EEA 2026 Teaching Awards Announced

The European Economic Association is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 EEA Teaching Awards.
After a highly competitive selection process, involving a wide range of outstanding nominations, the following individuals and teams have been recognised for their excellence and innovation in teaching.
Early Career Award: Manzura Jumaniyazov Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Manzura Jumaniyazova receives the EEA Award for Exceptional Teaching in the Early Career category for her outstanding teaching record, her carefully designed Master-level courses, and her strong commitment to student learning. Her courses combine rigorous economics with active learning, practical R sessions, and an inclusive classroom atmosphere. Student evaluations consistently praise her clarity, preparation, approachability, and ability to make complex topics engaging
Junior Award: Canh Dang (King's College London)
Canh Dang receives the EEA Award for Exceptional Teaching in the Junior category for his outstanding and innovative contribution to economics teaching, especially in econometrics. His teaching combines flipped learning, applied data work, coding in Stata, R and Python, and real-world problem solving, helping students engage confidently with challenging quantitative material. He has also developed scalable innovations, including personalised automated feedback and AI-supported learning resources, while maintaining excellent student evaluations and strong educational leadership.
Senior Award: Oleg Kitov (University of Cambridge)
Oleg Kitov receives the EEA Award for Exceptional Teaching in the Senior category in recognition of his exceptional, long-standing contribution to economics teaching at Cambridge. His evidence-based, student-centred approach transforms quantitative economics education through retrieval practice, sustainable feedback, active learning, and peer assessment. Scaled across many demanding courses, his teaching improves student outcomes and influences teaching practice across the Faculty. Students and colleagues consistently praise his clarity, organisation, care, and ability to make challenging material engaging and accessible.
EEA Award for Innovation in Teaching: Tim Burnett and Robert Riegler (Aston University)
Tim Burnett and Robert Riegler receive the EEA Award for Innovation in Teaching for their project on micro-testing, a timely and scalable response to the challenge of remote assessment in the age of generative AI. Their approach combines take-home assignments with short, in-class tests based directly on students’ submitted work, helping to verify genuine understanding while encouraging responsible engagement with AI. Piloted in econometrics modules at Aston University, the project shows strong potential to restore trust in remote assessment and to be adopted across courses, institutions, and disciplines.
EEA Award for Innovation in Teaching with AI: Gabriella Cagliesi (University of Sussex) 
Gabriella Cagliesi receives the EEA Award for Innovation in Teaching with AI for her module-wide framework integrating generative AI into economics teaching, assessment, materials, and econometric training. Her project moves beyond passive chatbot use by deploying bespoke role-based AI agents to support reasoning, debate, simulation, and critical reflection. Piloted in MSc Macroeconomic Analysis at the University of Sussex, the approach helps students develop rigorous economic understanding alongside responsible AI literacy. Its planned extension to local schools and open-access materials gives the project strong potential for wider educational impact.
We warmly congratulate all the awardees and thank them for their remarkable contributions to economics education.
Thanks to the 2026 Award Committees: 
Exceptional Teaching - Zsófia L. Bárány, Antonio Cabrales, Anna Göddeke, Stefania Paredes Fuentes and Catherine Thomas.
Innovation in Teaching - Zsófia L. Bárány, Antonio Cabrales, Anna Göddeke and Catherine Thomas.
Full info on these awards and other initiatives of the EEA's Education Committee here