referencing the Japanese art ofÌękintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold lacquer to highlight, rather than conceal, its fractures. “The cellist weaves together contrasting worlds—the lyrical, the raw, the playful, and the absurd—each a facet of a spiritual journey,” Lim said.

Lim is one of the world’s most celebrated contemporary composers, with commissions, residencies and performances from leading festivals, ensembles and organizations worldwide. She holds the Sculthorpe Chair of Australian Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (University of Sydney).

In recognition of her path-opening contributions to the field, she was named the 2026 recipient of the Roche Commission. Lim is the first musician to be awarded an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship (2025–29), supporting research that addresses climate and social challenges through music.

“I hope this recognition helps to shine a light on the vital role that music can play in shaping our understanding of the world and in responding to the urgent challenges we face,” Lim said. “It’s both humbling and inspiring to be counted among such composers as Harrison Birtwistle, Krzysztof Penderecki and Kaija Saariaho whose work has deeply influenced my own artistic journey.” Ìę

Lim will accept her award at a ceremony in Louisville on April 14, 2026.Ìę

About the Grawemeyer Awards

Each year the Grawemeyer Awards honor the power of creative ideas to improve our culture via music composition, world order, education, religion and psychology. Business executive and philanthropist H. Charles Grawemeyer established the awards in 1984 at the University of Louisville.

Academics and community members choose among nominees from around the world to ensure that each winning idea is both innovative and accessible. The University of Louisville and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary announce the winners in December and present the awards at a ceremony the following April. The five award winners receive $100,000 each, which they may use, if they choose, to develop and accelerate the spread of their powerful ideas. Learn more atÌę

Gross theorized that managing one’s feelings before they are fully formed (antecedent-focused emotion regulation) offers a healthier approach than trying to manage them after they’re in full swing (response-focused emotion regulation). In testing these predictions, he examined prototypical examples of each type of emotion regulation: cognitive reappraisal, which involves interpreting a potentially emotional situation in a way that alters its impact, and expressive suppression, which involves inhibiting the behaviors that are associated with one’s feelings.

“Bringing simplicity to an age-old debate, James Gross has demonstrated that the manner in which people regulate their emotions deeply affects their lives and the lives of others,” saidÌęGrawemeyerÌęPsychology Award Director Brendan E. Depue. “Moreover, he and his research team have shown that reappraisal interventions — teaching people how to regulate their feelings before the feelings have ‘taken over’ — can dramatically improve the way people interpret and handle stress. Emotion regulation exemplifies the kind of powerful idea Charles Grawemeyer had in mind when he established the Psychology Award.”

Notable previous winners whose work relates to Gross’s include Aaron Beck, the father of cognitive therapy, who won the 2004 Grawemeyer; Antonio Damasio, who demonstrated the integral role emotions play in human reasoning and decision-making (2014); and James McGaugh, a neuroscientist who helped explain the way our emotions affect what we learn and remember (2015).

Gross will accept his award at a ceremony in Louisville on April 10. Ìę

About the Grawemeyer Awards

Each year the Grawemeyer Awards honor the power of creative ideas to improve our culture via music composition, education, religion, psychology, and world order. Business executive and family man H. Charles Grawemeyer established the awards in 1984 at the University of Louisville in collaboration with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Academics and community members choose among nominees from around the world to ensure that each winning idea is relevant to society at large. The University of Louisville announces the winners in December and presents the awards at a ceremony the following April. Each award winner receives $100,000, which they may use, if they choose, to develop and accelerate the spread of their powerful ideas. Learn more at .

Not only younger people with apparent disabilities, but also all those who manage to grow old — and everyone who loves a member of either group — will appreciate the ideas Belser set down in her book “Loving Our Own Bones,” which also won a National Jewish Book Award. In it, Belser uses disability theory and her own experience to rethink Biblical texts and rabbinic literature. The result is a rereading of Biblical characters such as Moses, Isaac, and Jacob, leading to an engaging analysis of ableism, and a refreshing political and social view of disability.

“Instead of grounding her work in the standard question of what the Jewish and Christian traditions say about disability, Belser asks how disability experience can serve as a ‘generative force,’ a ‘source of embodied knowledge’ about our spiritual lives,” said Grawemeyer Religion Award Director and Interim Dean of the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary Tyler Mayfield. “’Loving Our Own Bones’ and Rabbi Belser are worthy additions to our revered list of Grawemeyer winners.”

The first Grawemeyer Religion Award went to E.P. Sanders in 1990 for his provocative book “Jesus and Judaism.” Acclaimed author Marilynne Robinson won the 2006 Grawemeyer Religion Award for “Gilead“ – the only time a novel has won. Rabbi Belser also joins the company of distinguished professors Stephen L. Carter (“The Culture of Disbelief”) and Diana Eck (“Encountering God“) in winning the Grawemeyer Religion Award.

Charles Marsh, who won the 1998 Grawemeyer Award in Religion for “God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights,” later described the impact the prize had on his career: “The Grawemeyer Award encouraged me to imagine concrete strategies for integrating the lessons I had learned into the practices of academic teaching and research of a new generation. It inspired me to think creatively of ways I might encourage other scholars to make journeys of their own.”

Rabbi Belser will accept her award at a ceremony in Louisville on April 10.

About the Grawemeyer Awards

Each year the Grawemeyer Awards honor the power of creative ideas to improve our culture via music composition, education, religion, psychology, and world order. Business executive and family man H. Charles Grawemeyer established the awards in 1984 at the University of Louisville in collaboration with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Academics and community members choose among nominees from around the world to ensure that each winning idea is relevant to society at large. The University of Louisville announces the winners in December and presents the awards at a ceremony the following April. Each award winner receives $100,000, which they may use, if they choose, to develop and accelerate the spread of their powerful ideas. Learn more at .

In the book, Warren shows that some of the first people to name and challenge the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP) in a way that created a movement for change were Black and Brown parents and students of color in places like the Mississippi Delta. The movement they created played a pivotal role in placing the STPP on the agenda of educators and policymakers and led directly to the adoption by the Department of łÉÈËֱȄ of federal guidelines warning against racially discriminatory school discipline policies. Where grassroots organizing has been strong and persistent, policymakers have ended zero-tolerance discipline policies and moved towardÌęrestorative alternatives, leading to important declines in exclusionary discipline, as well as moreÌęrecent reforms to eliminate policing practices in schools.

“Change efforts in schools often focus on educators and school leaders, but usually fall short when it comes to addressing deep-seated systems that perpetuate inequity,” saidÌęGrawemeyer Award for łÉÈËֱȄ DirectorÌęand University of Louisville Professor of łÉÈËֱȄal Psychology Jeff Valentine. “As ‘Willful Defiance’Ìępowerfully demonstrates, the voices, experiences, and leadership of those most affected by these issues must be central to any meaningful process of change.”

The Grawemeyer Award for łÉÈËֱȄ has been given annually since 1989. Notable winners whose scholarship has influenced Warren include Howard Gardner, Linda Darling-Hammond, James Comer, Carol Gilligan, and Diane Ravitch.

Warren will accept his award at a ceremony in Louisville on April 10.

“I’m honored to receive this award, and particularly gratified to see community-engaged scholarship recognized with the highest merit,” said Warren. “I thank my community partners, Black and Brown parents, students, and community organizers, who worked with me to produce this book as part of a movement for educational justice.”Ìę

About the Grawemeyer Awards

Each year the Grawemeyer Awards honor the power of creative ideas to improve our culture via music composition, education, religion, psychology, and world order. Business executive and family man H. Charles Grawemeyer established the awards in 1984 at the University of Louisville in collaboration with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Academics and community members choose among nominees from around the world to ensure that each winning idea is relevant to society at large. The University of Louisville announces the winners in December and presents the awards at a ceremony the following April. Each award winner receives $100,000, which they may use, if they choose, to develop and accelerate the spread of their powerful ideas. Learn more at .

Reminiscent of an earlier era of political science, the wide-ranging work grapples with intellectual ideas that will have direct impact on the worlds of politics, policy, and government — such as the likely future of international order, with an emphasis on the competition between democracies and autocracies. Historically rich and sophisticated, its breadth spans international relations, political theory, and comparative politics.

“Political scientists have tended to analyze democratic longevity and crises in domestic terms,” said University of Louisville professor of political science and University Scholar Charles E. Ziegler, director of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. “They generally look at internal economic structure, income levels, and a society’s cultural traits. Owen’s exposition of the role of the international ecosystem marks a major contribution to our understanding of world order.”

The Grawemeyer Award for World Order has been given annually since 1988. Professor Owen appreciates the influence of a number of past Grawemeyer Award winners, particularly 1989 winner Robert Keohane, whose “After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy” inspired Owen, then a Keohane advisee, to investigate the way international institutions work. In addition, 1992 winner Samuel Huntington, one of Owen’s graduate-school mentors, prompted Owen to attend to the waxing and waning global fortunes of democracy, as well as to international contagion.ÌęThe work of Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, winners in 2000 for “Activists beyond Borders,” showed Owen how transnational groups carry ideas and practices across national boundaries.

Owen will accept his award at a ceremony in Louisville on April 10.

About the Grawemeyer Awards

Each year the Grawemeyer Awards honor the power of creative ideas to improve our culture via music composition, education, religion, psychology, and world order. Business executive and family man H. Charles Grawemeyer established the awards in 1984 at the University of Louisville in collaboration with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Academics and community members choose among nominees from around the world to ensure that each winning idea is relevant to society at large. The University of Louisville announces the winners in December and presents the awards at a ceremony the following April. Each award winner receives $100,000, which they may use, if they choose, to develop and accelerate the spread of their powerful ideas. Learn more at .

A 2015 recipient of an Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung Composer Prize, Mason has recently held residencies at the SWR Experimetalstudio Freiburg and the Internationales KĂŒnstlerhaus Villa Concordia Bamberg. In London, he serves as mentor to the LSO Panufnik Young Composers Project and the Philharmonia Composers’ Academy, and he recently mentored the Hong Kong Composers’ Scheme. His winning work, which premiered at the prestigious Wittener Tage fĂŒr Neue Kammermusik by the world-renowned performers Gareth Davis, Krassimir Sterev, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and the Arditti String Quartet, uses texts written by the inimitable Paul Griffiths, who has now written texts to three Grawemeyer-Award-winning works.

“In its duration, instrumentation, and musical aesthetic, Invisible Threads challenges its listeners even as it speaks to a broad audience in a musically passionate and artistic way,” said Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition Director Matthew Ertz, music librarian and associate professor at the University of Louisville’s Anderson Music Library.Ìę“This ‘performance installation’ invites attendees to choose the way they encounter this work, enabling each to have a different experience, even as all enjoy this breathtaking music anew.”

The Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition has been given annually since 1985. Notable winners to whom Mason feels close include György Ligeti, Harrison Birtwistle, Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho, Unsuk Chin and Julian Anderson. Birtwistle’s 1987 winning work The Mask of Orpheus is seen as a landmark in opera, and Saariaho won the 2003 Grawemeyer Award with her first opera, L’amour de loin.

“I’m profoundly grateful to join the company of Grawemeyer awardees,” said Mason. “This recognition of “Invisible Threads“ encourages me to dig even more deeply into long-held dreams and visions.”

Mason will accept his award at a ceremony in Louisville on April 10.

About the Grawemeyer Awards

Each year the Grawemeyer Awards honor the power of creative ideas to improve our culture via music composition, education, religion, psychology, and world order. Business executive and family man H. Charles Grawemeyer established the awards in 1984 at the University of Louisville in collaboration with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Academics and community members choose among nominees from around the world to ensure that each winning idea is relevant to society at large. The University of Louisville announces the winners in December and presents the awards at a ceremony the following April. Each award winner receives $100,000, which they may use, if they choose, to develop and accelerate the spread of their powerful ideas. Learn more at .